Wolverine: The Best There Is #2

Issue Date: 
March 2011
Story Title: 
This Little Curiosity
Staff: 

Charlie Huston (writer), Juan Jose Ryp (artist), Andreas Mossa (colorist), VC's Clayton Cowles (letterer), Bryan Hitch, Paul Neary and Paul Mounts (cover), Marko Djurdjevic (variant covers), Jody Leheup and Sebastian Girner (assistant editors), Axel Alonso (editor), Joe Quesada (editor in chief), Dan Buckley (publisher), Alan Fine (executive producer)

Brief Description: 

Wolverine has managed to recover from Winsor's chemical compound, thank to his healing factor. Before he healed, though, Hank McCoy managed to investigate the cause. He explains that the gas is derived from the sweat excreted by the Corruptor, though Wolverine says the guy it came from wasn't him. He heads off back to the club where the attack happened and is jumped by Harry Sikes. Wolverine slices his legs off and then defeats the lunatic Madcap with ease. He then meets Mortigan Goth who leads him to a doorway. He advises Wolverine not to enter, but he does anyway and is grabbed by two more of Winsor's goons-for-hire.

Full Summary: 

Wolverine has just recovered from self-inflicted injuries. Winsor, also known as Contagion, had gassed a nightclub with a drug that suppressed people's inhibitions. This resulted in mayhem. Logan speaks to Beast who has been working on detailing the effects the gas has. Hank has images of molecules on his computer screen and he informs Logan that this little curiosity is the product of Jackson Day, a.k.a. the Corruptor. No one else can make the stuff. His image also appears on screen. He was doused with a random cocktail of psycho-actives and mutated. Logan asks if he's one of them. Hank replies that his is a non-gene mutation; a garden-variety lab accident, to the extent that garden-variety can be applied to a man who sweats the world's most powerful chemical suggestant.

"Suggestawhasis?" replies Logan. Hank explains that Day sweats a compound that makes subjects completely vulnerable to his suggestions. In the absence of any directive, the net result is a lowering, if not elimination, of inhibitions. Latent tendencies and proclivities buried in the Id are set loose. The longer the contact, he adds, the longer the power and duration of the effect. Logan says that, unless he'd grown ten inches, lost a hundred and fifty pounds and bleached his skin, it wasn't him.

Hank reckons that anything is possible. Think Michael Jackson. He asks Logan to take a look at the screen and tells him that before his healing factor erased all sign of the compound, he was able to isolate two versions. The first pure molecule suggests personal contact. The second has been oxygenated. The oh-two molecule created a quite different compound entirely. It's milder, more specifically euphoric. He imagines it would leave one with some very naughty, perhaps slightly embarrassing memories but little more. Hank teases Logan by mentioning that he was a little woozy when he arrived. He may have mentioned something about having a bad case of boogie fever! "Must have been delirious," replies Logan. Hank hopes so.

Hank asks Logan if he remembers when Kitty made her dance with him at the New Year's Eve party and he asked Professor Xavier to erase their memories? he said, "I am tempted Logan, if only to heal the mental scars you inflicted." Charles actually laughed. Logan isn't in a laughing mood. He tells Hank that he went red. He could have killed them all. Hundreds of people. He doesn't mind that he has the animal in him. It's what he is and it's his animal on a damn chain. Twice in one day it got off. The first time he managed to slip it and let it do mostly what it wanted, but the second time if he hadn't cut it up, he would have been dancing in those people's blood.

Hank replies that to some extent he understands. He spends so much time denying his own bestial nature. He envies the accord Logan seems to have achieved with his. If it had been him, he admits, he's so at odds with himself he doubts he could have exerted the same self-control. They were lucky that it was him.

(later)

It's evening and Wolverine has returned to the club where he was infected with the compound. The place is empty, with litter strewn around the place from the party. He sniffs the air as he sneaks his way around the building. When he smells something he snikts his claws and prepares for battle. "Kkkiiilll," comes a whispered growl from the shadows. He tells whoever it is that he can smell it in his blood. He knows that he's got the Corruptor's stuff in him.

The man, Harry Sikes, approaches, gurgling the word ‘kill’ as he does so. Wolverine tells him that he knows someone told him to do this, but it's a bad idea. Sikes keeps up his momentum before finally leaping at Wolverine. The claws slash at Sikes' arms and legs but he keeps on coming in a familar fashion. Sikes puts his face right up to Logan's as he lies on top of him. "kkkiiilll," he whispers. Wolverine tells him that he did his best before slicing both legs away just below the groin. Sikes screams as Logan wonders whether he should be happy Sikes is alive or just freaked out. "It huuuuuuuurts," cries Sikes.

A voice from behind asks if he gets a vote because he's firmly in the freak-out camp on this one. He asks Logan that whatever he does, not to look into his eyes. Through a bubbling haze of chemicals, two eyes drop to the ground and land in a bloody mess besides Wolverine. He looks down. "Now what did I just say?" comes the voice. "It's like you're not even paying attention." He tells Logan that he'll come down and explain.

