Wolverine: Evolution

Wolverine (2003) (Collected Editions) #9

by Jeph Loeb, Simone Bianchi (Illustrator)

Superstar Jeph Loeb (Batman: Hush) is joined by future superstar Simone Bianchi for the biggest, best and, quite possibly, last battle between Wolverine and Sabretooth! These sworn foes have been locked in an endless grudge match that goes back longer than either can remember - or even imagine. The key to victory is eons old, and it's certain to rock their world. Think you've seen Marvel's fiercest go toe-to-toe before? Those were just warm-ups. Wolverine vs. Sabretooth - in bold black and white! Collects Wolverine Black and White #50-55.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, X Men, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Fiction

140 pages, Hardcover

First published November 14, 2007

About the author

Joseph "Jeph" Loeb III is an Emmy and WGA nominated American film and television writer, producer and award-winning comic book writer. Loeb was a Co-Executive Producer on the NBC hit show Heroes, and formerly a producer/writer on the TV series Smallville and Lost.

A four-time Eisner Award winner and five-time Wizard Fan Awards winner (see below), Loeb's comic book career includes work on many major characters, including Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Hulk, Captain America, Cable, Iron Man, Daredevil, Supergirl, the Avengers, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, much of which he has produced in collaboration with artist Tim Sale, who provides the comic art seen on Heroes.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah, I was not a fan of this. The storytelling is muddled, Wolverine is having these dreams of wolf people in different time periods and now all the wolf type mutants may be an offshoot of humanity? It's really dumb. Instead of answering any questions or furthering the story, this just leaves you confused. I'm also not a fan of Bianchi's art. While overly detailed in closeups, it's often too dark and muddy to really make out.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess with Wolverine there will always need to be some mystery to his origins, so this is the next best thing to him not knowing who he is. Hmmmm. I'm not entirely convinced it's going to be awesome, but it's certainly a good start. To be honest, I'm not entirely convinced this Romulus guy is all that scary. However, anyone who could make Sabertooth quake in his boots has to be a little bit of a bad-ass.
All in all, I enjoyed it...even if it does smell a little like a mutant-werewolf story.

[Jim Ef · Rating 3 out of 5]

5.2/10
Can't say i was disappointed, it's ok overall. I just feel it did more than it should for no reason.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I was younger I really enjoyed the Wolverine adventures but ever since the movies the character has lost a lot of its attraction for me. The original Wolverine was not something you could base a movie on, Wolverine vs the Hulk was my 1st time I met the rabid Canadian.

What I liked most in Wolverine was that you never got a real background into his past, which left his canvas blank enough to paint some great historical comics on. As mentioned with the movies there seems to be a big need for origin stories and thus Wolverine became less mysterious.

In this book Wolverine has a returning memory from before his Adamantium days and it involves none other than Sabretooth, the one really vile and monstrous superhuman who seems to be totally opposed to any moral idea but his own interests. They do have some gruesome fights and end up in the Black Panthers country who is about to marry Ororo and they interfere in their fisticuffs. They show Logan some animal graveyard that seems to have some connection to his past. In the end everything goes off the rail ending with the dead of a major character in the Marvel universe. I was so interested that I could not be bothered to look up if the character really stayed dead!

I must say one of the disappointing comics starring Wolverine.

update 5th of April 202:
I found this comic hidden somewhere in my comics collection and he story about the origin of Wolverine & Sabertooth an the possible Homo Lupo background, was as daft as the first time I read it.

[Daniel Sepúlveda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Puntaje: 4.7 Estrellas.

Recuerdo que compré este cómic en el Free Comic Book Day del 2019 porque estaba a solo 2 dólares. En mi mente dije: Wolverine y dos dolares? Qué podría salir mal?

Esta es, sin duda de las mejores novelas gráficas que he leído en el año. Wolverine es de mis personajes favoritos en los comics y esta en mi top 3 de Marvel.

En este caso, veremos la batalla final entre Wolverine y su eterno enemigo, dientes de sable.

