Appearing in "Under the Skin"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Sabretooth
- Lady Deathstrike (Yuriko Oyama)
- Linus Dorfman (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- X-Men
- Cable (Nathan)
- S.H.I.E.L.D.
- Morlocks
- Hunter in the Darkness (Photo)
- Ronald Parvenue (Photo)
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Earth
- North America
- United States of America
- New York State
- New York City
- Manhattan
- 46th Street
- Central Park
- Alley (Mentioned)
- Manhattan
- X-Mansion (Mentioned)
- New York City
- New York State
- Canada (Referenced)
- Buffalo Woods National Park (Referenced)
- United States of America
- North America
Items:
- Linus's Knife
- Linus's Gun
- Adamantium (on Wolverine's claws and body)
Synopsis for "Under the Skin"
Continued from last issue...
Following his rescue from the storm drains of New York City by Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D., Wolverine asks him for answers regarding his past as they fly high over the city. Fury still can't give him the answers about his past that he is asking for because they are classified. Wolverine decides that he needs time alone and asks to be dropped down in the city. Given a jacket by the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and taking one of Fury's cigars, Wolverine jumps down to the city below. Landing beside a prostitute, he gets a light from her and walks off, turning down an offer for her services. As he walks away, he just misses seeing a billboard advertising the display of one of his old sparring partners - The Hunter in Darkness.
Meanwhile, in the sewers near the South Street Junction, Masque and his Morlock minions inspect the damage done there by the battle that took place earlier. They are confronted by Albert who has arrived with the head of Elsie-Dee and is seeking out electrical power to keep her head alive. Thinking that Albert is a threat, Masque sets his minions on him. However, he easily kills them and convinces Masque to bring him to the nearest junction box so that he can keep Elsie alive and build her a new body.
Wolverine has found his way to Central Park and is stalking around in the wilderness when he picks up the scent of blood. He tracks it to the Central Park Zoo where he finds that the animals there, usually docile and having lost their hunters edge after years of captivity, have suddenly become active from the smell of blood. Logan comes across a cage containing a live wolverine that has not lost its fighting edge. Looking down he sees that the creature has been wounded and bleeding.
He turns around and sees a man who is apparently the groundskeeper of the Zoo. The man's name is Linus and he is armed with a knife and is prepared to kill Logan to continue to torture the captive wolverine. Logan has the measure of the man - he's someone who gets off on harming animals. Linus lunges at Wolverine, and Logan takes the knife through the hand. Angry at being wounded, he extracts his adamantium claws, prompting Linus to pull out a gun. However, when the deranged man tries to shoot, Logan blocks the barrel of Linus's gun with one of his claws. The resulting backfire destroys the gun and sends Linus sprawling over his garbage cart, upending it and revealing the real groundskeeper whom Linus had murdered.
Wolverine pulls the knife out of his hand and tells the man the folly of attacking someone with adamantium claws and bones and a mutant healing factor. Deciding that poetic justice is in order, Logan then breaks the wolverine out of its cage and the feral hunter chases Linus off into Central Park where he would clearly be mauled to death and walks off.
Elsewhere in the city, Lady Deathstrike has arrived and is seeking to continue to hunt down Logan to take his bones. Browsing the newspaper to find anything worthwhile to exploit in order to lure Logan into a trap she reads about how wealthy casino owner Ronald Parkvenue is going to be putting on a public display of the Dweller in Darkness. Finding this just what she was looking for she orders her driver to take her to Parkvenue and tosses the newspaper out of the window. The pages flutter down from the George Washington Bridge into the water below where Sabretooth has been laying unconscious since his encounter with Albert. Smelling the paper he detects the scent of lotus blossom, eucalyptus and hate and finds renewed vigor to go after Wolverine.
This story is continued in Wolverine (Vol. 2) #45..
Notes
- Includes a pinup by Marc Silvestri and Dan Green.