Perceptions, Part 3

After a series of grisly child murders in the area of Hope, British Columbia, Wolverine has come to stop area hunters from killing countless harmless animals to capture the "bigfoot" responsible. While stalking in the woods, he hears a group of hunters trying to shoot the Wendigo, enraging the creature into attacking them. The monster fights off the attackers and all flee except for one. The man defiantly dares the creature to kill him, but he is saved by the last minute by Wolverine who leaps onto the scene. As the hunter flees, Wolverine attacks the Wendigo to buy him some time to escape. However, Logan decides to go easy on the mythical beast as it is not at fault in all of this. Unfortunately for him, the primitive monster doesn't have any intentions to treat Logan the same way.

At that moment, Peter Parker answers the door to his hotel room to find his co-worker Melvin Gooner in an excited state. He tells Parker that some hunters had just had an encounter with the "bigfoot" monster and insists that they hurry up to Hope in order to confirm the sighting of the monster. On their way up, Peter confides that he has gotten tired of this story and how all the misinformation surrounding it appears to drag it on longer. While back in the woods, Wolverine is slowly losing the edge in battle, as Wendigo savagely batters him around the area. While in town, the hunters tell a swarm of reporters about their encounter with the monster leading to more grisley headlines. By this point, Logan is beginning to lose his temper and is about to give into one of his trademark berserker rages. However, sensing Wolverine's animalistic nature, the Wendigo stops dead in its tracks. After a tense moment staring each other down, the Wendigo flees back into the woods.

Soon, Peter Parker and Melvin Gooner arrive in Hope, wbhere reporters are still questioning the hunters. Peter tells Melvin that he is going to the police station to see what he can learn there. On the way, he is approached by Logan who tells Parker that if he wants to solve the situation involving the Wendigo that he should meet him a half-mile due north.[1] Peter changes into Spider-Man and heads off to the meeting place, intending to check with the police and Marvin the next day. The wall-crawler is concerned with being seen in Canada as it could potentially compromise his double-identity. He wants this to end quickly unlike the pointless battle he had with Calypso recently.[2] When he arrives at the meeting place, Spider-Man finds that Wolverine is in no mood to talk. Seeing that Logan is wearing his old yellow-and-blue costume, Spider-Man is told that his usual orange and brown costume was ripped to shreds during his last encounter with Wendigo.[3]

Wolverine tells Spider-Man that he has come up to stop the killings of both children and animals in the area. Although everyone thinks the Wendigo is responsible for these murders, Logan is most certain that it is not, thanks to his enhanced senses. He explains that he went ot the highway where the Wendigo dumped one of the victims. His enhanced senses allowed him to determine that the boy was buried elsewhere and that it was an adult male human who killed the boy and buried him in the forest. He then tracked the Wendigo and found the carcasses of the monster's recent kills and determined them to be deer. Wolverine's theory makes sense to Spider-Man, as he had been investigating the idea that the RCMP have been leaking information out to the press. The wall-crawler suspects that someone is intentionally working up the press to further frighten the locals into jumping to the conclusion that the Wendigo is responsible for the child murders. The two decide to work together and stop the real killer before things continue to grow out of control.

Continuity Notes

1. Wolverine calls out to Spider-Man even though Peter is not in costume. Logan discovered the wall-crawler's double identity in Spider-Man Versus Wolverine #1.

2. Spider-Man battled Calypso in Spider-Man #1-5.

3. Wolverine originally wore this yellow-and-blue costume from his first appearance in Incredible Hulk #180 until X-Men #139.