I ain't killin' you bub -- I'm not makin' it that easy on you! I've decided that for what you did, you're gonna pay for a long time! I'm gonna keep comin' back, see? An' each time, I come back I'm gonna cut just a little more offa you! An' between visits, you're gonna sit and wonder which part I'm gonna slice off next! I'll be seein' you around, bub! 
Appearing in "Counting Coup"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- X-Men
- C.I.A. (Only in flashback)
- Team X (Only in flashback)
- ⏴ Sabretooth (Creed) ⏵ (Appears in flashback)
- ⏴ John Wraith ⏵ (First full appearance) (Appears in flashback)
- ⏴ Maverick (David North) ⏵ (Only in flashback)
- Team X (Only in flashback)
Antagonists:
- ⏴ S.H.I.V.A. ⏵ (Destruction)
- The Hand
- ⏴ Matsu'o Tsurayaba ⏵
- Several unnamed ninjas (Only appearance; death)
- ⏴ Omega Red (Arkady Rossovich) ⏵ (Behind the scenes in flashback)
Other Characters:
- ⏴ Yukio ⏵
- Clan Yashida (Referenced)
- ⏴ Mariko Yashida ⏵ (Dream and corpse behind the scenes)
- Silver Fox (Dream)
- An unnamed Neo-Nazi Group (First appearance)
- Mandarin (Mentioned)
- ⏴ Sunfire (Shiro Yoshida) ⏵
- Janice Hollenbeck (Corpse, skeleton or other remains) (Only in flashback)
- Mastodon (Mentioned) (Main story and flashback)
- Major Arthur Barrington (Mentioned) (Only in flashback)
- ⏴ Aldo Ferro ⏵ (Behind the scenes in memory implant)
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Earth (Main story and flashback)
- Asia
- Japan
- Honshu
- Tokyo
- Yashida Clan Cemetery
- Tokyo
- Honshu
- Japan
- North America
- United States of America
- New York
- New York City
- Manhattan
- An unnamed Wrestling Club (First appearance)
- 34th Street (Mentioned)
- Penn Station (Mentioned)
- Madison Square Garden (Mentioned)
- Manhattan
- New York City
- New York
- Canada (Memory Implant)
- Ontario (Referenced)
- Weapon X Warehouse, Windsor (Referenced)
- Yukon (Memory Implant)
- Canadian Rockies (Memory Implant)
- Victor and Logan's House Memory Implant
- Canadian Rockies (Memory Implant)
- Ontario (Referenced)
- United States of America
- Europe (Only in flashback)
- Asia
Items:
- Wolverine's Suit (Main story and dream)
- Carbonadium Synthesizer (Only in flashback)
Synopsis for "Counting Coup"
Story continued from Wolverine (Vol. 2) #57....
Following the death of his love Mariko Yashida, Wolverine has spent the past few days sitting at her grave. It is now pouring rain and nothing Gambit or Jubilee have tried have made Wolverine want to leave her grave. When Gambit asks Yukio to help, she tells him that she will win Wolverine's love, but not now during his time of mourning and walks away. As Wolverine thinks about the women in his life, he is haunted by the ghosts of Silver Fox and Mariko and struggles to keep his animal side under control, howling into the night in grief.
In New York City, Sabretooth is chatting up some women at a wrestling match and is about to pick a fight with the wrestlers when he is attacked by a Shiva robot. As the mutant and the robot duke it out, a man known as John Wraith is taking a subway through New York City. Some Hispanic men decide to pick a fight with him and he warns them that they are in for a world of hurt if they try anything. Before a fight can break out some skin heads board the train after being kicked out of Madison Square Gardens. Seeing the Hispanics and a black man on the train, the group of Neo-Nazi's decide to go and pick a fight. Before they can start Wraith throws a bullet them. He tells them that it's a .45 calibre ACP with and has alloy jacket around a depleted uranium core swimming in mercury and warns them that if anything happens on this train the next bullet will be fired into them. This convinces the Neo-Nazi's to leave the car, when the Hispanic men turn to thank Wraith from saving them from a beating, they are surprised to find that the man is missing.
Back in Japan, Mastuo is preparing for an eventual confrontation with Wolverine following his involvement in Mariko's death. Finding this poetic revenge for Wolverine taking his hand months earlier.[1] He is ready to deal with Logan thanks to a specially designed cybernetic hand that has built in claws in each of it's fingers. After testing it out on a dummy of Wolverine, Mastuo is visited by his Hand ninjas who warn him of the danger of remaining in Japan. Matuso believes that he is totally safe in his own home and dismisses their fears that Wolverine might come seeking retribution.
While at the grave site of Mariko Yoshida, Sunfire arrives to warn Wolverine against against going after Matsuo and that he Japanese government has asked them to leave the country without incident. When Jubilee and Gambit point out that Sunfire is being callow toward a man in mourning, Sunfire points out that Mariko was his cousin and that he is not a withering wraith of the warrior that he truly is. At the mention of the word wraith, Logan is triggered of another lost memory from years ago. On a mission to collect the C-Synthesizer in Berlin with Sabretooth, and Maverick. They are forced to leave behind the dead body of Janice when they are picked up by John Wraith. Wraith decides to stay behind even though Logan and the others warn them of some menace back there that is incredible powerful. Wraith ignores their warning wanting to try out one of his new weapons. Logan's memory ends with the soldiers fleeing and leaving Wraith to deal with the danger they are leaving behind.
Meanwhile back in New York City, Sabretooth is gaining the upper hand against the Shiva robot and succeed in tearing it's head off. This doesn't stop the robot from triggering painful memories of Sabretooth's past. He begins recalling a memory about finding his supposed son, Logan, getting behind on his wood chopping. Seeing that he boy has a Native medicine pouch in his belongings makes him realize the boy has been out with Silver Fox and is furious. He takes off his belt and is about to beat the boy when the memory is interrupted by John Wraith. Wraith has arrived just as another Shiva robot has arrived to neutralize Sabretooth. Agreeing to flee the scene with Wraith, Sabretooth watches as Wraith attaches a bomb to the Shiva robots chest and detonates it. The two then flee the scene before another robot can arrive.
Finally, in Japan, Mastuo looks over the storm ravage Japan and looks forward to a bright future and the hopes of recapturing the long lost C-synthesizer. Down below, Logan has finally agreed to leave and he, Gambit and Jubilee have been given a limo ride back to the airport thanks to Sunfire. Logan had insisted on keeping the sun roof open so that it can rain down on him. However, when he picks up Matsuo's scent he suddenly jumps out of the sun roof.
Changing into his Wolverine costume, he kills the electricity in Matsuo's penthouse and attacks him. When his ninjas come to his aid, Wolverine easily slices through them all. He then confronts Matsuo and tells him that he will make him suffer by cutting off a piece of his body every time, and leave him to wonder when the next time he will return and what part of his body he will slice off next. Wolverine then cuts out one of Matsuo's eyes and leaves.
Notes
Continuity Notes[]
- The "flashback" featuring Sabretooth as Logan's father is one of the several false memories implanted into Team X members by Weapon X Program's ally Aldo Ferro.
- John Wraith had previously appeared in the Windsor memory implant, where, as Carlisle, was part of Silver Fox's terrorist cell.[2]
- This story takes place before Wolverine (Vol. 2) #58–59.
Chronology Notes[]
A flashback in this story affects the chronology of the following characters:
Team X mission in Berlin