Wolverine #48: Calm Before the Storm

As we approach a whole new era of X-books, there are still a few loose ends to tie up, including The Sabretooth War. Wolverine #48 is part eight of the ten-part series and written by Benjamin Percy and Victor LaValle. The two writers have done a wonderful job of incorporating elements from Percy’s Wolverine run and LaValle’s various Sabretooth titles. It is clear that they planted the seeds throughout this era of X-books and want to go out with a bang, but the last ten issues of Wolverine have been dragging its claws a bit. With only two issues left, it seems that this series could have been monthly rather than bimonthly and half the issues. The cover of Wolverine #48 is an excellent metaphor for this event: it’s getting pulled in too many directions. 

The problem isn’t that the writers are trying to do different things with clashing ideas; the pacing is just a little odd. These issues have been incredible visually and delivering some fun ideas. Cory Smith’s pencils and Oren Junior’s inks feel distinct from Geoff Shaw but it isn’t a jarring switch. Even with alternating artists, the coloring and lettering have been holding down the fort in feeling like a consistent series thanks to Alex Sinclair and Cory Petit. The writing is bringing a lot of fun ideas to the table. A depowered Wolverine is nothing new, but it hasn’t happened in some time, though it is a shame it happened so late in this series. Wolverine has been advertised in line-ups in upcoming books, so it is mostly safe to say that he gets them back. However, this issue does set up an interesting conflict between an armored Wolverine and whatever condition Sabretooth comes out in.