The fourth and final issue of the miniseries very much ends on a high note, building the climax around a fight to the death which has the perfect amount of build up and fall out spaced between. Every aspect of the story effectively built on what had come before it and utilised much of what made those three previous issues so good.
Written by Chris ClaremontCover by Frank Miller
Penciled by Frank Miller
Inked by Joe Rubinstein
Colored by Glynis Wein
Lettered by Tom OrzechowskiIt’s Wolverine vs Shingen – to the death! Plus, what part will Yukio play in this final battle? And does Logan and Mariko’s love stand a chance?
The entire build up to the fight has its audience anticipating the action to come. Wolverine’s menacing form is silhouetted in purple lights with jagged shading being offered by the withering branches. This series has always been good at conveying night with a limited color pallete, but this final issue really cements this point home.
When Wolverine is gathering his arms, the lit cigarette illuminates his face and his crossbow is nearly pushing out of the page. The crossbow fits in the parameters but is drawn as it’s bursting at the seams of the panel.
What is really impressive is the level of care Claremont and Miller give into conveying Mariko’s motives and ideals despite the fact that she never had the agency to break out of the ‘damsel in distress’ cliché. There is an impressive amount of prose being enforced with the artwork in a monologue where Mariko ponders on her inner conflict while we look at the legacy of samurai armour being as old as the Yashida legacy itself.
Yukoi evading the Hand is composed entirely in black, red, and white. This is another technique seen in prior issues used once again to great effect here. Once Yukoi is captured buy Shingen, he reiterates his sense of honour and warped sense of ethics while he brutally beats Yukoi.
Mariko’s husband is killed with no visible bloodshed, but three loud *thunks written on the page beside his shocked face as his body drops in the next panel. There is an obvious lack of sound in reading a comic, so it is always impressive to see a sense of sound so effectively conveyed on the page.
The Checkered moonlight back in the room with feudal Japanese paraphernalia that conveys the legacy of the Yashida clan that made Mariko feel so conflicted about her relationship with her father.
The build up to this fight was established at the end of issue one. Before Shingen and Wolverine fight, he asks Shingen if he is worthy yet to fight with blades. This reminds readers of the fight with kendo sticks that transpired in the first issue that Shingen won. This really builds up tension as it reminds us that Wolverine lost that encounter. The rational part of your brain might know that Wolverine is gonna win the fight. But Claremont giving Shingen a victory in an earlier issue raises the stakes for a character it is very hard to raise the stakes for.
Wolverine is essentially immortal, but when they come at each other in long horizontal panels, the reader is nervous for him. When Wolverine explains that Shingen got the better hit, it really does feel like you are in for a difficult fight. The entirety of the fight enforces the fact that Shinegen is the better warrior and that Logan is fighting a war of attrition, only needing to get one good hit in.
As stated before, the first page has the two combatants charging forward with both men striking, but Shinigen moreso than Wolverine. The second page is a total onslaught against Wolverine, who is taking katana strike after strike. Until Wolverine gets one hit in that is framed as much smaller, implying it was insignificant. All of this again features this red, black, or white coloring in each panel as Wolverine keeps getting hit by the katana. The third page has Wolverine doing better than he did in the last page, but nowhere near as good as Shinegen; who only gets his tie sliced off.
Continued belowThe fourth and final panel has Shinigen finishing off his strike which was set up in the final panel of the last page. He then attempts to slice Wolverine in two but can’t get through his body. Wolverine triumphantly holds his katana in place, places his knuckles on a grinning Shingen, then a violent *snikt is heard by a Wolverine with bloodshot eyes
The issue ends with a rather long epilogue where some essential characterisation and closure is finished before the credits roll. It just feels really slow after such a stimulating action display.
Mariko and Wolverine talk about Logan’s honour and her duty to her family and how they were in conflict with one another as she knew how dishonourable he was. Mariko says was planning to kill Shinigen because his actions were so dishonourable. The ending feels a little strange with the promise of Mariko and Wolverine getting married when you know it won’t last.
