Issue(s): Wolverine #34
Cover Date: Dec 90
Title: "The Hunter in Darkness"
Credits:
Larry Hama - Writer
Marc Silvestri - Penciler
Dan Green - Inker
Suzanne Gaffney - Assistant Editor
Bob Harras - Editor

Review/plot:
This is a little one off that has Wolverine camping in Canada - naked of course - and meeting some mounties...

...that are on the hunt for a kidnapper.

Wolverine is able to sniff out the kidnapper so he goes along with the mounties. The younger cop is shot by the kidnapper. The older one soon enters an Ann Nocenti-style fugue-dream state, talking about his time during World War II (1944) and his commander (who turns out to have been Wolverine) and about another time when he shot at something called the Hunter In Darkness, a monster from Native American lore that roams Canada and which at first we're supposed to think was also Wolverine. It's a weird turn and gets weirder when the Hunter In Darkness actually shows up.

Wolverine actually met the Hunter before and had saved it from a bear trap.

Eventually the Hunter goes after the kidnapper instead of Wolverine. The older cop dies as well, but not before Wolverine hears him say, "Logan" which is what confirms for us that the guy's flashbacks about his commander in WWII really were about Wolverine.

I kind of wondered if the Hunter was a rogue Neuri, since they are similar looking creatures that appear in this year's Wolverine: Bloodlust, but Hunter In Darkness apparently has a bunch of additional appearances.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Ah, the opening to one of my favorite long-running story arcs. Great issue.

Hama always crushed it on these kinds if stories.