Sabretooth: Open Season

Sabretooth (2004) #1-4

by Daniel Way, Bart Sears (Illustrator)

The most brutal villain in the Marvel Universe returns But has he gone too far this time? Did Sabretooth destroy an entire island of innocent humans? And what will happen when the U.S. Military tries to bring him down? Will they succeed - or pay the ultimate price?

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, X Men, Comic Book

128 pages, Paperback

First published March 2, 2005

Reviews

[Sam Quixote · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost all of the people of a small town on the shores of Lake Superior have been viciously murdered - and Sabretooth has been spotted hanging around. Has Wolverine’s nemesis gone too far this time… or is there something else more dangerous lurking in the wintry wilderness…?

Daniel Way and Bart Sears’ Sabretooth: Open Season is a short but satisfying outing for this villain. At four issues long Way needed to be resourceful with his story but it turns out to be the right length - its compactness makes it well-paced and gets right to the point.

The story is told from the perspective of one of the surviving Coast Guard which is a necessity given the twist in the final issue - if we were reading it with Creed’s inner monologue we’d immediately know the situation; this way the surprise remains intact. It also means though that we don’t see much of Sabretooth despite him being the title character which might not please some fans.

It has shades of Alien and the first Predator movie with members of the Coast Guard getting picked off one by one which is the right kind of approach and tone for Sabretooth - hunting/hunter/prey, etc. Bart Sears’ art is ok - it’s nothing special but it’s not bad either. The movie flavour is accentuated by the wide cinematic panels used throughout.

It is a simple story though that’s over very soon - it’s the right length but it’s still a quick read and not too memorable either. Sabretooth: Open Season is a somewhat compelling, breezy comic that’s pretty decent for the likes of Sabretooth.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, the synopsis needs work. I'll take care of that...

The most brutal villain in the Marvel Universe returns But has he gone too far this time?

No.

Did Sabretooth destroy an entire island of innocent humans?

No.

And what will happen when the U.S. Military tries to bring him down?

He gets up.

Will they succeed - or pay the ultimate price?

Neither.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Sabretooth miniseries where Sabretooth is merely a supporting character. Told somewhat from the viewpoint of a Coast Guard sailor who has went ashore to help the people of a small village on an island in Lake Superior. Something has killed most of the town.

Bart Sears has been in the business long enough that you'd think he'd have learned some basic anatomy. Any arm or leg he draws has roughly 10 additional muscles than any human has. His art drives me nuts. I remember when he was supposed to be the next big thing in the 90's.

[Michael O'Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

From another review, given I'm retired Coast Guard, this caught my eye, given its plot of Coast Guard vs. Sabretooth, I had to read this one just to check it out. It opens with the crew of Coast Guard Cutter"Polar Sun" [resembles a Bay-class Coast Guard icebreaking tug], hearing a distress call, and, like any of us would in the USCG, responding to the call. Unfortunately, going into a search and rescue (SAR) case and, instead, running into the bloodthirsty, homicidal mutant, Sabretooth, most of the initial rescue party is ambushed and wiped out.

As the plot unfolds, another mutant, Sasquatch, makes his appearance with the aim of stopping Sabretooth. A task which does not go well for him. Nor does the Coast Guard's sending of a second rescue party to aid the first one.

Overlooking annoying details that civilians miss when writing about parts of the military they may not know much about [calling the Coast Guard cutter "USS Polar Sun" -- Coast Guard cutters go by "USCGC" not "USS; radio dialogue "over and out" [nobody says that on the radio], I thought this a fun one to read --- even though my fellow Coast Guardsmen don't come out too well in the end against Sabretooth.

[Robert Giesenhagen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent enough. Nice to see Sabretooth get a spotlight. The story’s not the most original but Sabretooth is rad enough to overcome.

[Talyseon Talyseon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sabretooth: Open Season takes one of Marvel's most iconic villains, Sabretooth, and makes him the protagonist of a story told from the point of view of a hero, Dr. Langkowski. It is a very well written story; one of the best. Check it out: Sabertooth: Open Season

[Michileen Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

THIS REVIEW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN NOVEMBER OF 2005 AT SUPERHEROES, ETC. (by me)
http://superheroesetc.blogspot.com/20...

Sabretooth is on the hunt. He’s chased a legendary beast to a snow-swept island in the middle of Lake Superior. When a U.S. Coast Guard ship answers a distress call from the island, followed by the arrival of Alpha Flight strongman Sasquatch, things get a bit more complicated and a hell of a lot bloodier in Sabretooth: Open Season.

Open Season has a lot in common with the first collection of Way’s Venom series. The protagonist is a popular Marvel supervillain, soldiers find themselves caught in a struggle between superhuman combatants, you’re never really sure exactly who’s on who’s side, and of course the setting - a relatively uninhabited wilderness during a brutal winter - mirrors that of Shiver’s.

One area in which Open Season and Shiver unexpectedly differ is in the quality of the art. Unlike Bart Sears’s disappointing run on Captain America and The Falcon, he tones down his hyperhuman style with the more non-super subjects, leaving his usual touches - e.g., jutting jaws and chins; prominent lower lips and foreheads; and compact, scrunched up faces - for the characters who deserve such treatment like Sabretooth and Sasquatch.

With Open Season, Sears shows much better instinct in when he should and shouldn’t amp up the more dynamic aspects of his style. For example, the face-off between Sabretooth and his prey at the end of the trade is one of its most artistically impressive moments. It’s featured in a double page spread that fools the reader into thinking the combatants are physically closer than they actually are. It’s the kind of thing one would expect to see every few pages of The First or Cap/Falc, but worked wonderfully in Sabretooth specifically because Sears saved it for just the right moment. This is Bart Sears at his absolute best.

