One does not live as long as Logan and not encounter their share of extraordinary things. Of course, when your life has been as violent as his, those things tend to be trying to kill you. Such is the case in the fourth entry in the Logan: Black, White, & Blood series, which takes us around the world and even far into the future to face off against all manner of foes seeking to test their mettle against the clawed warrior. How do they fare? Let's find out.
*Mild spoilers ahead for Logan: Black, White, & Blood #4*
Our first story in the anthology finds us in Northern Quebec in 1913, where Logan comes across a small town during a snowstorm. Mistaken for a local monster called the Evening Man who has been taking children, Logan receives a less than warm welcome and finds himself forced to spend the night in the snowy woods outside of the town. When the cry of one of the locals alerts him that another child has been taken, he initially tries to walk away, dismissing it as "not my problem." But as we've seen on countless occasions, beneath that gruff, hardened exterior lies a good man who cannot help but to try to help those in trouble. So, in spite of his frustration with the townspeople, he goes off in search of the missing child. What he finds, however, is something out of a horror story.
We next see Logan in Madripoor, visiting the castle of Chua the Collector under his Patch alias. He convinces Chua to lend him the Kintsugi Mask, brushing off the Collector's concerns with reassurances that he knows what the mask is capable of and can handle it. Once outside the castle, however, Logan finds himself attacked by a masked figure, revealed to be none other than...Logan? Turns out the person who visited the Collector was actually Mystique wearing Logan's face in order to steal the mask. Unfortunately, what she'd hoped to be an easy job quickly becomes complicated as the spirit contained in the mask is triggered, taking over her body and augmenting her abilities in an attempt to kill Logan.
Finally, we find ourselves in the far future. How far exactly? Well, what's left of Earth is a barren wasteland. Humanity is long extinct, the cause of which appears to be a war between the X-Men and Nimrod's Sentinel forces. The scavengers currently excavating the planet's ruins determine that life would be impossible given the countless environmental hazards plaguing the wasteland. Or so they think. As the scavengers comb the wasteland for anything of value, they come upon a the organic remains of what looks to be a man knelt before a massive X. His body appears to be frozen, and the scavengers' scanners are unable to carbon date him. After a moment they continue on, searching the area for anything else of value before they complete the excavations of the planet. But the dead man is not nearly as dead as they initially believed him to be, and the scavengers soon find themselves the prey of a predator with nothing left to lose.
This issue was a bit of a mixed bag overall. While it was fun watching him go up against a spirit-possessed Mystique or battle futuristic scavengers in a barren world, each of the stories in this issue felt rushed. As soon as the stories began to find their groove, they abruptly ended. While the anthology structure of the series does mean that the stories are shorter by nature, I didn't feel this way about the previous issues I'd read. Perhaps it's because in those issues the enemies he was facing were less distinct, amounting largely to mere criminals. The most we got towards something with a deeper connection was when he found himself battling prototypes for the Winter Soldier, though that story somehow felt like it was paced better in my eyes.
Here, however, the enemies he faces feel like they should be greater challenges, or at the very least present narratives that should be expounded upon. The second story is probably the worst about this, giving us both an interesting setup and a conflict with a villain we're quite familiar with, then just ending it with little fanfare or conclusion. The final story does this as well, though not nearly to the same extent as it at least provides some degree of conclusion, albeit not the most satisfying one.
Of the three stories, it's the first one that shines the brightest, giving us an interesting premise, a decent battle, and a satisfying conclusion that's equal parts triumphant and tragic. It feels complete, something the other two stories in the issue don't quite accomplish.
Additionally, there was a bit of loss of theme between the first two stories and the final one. In the first two entries, Logan was forced to fight against himself in a way, whether that be by facing off against a monstrous foe who represents the beast inside of Logan or by contending with Mystique donning the guise of his Weapon X self. Even beyond sharing a common theme with one another, the stories fit in well with the rest of the series as well, which has maintained a common theme of Logan battling the animal within himself.
The final story in this issue, however, felt like something entirely different. There was no stand-in foe to represent himself, and although a case could be made that this was a version that had become nothing more than the animal given his seeming lack of memories, the story doesn't expound upon that. Rather, it reads more like a tragedy, showing how Logan will endure even when all that he cared about has been lost.
Do these complaints mean this is a bad comic? Absolutely not. Overall, it's still an entertaining read. The first story was enticing, and the other two had their share of good qualities that made them enjoyable for what they were. I'd be lying if I said I enjoyed it anywhere near the degree that I did the other two issues that I've read, but it's still a great comic that I'm sure others will have just as much fun with (if not more) as I did. At the end of the day, it still remains true to Logan's character at its heart, and what more could you ask for?
Logan: Black, White, & Blood #4 is available now from Marvel Comics.