Un libro lleno de acción, asesinatos, sangre y mucha historia acerca de los orígenes de Wolverine. Los fanáticos de este personaje no se pueden perder este arco.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Evolution (W#50-55). This story is unfortunately a muddled mess. Logan decides to kill Sabretooth, and spends long issues failing to kill Sabretooth. Then T'Challa spends an issue failing to kill Sabretooth. Then Logan decides to really get serious about killing Sabretooth and does it an issue. (Not that it matters. This has since been retconned.) Meanwhile there are weird dreams about wolf-people, and there's a suggestion that Wolverine and Sabretooth and Wild Child are all wolf-people, which reminds me of Chuck Austen's bad X-Men run where all the mutants were genetic families or something. Oh, and Wild Child, he's really smart now, no reason. And this all leads to something about Romulus, who's been manipulating Logan, but that's going to be an Origins story. Amidst all this muddiness, there is a bit of goodness. There is nice (but sometimes muddy) art and interesting interactions between Logan and Creed and good flashbacks. But, boy this is a mess [2+/5].

[Pinkerton · Rating 3 out of 5]

English (but not so good) / Italiano
Wolverine faces his own nemesis, Sabretooth. Linking whose origins are lost in time, going so far back to lead us to the prehistoric birth of a new race, enveloped by the emblematic and mysterious figure of Romulus ... Questions that certainly intrigue but which alleviate the fierce performance of the struggle, and even of its epilogue, between the two eternal rivals. The usual confusion that reigns when it comes to moving the clawed memories, a fascinating factor, but it never allows me to fully enjoy the story. Bianchi is a great artist but his 'pictorial' design style suits more evocative covers than an entire story that is almost weighs and doesn’t do justice to him.

Italiano
Wolverine affronta la propria nemesi, Sabretooth. Legami le cui origini si perdono nel tempo, andando tanto indietro da portarci addirittura alla preistorica nascita di una nuova razza, ammantata dalla emblematica e misteriosa figura di Romulus… Domande che certo incuriosiscono ma che vanno ad attenuare il feroce svolgimento della lotta, e pure del suo epilogo, fra i due eterni rivali. La solita confusione che regna quando si vanno a smuovere i ricordi degli artigliati, fattore affascinante eppure che non consente mai di farmi godere appieno la storia. Bianchi è un grande artista ma il suo stile di disegno ‘pittorico’ si addice più a copertine evocative che ad un racconto intero che ne risulta quasi appesantito e non gli rende giustizia.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was actually a pretty good story! It starts with Logan taking their final fight to Sabretooth as he has had enough of this guy ruining his life and then it becomes the case of dreams where he thinks about Lupines and imagines himself in weird different lives led by a guy named Romulus and in the present while they are fighting Storm and BP comes in, stuff happens and we learn of the Lupinesapiens and more so on that front and when other X-Men arrives and the final fight starts and the consequences that follow are breath taking, nerve wrecking and inevitable.

This volume just shows how the relation of Wolverine is with his archenemy and the battle that follows is pretty brutal and connects to his past and gives us a final fight between them while establishing the mystery about the new villain Romulus and the art is pretty good

[limebrusco · Rating 3 out of 5]

sono estremamente confusa

[William Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

If there's one thing we can expect from Jeph Loeb, it's that the history of the character he's writing will become 100x's more convoluted than it was before he touched it. This run on Wolverine is no exception.

If there's one thing writer's love to do with Logan, even more than push his healing factor to the limit, its add to his history. And I've gotten pretty tired of that over the years. They've made Wolverine a character that constantly lives in the past, and never one that can live in the now. Every person he meets, everyone he comes across, every place he visits, all have something to do with Logan's past.

So writers love to make Logan into Billy Pilgrim. A man who must relive his nightmares daily and can never escape a single decision he's ever made. It's aggravating most times because who the hell can remember it all anymore? Who wants to? Why should I care to? Forget about Logan's past, if you really want to wow me, write a story about his present.

