I think my favorite thing about this issue is that it brings the current story line to a close and maybe, just maybe, how Marvel will stop having Wolverine in every other comic that they put out these days.

Logan spends the majority of the issue having his behind handed to him (both figuratively and literally). Sabertooth pulls no punches in finalizing his master plan at putting Wolverine in his place. The mutant who’s the best at what he does seems to have forgotten his years of fighting as not only has Sabertooth beaten him down but we’ve seen a variety of low level villains and even regular ninjas inflict the pain on our once stoic warrior.

While this is going on, S.H.I.E.L.D. is on the offensive against the aliens who had taken Logan’s healing factor. On the offensive and winning! They’ve done so much damage, it looks as if they are going to cast aside this alien menace forever.

As Wolverine is taking what could be his last breath, Sabertooth is monologing that he could kill him right now. (When will villains learn to quit doing this? Don’t they have movies or comics in their own universe?!) He could end it all since Wolverine had failed to become his equal by admitting to what he truly was. Instead? He tells Logan he wants him to live and slowly grow old. When he’s weak and dying in an old folks home then and only then will he come to him and take his life before senility kicks in. At this point Sabertooth leaves and who would appear? One of the aliens who took his powers.

The alien knows their species is dying and has an offer. He will give Wolverine his healing factor back if they can use his body to hide from the disease that is killing their kind. He being heroic says no to this, of course. Is it from heroism or has he finally given up on life? That’s the real question.

We close the issue with Wolverine having returned to his school and when Storm asks what is wrong, the response is a cryptic: “The Wolverine is dead now.” It’s the perfect way to start spurning his current fling and begin to lead in to his next story arc where he becomes a common criminal who falls for another criminal. It’s where I start shaking my head and think the heads of Marvel have gone nuts as there were much better ways they could have taken Logan out of the lime light for awhile that didn’t so drastically change his character at the same time. And from what I can tell from the previews, not in a good way.

From everything I’ve read, I don’t like the direction the comic is going to be going. Sadly that doesn’t mean I will stop picking it up, at least not right away, but at this point it’s looking like it’ll only be a matter of time. Sometimes you have to know what to avoid as much as what to pickup.

I mean I have to at least give the new story arc a chance, right?

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WOLVERINE #13
Writer: Paul Cornell
Artist: Alan Davis