Colourist: Bryan Valenza, Letterer: Cory Petit
Ultimate Wolverine was one of those books I was a little unsure about when it was first announced. The Ultimate X-Men book was great, even if I think it works better in a single read than month to month, and is its own unique animal that feels very unconnected in story and tone to the rest of the Ultimate universe. As such, I was unsure how this book was going to fit in with that. Whilst this title has done more to help push Ultimate X-Men even more into feeling like its own thing it's absolutely blown my expectations away, and has become my favourite title in the line so far.
The first four issues have spent a lot of time setting up Logan, and showing us how the Eurasian Republic rules with an iron fist, using awful techniques to put down any opponent. Logan, a former member of the resistance group The Opposition, is one of those methods, having been captured, experimented on, and physically and psychically broken and rebuilt into the Winter Solider, their ultimate weapon.
This issue moves away from Logan somewhat, and makes him more of a supporting character as we focus instead on Victor Creed, the man we know as Sabretooth. The cover, along with our experiences with the character in the main universe, build a certain expectation for this version of the character, and those expecting a vicious monster on par with the creature that Logan has been made into might be getting something of a surprise.
Opening in the city of Rasputingrad, we find Creed running a small bar. But he's not just there to enjoy the quiet life, as it seems that Sabretooth is a part of The Opposition and their underground railroad, smuggling young mutants out of the country and the tyrannical rule of the Rasputins. With two children, Leech and Artie Maddicks, literally living under his floorboards whilst they wait to be taken to safety, this issue evokes some strong images from history, and instantly showcases how this version of Victor Creed is a very different animal.
I love this shift in the character. One of my favourite versions of Sabretooth was the Age of Apocalypse version, who I mostly knew from Exiles. His relationship with Blink was great, and I loved him being a caring father figure. It's also a wonderful inverse of the roles he and Logan have in the 616 universe, where he's the monstrous killer and Logan cares for mutant kids. I was also surprised how quickly a few pages of him being kind and caring towards a couple of kids made me really care about him, and genuinely fear for his safety once Logan arrived on the scene.
This issue Logan is a bogeyman, a monster that arrives in the middle of the night to threaten decent people and take children away in the dark. It hammers home how frightening a figure he is in this universe, and the fight that takes place between him and Creed is bloody, brutal, and fantastically depicted by the art team.
Speaking of the art, this issue sees a change in the artists, with Alex Lins taking over for Alessandro Cappuccio. It's a very different feel for the book, though one that works well in this setting. I absolutely adored Cappuccio's work on the previous four issues, and he created some absolutely gorgeous environments, depicting the brutal beauty of the Russian landscape. Lins, in contrast, creates art that seems to focus on the characters more, with the panels often having little to no background art in them, drawing the focus to Creed, the kids, and eventually Logan too. It helps to make the story happening this issue feel more grounded, a more human story, and whilst the awful beauty of the violence has a different flavour to it than previous issues it's no less brutal and shocking.
This issue ends up adding a lot more background information, and begins to fill in more of the blanks we have for Logan and his past, even if he's not learning about them himself. We also get another familiar face introduced that we'll likely be seeing more of next issue.
For those who've been enjoying this series I'm hoping that you love this issue as much as I do. It's a wonderful change of pace that doesn't feel shocking or out of place, and adds to this interesting tapestry that Condon is crafting. And if things continue as they have this issue the 6160 version of Victor Creed might become one of my favourites.
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