Transmissions From Asteroid M. - Wolverine Is Everywhere!
By: MaGnUs
| This article was intended to be a humorous analysis on why Wolverine is seemingly in every Marvel comic out there; but while I thought about it, it lost more and more humor, and it turned into a history of Wolverine's rise to prominence in the landscape of US superhero comics. I'll try to make it as funny as I can, but there are no guarantees. Now, Wolverine. It all started with a throwaway Canadian government agent in the Hulk comic (cameo in The Incredible Hulk #180, full appearance in #181, October-November 1974); a short guy with a hideous yellow and blue costume, a whiskered mask, and some clawed gloves. Yes, ladies and gentleman, it wasn't even decided he would be a human mutant (but rather a mutated animal), and the claws were part of his gloves, according to what writer Len Wein has said over the years. I bet they even made him short not only because of the wolverine parallelism, but because they wanted him to contrast even more to the Hulk. Nobody could imagine that this seemingly throwaway, destined-to-c-lister character would become one of the more popular characters in Marvel's history... if not the most popular one. For his first appearances, Len Wein created the character and had John Romita, Sr. design the visuals, following his indications; but Herb Trimpe was the artist on the actual comic book. As a possible prelude to his future popularity, Wolverine was announced in various Marvel Comics publications prior to his first appearance.  Wolverine is Everywhere - Magnus - GeekGirlsOnline GeekZine Now, everybody thinks of Wolverine as an X-Men character... but he started off as a Hulk character! This is similar to what happens with the Kingpin... aside from his appearance in the nineties Spidey cartoon; everybody thinks of Wilson Fisk as a Daredevil villain (which he technically is, after all they've been through), but he was initially Spider-Man's foe. How did Wolverine end up being an X-Man? Well, Len Wein wrote Giant-Size X-Men #1, meant to revitalize the X-Men after years of only reprints, without new stories (except for some guest appearances in other books). In it, Professor X recruits a new X-Men team to rescue his original one; and his new recruits all from all over the globe. He gets a member from Asia, two from Europe, one from Africa, one from Russia (another one from Asia, actually, since Colossus is from Siberia), a Native American (who'd last only a few issues) and yes, a Canadian! The art in the book is by Dave Cockrum, but the cover is by Gil Kane, who drew the mask wrong, with larger headpieces. Cockrum liked this alteration, and kept it, drawing Wolverine for the first time without his mask and giving him his trademark hairstyle. As intended, a revival of the X-Men followed the Giant Size issue, and with Uncanny X-Men #94 (August 1975), Chris Claremont took the helm, with Cockrum on the art chores. With subsequent issues, Claremont and Cockrum considered dropping Wolverine from the book. Who saved him? Well, Cockrum left the book, and along came Canadian-raised British artist John Byrne. If Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the X-Men, Len Wein and Dave Cockrum created the "All-New All-Different X-Men!", and Claremont and Cockrum fleshed them out; it's Claremont and Byrne who made the X-Men the big stars they are today. Point in case, it was Byrne who, as a Canadian, decided to keep Wolverine as part of the book and convinced Claremont to go along; feeling that there weren't enough Canadian superheroes. Among the many things that Byrne contributed to the Wolverine mythos is the idea that he was significantly older than the other X-Men, as well as his former team, Alpha Flight, the Canadian government outfit that tries to recapture him because he's technically AWOL. Byrne also designed what many, this writer included, consider Wolverine's best costume, the tan and brown one; which more closely resembles the animal he's named after. It is interesting, though, to point out that Wolverine's original (and longest running, despite alterations) costume, the yellow and blue one, coincidentally matches the yellow and blue colors of the X-Men, despite him not being intended for that character family. Maybe his color scheme was taken from the Michigan Wolverines? Wolverine's growing popularity led to a four-issue miniseries in 1982, writen by Claremont, with art by Frank Miller. It was in this story where his condition of "modern ronin" was first explored; and his catchphrase "I'm the best there is..." was coined. Only two years later, he got a shared six-issue mini with Kitty Pryde (who was his sidekick at the time, anyhow). And so, Wolverine's road to overexposure had started... Logan got his solo ongoing book in 1988, a mere three years after the end of his last mini, and only thirteen years after his first appearance. No mean task, considering he'd be the first X-Man to get his own solo book; a feat only beaten by Dazzler's 1981 ongoing; but the diva didn't become an member of the X-Men until much later. All other X-Men solo minis were after the early 1990s mutant boom; and the next X-Man to get an ongoing book was Gambit, in 1999. Wolverine's solo book has been written and drawn but numerous authors, from comic book superstars to newcomers and everything in between; and he'd also go on to star in numerous one-shots and miniseries, some even produced in Europe and Japan. The true turning point would come in the early 90s, when the X-Men were divided in two teams; Blue and Gold. Each team had their own book (X-Men for Blue, Uncanny for Gold), their own roster, and their own exclusive field leader (Cyclops for the Blue team, Storm for the Gold one)... and Wolverine was a member of both teams. Why? Well, the only reason was sales. On those terms, the only thing better than two X-Men books... is two X-Men books with Wolverine. Now; there's a reason for such great sales with Wolverine, who as