With a new creative team taking the helm issue 9 of “Wolverine,” the book takes the titular character out of Madripoor for a one-shot and introduces us to a bunch of unremarkable military types. Whether through Peter David’s scripting or Bill Oakley’s lettering or some combination of the two, one of the military types takes out a pocket knife before we see his face or the amount of men he is with. When the knife is popped out it makes the same noise as Wolverine’s claws, making the reader assume it is Logan and get disappointed when it is not. The night time is often emphasised with a strong dark blue in the background and sometimes even shading the faces of the characters. Mark Chiarrello manages to effectively convey night and day throughout the issue as well as adding more or less shading when it seems necessary.
Written by Peter DavidCover by Gene Colan
Illustrated by Gene Colan
Colored by Mark Chiarrello
Lettered by Bill OakleyA tale from Wolverine’s Department H days! A mercenary group learns their sins are catching up with them, and so is a guy with claws!
The first four pages are somewhat reminiscent of the opening of the ongoing scene in issue 1 of the ongoing series, with Wolverine stealthily, but chaotically, cutting through tougher than average men with relative ease. The main difference being that once the onslaught ends we continue to see things from the perspective of Wolverine’s victims. In fact the reader doesn’t even get a full view of Wolverine until the very end of the issue. When we do get glimpses of Wolverine it is often just his hand with his claws out or it shows him within a small panel on a page so as not to make to large of a visual impression. This is done because in Peter David’s story, we are supposed to view Wolverine as the unstoppable monster, so we can better experience the terror felt by the small group of men. The hand with his claws out in particular is used very effectively in two instances. The first is in a splash page where Gene Colan wants to have the hero (or in this case, the monster) crash into the story and make an impression but also doesn’t want to show him in full for the reasons mentioned above. The second instance is when we see a hand in the water the men are canoeing through. It looks so helpless, until we hear the “*SNIKT” and see the claws pop out and suddenly the lowly hand is an unstoppable threat. Adding to the tension is the tilted and awkward panelling creating the rocky feeling one gets when they’re on a boat.
There is an excess of dialogue by Peter David that feels like it’s supposed to slow the reader down in order to savour the tension that builds up between each of Wolverine’s attacks. This is essential for the pacing of a horror comic like this but it doesn’t make it feel any less like busy work at times. Perhaps assuming it was deliberate is giving David too much credit but regardless, the level of dialogue per page has its benefits and drawbacks but is ultimately a better choice for the story being told.
When compared to John Buscema, Gene Colan’s illustrations feel more modern in the sense that the angles he choses put less emphasis on showing the entire body and are more inclined to show close-ups of a character’s face. This of course adds to the horror elements as the inclinations to frame people in ways that don’t show them entirely helps the obscuring of Wolverine feel more natural. When we do finally see him Gene Colan draws him looking stout, bulky, and with a mean face; dressed in his blue and yellow outfit. Despite previous pages having less dialogue and feeling a little drawn out, the monologue he delivers at the end leaves you hanging on every word as he explains his perspective on what is essentially his final prey and why he has been hunting him down.
