Marvel's Wolverine: The Long Night
4.8/5
Critic Rating
Special Agents Sally Pierce and Tad Marshall investigate a series of mysterious deaths in the seaside town of Burns, Alaska, following the arrival of a strange newcomer - a loner by the name Logan.
Critic Reviews
Score: 4.2
Michael Bergonzi • Audio Drama Reviews • Jul 2, 2024
"A blended and different take on the buddy cop story. It manages to tell a story without the title character and main attraction to the podcast in the forefront."
Score: 3.5
Austin Shinn • The Omniplex • May 25, 2020
"Like the best audio dramas, this is a case of pure telepathic visuals. You feel like you are there in the cold and dark. You’re fully there and it’s effortless. Sound effects and acting sell it. At roughly 5 hours long, this really overstays its welcome. It’s plenty engaging but it’s far longer than it needed to be, a prime example of streaming bloat. Ultimately, I’m kinda meh on this one. It’s got a lot of good and it’ll do the trick audio dramas should. But it’s not in the upper tier. Even fan works have done this one better sad to say. OK, but not great."
Score: 5
Robert Nease • Quill Inc. • Mar 22, 2020
"Written by talented comics scribe Benjamin Percy some noteworthy voice talent including Richard Armitage (The Hobbit films) as the title character, Bob Balaban (The Life Aquatic, Best in Show) in season 1 and Blair Brown (Orange is the New Black) help bring the story to life as Logan proves that, even when you can only hear what he’s doing, he’s still the very best there is at it. Especially when it’s not very nice."
Score: 4.5
Nick Wisseman • Nick Wisseman Blog • Aug 8, 2019
"The production values are excellent. The Long Night is written to be heard and brought to life by strong voice talent and atmospheric sound effects. I'm not sure I loved the ending. It left a few threads dangling and resolved others in a way that made their earlier prominence feel unjustified."
Score: 5
Brenda Cierech • Geekade • Jun 18, 2019
"It’s a good story with a decent amount of twists and turns. The actors do an excellent job, most notably Richard Armitage as Wolverine. I’m incredibly protective of my favorite characters, so when I approve of an actor’s portrayal, that’s a fairly high praise. If you’re a Wolverine fan, this is a must-listen. If you’re someone who likes listening to scripted podcasts or audiobooks, I still encourage you to try it even if you’re not particularly into the X-Men. The barest familiarity with the character (which I think most people have thanks to the popularity of the movies and Hugh Jackman’s brilliant portrayal of him) is all you really need to appreciate it."
Score: 4.9
Cam Rhys Lay • Cam Rhys Lay Blog • Mar 6, 2019
"...my expectations were relatively low. At best, I was hoping for some run-of-the-mill comic book entertainment featuring everyone's favorite, vastly-overused, adamantium-laced mutant. What I got instead was something that felt altogether fresh: a mystery-whodunit radio play that mashes up the best of The X-Files with just barely enough Marvel to keep comics fans from revolting. Speaking of the writing...Percy by and large does a superb job here as well and really uses the most of the audio medium in order to build tension and move the plot along/ communicate information without simply having characters tell us everything directly."
Score: 5
Audiohm Media Staff • Audio Hm • Jan 22, 2019
"It’s very atmospheric and it sets the mood pretty spot on. Armitage does our clawed hero justice with his grit and reluctant heroism. I felt connected to these characters through their voices. The way they cut each other off or talk over one another, it doesn’t feel like it’s being read off a script like some other AD’s that I’ve sat through…"
Score: 5
Joshua Dudley • Forbes • Dec 31, 2018
"...interesting storytelling...The show has all the beats of a true crime mystery... deeper exploration of the motivations and desires of the character then has ever been seen before."
Score: 5
Rebecca Angel • Geek Mom • Dec 25, 2018
"Richard Armitage makes at least one appearance in every episode as Logan; his gravely voice always thickened the plot, and left those listening wanting more. This is writing, directing, and acting at its best. Which brings me to my nerdy side of this: the production...the script is excellent. The female character speaking ratio was 14 out of 36, or about 36%. That’s better than the movies and comics, so perhaps Marvel will take note and make the Marvel Podcast Universe more equal gender media. Although it was still a mostly white cast, there was some diversity. I was actually with the characters of this story, eyes-wide, popping too many unnoticed snacks in my mouth, until the very end."
Score: 4.8
Sebastian F. • Obilisk • Nov 13, 2018
"As you would expect, the overall audio quality and sound design is high-end and works best with noise-cancelling headphones or a quiet atmosphere. I was always excited to hear the next bit, yet if you should binge the whole series in one or two sittings, you might find it a bit stretched at times. Not all episodes are interesting enough to keep you on the edge of your seat; there are some story-telling devices that don’t contribute much and serve more as a setup to make the next event more impactful. The Long Night is an intense audio experience that does its characters justice and creates a new universe for Marvel to explore their comic book heroes in like never before. The casting is superb and every single character is brought to life with the required gravitas. Armitage does an amazing job in portraying an older Logan, perfectly hitting the low notes, grunts, and sadness in his voice. Overall, I highly recommend The Long Night to any Marvel fan or crime thriller enthusiast."
