We Say The Final Word On Wolverine: Black, White & Blood #4

Jude Jones: So I’ve been pretty hard on this series and…I’m not ashamed. It wasn’t necessarily bad but I found myself repeatedly unsatisfied. But I realized that maybe, just maybe, I was looking at this all wrong. Instead of approaching every story like it should be this encapsulated, logical, coherent, fulfilling vignette, I should just turn my brain off and enjoy it because it looks good and it’s violent. 

It’s like going to a candy store when you a taste for brussel sprouts: of course you’re going to be disappointed. 

So! For our final issue together (so sad!) I’m going to give reviews from two perspectives: my normal, thoughtful-ish Brussels sprout view and a, uh, less refined (or! More refined because sugar is refined, get it?), saccharine glazed view. 

Jason Large: Some say, “Don’t be sad it’s over. Be glad it happened.” I  will respond to those people and say “Ehhhh.” 

I was really hoping to see a very specific reason for this book to exist, especially because it focuses on an X-character and is not part of the current X-line. I never really had a wow moment over the first 3 issues, and that pretty much continues here.

Let’s claw our way through!

Anime Action

“The Art of Loss” Writer: Kelly Thompson, Artist: Khary Randolph

JL: So our first story is noted to be specifically after the events of Uncanny X-Men #173. Wolverine was left at the altar and is now goin’ on a bender. 

JJ: Wolverine is a moody and brooding, ninja who deals with emotions by fighting. If that’s not anime, I don’t know what is. And really, that’s the gist of Kelly Thompson’s work here: I’m sad so I need to fight. There’s no logical reason for Raven to attack a character who is absolutely more powerful than she head on. She just wants to get out rage. I get it. 

But. It’s not particularly deep or poignant. And exposition tells me everything, so I don’t really have the opportunity to feel anything from her words or thoughts or even nuances in her transformations. We get 12-14 panels of fight and then…that’s it. 

Storm and Logan go out for a beer. I don’t learn anything new or interesting. It just kind of…is. 

JL: I feel like Mystique is such a great antagonist because she doesn’t need to resort to throwing punches unless it’s on purpose. Here is very much out of frustration that her demand was met with the extremely expected no.

There was an opportunity here for two people that really hate each other (remember that time when the universe ended because Raven chose to let it rather than bring Logan back from the dead? [Ed. note: Wolverines]), being able to talk about the loss they’re each going through in a way that sheds light on their allegiances to the world… but that’s not what this mini-series is about, so let’s fight!

JJ: But it looks really damn cool. And if I use my saccharine goggles, maybe that’s all that matters, right? Khary Randolph does a genuinely good – no, great – job illustrating action. It even *looks* anime-ish to me, and that’s a definite plus for me. 

That said, the dialogue was trash. The story had no real purpose except to give the characters a reason to fight. It looked cool as shit. 

JL: The art is definitely stronger than the writing here. It helps that Mystique’s design lends itself very well to the color palette. 

JJ: It is what it is. 

Side note: since she’s a shapeshifter, can’t she just reshape wounds? Does that give her healing power on par with Logan in some cases? [Ed. note: yes actually]

Carnage Cruise (no, not that Carnage)

“Reave What You Sow” Writer: Ed Brisson, Artist: Leonard Kirk, Reds: Andres Mossa

JJ: Wolverine, seeking to kill people who killed people, jumps on a boat. He subsequently gets thrown off a boat. Runs into a shark or three. Cuts a shark or three. Jumps back on the boat. Kills the cyborgs. Drives away on the boat. Samuel L. Jackson should be so lucky. 

Again, narratively this…this is not good. It’s all exposition. The action is ok-ish – I feel like I see more flailing feet than anything else. I definitely don’t learn anything new (except maybe that Wolverine really is immortal?!?), or see his character developed. Even the Reavers’ look is uninspired: they look as generic as generic can look. Even through saccharine goggles this is unfulfilling: it just is. 

JL: The Reavers really stuck out as odd to me as an odd choice because of the bomb Logan drops while fighting to make his way back to the boat. Drowning is something his healing factor can recover from. 

Millions of online discussions gasped in horror. 

Instead of being a death, it just turns into a torture of drowning over and over until he is removed from the body of water. Assuming he has a minute or two of consciousness before drowning again, how long would it take to crawl out of the Pacific Ocean?

But with that out of the way, I keep thinking about the Reavers. Specifically because one of the biggest moments I can think of with Logan and the Reavers is the cover of Uncanny X-Men #251 where Logan is crucified on an X and left for dead.

