The Good
Wolverine's past is still a mess. At least that's the way it's looking right now. For the longest time, Logan and readers didn't know what exactly his origin was. Eventually we started getting more information and after HOUSE OF M, Wolverine regained all his memories. But then the last time Jeph Loeb and Simone Bianchi worked on this title, Wolverine got a new past. He was connected to a race called Homo-Lupus and was part of a species of mutants descended from wolves. Is that still the case? Thankfully, that's been cleared up here.
Wolverine has recently met up with Romulus' sister, Remus and is trying to get to the bottom of the return of Sabretooth along with whatever crazy plan Romulus has cooking now. What has been making this worth checking out is Bianchi's art along with Simone Peruzzi's colors. You get a big epic feel with a great mix of angles and perspective in the storytelling.
There is a feeling that Wolverine is being allowed to be more violent here when confronting Sabretooth. There is a 'parental advisory' on the cover which explains the violence. In a story like this, with everything Wolverine feels towards Sabretooth, to skimp on the violence would be a shame.
The Bad
There's a big reveal at the end dealing with Wolverine's past. Another new nugget of information that apparently he still couldn't remember despite having regained all his memories. Yes, there is the possibility that it is even more misdirection but it's enough to make you shake your head and wonder what is going on. It's hard to determine if we're suppose to believe this, if this is actually what the new status quo will be. If so, even the first page super-brief summary of Wolverine on the first page of this week's WOLVERINE ANNUAL is now inaccurate as well. We don't need a constant change or question of his past. I haven't been fond of the whole notion of Romulus' involvement in Wolverine's past and part of me is ready to be done with trying to figure this all out.
The Verdict
A pretty big bombshell has been dropped in this issue. The sensible part of me wants to immediately dismiss it, as I did the Homo-Lupus angle told before. We may find out next issue that this new development is just a lie or it could become a new fact in Wolverine's past. At this point, I'm ready to give up trying to figure out what really happened in Wolverine's past. Having years of mystery is one thing, getting misdirection every few years is another. At least Bianchi's art gave us a visual treat and seeing the appearance of Cloak and Dagger was nice (even if they didn't have any speaking scenes). I'm not sure what is going to happen in the next issue and I haven't decided if I want to know.