cool as he is, is a one-note character. The early 90s saw the reign of the anti-heroes; rebellious crimefighters who, while still on the side of angels, while still being good, were not goody two-shoes. Cable, The Punisher, most of Image's characters... all of them took after Logan himself, the original superhero bad boy. His ongoing book lasted until 2003, at which point it was immediately re-launched in a new volume, and in 2004, when new ongoing book Astonishing X-Men was launched, he was of course part of that team too. In 2005 he joined the Avengers... the motherfucking Avengers!!! He runs around wearing what amounts to an X-Men uniform (and in fact now sports an X-emblem on his chest) while working for another team! It's like being an actor working in science fiction show and a CSI-style show; and showing up in the police station set dressed as a space pilot. I mean, Wolverine is not a team player by nature; he's supposed to be a gruff loner. He's a member of the X-Men for different reasons; and even evolved to be part of them as a family; but he's not a team joiner. I can see Spider-Man joining the Avengers, even if he hasn't been much of a team-guy; because he can use the support in New York and all that. What does Wolverine have in common with Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Iron Man or Spider-Woman to team up with them on a regular basis? Now, even on the solo front, he keeps racking up books. In 2006 he gets a second ongoing, Wolverine: Origins; in 2008 he headlines Wolverine: First Class and leads his own team, the newest version of X-Force (with its own book, of course). Not only that, but his son Daken takes up the Wolverine identity as part of Norman Osborn's team in Dark Avengers, so we now literally have two Wolverines running around! Don't even get me started on other media adaptation of the X-Men and Wolverine himself. Wolverine is one of the few characters to be featured in every single media adaptation of the X-Men, be it videogames, television or films. He was a prominent character in the earliest animated adaptation (Pryde Of The X-Men, a failed pilot, where he had... an Australian accent!), was central to the 1990s X-Men animated show; and had a big part in X-Men: Evolution. He's been a main character in all X-Men videogames, and is one of the four main heroes in the company-wide Marvel Ultimate Alliance game, on top of headlining the latest X-Men animation; Wolverine And The X-Men (when he's never been a team leader for the X-Men). Not only that, but he's the only X-Men member to star in his own videogames, and now in his very own feature film; X-Men Origins: Wolverine, opening soon. Other characters appear in many books; Spidey used to have more than one solo book and appeared in New Avengers; he still has his solo book three times a month and is featured in the team book. Over at DC, Superman used to be in four or five solo books (albeit composing one single story, the fabled triangle titles) and other appearances; and today he appears in two or three books of his own; not to mention Superman/Batman and JLA, in addition to company crossovers. But then again... he's Superman. He doesn't have to sleep, or rest; physically speaking. Batman (well, before his "death"), on the other hand, appears in three books of his own, as well as the aforementioned company crossovers; the JLA book, Outsiders, Superman/Batman, and his family-member's books. But Batman has excuses for so many appearances. One of his solo books, Batman Confidential, is an "untold tales" kind of book, same as Superman/Batman has been for a few years now. Also, his appearances in Bat-family books are limited to cameos or ocassional crossovers. More importantly, and this is something that he shares with Spider-Man, his solo adventures are more low-key, of more smaller scope than those starring heroes like Green Lantern or Iron Man; which leaves him free to engage in the occasional universe-shaking skirmish. Wolverine is not like that; the X-Men's battles are grander in scope than Spidey's or Batman's; not to mention the ones he gets into with the Avengers. That's about all I have to say; but I want to make one thing clear. You're probably thinking "Wow, this guy really hates Wolverine, doesn't he?" No, I don't hate Wolverine, at all. I love all core X-Men characters, and like or tolerate the rest; and I think Wolverine is as much an integral part of the X-Men as Cyclops, Jean, Beast, Nightcrawler or Professor Xavier himself. But in the end, he's good as a larger cast member; he's a one-note character, not a franchise builder. At the very best, he's good for appearing regularly in one team book; occasionally another team book; and headlining a single solo book; as long as he keeps to his routine ninja-killing/fight-with-Sabretooth-of-the-trimester antics. On another note, Quesada should let Wolvie smoke again... for crying out loud, the man has a healing factor! MaGnUs, who's not everywhere... About The Author: Martín A. Pérez (AKA MaGnUs) writes short stories, articles, comics and radio plays. One of his short stories has been published in the book Contagion: War Stories, and an essay of his appears in "Teenagers from the Future: Essays on the Legion of Super-Heroes.". His articles have appeared online or in print magazines like Inforol, Ururol, Kryptonian Cybernet, and Strange Days, while he's currently writing for the Independent Comics Site, Shotgun Reviews and Nosolorol. He co-produces and co-hosts a radio show about comics and related subjects, Perdidos en el Eter. An active part of Uruguay's fan scene, he's one of the creators of Montevideo Comics, the first local convention (since 2002), and one of the founders of Caballeros de Montevideo, which promotes RPGs through charity events. MaGnUs works at a tech-support call center, and is happily married to his wife Cindy, with whom he has a son, Gabriel, who ever since his birth has been marked to become yet another nerd... just like daddy! |