Score: 5
Nerdbot Staff • Nerdbot • Oct 4, 2018
"I found the quality impressive in every aspect. The storytelling is pleasantly between the cartoons/comic books and the grittiness of the film Logan. Dramatic moments pull the listener in to the mystery. All of the Voice Actors in Wolverine: The Long Night deliver captivating performances. All actors provide natural and believable delivery. Supported by the engrossing sound effects, every scene is clearly depicted in the listeners mind."
Score: 4.9
Jordan White • The Verge • May 30, 2018
"Armitage’s version of Wolverine is more brooding and haunted than Hugh Jackman’s take from the films, or any of the character’s previous cartoon portrayals. Armitage’s first extensive scene as Logan comes in the second episode, not in a cinema-friendly gory fight sequence, but in a morose recitation of a letter he wrote to an old lover, Maureen...It’s a grim thought, but in this monologue, in a matter of seconds, The Long Night gets at the core of Logan better than some multiyear comic runs ever did."
Score: 4.9
Jason Burke • Fansided • May 28, 2018
"Moody and atmospheric...the script is crafted more as a supernatural thriller than something in the comic book superhero genre. The script, in and of itself, is not completely original. After all, we are retelling the mythos of Wolverine, here. The true standout is the quality of the acting and its sound, and that can be placed squarely on the shoulders of its director Brendan Baker, who took it upon himself to immerse the listener in this world."
Score: 5
Steve Greene • IndieWire • Apr 19, 2018
"As the noir-tinged narrative plays out, “Wolverine: The Long Night” leans into the challenges of removing an entire sense from the audience experience. Much the way a camera can tell a story by moving through a scene, this series does the same with a microphone. The result is an audience experience that requires more active participation than any other medium. Superhero stories are perfect for taking advantage of spectacle and giving an audience a glimpse into something no mere mortal could ever hope to achieve. But for this story built on the basis of discovery and uncovering some unbelievable truth, “Wolverine: The Long Night” is a detective yarn that can take advantage of the inexplicable in a way few other shows can."
Score: 4.7
Fiona Sturges • Financial Times • Mar 24, 2018
"With hints of Twin Peaks, True Detective and S-Town, the mood here is dark and uneasy. Wolverine has the feel of a well-crafted thriller rather than a smash-bang-pow superhero yarn. Anyone hoping that Marvel’s first audio outing would instantly revolutionise the medium may be disappointed since, in giving us a tale of small-town murder, we are in familiar podcasting territory. But there are small touches that go a long way in refining the fiction genre, the most effective being Wolverine’s use of outdoor locations complete with the sound of wind, birdsong and crunching leaves. There’s no sense of actors huddled around a studio microphone, which is a rarity in audio fiction."
Score: 4.8
Tim Molloy • The Wrap • Mar 12, 2018
"Marvel’s first foray into podcasting — doesn’t rely on Wolverine to keep things moving. In fact, it’s willing to slow-burn its way to his first appearance, even at the risk of losing us. It won’t, of course, because we know — and the podcast knows — that we’ll stick around for the first Wolverine sighting. Or at least the first sound of him. I appreciated all the time spent on character- and world-building by Benjamin Percy, the writer who scripted “The Long Night.” One particular locale, sonically rendered through hollow sounds and drips, is darker and scarier in my mind than I can imagine it being on TV or film."
Score: 4.8
Charley Locke • Wired • Mar 12, 2018
"...listening to The Long Night feels anything but disorienting—especially if you’re listening in headphones. That’s due to the work of director Brendan Baker, who recorded the series with ambisonic microphones. By moving away from action, the podcast loses some of the physicality of a comic. In fact, in the podcast’s first three episodes, the action is all related to the audience after the fact. But The Long Night also manages to place the listener truly within the story, as you develop a sense of the town of Burns—and begin to search for Logan in spaces you know well."
Score: 4.5
Nicholas Quah • Vulture • Mar 12, 2018
"The script, written by up-and-coming comics scribe Benjamin Percy, is fine enough. The rural murder-mystery gambit is always a pleasure, but there are bits of clunky dialogue that eat into podcast’s compelling tone and setting. It’s also worth noting that characterizations are paper thin in these early goings, with some characters presented as little more than a melange of clichés and attitude. The one standout exception is Richard Armitage’s Logan. Snarling and characteristically furious, Armitage plays the Canadian brawler with a light naturalistic touch that’s well within the classic noir tradition of an outsized man hiding from the very fact of existence. For what it’s worth, I’d love to hear from this world and this nexus of creative teams again. Between the gravel of Armitage’s voice, the rustling of the trees, and the snikts of blades slicing through air, the loudest sound that cuts through is the sound of potential."