A moment later and Madcap falls from the balcony, face first. "First step is a doozy," he laughs. He stumbles about, unable to see, rambling as he walks to where Logan is standing. He feels Logan's head before bending down and picking his eyes back up and inserting them back into their sockets. "Never know when these might come in handy," he quips. He asks Logan if he can ask him something. Has he seen Katy? He's been looking for her everywhere. Has he seen her? He admits it's crazy - a guy looking for his dead sister, but it's a wacky world. Makes no sense at all.

He can tell Logan what happens when you get driven hopelessly insane. "You're really quiet about it." He stares into Logan's eyes and Logan's mind goes into overdrive. Memories and images quickly flood into his brain, but Logan is used to this kind of nonsense. His instincts are automatic. He slices Madcap without even thinking, dropping him to his knees. Madcap, though, doesn't feel pain. He tells Wolverine that if he wants him to say ouch he needs a little more warning. He has to hand it to Logan. For most people it usually lasts when he makes them loony. What does he think that means? Is he saner than most or almost crazy? Logan bends down. Madcap asks, "If you say Katy, tell her I said 'ouch'." Wolverine then decapitates him and leaves his headless corpse next to Harry Sikes' body, tossing both heads into the swimming pool.

Victor Slaughter then appears in the room just as Wolverine leaves it. Harry tries to grab him but he removes his fingers from his jacket. He laughs at the fact that Wolverine did a Ginzu on Sikes and gave Madcap a haircut. Now he's following the scent like a good dog.

Wolverine makes his way further into the building and discovers Mortigan Goth standing against a wall having a smoke. Wolverine asks if he's a limey. Mortigan replies that he is, for his sins. Wolverine snikts two of his claws, leaving the middle one locked away. They puncture the wall either side of Mortigan's head and he looks kinda nervous. He asks Mortigan to tell him about his sins. He takes a swig from a bottle and replies by asking if he has centuries to spare. Wolverine tells him he smells almost as funny as he looks, but he doesn't smell dangerous. Mortigan says they can't all produce pointy bits at will. Wolverine adds that he doesn't smell like Jackson Day's sweat either. "Perish the thought," replies Mortigan. Wolverine retracts his claws and lets him go. He tells him he can inform him where to find Winsor and in return he won't get hurt. Mortigan gestures down the corridor and says that's why he is there. "Voila!"

They head off walking. Wolverine says he's heard a lot of Limey accents in his time, but his? He's starting to think he's maybe from Detroit and the accent is fake. Mortigan replies that it's quite authentic. Merely dated. Fourteenth century in fact. Wolverine reckons that would be about right. They arrive at a doorway and he asks if this is it. Mortigan is a little reluctant to let him go through it. He pops some pills and takes a swig from the bottle. He then informs Logan that the strange smell, or lack thereof, is a consequence of his long, lost past. He then begins to convulse.

Wolverine asks what he just took. Mortigan tells him it was Demerol, Valium, Percocet and Oxycontin. He doubles over and grabs his stomach, adding that he'll take anything to kill the pain when it starts. "Cancer?" wonders Wolverine. Mortigan explains that it's nothing so banal. It's his soul being tortured by Mephisto. It's something he enjoys doing whenever he contemplates a good act.

Wolverine points to the door and asks if there's something in there he should know about. Mortigan says yes, but that's not the good act he was talking about. He groans as he warns Logan to leave while he can. Wolverine isn't interested and stands before the door. He then slices his way through it with ease, revealing a darkness within. In the shadows, he sees a pair of legs. Wolverine says he knows Winsor is in there. He can smell him. "Get away from me," replies the person in the shadows. He opens the door a little more and notices the legs are attached to someone in a smock with a bag on their head. However, he doesn't know if the person in the smock is actually Winsor himself or just a prisoner.

He tells the stranger that he ain't gonna hurt them and that he will get them and the limey out. He'll settle some scores later. The prisoner asks Wolverine to to touch them as they're contagious but Wolverine tells them that it doesn't matter to him. As he peers inside, he is grabbed by either arm. He snikts his claws instinctively and feels them all sink deep into flesh. He looks up to see Victor Slaughter to his left and Suicide to his right. "Now, that ain't gonna do it. You?" says Slaughter. Suicide replies that it tickled, but he'll live. "Our turn then," says Victor, and the two men open fire on the seemingly helpless Wolverine at point blank range.

Characters Involved: 

Wolverine

Beast

Winsor's Unkillables - Immortalis, Madcap, Harold Sikes, Suicide and Victor Slaughter

(on screen)

The Corruptor

Story Notes: 

Katy is Madcap's deceased sister. She died when a bus he and Katy were traveling on hit an A.I.M. tanker. Madcap absorbed the chemicals and was the sole survivor. His parents died too.

A Ginzu is a type of knife.

Limey is a slang term for an Englishman, believed to have originated from the limes that English sailors used to eat to stave off scurvy.

The issue is untitled but it is presumably Contagion part two.

In subsequent issues, Winsor is spelt Windsor but then reverts to Winsor again.

Issue Information: 
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