Heaven only knows what's going on with Wolverine: The End.  The book started on an advertised monthly schedule, slipped badly, and now seems to have settled down to being bimonthly.  Claudio Castellini's not usually a slow artist, is he?  You have to wonder whether some retooling has been going on.

Thus far, this has been a disappointing book.  The plot has been cryptic to the point of impenetrability, tension has been almost non-existent (because the plot is impenetrable) and there's been little sense of the story providing any particular closure for the character.  And that's meant to be the point of the End books, isn't it?

This issue goes a little way towards addressing the problems, as it at least gives us some much-needed exposition.  The bad guy is (or at least claims to be) Wolverine's long lost older brother, whom he believed dead all this time.  In a dreadfully obvious back door to allow future stories around this theme, we're told that they've crossed paths several times, but thanks to Wolverine's healing factor covering up his traumatic memories, he doesn't remember any of it.

Of course, the character could be lying, and Wolverine doesn't seem entirely trusting of him, so I'll reserve judgment until it's clear quite where Jenkins is going with him.  At first glance, though, it does seem like a needless embellishment of the character's back story, much like Origin itself.  (Hey, here's a bit of his history that he doesn't remember and which doesn't influence his actions in any way, shape or form!  It's hugely important, honest!)

Castellini's art is readable enough but doesn't really capture the character.  For some reason it seems to have been reproduced at different sizes on different pages, giving the book a strangely inconsistent appearance.

At least some kind of coherent plot is beginning to emerge, but I still can't say this book is engaging me in the slightest.

Rating: C

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