Ultimate Wolverine #4: Wolf Like Me

A key component of sequential storytelling is juxtaposition as a formal technique. In Scott McCloud’s seminal text, Understand Comics, the author sets the initial definition of comics as “Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer.” Setting things like pictorial images and text against one another creates meaning in the similarities and differences between the items on the page. Meaning, aesthetics, and tone all result not just from what is present on a page but how it’s arranged and how much of each occupies the space. Thoughtful, harmonious comics keep that balance in mind as the creators spin up a page filled with the necessary lines, letters, and colors to bring a story to life. 

Ultimate Wolverine #4 – written by Chris Condon with art from Alessandro Cappuccio, colors by Bryan Valenza, and lettering from VC’s Cory Petit – is an exercise in juxtaposition, operating on a framework that combines wild animal visuals with caption boxes from the Directorate X labs. Picking up after Kitty Pryde scrambled Logan’s mind in the last issue, the visuals track a scarred wolf hunting through the Russian forest, culminating in a brutal fight with a massive bear. Amid this fight, memories flash for Logan, as glimpses from his past surface. 

While the wolf hunts, the captions indicate that Logan is brought back to the labs, where he proceeds to attack the scientists, viciously injuring one based on the dialogue. When the issue syncs the captions and visuals to reveal Logan, Dr. Prostovich is working to return the mutant to his docile state. The revelation is that the process requires three parts, including sedatives, reeducation, and psychic influence. When the third portion of the program is explained, Dr. Prostovich reveals the ultimate fate of three classic mutants with a connection to Wolverine. The issue ends with the indication that Logan will be reprogrammed and return as the Winter Soldier, ready for his next mission. 

Condon’s script makes excellent use of the issue’s framework, highlighting thematic concepts while still maintaining a consistent voice and plot structure for the issue. Using the scarred wolf as an avatar for Logan’s bestial nature brings forward a common association and makes it feel concrete on the page. On a visual level, this sequence with the wolf feels like an echo of the first issue, with the central figure on a mission not revealed to the audience until the violence plays out. Condon disorients the audience as well through the metaphorical execution of Logan’s berserker rage, requiring more focus and close reading to make clear the full picture. 

By employing these narrative techniques, Condon makes the case for a dynamic storytelling canvas that Cappuccio and the rest of the team explore to great effect. Combining the wolf’s pupil-less eyes rendered by Cappuccio, Condon’s dialogue snippets, and Valenza’s unnerving orange coloring results in a page that calls to attention both the details on the page while making clear a visual for what’s happening to Logan back in the lab. Condon’s scripting sets the foundation for these moments, trusting implicitly in his collaborators to sell every moment that occurs off-page through the metaphorical images. 

The element that blends these elements and synthesizes them into a cohesive unit is Petit’s lettering, which brings a consistency that bridges literal and metaphorical. The first key to the lettering is the color coordination of the caption boxes. Established in the first panel, set against the black backdrop, four colors are established for the voices narrating the wolf’s hunting. Green, blue, and orange belong to the soldiers trying to contain the Winter Soldier during his rampage, while the soft sandy brown belongs to Logan’s fracture recollection. The lettering within the boxes is the typical typeface for the series, making the ordinary feel like the control of the narrative and visual experimentations. 

In contrast to the hyper-stylized, carnal artwork and stark colorations in the backgrounds, the text boxes pop as a result of their straightforward text and primary colors. It’s only Logan’s more complex, muted hue that sometimes blends with a backdrop, allowing the human portion of Logan to fade and be subsumed by the animal urges. That approach is a subtle choice that draws the eye by not calling attention to the page, making a dynamic impact that rewards second and third readings. Petit will then stagger the text boxes later on in the issue, as Logan faces down the bear. Dr. Prostovich’s caption box is introduced at this moment, a bright yellow that cuts through the overlapping hues. Her voice immediately captures Logan’s attention, causing the visuals to shift between the wolf, to Logan’s human history, and then back to his visage as the Winter Soldier. 

That flash and confrontation between the bear and wolf breaks the rhythm of compositions by shifting into a double-page splash, mirroring that structure into the next splash with the return to the real world. The Winter Soldier stands covered in the blood and viscera from the lab techs, claws drawn and eyes glowing red with murderous intent. Pairing these moments together as the transition allows Cappuccio to open up the spaces while contrasting the sizes of the central figures. For the wolf, there’s a viciousness in its form that speaks to the fight still inside while the Winter Soldier is small and seen from a high angle, shrinking his form in the presence of the doctor. Cappuccio shows that the reintegration of Logan’s condition before Condon’s dialogue fills in the moment, highlighting the trust between creators and their respective craft. 

Without revealing the final twist of the issue (which feels like a natural endpoint for the characters at the Maker’s hand), the last few pages hint towards the bigger world of mutants and who remains to fight. Condon delivers the exposition through Dr. Prostovich’s dialogue as Logan is put back under control. It further develops the history via the issue’s backmatter, which are transcriptions of the doctor’s musings about mutant abilities and their applications. It’s an excellent one-two punch of information that moves the world forward and rewards readers who may be chafing against the more abstract plot of the issue.