Marvel will continue its ongoing celebration ofWolverine’sfiftieth anniversary by delivering another historic chapter the life of his rivalSabretooth, inwhat series creator Frank Tieri describes as “Gangs of New York, but with Sabretooth.“Set in the early 1900s,Sabretooth: The Dead Don’t Talkwill be the latest in the villain’s infamous of bloodlettings over the centuries.
In thelatest addition of AIPT’sX-MenMondayinterview series, Tieri offered the first details onSabretooth: The Dead Don’t Talk, coming at the end of the year. Tieri’s story follows on the heels of theSabretooth War, which broughtWolverine’s Krakoan Era storylineto a breathtaking conclusion; with the villain having been killed off at theWar’send, this new series takes the character back a century.
The Dead Don’t Talkalso serves as a sequel to Tieri’s earlier series,Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth, a must-read for fans of thefeud between Wolverine and Sabretooth.
Speaking with AIPT, author Frank Tieri discussed the genesis ofSabretooth: The Dead Don’t Talkand its 20th-century setting. As he explained, the series serves as a follow-up to his previousRuins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth; the opportunity torevisit Sabretooth in this settingarose as a result of the fact that the character had just been killed off once more in the “present-day” of the Marvel Universe. As Tieri explained:
Hey, it’s Wolverine’s 50th anniversary, you had to figure I was going to be involved in some way, ya know? [Laughs] And really, that “some way” was editor Mark Paniccia more than anything. Mark always liked how I’ve handled Sabretooth as a character and wanted to do something badass with him together. The problem was of course… SPOILER ALERT… Sabretooth was set to die. Which meant the story had to be an untold tale of his set in the past when, ya know, that whole dead thing wasn’t going to get in the way.
As he revealed more details aboutThe Dead Don’t Talk, Tieri exponentially increased the level of hype fans will feel for this series.
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Tieri noted that the previous series featured Sabretooth working for Mr. Sinister, while the sequel willdepict what happens when the amoral antithesis to Wolverine “ends up smack dab in the middle of the criminal underworld in Five Points NYC.“That is, Tieri’s reference toMartin Scorcese’s 2002 crime epicGangs of New Yorkis more than just a reference point for the temporal setting of his story – it serves as the basis of the series' plotline, as the author set out to deliver on “what a Marvel version of Gangs of New York looks like.”
The Gangs Of Marvel’s New York
Not unlikeMarvel’sGang Warcrossover event,Frank Tieri’sSabretooth: The Dead Don’t Talkwill deliver a similar, early 1900s version of disparate criminal groups battling for supremacy in New York City. As much as his series is an homage to Scorcese, and the real history behind it, Tieri was upfront about the fact that he won’t leave any opportunity for comic book magic and madness on the table. The author gave a tantalizing insight into the world of his upcoming book, noting:
One of the most fun parts of using a setting like this is seeing what a Marvel version of Gangs of New York looks like. So you have a mix of normal gangs… and then some not so normal gangs. A gang that use steampunk tech, a gang that have modeled themselves after the American Revolution’s Captain America… even a “Frankengang” that were stitched together by one of the good doctors ancestors. So you can guess when we drop Sabretooth in the middle of something like this it’s like dropping a ton of TNT into a forest fire, the explosion doesn’t only affect the criminal underworld but the entirety of 1900s NYC itself.
Amid all of this, Sabretooth will rise to prominence in New York’s underworld.
The how and why of that rise will be the question at the heart of the story, asSabretooth: The Dead Don’t Talkwill also proceed like a mystery. According to Tieri, the story will be framed by Wolverine’s discovery in the present day of his enemy’s role in the history of New York City crime. Tieri told AIPT:
We actually start with Wolverine, so as the events ofSabretooth: The Dead Don’t Talkunfold, we’re learning about what happened alongside him. We kick off with him in a bar — Satan’s Circus, the oldest bar in the Big Apple — having a drink after Sabes’ funeral when he notices some old pics of Five Points gang members on the wall… and Sabretooth is one of them! How the hell is this possible? From here Logan — and we — begin to learn this secret, violent history of his greatest foe as the gangster “Mad Dog” Murphy and we’re off to the proverbial races.
The thrill of the series will be discovering the life exploits of “Mad Dog” Murphy as Wolverine does, perhaps even putting his enemy, and their perennial battles, into a new perspective in the process.
Frank Tieri is no strange to writingthe character of Sabretooth; as he noted to AIPT, fans eager to get their hands onThe Dead Don’t Talkshould bide their time by readingRuins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth, the events of which the upcoming series spin directly out of. The teaser images released by Marvel for the new book suggest that it will recap the events of the prior story, but it isworth returning to for more than just the plot, but to get a sense of how the author handles Wolverine and Sabretooth.
[Readers] can be confident that Wolverine’s fiftieth anniversary year will draw to a close with an exciting, and of course, bloody new chapter in the history of his greatest opponent, Sabretooth.
In short, he has a strong sense of their dynamic, and both respective characters' voices. If anyone can meet thehigh bar set by author Benjamin Percy’sSabretooth Warand its incredible conclusion, Frank Tieri is likely to be among the best candidates. Readers will have to wait for more details about the series to emerge, but for now they can be confident thatWolverine’sfiftieth anniversary year will draw to a close with an exciting, and of course, bloody new chapter in the history of his greatest opponent,Sabretooth.
Source:AIPT’sX-MenMonday
Wolverine
The human mutant Wolverine (a.k.a. Logan) was born James Howlett, blessed with a superhuman healing factor, senses, and physiology. Subjecting himself to experimentation to augment his skeleton and claws with adamantium, Logan is as deadly as he is reckless, impulsive, and short-tempered. Making him the X-Men’s wildest and deadliest member, and one of Marvel Comics' biggest stars. He’s played in Fox and Marvel’s movie franchises by Hugh Jackman.
