Wolverine has quietly risen up the ranks to be one of the better comic books in the X-Men line. Benjamin Percy has been able to put Wolverine back to being a solo hero successfully while not taking him out of the X-Men world. Seeing how Wolverine is actually using his current standing with the X-Men and Krakoa to help his solo adventures has given this new series a different tone. Now with the first story arc of this new Wolverine series out of the way what is coming next for the X-Men’s resident loner? Let’s find out with Wolverine #4.
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artist: Victor Bogdanovic
Colorist: Matthew Wilson
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: Wolverine returns Magneto’s helmet during a meeting with the Quiet Council. Charles Xavier tells Wolverine that he was called for a meeting with the Quiet Council so that next time Logan decides to go on a mission he works with them to do it. Wolverine says talking gets in the way of getting things done. Magneto tells Xavier that there is no reasoning with barbarians.
Xavier psychically communicates with Wolverine trying to once again get Logan to work with the Quiet Council because he is endangering everything they built. Wolverine smirks and says that Xavier and Magneto won’t like that he used Magneto’s helmet as a piss bucket.
Later Wolverine returns to somewhere in Canada where he placed a private Krakoan gate for him to use in order to figure out what is waiting for them all in the shadows of what Krakoa is building.
Wolverine heads into a bar where he immediately changes the music. One of the other patrons does not like Wolverine’s song choice and breaks a cue stick over his head. Wolverine takes the hit no problem and breaks the guy’s head with a headbutt.
A cop suddenly enters the bar freaked out. The cop tells everyone at the bar he saw a slaughtered deer in the road that caused him to crash his car. He tells the bartender he is staying there for the night because of how bad the storm is outside.
The old lady in the bar starts oddly flirting with Wolverine. As she does Wolverine starts feeling weird and heads into the bathroom.
Wolverine wakes up in the bathroom after briefly passing out. He notices that he has blood on his hands. When he checks the stall next to his he finds the guy he headbutted earlier has been killed.
When he examines the body Wolverine finds out that the guy was part of the Brotherhood Militia. The cop finds Wolverine over the dead body and uses his tranquilizer gun on Wolverine.
Wolverines wakes up and finds himself chained up on a chair. The bartender and old lady reveal that they know who Wolverine is and the fact he is a mutant who can’t die by normal means. They decide to teach Wolverine a lesson by throwing him into the freezing water.
As they prepare to sink Wolverine under the freezing water the bartender reveals that Wolverine caused his wife to die during one of Logan’s bar fights in Madripoor. He then reveals that they are all part of the Mutant Trauma Support Group.
Suddenly Omega Red appears and kills the three people looking to drown Wolverine. Omega Red then uses his tentacles to drown Wolverine. Omega Red reveals that he has been following Wolverine and that he has also been looking to drink Wolverine’s pain.
As that happens Dracula and the Vampire Nation suddenly appear. End of issue.
The Good: As with previous issues, the best part of Wolverine #4 is how Benjamin Percy has captured Logan’s voice. There is a sense of progression to Percy’s Wolverine that takes the current X-Men continuity and shows us how Logan would act in it. That allows you to understand why Wolverine would strike out on his own.
Kicking off Wolverine #4 with Logan being called for a meeting with the Quiet Council was a good tone setter. This scene with the Quiet Council shows that there is more tension between Wolverine and its members than we have seen in the other books. That is an important thing to establish because for the most part we have seen the X-Men acting as a unified force under the Quiet Council. Positioning Wolverine as one of the mutants who isn’t all-in with following the Quiet Council 100% is a unique position for the character.
The only other major mutant we’ve seen positioned in this way is Mystique. Mystique’s position in Krakoa is more antagonistic whereas Wolverine is sticking to his lone wolf persona. That comes with not fully trusting every aspect of Krakoa, that includes not waiting around for the Quiet Council’s to go on a mission is exactly what he would do. Once Wolverine knows something is going down he has to act. Waiting around just opens the opportunity to fail the mission.
Which makes the dynamic between Wolverine and Charles Xavier in particular stand out most. Unlike Magneto, Charles Xavier does see Wolverine as one of his kids and tries to reason with him. But Wolverine knows that just talking won’t get them anywhere. This creates an interesting set up for future storylines where Percy can delve deeper into Wolverine and Xavier’s dynamic.
It was also interesting to learn that with everything that is going on with Krakoa that there is a Mutant Trauma Support Group out there. This is an interesting organization given the current status quo with Krakoa and how mutants are viewed differently by the world. These three people that Wolverine runs into at the bar have clearly been thinking about revenge rather than getting past what Wolverine did. Establishing that these people were not good people even before whatever Wolverine did to them help make them antagonist that weren’t just placed there by accident.
All of this set-up made the twist of Omega Red sudden appearance work better. Percy is clearly telling more of a story about pain and revenge. Omega Red relating how he likes to relieve his pain and anger by drinking in Wolverine’s is an interesting take. This makes the antagonism between Wolverine and Omega Red take a different tone.
The hook ending of the Vampire Nation reappearing does create questions for what Percy’s intentions are for this storyline. There are a lot of unknowns for what Dracula and the Vampire Nation want and how that relates to the mutants. Those questions are good to have as we begin a new story arc.
Victor Bogdanovic continues to provide solid artwork throughout Wolverine #4. He has a good grounded look to the book that works for Wolverine’s character. Wolverine in particular comes across as rough and gruff throughout. Which makes moments like when he smirks when he told Xavier what he did with Magneto’s helmet comes across better. Bogdanovic also gives a dark and ominous look to the appearance of the Vampire Nation.
The Bad: Nothing.
Overall: Wolverine #4 does a good job kicking off a new storyline for the series. The dynamic between Wolverine and the Quiet Council stood out well to set-up the current standing of the former under Krakoa’s current structure. Where Benjamin Percy intends to go with this set-up will be interesting to find out.
To comment on this article and other Comic Book Revolution content visit our Facebook page, Twitter feed and Instagram. You can catch up with all of Kevin’s thoughts about comics, anime, TV shows, movies and more over on Twitter. You can also watch the fun and silly videos Kevin is making over on his TikTok.