The title of the book says it all in Wolverine: Black, White, And Blood #1, by writers Gerry Duggan, Matthew Rosenberg, and Declan Shalvey, artists Adam Kubert, Joshua Cassara. And Declan Shalvey, colorists Frank Martin, GURU-eFX, and Declan Shalvey, and letterer Clayton Cowles. This boazok highlights three stories from Wolverine’s life, and they are all excellent.

The first story, by Duggan, Kubert, and Martin, is a flashback to the Weapon X days as the program tests their new weapon against the worst monster they can find- the Wendigo. The two savage beasts rip at each other, but Wolverine stops when the monster starts to speak like a man. The project takes them both away. Duggan nails Wolverine’s inner monologue- he vaguely remembers these training missions Weapon X used to send them on and wonders if they made him into a monster. What does that mean for the men and women who created him and used him? It’s an interesting question, one that readers see play out by the dialogue of Hines and Cornelius at base- Hines horrified even of two monsters fight each other and Cornelius just watching before egging Wolverine on to kill the Wendigo and two men who transported him out there, betting on the fight. Kubert’s art is amazing throughout- lots of panels strewn across two pages, capturing all of the moments, letting readers see it all.

The second story, by Rosenberg, Cassara, and GURU-eFX, sees Wolverine involved in a fight with Hydra, helping out his old friend Nick Fury. He’s captured and brought before Hydra’s head interrogator, who thinks he holds all the cards… and is very much mistaken. Rosenberg crafts a perfectly taut little spy thriller as Wolverine takes the place of the monologuing villain, telling the inquisitor how he messed up and killing him in a way that only Wolverine could survive. Cassara’s art looks wonderful in black and white, his action scenes fluid and dynamic.

The third story is done completely by Declan Shalvey and sees Wolverine motorcycling through Canada. At a rest stop, he hears a baby crying and finds it inside a cabin, both of her parents dead. However, he’s only sprung a trap as more killers come out of the woodwork. He hides the girl in a stove and warns them that a child is in there to no avail. This provokes one of his patented berserker rages, and he mows through them and their back-up team. A state trooper comes, and Wolverine learns that his partner was one of the dead, and he was coming to warn her about the hit that was put out on her. Shalvey does an amazing job in this issue, capturing Wolverine at his most brutal as he rips his way through men that deserve no less than death. His art is the icing on the cake, giving the fight scenes a sense of motion that a lesser artist might not be able to handle.

Wolverine: Black, White, And Blood #1 is a Wolverine tour de force, telling three great Wolverine stories, each highlighting a different part of him- the beast with a heart of a man, the expert black ops operator, and the blood-soaked avenger of the innocent. The art is perfect, with the limited palette making the violence that much more stark and brutal. This comic is a must-read for Wolverine fans and just fans of good stories in general.

Grade: A