Savage Wolverine #22 Review! “The Great War Part Two”

We pick up this story where we left off last issue, right in the middle. A great tale about Wolverine’s time serving for the Canadian Army in World War I, we see Wolverine deal with his immortality and usefulness in killing in a very classic sense. 

Kevin Nowlan delivers another fine cover that accents the work of Joe Quinones on the interior pages. Both artists use a heavy shadow technique to embellish the light and dark of the scene, especially for Quinones, because much of the story is set at night. The old school feel of comics, with panels splashed with reds for violence, and pain lines, and ‘Blam’ and ‘Rat A Tat” onomonopia lend to a rich experience when reading. John Arcudi finishes this two part story in good form, telling a familiar story of Logan being in a war because he is furious, filled with a bloodlust, and hard to kill.

With the Germans in a prime position, the Canadian forces are looking to take the bridge and push on to victory. Wolverine continues to have strange dream-like flashes of being in France with the captain of the German army that he is trying to stop from contacting reinforcements. A simple story, but with the added bonus of a telepath Lt. “Link” Bellamy, it makes for some interesting ideas concerning Wolverine. Believing he has had his mind probed for days, because of the visions, he confronts Link telepathically during the firefight. Later, Logan apologizes, but still believes he was right in his assumptions. This opens up some interesting thoughts on how much Wolverine can detect telepathic tampering. Obviously, after his days with the X-Men, Wolvie has gotten pretty adept at dealing with mid control. But this means he could detect it even earlier, leading to the question; ‘How many times has he been manipulated throughout his life?’. Very cool to think about.

The story wraps up nicely with Logan dealing again with his immortality. There is a line where he wonders if he will ever know what dying like a man is like, and I think that is really important considering what is happening with his main line and the near DEATH OF WOLVERINE mini series that is about to happen. SAVAGE WOLVERINE has been favorite title with this character of late, and again, I really hope they decide to continue it after his death. It is stories from his past, so the potential for new story arcs could be limitless.

The “Best There Is”:

This comic line as a whole has really impressed me. Some stories take multiple issues, some take only one, or others take two like this. This issue brings the story full circle, and leaves Wolverine in Paris, as the world celebrates the end of the war. But he really isn’t celebrating, as he sits on the curb alone, drinking and most likely thinking of his own place in the world. Also, the images of Wolverine being savage and killing people are very welcome, considering what is happening in his main title.

The “Isn’t Very Nice”:

I really wanted to see more of this character Link. I like how he is introduced, and think that the dichotomy of Wolverine and Link is familiar (see Professor X and Logan) but also foreign because it is so early in Logan’s life. Knowing how this comic series operates, we most likely will skip ahead, or back, in years and probably won’t see that character again. That is a shame, because of the potential that could be, but that happens a lot with a character like Wolverine who has lived for a long, long time.

CBH Score: 4 out of 5. Good end to a solid story. If you pick up this issue make sure to read the previous one, or you could just read my review here.