{"id":10990,"date":"2025-04-17T20:29:35","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T19:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=10990"},"modified":"2025-04-17T20:29:35","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T19:29:35","slug":"wolverine-8-annotations-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=10990","title":{"rendered":"Wolverine #8 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE vol 8 #8<\/strong>
\n“Adamantine Unleashed” \/ “This is Your Life”<\/strong>
\nWriter: Saladin Ahmed<\/strong>
\nArtist: Mart\u00edn C\u00f3ccolo<\/strong>
\nColour artist: Bryan Valenza<\/strong>
\nLetterer: Cory Petit<\/strong>
\nEditor: Mark Basso<\/strong><\/p>\n

This issue is legacy number #400. The numbering ignores the original miniseries because the legacy numbers are supposed to represent the number that the ongoing title would have reached if it had never been rebooted.<\/p>\n

To celebrate, we get a very odd issue which opens with a ten page story resolving the Adamantine storyline (or at least ending its first act), followed by a 30 page story resolving the Wendigo storyline and setting up the next arc. Since both of those stories are by the same regular creative team, I’m treating them here together.<\/p>\n

There’s a break in the action of “a few days” before the end of the second story, but it seems we still haven’t reached a point where Wolverine can go off and appear in any other X-books – and so this whole series is still apparently set back before X-Men<\/em> #1.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

WOLVERINE<\/strong><\/p>\n

He thinks of Laura as “my kid” and is fired up by the thought that if Romulus defeats him then Laura will be next. The Adamantine seems impressed by this – not only is Wolverine literally one with his weapon, he represens a combination of “animal savagery with heroci purpose” and “false metal with true spirit”. It addresses him as a “champion”.<\/p>\n

He recognises that Arcade’s reconstructions of traumatic events from his past are intended to provoke them, but that alone doesn’t prevent him from lashing out. However, the thought that he needs to stay rational in order to save the Wendigo and Arcade’s other victims does keep him in control. Being reminded of the murder of Silver Fox also upsets him, but he regards references to his romantic triangle with Jean and Scott as outdated.<\/p>\n

He regards Arcade’s escape as yet another example of having failed to “put out of commission” someone who’ll hurt innocents in order to get at him, and can’t bring himself to talk to the random civilians that he rescues from Arcade.<\/p>\n

Once Leonard is cured, Logan agrees – with some pushing – to take him back home, which is an opportunity for him to remember how important mothers are. He has conflicted feelings about his own mother, Elizabeth Howlett: “Soon as my mutation emerged, my ma called me an animal and cast me out of the house. Then she took her own life.” This is from Origin<\/em> #2-3, where young James’ powers emerge after his father is killed. Elizabeth does indeed reject him and throw him out of the house, and shoots herself a few minutes later. All of this is more of a mental breakdown than anything else, but clearly Logan regards it primarily as a rejection.<\/p>\n

SUPPORTING CAST<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leonard the Wendigo.<\/strong> Nightcrawler is able to keep him calm by talking to him. He adores Wolverine and licks him enthusiastically when reunited.<\/p>\n

Arcade tries to provoke him to kill innocent humans with pain and “hunger inducing drugs”, which does indeed send him into a rage, but Wolverine’s example of self-control seems to help him to regain his senses. After he resists his homicidal urges to save Wolverine from Arcade’s deathtraps, he’s seemingly killed by acid, only to emerge from the Wendigo body restored to human form (complete with clothes). Wolverine takes this to mean that the “so-called Northern Gods” have released Leonard from the curse after he “earned a second chance”, which is as good a theory as any.<\/p>\n

Wolverine (Laura Kinney)<\/strong> and Nightcrawler\u00a0<\/strong>have brief appearances in the first story.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Howlett.<\/strong> Logan receives a letter from her at the end of the issue – or supposedly from her, because it would imply that she’s somehow lived way beyond her natural lifespan and that she was able to track him down in a random motel where he happened to be spending the night. Logan recognises that this makes no sense, but claims that the letter smells correct.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth offers to meet with him and explain herself, and claims that “our family’s enemies are closing in on me”.<\/p>\n

VILLAINS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Romulus.<\/strong> After he repeats his rant from the previous issue about using the Adamantine’s power to bring back the age of myth, he gets defeated when Wolverine’s claws are rammed down his throat. It’s all very summary and a bit weird, frankly. Wolverine tells Laura that the Adamantine escaped and “took Romulus with it”, which is absolutely not what the art shows – the art shows Romulus’ body still lying there as the Adamantine seeps away into the ground, though some effort seems to have been made to put a glowing effect on him.<\/p>\n

The Adamantine.<\/strong> Once Romulus is defeated, it abandons him, declaring him “disappointing” and “not worthy of our gifts after all”. It acts as if it allowed Romulus to retain his own mind, rather than being under his control through force of will as he had suggested.<\/p>\n

The Adamantine is impressed by Wolverine as a potential champion; Romulus’ failure apparently prompts it to modify its attitude to adamantium and to consider whether “tainted heroes made of tainted metal” are more suited to the modern world. It takes a physical form as a suit of armour, and decides to go off and learn more about the modern world before returning to Wolverine once it’s figured things out. It seems to be planning a bit of war-mongering, that being the only part of the modern age that really interests it.<\/p>\n

Lady Deathstrike, Cyber, Donald Pierce<\/strong> and the Constrictor<\/strong> all have cameos, lying around unconscious.<\/p>\n

Arcade.<\/strong> For reasons which aren’t spelled out, he kidnaps Wolverine and the Wendigo and tries to engineer a scenario where the Wendigo will kill innocent victims. No motivation is given beyond the fact that Arcade enjoys it – traditionally, Arcade was a contract killer, but Wolverine doesn’t seem to consider the question of who he might be working for. Of course, Arcade’s modus operandi only really makes sense if his main motivation is sadism, because he can’t possibly be making a profit even on the vast sums he supposedly charges.<\/p>\n

Somehow, Arcade has become aware of the Wendigo (who in story terms has not been around very long), and he also has some fairly detailed information about scenarios from Wolverine’s past. He can make a recognisable Weapon X project and a version of Silver Fox who apparently smells right. On the other hand, whatever information Arcade is working from is a few years out of date. An obvious possibility is that he’s using data that originated with the Weapon X project itself, since Silver Fox figured into some of their memory implant scenarios. Since the only other people to have encountered this Wendigo, and to know of Wolverine’s relationship with it, are Department H, perhaps someone there is responsible for this.<\/p>\n

FOOTNOTES<\/strong><\/p>\n