Seeing this story show how seemingly impossible it is to kill Wolverine really puts in stark relief the power creep the character has had since the 80s. As such, it puts the Wolverine in this story out of time with it. It’s usually easy enough to ignore as just part of comics, but made me think more about that than the actual story.

JJ: That said, the last page in the spread, with the Blood moon illuminating the blood soaked water with the shark fins? That’s undeniably cool and maybe one of my favorite panels in the entire series; maybe of the year. 

Savage Situations (featuring Sauron)

“Sticks & Stones” Writer: Steven S. DeKnight, Artist: Paulo Siqueira, Inker: Oren Junior, Reds: Andres Mossa

JJ: Who the hell vacations in the Savage Land? Let’s start there. Actually? Let’s not. It’s fine. I’ve got to remember, the less thinking the better. [Ed. note: Canonically? Cyclops does vacation there.]

JL: Sometimes you just gotta see some dinosaurs… like right now.

JJ:I kinda like Sauron here. I really appreciate Steven S. DeKnight’s attempt to imbue humor and perspective here. “Team up with the villain to take out a common foe, with humor” used to be one of my favorite Saturday morning cartoon tropes, because it had the effect of humanizing the villain. And it kinda works here. Sure, the pterodactyl-vampire-villain isn’t really humanized, and they make exceedingly quick work of the villain. But! The running “don’t call me Karl” joke is cute and the end panel again is pretty cool (don’t love the silhouettes but I appreciate the idea). The art didn’t really click for me consistently, though Wolverine emerging from a T-rex’s head is undeniably boss. 

JL: I enjoy the lighter tone of the feud between Logan and Karl here. While I can now only really think of Sauron as someone who would rather turn people into dinosaurs than cure cancer, I like the plot of, “let’s pause our fight to take care of the actual problem” team up.

JJ: Through my saccharine goggles this has everything I want: shit talking Wolverine, shit talking villain, metatextual team ups, zombies, gore, and blood. What more can you ask for? Besides plot and depth and…

JL: I could of used some joke about Wolverine finding some catharsis about cutting off the head of the guys with the red eye beams.

Dramatic Finish?

JJ: I remember when The Hangover came out and everyone was fawning about how great and funny of a movie it was. For whatever reason I didn’t see it until months later when I was severely underwhelmed. Expectation is the thief of joy.   

I had high expectations for this work. Wolverine, overused as he’s been, is still a great character with a lot of depth, depth the Krakoa-Hickman run is (admittedly unevenly) tapping into. 

Yet none of that depth was here. The writers seemed resigned to repeat the same kinds of dialogue, putting him in the same kinds of situations, and having him react in the same kinds of ways. Some stories gave a better inkling of the loss he’s suffered or his morality, but even those inklings were simply inklings. None of the art took risks and instead relied on gore to cover a lack of originality. 

JL: This mini-series has done a lot of what I expected and not really anything that surprised me. Ultimately if this was a $20 collection of shorts, I think I would like it more. Broken into these 4 issues doesn’t really make sense to me. There’s no theme per issue. No arch. Just a lot of references to an idea of what makes Wolverine tough.

JJ: I was, and am, disappointed. 

But!

To your point, if this was one issue for $20 dollars, and if my expectations were simply “gratuitous gore” instead of “character study” then I’d be happy. The comic wasn’t problematic; my expectations were. Ahh well. 

In any case, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed hate-reading this with you. Our conversations were the best part of this series by far. Gonna miss you dude!

JL: Being able to discuss with you is definitely the high point of this series for me. Maybe we can re-team on the long overdue Adventures of Jonathan: the Actual Wolverine.

Final Thoughts

• No, seriously, he can’t drown? The hell?
• I like the idea of Storm and Logan as BFFs more than I like them as lovers, tbh. But I’m #teamtchalla so I’m biased. (JJ)
  • I’m #teamYukio (JL)
• KARL. Sauron is now my second favorite Karl of all time. Right above Urban. Right below Marx. Way way above Malone. 

Jason Large

He/Him
Jason is born, raised, and currently resides in New Jersey with his wife, two cats, and one dog. He enjoys comics, games, art, and helped put together the logo and website for ComicsXF. He'd rather be in the woods.

Jude Jones

A proud New Orleanian living in the District of Columbia, Jude Jones is a professional thinker, amateur photographer, burgeoning runner and lover of Black culture, love and life. Magneto and Cyclops (and Killmonger) were right.
Find more of Jude’s writing here.