Wolverine the End #5

Issue Date: 
November 2004
Story Title: 
untitled
Staff: 

Paul Jenkins (writer), Claudio Castellini (pencils & cover), Paul Mounts (colors), Dave Sharpe (letters), Schmidt, Wiley & Lazer (assistant editors), Tom Brevoort (editor), Joe Quesada (editor-in-chief), Dan Buckley (publisher)

Brief Description: 

Rescue workers try to locate John’s body, but can’t find it. Logan, however, is morbidly confident that his brother is still alive. He refuses to cooperate with the X-Men representatives, and gets taken back home. There, he escapes them by faking he needs to go to the bathroom at the airport. In the bathroom, Logan meets up with George, who hands him over some things. Logan manages to escape unseen and leaves on a plane to Las Vegas, where he believes his brother is hiding. The X-Men representatives realize that Logan’s gone, and manage to capture George, but fail to get any kind of information from the old man. After a bar fight, Logan finds out that his brother is at his casino. John himself really is still alive, and further plans his scheme to finish Logan off. Logan arrives outside the casino, where he puts his X-Men costume on, and is ready for some serious action!

Full Summary: 

Hirogana-San Mountain, Japan:

Rescue workers are looking for John’s body, but only find some blood. They realize the man never stood a chance. They report back to their captain, who orders them to continue searching the north side for now, just in case. He orders the rest of his crew to the surveillance post, as they are still missing both John Howlett’s body and that of an old monk. The police officers think that’s useless, as nobody could survive a fall like that. The officers try to convince their captain, as if Howlett would have survived the fall, he surely would have died instantly seeing how cold it is. They enter a temple, on which left side an X-Plane is parked. Once inside, they find Wolverine sitting on a chair, mumbling that his brother didn’t die.

The captain wants to know why Logan is so sure about that, since he told them he pushed John off the cliff by himself and that no one could survive such a fall. The light goes on in the dark room, and Logan corrects that he said “no one normal” could survive it. He takes a look around the room, and notices John’s many followers getting arrested, and him being surrounded by people wearing X-Men costumes.

The captain informs Logan that his X-Men organization in American asked them to allow their representatives, who Logan now sees, to help investigate the case. Logan corrects the captain that the X-Men aren’t his organization. Sarin introduces himself to Logan, and apologizes to have to do this to the legendary mutant they hear so much about at campus. They argue about Logan not wanting to cooperate. That’s fine by Sarin, who orders his teammate Karin to enter his mind instead. Karin asks Logan that, if John has survived, he would have any idea where he might have went. Logan denies that.

Some time later, the X-Men representatives have taken Logan back to the JFK airport in New York. Logan mocks how much the X-Men have changed since his day. Logan asks them to stop, since he’s got to pee. The two allow Logan to go. In the bathroom, he meets up with George. George brought everything he asked him to. They say goodbye, without telling where Logan got the things from and what they are.

Meanwhile, the representatives get impatient and suspect something’s wrong. They find the bathroom empty. Logan has escaped on another plane, where he has a discussion with Charles Xavier’s spirit. Xavier’s upset that Logan lied to the X-Men, and never game them a chance. Logan says he didn’t have too, because they were too busy shooting at him for twenty years. Xavier still believes Logan should have told them what he knows. Logan gets angry, and shouts at Xavier that if he’s so worried he should come back and tell the X-Men everything by himself. Xavier explains that he can’t ever return, since that would mean the end of everything. The stewardess of the plane asks Logan to sit back, as they have arrived in Las Vegas.

The X-Men representatives managed to catch George, but fail to get much information from the man, despite Karin’s telepathy probes. The only thing the X-Men find out is that George has known Logan since he was a kid and brings him things to his cabin. The only thing that they find suspicious about George is some immigration stuff, but that’s it. He’s going to walk. But the X-Men representatives are certain that Wolverine is out there somewhere. And so is his brother.

In Vegas, Logan enters a bar. He gets some information from a girl named Shirley. Logan gets bothered by a motor gang looking for trouble. Logan snikts his claws open, and the gang falls back. They aren’t going to argue with a mutie. Logan’s glad they see it his way, and asks them where his brother is. They fake that they don’t know, but Logan can smell that they are lying. His brother really has been here. The entire bar gets furious at Logan and they attack him. It goes on for a while, but Logan manages to defeat them all. They panic and run away. There’s one guy left. Logan smashes the gun’s head on the jukebox a few times, and the man tells him that John is at his place, namely the Medieval, next to the old Bellagio.

Wolverine walks out of the bar. His hands are bleeding thanks to the claws, and he’s hurt. He realizes that he’s getting too old for this. At his casino, John gets informed that Logan is coming after him, and that he already killed five of his Ratpack crew. John isn’t scared, as he is confident enough that he can handle him. They walk to the computer room. John explains to his partner that he knows Logan intimately, but admits that he is no brother of his. However, he continues, nothing they aim to accomplish will be of any consequence unless John will go through Logan first. Logan has made that point very clear to him. John’s partner won’t allow him to face Logan, since once they have activated their device, Logan will die anyway.

John, with glowing red eyes, angrily curses that Logan won’t die. He’ll never die. Not until he runs into someone better. John’s partner doesn’t see the point. John knows that, and instead orders him to inform his men that this is something he has specifically to do. And Logan understands that. John is tired of ducking and diving. Tired of hiding his true face. He says that, in a way, Logan’s pushing is inevitable. John refuses to miss this moment, not when they have so much to gain. He asks his partner to tell Johnson that he is coming to fetch some things from the vault. Plus, John demands from his partner, Fowler, to let Logan come from him. John enters the elevator and leaves.

Outside the casino, Logan puts on his X-Men costume. He snikts his claws out, and is ready for action!

Characters Involved: 

Wolverine

John Howlett

George

Professor Charles Xavier (in spirit form)

Karin, Sarin and other unnamed X-Men representatives

Shirley and other unnamed bar customers

Akimoto, Fujikara among other rescue workers, police officers and their captain (others unnamed)

plane stewardess and passengers (unnamed)

Story Notes: 

First appearances of Karin and Sarin. There are four other X-Men representatives with them, but they don’t get named. One of them has obviously ice powers, and the other is a big, giant strong guy with a rather robotic appearance. The other two who are seen at the airport with Logan are a full mystery.

The Ratpack is a group of thugs in Las Vegas that roll up cheaters in the casinos. In the 2099 universe, they were an actual villain group, but in this story it’s unknown if there’s any resemblance. Both sets, however, are based on the real group of singers, performers collectively called in the Ratpack, which consisting of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop & Peter Lawford.

The “old” Bellagio is a real Las Vegas hotel & casino, opened in 1998. While there is not currently a Medieval hotel & casino, there is the Excalibur, which has a Medieval theme.

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