Check it Out: Wolverine: The Long Night

A few months ago, Marvel released their first scripted podcast. It makes sense for it to be starring their most beloved character, so they wrote a Wolverine detective story. There is a chance Spider-Man might be tied for popularity but I decided that Wolverine breaks the tie by being the best at what he does. Over the course of ten chapters, this story is told both present and past tense through the mostly original cast of characters accompanied by sound effects and music. It sounded like it would be an earnest but overall pointless try into the podcast scene, but I thought it was worth a shot. I have a long commute, so why not? I’ve listened to worse, so my hopes were low.

I did not expect this simple idea to be such a gripping experience.

I do not listen to podcasts for drama. I started listening to them for two reasons: Information (I wanted to know what else Dan Harmon was up to) and comedy (it turns out comics like to talk for hours and hours and a lot of it is funny). None of those fit with Wolverine. So what gives? The amount of Wolverine that is actually in the episodes in minimal. The main conflict and action takes place during stories the characters tell. Neither of those sound exciting, but it really works. The tale that unfolds makes for a thrilling journey with the drama of Law and Order and the sci fi elements of the Twilight Zone. I guess that would be X-Files right? Just think of it as an X-Files episode with Wolverine.

Written by Benjamin Percy, the story of this ambitious podcast centers around two agents who are investigating suspicious murders in Burns, Alaska. Some are blaming an enraged bear. Some are blaming the new resident loner, Logan. Both options don’t seem right, which is good because either way that would be disappointing. Throughout the chapters, layers of the mystery unfold to reveal more and more wrinkles and suspicious characters, each with something to hide. Slowly, Agents Sally Pierce and Tad Marshall swirl like a whirlpool closer to the center of this town’s secrets. About once an episode Logan will pop his ugly (their words!) head into their path, complicating the matter as he walks the line between being the town’s savior and suspect number one. Oh, and there’s a super duper creepy cult that most of the town just kinda find an annoyance for some reason.

The acting is on point as everyone on the cast is taking their roles as characters in an audio stage play very seriously. Ato Essandoh and Celia Keenan-Bolger do a great job portraying the agents and their good cop/bad cop partnership lends itself well to the exploratory viewpoint at which the listener experiences the stories. I’ll admit it seemed to be slightly cheesy, but the inclusion of one line addressing Agent Pierce as “bad cop” showed just enough self-awareness for me to be cool with all of it. Scott Adsit makes for a convincing “just doing my job” sheriff as both an ally and obstacle for the agents. For the casting of Wolverine, they must have known what a heavy task that was. You really can’t read Wolverine’s words in comics without hearing Hugh Jackman or Cathal J. Dodd in your mind. Richard Armitage (best known for playing Thorin in the Hobbit movies) was ready and willing to take on this role with gusto, knowing that you don’t say no to offers like this from Marvel. It had me very hesitant at first, but when you finally hear Logan’s voice at the end of chapter one, you don’t question who’s saying the words. That’s 100% Wolverine, bub.

Overall it’s an exciting and now very FREE experience. Even if you don’t listen to podcasts or audiobooks, this is worth checking out. I recommend listening with headphones to experience the soundscapes presented in each chapter, and the subtle noises the actors make for a believable scene. It’s only 10 chapters at about 30 minutes each, and you can feel free to just fast forward through any ads. Normally I listen to the ads with podcasts because comedians make them sound funny, but there is nothing funny about a dramatic ad read. Well, it’s kinda funny, but you will want to get to the next scene as quickly as possible anyway. Of course there are already dreams of creating a connected Marvel Podcast Universe, but I can understand that this is not something that will catch on will all people. I may not have been the most obvious person for this content since I only listen to comedy or informational podcasts, but if I was able to get hooked, I think many more will too. I just don’t know how they could do this with a Spider-Man story. It seems like a lot of people describing web slinging would not be exciting.