But of course, that isn't Loeb's style. So he muddies the waters a bit more, only this isn't the stupidest story Loeb has done, and it may be his most linear outside of his Batman work. It's no great shakes, he doesn't have a lot to say, and we can see that everyone involved was very anxious to get to the end an get it over with. But in the end, it wasn't terrible, wasn't great, and I was entertained.

Writing: C
Art: B

[Gavin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping for more, but then I realized it was Jeph Loeb. If it's not a nostalgic look back, or a Batman book, he's probably not the man for it. This just takes Wolverine's past and makes it super convoluted and adds yet another 'mystery man'; this time 'Romulus'. Ya. Pretty much just a bunch of pointless running around, fighting Sabretooth and Wild Child, dreaming about the 'Lupines' a supposed second offshoot of human evolution, who include Logan, Creed, Sasquatch, Wolfsbane, Feral, Thorrn, and Wild Child to name a few Lupine-like mutants.
It's all got to do with Weapon X, and some sort of mystery man calling the shots and keeping Sabretooth from killing Wolverine and visa versa. The Latin phrase "I am what you will become" gets tossed around a lot.
It's all just high-falootin mumbo jumbo if you ask me.
Black Panther and Storm show up, just to move things forward when they're stagnant.
Honestly, could have just skipped this; there's nothing new or noteworthy, nothing interesting, I already knew about Romulus, just enough to know he's another mystery from the past.
I don't think there was any point to this at all, just made things too busy and silly.
The Black and White worked for some of the art, but made a lot of the Lupines look the same, so hard for me to differentiate at some points.

Do yourself a favour, and don't read this. I love Wolverine, and I suffer through most titles with him, but this just is like 'why bother?'.

