Written by: Victor LaValle
Art by: Leonard Kirk, Craig Yeung
Colors by: Rain Beredo
Letters by: VC’s Cory Petit
Cover art by: Ryan Stegman, J.P. Mayer, Frank D’Armata
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: June 29, 2022
Sabretooth #4 sows the seeds of dissent as Sabretooth learns his original plan to use his prison mates to solicit help is bearing unexpected fruit. Could the Brotherhood’s most brutal killer be the catalyst that ends the Krakoan Era?
Was It Good?
I like Sabretooth #4. I don’t like it because it’s the biggest, loudest, most energetic superhero action/adventure ever (it’s not). I like it because it’s the only X-related title that appears to be setting up what’s sorely lacking in the Krakoan Era – change.
The big positives in this issue are LaValle’s plot and the art from Kirk, Yeung, and Beredo.
Starting with the art, Kirk and Yeung have a strong vision for anatomy in the way their characters assume body postures, hand gestures, and facial expressions to carry the more thoughtful moments in the issue. As a word of warning, there isn’t much action in this comic, and that lack of action may be a down point for some, but the art team does an admirable job making the conversations and moments of observation visually interesting.
The minor down point of the art is the lack of integration of the characters into the scenery. Most scenes in this issue show characters cast in heavy shadow, but you don’t see those shadows extended to the walls and floors where the characters are standing, giving the characters the effect of being pasted onto the scene. Thankfully, Beredo’s coloring is outstanding, and the color textures “hide” the lack of shadow, but it is noticeable.
Again, this is a dialog-heavy issue, and while the conversations may not be gripping on their own, it’s the future potential of those conversations that make this comic so engaging. Sabretooth sent his prison mates out into Krakoa to solicit help to effect a prison break. What he finds is that the mutants who’ve been contacted are spreading Sabretooth’s story as an injustice created by a corrupt Quiet Council. In other words, Sabretooth’s plan to escape inadvertently has started the spark of rebellion among the less-favored mutants. Is this the most earth-shattering X-comic ever? No, but if LaValle stays on this track, the implications for the current mutant era are enormous.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
Follow ComicalOpinions on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
Bits and Pieces
Sabretooth #4 gets high marks. Not for what it is, a well-drawn but dialog-heavy comic, but for what it has the potential to be – the spark that finally ends the Krakoan Era. That alone is worth the cover price.
Weird Science Marvel Comics 