Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Marvel Comics | Tagged: deadpool, marauders, marvel, wolverine, x-men, X-ual Healing - The Weekly X-Men Recap Column

Wolverine Refrains From Killing Baby in Black, White & Blood #1 [XH]

Published Mon, 09 Nov 2020 18:00:07 -0600

by Jude Terror

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Well, last week was an… interesting week, wasn't it? Believe it or not, Marvel Comics still put out four X-books last week: X-Men, Marauders, Wolverine, and Deadpool. And even though some portion of the proceeds, by way of profits shared with Ike Perlmutter, went to support Donald Trump's reelection campaign, he still lost! Well, I guess Ike's money can go to pay for the legal challenges now. It's a whole new world out there, but it's always the same old @#$% at Marvel. Won't you read about it with me?

Sworn to sell comics for Marvel executives who feared and hated the fact that Fox owned their movie rights, The Uncanny X-Men suffered great indignities. Still, thanks to a corporate merger, a line-wide relaunch, and Jonathan Hickman's giant ego, the X-Men can finally get back to doing what they do best: being objectively the best franchise in all of comics for lovers of soap opera drama.

[MULTINAV]

The cover to Wolverine: Black, White & Blood #1

WOLVERINE BLACK WHITE BLOOD #1 (OF 4)
SEP200530
(W) Gerry Duggan, Declan Shalvey, Matthew Rosenberg (A) Declan Shalvey, Joshua Cassara (A/CA) Adam Kubert
TOP MARVEL TALENT SINK THEIR CLAWS INTO ALL-NEW
WOLVERINE TALES AND THEY'RE BLOODIER THAN EVER!
LOGAN. PATCH. WEAPON X. WOLVERINE. The mysterious mutant has gone by many names and lived many different lives. Now, experience ALL-NEW untold tales of the best there is through the lens of an all-star cast of creators, in the unadulterated black and white format (with a healthy splash of blood red all over)!
Return to the Weapon X program with Gerry Duggan and Adam Kubert, and a new revelation from Wolverine's shattered memories. Join Matthew Rosenberg and Joshua Cassara on an explosive deep-cover spy mission from Wolverine's association with NICK FURY. Head into the wilds with writer/artist Declan Shalvey as Logan finds himself in the crossfire of a deadly trap! This is the one you've been waiting for, bub. Parental Advisory
In Shops: Nov 04, 2020
SRP: $4.99

Wolverine: Black, White & Blood #1 Recap

Wolverine: Black, White & Blood is an anthology title featuring three stories. The gimmick is that the only colors used in the comic are… well, you can guess, can't you? In the first story, The Beast Within Them, by "The Gerry Duggan of Comics" Gerry Duggan, Adam Kubert, and Frank Martin, Wolverine remembers through narration his time being field-tested in the Weapon X program, pit against deadlier and deadlier foes until finally, they put up against Wendigo. But when Weapon X nearly kills Wendigo, he realizes there's a man inside and fights the urge to do what he does best. Weapon X captures both "monsters."

In the second story, I Shall Be a Wolf, by Matthew Rosenberg, Joshua Cassara, and Guru-eFX, Wolverine is captured by Hydra in Hungary and brought to an undisclosed location for interrogation. The interrogator, Inquisitor Hersh, narrates a flashback describing how Wolverine, working for Nick Fury (but wearing his X-Men costume, if you want to date this story), was captured. Hydra was looking for Fury but ended up running into Wolverine instead. He slaughtered a bunch of them but eventually, they captured him and brought him to this secret Hydra base.

When Hersh finishes, Wolverine then narrates the parts he was missing — that Wolverine and Fury planned this. That they wanted to find and kill Hersh, and the whole thing was a setup. How Wolverine got a bomb and hit it inside his stomach. How the phone call Hersh is making right now to the number of Nick Fury he believed he got from Wolverine is the trigger for the bomb. It blows up the whole base, killing Hersh. Wolverine, we can surmise, survived.

Finally, in Cabin Fever, by "The Art Cred Guy," Declan Shalvey, Wolverine, takes a motorcycle trip to Canada. The costume he's wearing is reminiscent of the New X-Men era. While riding, he hears a baby crying and finds its parents, one a state trooper, murdered in a cabin. Then he senses assassins outside, so he puts the baby in the oven and kills them all. Then he kills a second team.

Finally, another state trooper shows up and explains to Wolverine that the woman inside was his partner. He was a dirty cop involved in arms smuggling, and his partner made him quit. Then the smugglers got revenge by murdering her and her husband, and they were waiting for him to show up so they could kill him too. They didn't count on Wolverine getting involved, of course. Wolverine tells the guy it's now his responsibility to raise the baby and walks off into the snowy forest. Hey, at least Wolverine didn't kill the kid, which he does have a penchant for doing.

Where to start with this comic? First of all, the grammar of the title is driving me crazy. Oxford Comma 4 life, motherf**kers! But other than that, it was pretty cool. Just simple Wolverine short stories unburdened of modern continuity with a cool gimmick where blood is the only color used in an otherwise black and white comic. Nothing here was mindblowing, but it was all fun to read, which is sometimes all you need or want from a comic. Best of all, it's a reminder of what made Wolverine likable as a character before the last fifteen years or so turned him into an obnoxious Mary Sue.