[J.M. Giovine · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a story about Wolverine and Sabretooth’s final showdown, this was… weird, for lack of a better word. Writer Jeph Loeb, along with artist Simone Bianchi, set the scenario for these two eternal rivals’ final confrontation. However, what could’ve been an epic and intense arc in the anti-hero’s main series, instead felt more like a randomly constructed, and oddly presented trip to the past, with way too many side-characters, and convoluted plotlines that are both, pointless, and absurd.
It seems the “X-Men” have accepted Sabretooth in their forces. He’s now living at the School for the Gifted Youngsters, and Wolverine is not going to accept that. Back in the 90s Xavier did the exact same thing, and it cost Psylocke’s life, but for some reason, the group of mutants decided to give the villainous assassin one more chance, however, after bursting at the Mansion, Logan fights Creed with the sole intention of ending his life for good. Randomly, they both end up at Wakanda, where Black Panther, alongside his fiancé, Storm, rule as King and Queen. Sabretooth is held prisoner after both, him and Logan recover from a plane crash, but their arrival in Africa will trigger a part of both mutant’s pasts that apparently links them all the way back from prehistoric days.
First, there’s an evident problem with Loeb’s pacing. Maybe is something he lost throughout the years, but in the past few decades he has shown a lackluster use of rhythm in his stories. This is no exception; during the first issue we get no context, no background- aside from a mere narration from Logan’s perspective-, of why Wolverine knows that Sabretooth is living at the X-Mansion. Maybe this must connect with the main “X-Men” series, but that’s never suggested in here. At the first issue’s conclusion both are about to seriously hurt each other, only to have the next one starting at a strangely random place: with Sabretooth piloting the X-Jet, and Wolverine chained at the top of it. It felt odd, and out of place, considering the staging from the previous issue suggested some of the “X-Men” would intervene in the fight. Rogue appeared at the very beginning, where was she when these two started fighting? Why didn’t Loeb use any of the X-Men to stop the fight? How did Wolverine ends chained down at the top of the X-Jet when he seemed to have the upper hand in the fight? The following issues don’t seem to improve. From the very first panel in this arc Loeb introduces us to Logan’s daydream memories, which he’s not sure they’re that, since apparently, they are visions of past lives, most likely his evolutionary ancestry, which now adds a certain mystic value to Wolverine’s backstory (and Sabretooth’s), and I’m kind of conflicted about that.
Every single issue has those hallucinations occupying a good chunk of the panels, and while I do love Bianchi’s art, it takes away a lot of the weight to these characters’ conflicts. It seems it has to do with the fact that Logan now has regained all his forgotten memories, and most of those had to do with his long-time rivalry with Creed. Bianchi does a fantastic job at depicting Logan’s memories. His versions of Wolverine and Sabretooth are terrifying and wild, and Sabretooth, in particular, looks frightening, perhaps his more aggressively violent version for a while, and each time the two of them fight its jaw-dropping. Most of the time Bianchi works with wider panels and spread pages, and with his art style, it a great use of his talents, and for the most part, compensates for what Loeb failed to deliver with his script. Even if there’s an excessive amount of side characters, Bianchi’s art at least depicts them in such a great way, it almost comes as forgiving, example of that is in Black Panther, and Storm, who both look stunning, and there’s an appearance of other Wolverine-like characters, such as Sasquatch, Rahne a.k.a. Wolfsbane, Feral, and her sister, Thornn. Even if in the end there’s an actual casualty, the appearance of these characters had no purpose or utility for the plot, which culminates in an actual showdown between Logan and Sabretooth at the place where it all began: Silver Fox’s cabin, in Canada.
There is a recurrent suggestion of a character pulling the strings, called “Romulus” (who will be important in further issues), but the whole importance of Wolverine and Sabretooth’s fight feels secondary until the very ending, when Logan asks Scott Summers (who, again, for some reason didn’t intervene in the first issue during both mutants’ struggle) for the “Muramasa Blade”, a katana forged with a metal that has the properties of neutralizing the healing factor of both, Wolverine, and Victor Creed. The conclusion is expected, but if the rest of the story would’ve been more consistent and focused exclusively on its main characters, it would’ve felt as something epic, and worthy as the finale of one of Marvel Comics’ most memorable rivalries. Instead, Loeb once again places his plotlines all over the place, without an actual pathway and a clear view of the direction, even if it’s evident where the story is heading, there’s just a lot of noise in the middle, with unnecessary use of characters that, at times, appear to be only cameos, and cheap resources to move the plot forward.
Also, the pacing is a huge problem, since we jump from flashback to present day, to flashback, to hallucination, and so on. I wouldn’t’ve minded the flashbacks, since some of them were great eye-candy thanks to Bianchi’s work, example of that was the spread-page where we see Sabretooth’s killings and casualties taken regarding Logan’s close ones, or the very first encounter these two had. But the glimpses of the past were a complete exaggeration, going all the way to the Paleolithic era, Rome, and the Crusades. There was an opportunity to explore more about these two enemies, more about their connection but Loeb went for a complete route, adding mystical, evolutionary concepts that took away the mystery, the wild and personal links.
I cannot help but see this arc as a wasted opportunity. Sure, the art is worth the acquisition and the reading experience, but I do understand why many had plenty of issues with this part of Wolverine’s story, specially since this was thought- at first-, as the definitive last encounter with Sabretooth, but instead, it just felt as a preamble for something else, with a new enemy being suggested, taking away the importance and weight Victor had as Logan’s all-time rival.

[Arturo · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars. Not because I think it's an amazing story or something. But just because it's an amazing essential Wolverine/Sabretooth story.

[Ma'Belle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is based on the motion comic version, called Wolverine vs. Sabretooth.

While shelving DVDs in the children's section of the library tonight, I saw two newish-looking movies on the shelves that hadn't been in our branch before. Both were Wolverine motion comic DVDs from the Marvel Knights imprint. I've read enough Wolverine and Marvel comics to know that these were *not* the ones aimed at young children, but before inquiring further up the chain to find out if the library does indeed want them labeled "Children," I checked them out to watch at home.

Within the first five minutes, Wolverine is swearing, talking about being drunk, having sex up against a tree, and then that woman (Silver Fox) is brutally raped and murdered. By the end of the series of short episodes, mostly featuring Wolverine narrating a connected arc we've seen him slice off two arms and a head, and at one point he suggests to the listener/viewer making his story into a drinking game.

