Wolverine #45 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
WOLVERINE vol 7 #45
“Sabretooth War, part 5: X Marks the Spot”
Writers: Victor LaValle & Benjamin Percy
Artist: Geoff Shaw
Colour artist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Cory Petit
Editor: Mark Basso
COVER / PAGE 1. Well, that’s a big X with Wolverine and Sabretooth at the sides, a Stark Sentinel at the top, and the three main alt-Sabretooths at the bottom – although “Cap” Sabretooth died last issue.
PAGES 2-4. Sabretooth returns to Krakoa.
The Stark Sentinels have been guarding Krakoa (to little effect) ever since the Hellfire Gala.
As Sabretooth points out, he was banished to the Pit right at the start of the Krakoan era (in House of X #6), so he never really knew the place.
Sabretooth has an Orchis ship because his Station Five base was stolen from Orchis in the Sabretooth & The Exiles miniseries.
Sabretooth says that he “needs something those mutants left behind on Krakoa”. This issue never makes clear what that something is, but Sabretooth evidently expects to find it in Forge’s lab.
Quentin is correct that metal has no smell (which doesn’t really explain how Sabretooth is able to detect it).
PAGE 5. Recap and credits.
PAGES 6-7. “Savage” Sabretooth sends “Camo” Sabretooth to find Graydon Creed.
The two remaining alt-Sabretooths decided on this plan in issue #43. As “Savage” points out, she’s fought Graydon Creed before, which is where we met her in Sabretooth & The Exiles. “Camo” Sabretooth was only introduced for this arc (plus, he’s a shape changer).
Give or take a bit of artistic licence, this is the same portal device that Graydon was shoved through in Sabretooth & The Exiles #5.
Mystique is Graydon’s mother. In the mainstream Marvel Universe, she did raise him as a child; she claims in X-Men Unlimited #4 that she “left him for dead, shortly after his twelfth birthday, after it became apparent that he was never going to be a mutant – and therefore never going to be of any use to me”. Graydon’s recollection of events in that issue seems to be similar.
PAGES 8-9. The Exiles approach Krakoa.
We last saw the Exiles in issue #43, where Oya picked up Quentin’s psychic distress call, and the Exiles decided to go after Sabretooth and finally use the Killing Seed that Cypher gave them as a means to contain Sabretooth. Oya and Quentin were a couple back in Wolverine and the X-Men, which is why she feels particularly strongly about his death.
PAGES 10-14. Sabretooth defeats Forge’s sentry.
Obviously, while Quentin can’t directly disobey Sabretooth’s commands, he’s trying to be as unhelpful as he can be within those parameters. Although Quentin argues to Sabretooth that Forge is capable of making the sentry robot undetectable, Wolverine recognises it later in the issue, which strongly suggests that Quentin would have been expecting it too.
As in issue #43, Sabretooth is written as wanting to return to the good old days when he and Wolverine were soulmates fighting alongside one another. Quentin’s reading is that Sabretooth loves Wolverine and is in denial about the fact, which takes that interpretation a little further, but it’s really just a question of degree. Sabretooth frames it more as a comrades in arms thing – though even that is a U-turn from his initial stance that he’s motivated by hate.
“I’ve battled the Phoenix Force and died more times than I can count protecting Krakoa.” Quentin’s alarmingly high number of deaths on Krakoa was covered in X-Force, particularly issue #17. He fought the Phoenix Force (as opposed to just encountering it) in Mighty Thor #18-19 (2017).
PAGES 15-16. Camo Sabretooth returns with Graydon Creed.
Maybe. As they acknowledge, they’re not sure it’s even him.
As predicted, Laura has healed from her injuries in issue #43.
PAGES 17-18. The Exiles escape the Stark Sentinel.
Basically, they just outrun the thing until it decides it needs to go back to guard the island. Which makes some sense; if they kept chasing forever then they could be lured away from the thing they’re meant to be guarding. Mind you, the Stark Sentinel sticks with it rather longer than you’d want it to for those purposes. But hey, AI can be dumb.
PAGES 19-21. Wolverine arrives on Krakoa.
Wolverine insisted on coming alone at the end of the previous issue, after Phoebe picked up Quentin’s distress call. Presumably Quentin had been forced into luring Wolverine into this trap.
PAGES 22-23. Wolverine catches up with Sabretooth.
Straightforward.
PAGE 24. Wolverine enters Sabretooth’s dream scene.
Evidently, Sabretooth is using Quentin to create this scenario. They’re in Team X uniforms, so this is Sabretooth imposing a scenario where they’re working together like in the good old days.
PAGE 25. Trailers. The Krakoan reads BAD MEMORIES.
“Quentin is correct that metal has no smell (which doesn’t really explain how Sabretooth is able to detect it).”
Quentin’s explanation is “That scent is caused when flesh comes in contact with metal. Skin oils exposed to iron. That’s what you detect.” This is probably meant to explain previous stories where Wolverine and Sabretooth smell metal.
I like how Quentin manages to be an annoying know-it-all even as a head in a lantern.
I liked this exchange between the Sabreteeth about Mystique:
“On my world, she raised Graydon like her own.”
“She was a good mother to him.”
“Oh, no, she raised him to be a sleeper cell terrorist. He blew up the White House.”
“That tracks.”
Apparently Mystique finds a different way to be a horrible mother in each dimension, 🙂
Thank you for your site, I can’t always afford to buy comics and I appreciate sites like this. I really loved 2019 HoX/PoX, but the Krakoa era has become a hot mess. And Wolverine is back to having convoluted adventures. Enjoyed the recap, but the X-Men have been a hot mess for some time….
Out of curiosity, has anyone tried to piece together how Mystique’s timeline fits together? Given the number of children she’s had and their relative ages, I’m starting to suspect it’s at least as convoluted as Wolverine’s.
I don’t think it’s possible. You cight be able to square Mystique away, but she’s tied to Destiny. Destiny was active at the time of Sherlock Holmes, but young enough to mother Nightcrawler a century later. Five years (I think) after that, they adopted Rogue, who had entered puberty despite being a teenager when she joined adult Nightcrawler’s team.
“…she claims in X-Men Unlimited #4 that she “left him for dead, shortly after his twelfth birthday, after it became apparent that he was never going to be a mutant – and therefore never going to be of any use to me”.”
Do we think Mystique is aware some kids just hit puberty later than others? Like, twelve is really young to give up. I guess the implication is that he’d clearly hit puberty and wasn’t exhibiting any powers, but it would’ve been hilarious if she gave up on him, then at age fifteen he turns into Proteus or Mad Jim Jaspers or something.
(Also, now I’m envisioning Raven carefully examining Graydon’s face and armpits for hair while he’s sleeping, and checking his browser history. Gross, Raven… be better.)
Hercules, Cyclops, Sabretooth… Logan’s adamantium truly does bring all the boys to the yard
Well, he does have unbreakable boners.
Mystique: “No doubt my mutant son Graydon will have a magnificent mutant power that will make my mutant Brotherhood unstoppable!”
Destiny: “nah, that one’s a dud.”
Mystique: “You didn’t think that was worth mentioning NINE FREAKIN’ MONTHS AGO?!?!”
Mystique: “I’ve decided to leave Graydon for dead.”
Destiny: “That might not be the wisest course of action.”
Mystique: “What’s the worst that could happen?”
Destiny: “And the cat’s in the cradle with a silver spoon…”
Mystique: “Excellent song.”
Mystique: “Irene. Why are you banging your head against a wall?”