Wolverine Versus Sabretooth is one of the great rivalries in the Marvel universe and the subject of the latest Shout Factory motion comic DVD. Sure, it’s not a rivalry that matches the that of Hulk and The Thing, but it’s still one of the major ones that has ripples in the larger Marvel universe, particularly because it is so closely linked with Wolverine’s entire story as a character.
In many ways this is the best motion comic released yet, almost like an animated feature. The motion is much smoother than in some of the previous offerings, particularly the earliest ones. Mostly narrated by Wolverine (Brian Drummond) the story moves back and forth in time a bit and of course involves the Weapon X program as it is intrinsically linked with Wolverine and Sabretooth.
Since I stopped reading comics years ago I’m not sure how much of this is canon. I suspect, however, that like all good (or bad) comic book continuities Marvel found a way around the events here as originally published. I would have liked a little bit more of an exploration of Wolverine’s morality, not just as it is juxtaposed with Sabretooth’s. I wonder if reviewers of the original comic arc had the same thought.
My biggest gripe is the same as it was for all the previous motion comics – instead of playing the whole thing smoothly each chapter has the opening sequence and closing credits. It really breaks up the narrative. At an hour’s run time you would think this isn’t necessary. Sure, Shout Factory is trying to keep the integrity of the original comic issues but that could easily have been done by simply providing chapter stops instead of breaking it up into episodes then tacking on the opening and closings to each of them.
The only special feature is a 20 minute featurette looking at the writing of the comic and a peek at how it would unfold. writer Jeph Loeb provides most of the discussion in front of the camera with illustrator Simone Bianchi chiming in. This is a good look not just at this story arc but the creative process for comics.
If you’re unfamiliar with Sabretooth and who he is to Wolverine, this isn’t going to be for you. That’s not to say Wolverine Versus Sabretooth is only for hardcore comic geeks, but there is a history the two characters have that needs to be understood in order to really appreciate this story.