Soooooo...I feel like this was a silly mistake, where some DVD vendors looked at it and saw a cartoon and slapped the Children's sticker on them without knowing that Marvel Knights = Mature, intended for adults, etc. My suspicions were confirmed.

But it also turned out to be one of the best Wolverine movies/shows that's been made! In the Bonus materials, Jeph Loeb says the first half of the story was collected as Wolverine: Evolution, so I'm hoping that's true. Anyway, this motion comic features some unexpected content with T'Challa/Black Panther, Storm, Rahne (of the New Mutants), and a bunch of other beast/dog/cat/wolf-themed mutants.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loeb jest uznanym i cenionym scenarzystą, ale Wolverine'a to on nie rozumie. Oj nie. Przez cały zeszyt przewija się pojedynek Wolverine'a z Sabretooth'em, z którego nic nie wynika, tylko fakt, że jego przeciwnik skutecznie odbiera mu osoby, które Logan kocha. Ale teraz dosyć. Logan się wkurzył i ubije niemilca. I tak w koło Macieju.

Jeszcze gdzieś się przewinie Czarna Pantera, albo gościnnie wpadnie Cyclops z Emmą Frost. No i te kretyńskie przebitki na to wilcze nie wiadomo co, co żyje w stadzie... Szczęśliwie broni się to kreską, ale nie ma tu zbytnio wiele momentów, które chciałbym znać. Przeciwnie. Od lektury mija jakiś czas i musiał jeszcze raz przewertować pozycję, bo kompletnie zapomniałem co i jak.

Niestety tym razem Logan nie miał szczęścia, ale w sumie się nie dziwię, bo liczba autorów pracujących nad postacią na przełomie lat była i jest ogromna. Nie każdy mu podołać.

[C · Rating 1 out of 5]

Continuing the great x-read of '17/'18...

The yearly battles with Sabertooth are becoming pretty stale. So what does Loeb do? He makes it last over five issues and introduces some crazy lupine evolution side-plot that doesn't make much sense at all. He then kills someone to make Sabes look tough, super-powers up someone else that was never much of a threat... Oh yeah, and creates yet another mysterious, super powerful threat from Logan's past. Sorry, but this is just lazy writing.

Even Storm appearing couldn't save this one.

[XMCU]

This story is kinda good, but apparently the story is concluded in Wolverine #310-313 (Which is collected n Wolverine: Sabertooth hardcover by Jeph Loeb). At this tine, I don't know if this story is canon to the 616 Marvel Universe. It kills of characters, making this book not fit in continuity, but Wolverine #310-313 might explain that (I presume). As is, Wolverine Evolution is not a necessary buy/read.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first Wolverine comic book for and I definitely enjoyed it. I really liked the art work, especially the big count of fighting scenes and how they were drawn, definitely one of Marvel's finest. The story could have been better, but this is a common problem with most superhero comics. You can find the word @#$% more then 20 times.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wolverine is always a good cypher; and the amnesia angle makes for some fantastic ways to play around with his past. When you get his true name, a story like this is the next step.

Love the audaciousness of it, and I loved the art.

[Derek Moreland · Rating 1 out of 5]

Believe it or not, theres a lot of Wolverine: Origins that I enjoy. It's by no means a perfect comic, but it is a lot of fun.

This, however, adds nothing to that story, and in fact muddies the already unclear story Daniel Way is trying to tell. Garbage, start to finish.

[Stefano · Rating 2 out of 5]

Come si suol dire, se non hai qualcosa di buono da dire, non dire niente.
Recuperato solo per le barocchissime tavole di Simone Bianchi, peraltro massacrate da colori dalle tonalità cupissime (bella idea, considerando la presenza dei mezzitoni).

[Jesi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure why but I didn't enjoy this one very much. Glad I read it but something didn't resonate with me.

[boofykins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This probably deserves closer to a 3.5 but I'm bumping it up to 4 only because by the end I really want to see where it is heading.

[Nathaniel Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

My actual rating is 7/10 but you can’t do half stars on here.

