As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

WOLVERINE vol 7 #48
“Sabretooth War, part 8: Alone Together”
Writers: Benjamin Percy & Victor LaValle
Penciller: Cory Smith
Inker: Oren Junior
Colourist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Cory Petit
Editor: Mark Basso

COVER / PAGE 1. A symbolic image of Wolverine being torn apart by two sets of hands – which the caption indicates are “two Creeds”. I haven’t got a clue what this has to do with the issue, or which two Creeds they had in mind. (Victor and Graydon would be the obvious ones in terms of their role in the story, but Graydon doesn’t have anything to do with Wolverine in this issue.) My best guess would be that this is a hangover from an abandoned early version of the story, although the solicitation copy for this issue does match the content well enough.

PAGES 2-6. Wolverine and Sabretooth separately reflect on their lives.

Obviously, these two monologues in first person narration are presented to emphasise the parallels between the two characters. The key theme for Wolverine is that while Sabretooth’s attack on the Greenhouse drove him into a rage, Kid Omega’s psychic attack on him last issue shifted his perspective and made him focus more on the positive reasons to fight – his loner tendencies are about the fear of getting other people hurt, but he does ultimately feel happier around others.

In contrast, Sabretooth – trapped inside the death seed that Nekra unleashed last issue – has gone from cocky overconfidence to frustration at yet another humiliating defeat that leaves him alone and imprisoned.

The montages of scenes from Wolverine’s life are mostly general references to particular relationships and friendships, rather than specific stories:

• Page 3 panel 2 is young Logan riding with Rose O’Hara, back during Origin.
• Page 3 panel 3 is Logan with Silver Fox, his first long-term partner.
• Page 3 panel 4 is Wolverine playing chess with a slightly ominous looking Professor X.
• Page 3 panel 5 is Logan with Mariko Yashida.
• Page 3 panel 6 is Logan in a bar with Scott and Rogue, probably at Salem Center.
• Page 5 panel 1 is the X-Men having a barbecue. The roster – specifically, the presence of both Angel and Sprite – puts this somewhere between Uncanny X-Men #139 and #148.
• Page 5 panel 2 is Logan with Jean Grey during the Krakoan era, a reference to the quietly-dropped three-way relationship that Jonathan Hickman introduced.
• Page 5 panel 3 is Wolverine with his family on Krakoa – son Akihiro, genetic daughter Laura, and her clone Gabby.
• Page 5 panel 4 is Wolverine with Kid Omega, his most recent parent-child type relationship.

Sabretooth’s references are a bit more specific:

• Page 4 panel 2 shows young Victor being chained up in a basement by his abusive father Zebediah; this is a scene originally from Sabretooth #1 (1993).
• Page 4 panel 3 is basically more of the same, though I think the scene itself is original.
• Page 4 panel 4 is Sabretooth in Weapon X, being experimented on by Dr Cornelius.
• Page 4 panels 5-6 don’t ring a bell at all, I’m afraid, though it’s clearly something to do with Sabretooth privately regretting the way his murderous impulses leave him alone.

PAGE 7. Recap and credits.

PAGES 8-9. Laura escapes the Sabreteeth.

All straightforward.

PAGE 10. Idie bandages Wolverine.

Wolverine was zapped with Sabretooth’s de-powering gun in issue #46. Despite the impression given by his narration, this isn’t the first time he’s lost his powers – Paul Cornell did an entire run about it, for a start. But after 50 years of stories we’d never get anywhere if we kept stopping to say “of course, something very similar was done a decade ago”.

PAGES 11-13. Wolverine asks the remaining Exiles to help.

Again, straightforward. Nekra understandably assumes that the other Sabreteeth have… well, autonomy.

PAGES 14-16. Bad Seed defeats the Stark Sentinels singlehandedly.

Despite its rather unpromising appearance, the dimension where he was banished until issue #45 apparently had technology capable of taking the Stark Sentinels apart. Graydon has traditionally been more of a schemer than a physical threat – rejecting Sabretooth is part of his character, after all – but he’s getting very hands-on here, and he seems more Creed-like than ever. Plus, if he’s going to be the major villain for the end of this arc, he could use a big win to rebuild him.

PAGES 17-20. Wolverine and the Exiles head to his bunker.

Wolverine is still using his claws even without his healing factor. In previous power-loss stories, that’s been treated as a rather bad idea, because he needs his healing factor to stop the bleeding. Let’s be generous and say the gloves are helping.

“So I asked Forge to build me something.” X-Force #4. Wolverine said at the end of the previous issue that he needed “a suit and a weapon”, which is what he’s collecting here.

PAGES 21-22. X-Force prepare to head to Krakoa.

Phoebe seems to be treated as a member of the team here.

They don’t have the Bluebird because Wolverine took it in issue #44.

PAGE 23. Quentin sends a distress call.

Sabretooth seems to be emerging from whatever the death seed placed around him. Quentin assumes this is going to be catastrophic, but the Death Seed was always talked up as having more profound effects than just imprisoning Sabretooth for an issue, so who knows how he might have changed.

PAGE 24. Wolverine reveals his armour and sword.

The adamantium armour fits with X-Force #4, where Wolverine’s request to Forge was prompted by seeing the amount of adamantium he had on hand for future resurrections.

The Muramasa blade is presumably one of the two that have featured prominently in this series, with Wolverine moving it here for safekeeping at some point.

PAGE 25. Trailers. The Krakoan reads BERSERKER.