Open Season is a fitting title, emphasis on “open”, as the cast grows and eventually everyone gets a chance at everyone else’s throats. Way handles the crowded line-up well, breeding suspense rather than confusion. The story is quick and bloody, and like Shiver treated in the way you’d expect in films from the Alien or Predator series. The Coast Guard guys get steadily picked off - though even by the end of the story it’s never completely clear who’s done the picking - and most of the victims are given enough dimension for the reader to care about their undoings.

It’s the only thing about the story that threatens to make Sabretooth a sympathetic character. While there’s a big question mark regarding whether or not Sabretooth has spilled human blood in the course of hunting his inhuman prey, it’s clear that the beast is his sole target and - assuming any of the murders are on his hands - any other victims were, in his mind, collateral damage.

Even Sasquatch is something of a suspect, considering his strange behavior towards the Coast Guard. I’m not a stickler for continuity (nor have I read much Alpha Flight and so would be ill-equipped to find any continuity errors), but Sasquatch’s actions seem bizarre. His mission is to stop Sabretooth from hunting his prey because the mutant’s success would supposedly cause an "imbalance in nature". Not only does this seem a strange sentiment coming from a superhero who is only a superhero because he purposely attempted to recreate the accident that turned Bruce Banner into a destructive and nigh-unbeatable juggernaut (i.e., this would rate very low on a “respectful of the natural order” scorecard), but he effectively sacrifices human lives for this thinly-defined principle (i.e., he never says “It will cause an imbalance in nature, and so fiery shit-boulders will flatten Toronto). He lies to the Coast Guard Captain when he enters the story, claiming he knows nothing about the situation. Maybe I’m just not well-educated in the motivations of Sasquatch; but it seems strange he would pass up the opportunity to save the lives of children and soldiers - not to mention warning away the Coast Guard ship and the other ships en route - in order to save the life of a ferocious, uber-powerful, man-killing beast. His presence succeeds in giving the story what Way wanted. It adds yet another unpredictable mix to the already crowded battlefield, and it builds suspense for the final battle between predator and prey. Sasquatch gets thoroughly trounced by both Sabretooth and the beast, showing the readers what both combatants are capable of. It seems a bit much though. The poor monkey bleeds more than Tim Roth in Reservoir Dogs. Even the Coast Guard guys get a piece of him. Each defeat of the Canadian powerhouse seems that much more unremarkable. It would’ve been better to either keep Sasquatch out of this series altogether, or preferrably to come up with a more believable and well-defined reason for his presence.

Though, like I said, I’m no Alpha Flight scholar, though that’s also something of a minor weakness of Open Season. This is not a story for the Marvel-uninitiated. It’s likely most readers would at least know of Sabretooth from the X-Men films, but no background is given for the two other comparatively obscure super-guys in the story. Since I was at least passingly familiar with everyone involved, it wasn’t a problem for me, but it could confuse those unfamiliar with the Sabretooth’s prey. The drama of the revealing of the creature’s identity hinges on whether or not the reader has read past stories featuring the character (this may not have been a problem in single-issue form if they included those little bios at the beginning of each issue: I only read the trade so I don’t know if this was the case).

Despite these weaknesses, overall Sabretooth: Open Season is a worthwhile read. It’s fast-paced, but it’s not the kind of fast that you’ll breeze through it in ten minutes and put it back on the shelf. It’s fun and scary with beautifully rendered action sequences and an ending that will chill your bones. Refreshingly, it’s the perfect story for a character like Sabretooth by featuring him as a protagonist while not watering him down to the point where he’s no longer a villain. I’m becoming more and more impressed with Daniel Way’s work - to the point that I’m considering picking up his second and third Venom trades despite the mismatched art that turned me off from Shiver - and I’m looking forward to his upcoming run on The Incredible Hulk.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sabertooth (Sabertooth 1-4). Oh, hey, four issues reminding us that Sabertooth is a loonie-toon sociopath. There's just barely a story here. I don't know why they bothered with a whole mini-series. But it's kind of exciting and has some good characters, so its not entirely bad as brainless horror. [5/10]

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a follower of the superhero genre, so I can't really comment on how this fit in to the universe. The art was interesting to look at, and the design of the mutants was suitably intimidating. There were parts of fear and tension, but at the end the storyline just kind of fell flat.

[Dakota · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this short miniseries. Only complaint would be the pacing, wish the final issue was entirely dedicated to the final fight. Made the payoff feel underwhelming.

[TK · Rating 2 out of 5]

All my stars are for Sasquatch

[Lillian Francis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice twist.

Art's good.
Hated the covers.

[don’t sweat the little things · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick simple terrific fun

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a perfect story by any means (for a title called "Sabretooth", it focuses on Sasquatch a bit more than I would like), but if you're a big Sabretooth fan, it's an interesting look at his power/strength as well as how he spends his time when he's not antagonizing Wolverine.

[Adam Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly basic story featuring Sabretooth and some other ancillary characters from the Marvel Universe. Daniel Way does an admirable job of producing as many turns as he can in this very short collection.

I recommend it for fans of the extended Marvel Universe characters.

[Rhiannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sabretooth. Sasquatch. Wendigo. The Coast Guard. It's pretty easy to guess the quality of this one.

[Enrique Peral · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah, Bart Sears a los lápices. ¡Qué recuerdos de la Liga de la Justicia Europa!