Wolverine #42: Gore!

When the Sabertooth War kicked off earlier this month with Wolverine #41, the cover featured two surprise additions: a parental advisory and a tagline boasting “The Most Violent Wolverine Story Ever Told!” Wolverine #42 continues to keep its promises as it cranks the violence up a notch in nearly nonstop action. Picking up directly where issue #41 left off, Wolverine faces a score of Sabretooths in front of a birthday message written in limbs of now-deceased mutants including Wolverine’s son Daken. Wolverine is quickly defeated and tied up using adamantium and forced to listen to and smell the massacre as Sabretooth and his multiverse counterparts make their way through the mutant base. Everything about this issue works. With nearly nonstop action, things move quickly which lends itself to the idea that this is an ambush and the characters do not have enough time to properly react. Victor LaValle and Benjamin Percy continue to share writing duties for the Sabretooth War. The first issue felt like they each contributed sections focusing on their characters but issue #42 feels much more collaborative since the action is all in one place. The story and tone could easily go overboard but Percy and LaValle are smart and skillful writers who know these characters well. 

Including a parental advisory was a welcomed addition when the Sabretooth War started a few weeks ago, and issue #41 certainly warranted it, but issue #42 turns the violence up to eleven and includes some brutal gore and deaths. Thanks to the parental advisory, the book can fully lean into the violent nature of the Wolverine and Sabretooth. The use of violence does raise the emotional stakes for Wolverine. The previous issue had multiple artists but Cory Smith is the sole penciler on issue #42 with Oren Junior inking and Alex Sinclair laying down the color. Smith is a great choice for this story and does an incredible job with the gritty details of the carnage and action. Junior and Sinclair elevate Smith’s pencils while retaining a lot of detail that other inkers and colorists might overpower. There is a lot of blood and guts in this issue and Sinclair’s attention to detail ensures that this really is the most violent Wolverine story. Within the carnage and action, Cory Petit’s lettering is top-notch with masterful placement of disgusting and gorey onomatopoeia. Petit’s lettering for Wolverine stands out, especially in the closing pages where Wolverine realizes the reality of the events of the issue.