This Is The War That Never Ends: Reviewing ‘Wolverine’ #44

Creed vs Logan. A battle waged through many lifetimes; the casualties are far too many to count at this point.

In the aftermath of Creed’s latest brutal attack, Logan and company regroup and prepare for more war in Wolverine #44. Part four of this blood-soaked tale comes from Benjamin Percy, Victor LaValle, Cory Smith, Oren Junior, Alex Sinclair, and Cory Petit.

Middle portions of a story generally serve as a way to catch the characters up and deliver the next beats in a plot. That is mostly what this issue is, while also being a spot for characters to showcase their different ways of handling grief.

Through a series of telepathic cutaways, LaValle and Percy allow Logan and his team to get caught up on what the army of Creeds’ deal is. Alongside this are moments where Logan ruminates about the nature of his long war with Creed, some Creed killing action, and pointed barbs at Krakoa’s Quiet Council (rightfully so).

I do appreciate that they slowed things down enough on the wanton gore-fest that the first chapters had become. Giving a bit of room for the massacres to have some effect. Still, not a huge fan of the return to others paying the price for Logan and Creed’s war, even if that is the point. Even when presented in this bigger longer format, something about the duo’s perpetual motion machine of death feels boring. It’s an expected outcome, and no matter how this ends we’ll circle back to this sooner rather than later.

That being said, they handle it fine here. There is gravity to the situation, weight that can’t be shaken off. Death is having an impact after it was taken off the board in the past few years. No doubt Quentin and Akihiro (sorry nameless mutants that were just a body count) will be back at some point through typical comic book methods. In the meantime, their deaths are leaving many rattled and at least getting Logan to finally take stalk of his part in this terrible ‘game.’

It’s back to Smith and Junior to tackle the artwork for this issue, continuing their switch out with Geoff Shaw.

A heavier bit of story work fits with the heavier rough styling that Smith brings to the party. Enhanced by the weightier inks of Junior, letting every moment sort of hang and have an impact. A lighter side can be found, as there is still that very animated whimsical bag of DNA mixed in there. Characters flow through the world, action scenes feel energetic and the paneling does a solid job of framing. Viewers are generally in the midst of things rather than sitting in the nosebleeds looking down.

Daytime settings and more internal beats let Sinclair play with colors again. A vibrant touch is presented in various panels and pages while using a more toned-down palette in general. These colors bring some of that lighter feeling I mentioned previously. This more neutral, toned-down feeling makes the world feel a bit more grounded. Blood and other beats feel muted while still having an impact.

Some of the first issue scenes with snow felt very blurry and hard to follow, but being in daylight helps here. There is a panel with Captain Creed running through the snow, nothing but snowy white behind him. It’s very muted with the whites and blues and not much else other than the blood but stands out so much. Just a dynamic shot as drawn but also because of the coloring choices here.

Characters have a lot to say since there are a lot of story beats to iron out as characters catch up. Some of it is monologuing, some riffing, and some are solo thought captions. It all works on the page easily because of the work Petit always puts in. Letting personality and emotion speak volumes through the words, no matter how many are piled up together. This isn’t a place where there is a ton of room for different creative outputs with the lettering, but it still at least has an impact to it. Issues coming so rapidly to get through this ten-part story probably play a part in some of that.

Wolverine #44 is now available from Marvel Comics.