To survive in the icy north, our contestants must Stay Smart... They must Stay Together... They must... Stay Alive! 
- —Current tagline for the "Stay Alive" reality television series
Appearing in "Stay Alive Part 1"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Mauvais (Jean-Pierre Beaubier)
- Bloodscream
- Vermin (Edward Whelan)
- Sabretooth (Victor Creed)
- Omega Red (Arkady Rossovich)
- The General (Behind the scenes)
- Wendigo (Andre Mornet)
- Tiberius Stone
- Nikolai Vernoff
Other Characters:
- Northern Gods (Behind the scenes)
- Radioactive Man (Chen Lu)
Races and Species:
- Humans
- Mutants
- Wendigo
- Cyborgs
- Northern Gods (Behind the scenes)
Locations:
- Earth
- North America
- Canada
- United States of America
- New York State
- Hollywood (Mentioned in narration)
- North America
Items:
Synopsis for "Stay Alive Part 1"
Stay Alive was a popular reality television series, but its ratings are tanking at the moment. The executive in charge of it, Tiberius Stone, blames this on the fact that, while past seasons were staged in tropical environments with the potential for beachware and partial nudity, the current season is being staged in Canada's Nunavut Territory. He complains to his assistant that he wants to know whose idea it was so he can have them killed. The assistant stammers that it was the work of a man named Milo Stevens... who Stone has already killed for an unrelated reason. Suddenly, a messenger from the set runs into the room, saying they needed to airlift one of the contestants after they were mauled... by a seal.
On the helicopter, the contestant is assessing their life choices at having been attacked by such an adorable animal, while the presenter tries to keep up a stream of patter for the camera. As they land at the hospital, they are greeted by a doctor... who swiftly reveals himself as the cannibal Mauvais, by killing the host. His two underlings, Bloodscream and Vermin, eat the contestant.
In a diner, Logan is having a meal while the waiter watches Stay Alive on the television. Logan's derision for the show becomes horror when the host suddenly turns into Mauvais and attacks the contestants.
Meanwhile, in Manhattan, Omega Red is hunting a drug dealer named Nikolai Vernoff on behalf of his employer, the crimelord known as "the General". Vermoff remarks that the General is "in prison somewhere", but Omega Red kills him in front of the patrons. Nearby, Sabretooth watches him.
Wolverine charters a plane and a snowmobile, determined to get to Mauvais and kill him. As he falls out of the plane, he admits that something is drawing him towards Mauvais, but he shrugs this off, and focuses on the matter at hand.
In his office, Tiberius Stone is gleeful: Stay Alive has become must-watch television, and they barely have to do anything. When his assistant brings up the ethical complications, he tells his men to take the assistant out and execute him.
At the magnetic north pole, Mauvais has arranged the half-eaten bodies in a rough circle and is performing a ritual. He says aloud that he wants to have revenge on the Gods of the North for how they foiled him last time. However, he senses Logan's approach from the south, and realises that the gods have summoned him as a champion. He sends polar bears to kill him, but Logan cuts through them, and demands that Mauvais stop. Mauvais explains that the spell he is casting is not an end, but a means... his true goal is to draw the attention of the Wendigo... who prompty appears behind them!
Notes
- This is the first time in his own comic that Wolverine wears the then-current costume from the Grant Morrison run on New X-Men.