It's fitting that Paul Jenkins, the man who wrote the ridiculously popular Wolverine: The Origin limited series, should pen the mutant character's final adventure. Sadly, the grounded tone of Origin, the one that portrayed the title character in an unusually vulnerable and emotional light, isn't to be found here. Jenkins follows up on the plot from that previous story, but the atmosphere and more human themes are replaced with some typical Wolverine scenes, ones we've seen far too often before. Visually, the storytelling is capable, but it lacks the edge and darkness that's called for in the plot.
Years in the future -- decades, or maybe even a century -- an aging general storekeeper brings supplies to the strange old hermit in the woods, a man who hunts without benefit of a weapon. His name is Logan, and the storekeeper has something for him something he's never brought before: a letter. An old friend has died, and the funeral leads Logan down an old path, to memories he lost several lifetimes ago. Someone is leading him down this path, someone who knows all his secrets... and even some that elude Logan himself.
Claudio Castellini's work here is... adequate. To be honest, I've never quite understood why he's been hailed as a major talent in the industry, why attaching his name to a book -- DC Versus AMrvel, CrossGen Chronicles and now Wolverine: The End -- was treated as something of a coup. Here, the influence of the late John Buscema shines through clearly, but without the cover credit (there don't seem to be any interior credits), I would have assumed this book had been illustrated by Kerry Gammill, a 1980s comic artist who worked on such books as Superman, Fallen Angels and Power Man and Iron Fist. The style here is a conventional one, but it's also a bright one. The story calls for an atmosphere of foreboding, of tension, but I just don't get that here.
One could argue that Jenkins plays to the title character's strengths here, but I see it more as resorting to the same old tough-guy conventions that made him popular with teenage male readers in the first place. The writer is being true to the character here... too true, really, as there's little new to be found here, save for the fact that Wolverine has finally grown old.
To be fair, there's one element in the script that caught my attention. Maybe it's not a new idea, but it struck me as such. Jenkins posits that Logan's lost memories aren't the result of brainwashing, but his mutant healing power kicking in at an emotional level. His mind blocks out overwhelming traumatic events in order to survive. It's both a blessing and a curse, and it's an inventive take (assuming it's new) on the powers of Marvel's most popular mutant.