It started off pretty good and got kinda slow in the middle, but I think it really picked up in the end! Overall pretty good read

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first wolverine comic i read! Thoroughly enjoyed it

[Adam Stone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Updated Review From 2025 Reread: This is an absolute furry nothingburger of a story from one of Jeph Loeb's lowpoints as a writer. It adds things to the Wolverine/Sabretooth/Wildchild/Feral/Wolfsbane/X-23/Kitchen Sink/Washing Machine WIth Adamantium Claws sector of the Marvel X-verse but it doesn't add anything that other writers were keen to continue.

The art is also a problem. While I enjoyed Bianchi's work on Space Ghost, it never works for his Marvel books. His covers are great, but his interiors always look like they're trying to be covers and therefore drain the life out of the stories. Everything seems really static. I'm glad it's attached to this story rather than one I might have cared about.

Only check this out if you simply must ecamine every book with Woverine in it. It's not even close to the worst (Loeb at his nadir is far better than Frank Tieri at his apex) but it's not great.

***

Original 2018 Review: I just finished reading Daniel Way and Steve Dillon's "Wolverine Origin" series to find that Jeph Loeb and SImone Bianchi tell pretty much the same story over again but with a bit of a focus on Sabretooth.

Skip it. I wish I had. Bianchi's art is inconsitent with panel breaks that detract from the storytelling. And this was written during a period in Loeb's career that is best forgotten.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for something along the lines of "Origin" when I read this book, and instead found something less dramatic and more epic. I honestly must say this isn't as good as "Origin" but it is still very interesting to read.

One of the most interesting parts of it is that the narration is all in Logan's voice. There have been many tales told of Wolverine, but this is the first one I've read where I really felt like I was inside his head. Oddly enough, he's not nearly as sure of himself as he usually comes off as to other characters.

Alot of the flavor of this tale is told in flashbacks and odd dreams that Logan has. I found this to be and interesting device. It made the book read almost as a Wolverine clips show. Sabertooth, The Hand, Cyclops, Black Panther, its all a kind of "who will show up next" effect. While this is amusing on one level, I found it to be the major downside of the book. While I like these characters, it weighs down the story. The narrative can't rise to something higher than a kind of 4-color comicery when it must continue to pay such blantant homage to the marvel univers. Something like "Origin" had the benefit of happening before all the canon of official marvel history, and could show us character origins with out all the superhero hoopla. This, while being entertaining, had no such ability.

So read it if you love Wolverine, but not if you are looking for a really good piece of writing.

[JB · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm always in for a little Wolverine. And when it's a Wolverine/Sabretooth story, I'm even more thrilled.

We get some glances of Logan's past. Pieces of things that look like his ancestors and even his future or descendants. It's a two part story so I can tell you more after reading the second part. We see Logan in the Weapon X program, we see Logan fighting Nazi's alongside of Captain America in WW II, there's a little flash of Wolverine's history with Silver Fox and a lot of confrontations with Sabretooth throughout the years.

Cyclops and Emma Frost, Storm and Black Panther, Wild Child, Sasquatch, Wolfsbane and the sisters Feral and Thornn make an appearance. A lot of characters and it didn't feel cramped up.

I love the inner monologue of Wolverine in this story. You're really inside his head, literally. There's a lot of action, beautiful art. The art fits the story perfectly.

I'm going to start reading Wolverine Reborn the sequel to this story. I want to know how this story ends. I'll keep you posted.

[Randy · Rating 4 out of 5]

More back story is added to the Wolverine legend. We learn about his relation to Sabretooth, and other mutants. While this storyline is a bit confusing, (who is Romulus?)it is refreshing to see inside Logan's head. We learn that the animosity between Sabretooth and Wolverine has its origin further back than either of them can imagine or remember. Will this be the end of the battle between these two, or will it continue forever?

I picked this book up on the recommendation of Aidan. He knows that I like Wolverine, and suggested I read this one.

I finished it because my curiosity was piqued by the story, and that this dislike for each other stems from the distant, distant past. I enjoyed the art work and look forward to reading more by both the writer and the artist.

I would recommend this to Thomas. He is a keen fan of X-Men, and I believe would enjoy this one.

[Patrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like the storytelling.