Warning! Spoilers ahead forWolverine#10!
Wolverine’sfather just made an unexpected return to Marvel canon, in order to confront his son from beyond the grave, in the most ominous possible way: as a life-sucking specter, of sorts, a power that offers a dark counterpoint to Logan’s healing abilities.Wolverine’s latest adventurehas forced him to face the ghosts of his past in multiple ways, but this is the most literal instance yet.
Wolverine#10, written by Saladin Ahmed, with art by Javier Pina, sends Logan back to the Howlett Estate, the site of his traumatic origin story. There, he is accosted by wraith-like apparitions of both John Howlett, the man he grew up believing was his father, and Thomas Logan, his biological sire.
The wraiths of both long-dead men prove to be more than just spooky apparitions, as theyproceed to attack Wolverine, and nearly drain him of his life force, before their assault is called off.
Wolverine’s Father Attacks From Beyond The Grave, Returning Ghoulish With Life-Draining Powers
Wolverine#10, Written By Saladin Ahmed; Art By Javier Pina; Color By Bryan Valenza; Lettering By Corey Petit
Wolverine#10 is a strange, somewhat surreal story, something Logan acknowledges in his narration of the issue, noting, “tonight’s different,” because he is dealing with two shocking resurrections. His archnemesis Sabretooth has returned from the dead, which Wolverine might have expected sooner or later, but so has his mother, who has been dead for centuries. The mystery of this draws him back to the Howlett estate, which is where the issue throws the wraiths of his father, actually both his fathers, into the mix as well.
“The life is being sapped from my body faster than it can heal itself,” he explains at the climax of the issue, and it is important to point out that the hero doesn’t triumph at this moment, but rather only survives because his mother…calls off the wraiths.
Their return is another open-ended question thatWolverine#10 doesn’t fully resolve, but the effect of the dead fathers' attack on Logan is immediate, and very nearly fatal for him. “The life is being sapped from my body faster than it can heal itself,” he explains at the climax of the issue, and it is important to point out that the hero doesn’t triumph at this moment, but rather only survives because his mother, back from beyond the grave herself in flesh-and-blood form, calls off the wraiths, who withdraw at her will.
Wolverine’s Return To His Childhood Home Has Readers Asking A Lot Of Questions
Confronting Logan’s Tragic Past Just Became Very Literal
Readers should expect at least some answers to the questions raised byWolverine#10 in the subsequent issue of the series, which promises “the fight you’ve been waiting for"between Sabretooth and Wolverine. Yet Marvel is still relatively fresh off theepic “Sabretooth War” arcwhich concluded the previous volume ofWolverine, which concluded with the short-liveddeath of the villain at Logan’s hands. So, rather than another showdown for the perennial foes, what readers really wantWolverine#11 to do now is elaborate on the uncertainties of this issue.
Forcing Wolverine to return to his childhood home and claw his way through the ghosts of his past makes text out of the longstanding subtext of the character’s backstory, and the appearance of wraith-like John Howlett and Thomas Logan do a fine job of representing that on the page inWolverine#10.Yet what makes or breaks this current story arc will be what happens betweenWolverineand his resurrected mother, more than any physical fight with a villain, or encounter with intangible ghosts.
