Post by G on Jan 21, 2008 20:59:54 GMT -5
Wolverine - A.K.A Logan & James Howlett
1st Appearance - Hulk #181 November 1974
Decent Web Link:www.marveldirectory.com/individuals/w/wolverine.htm
Opinion (of thread creator only)
Wolverine may be one of the #1 reason's his group The X-Men became so popular in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Both had seem to find the big time at the same time and both seemed to make the other more popular. Even now, a star in 3 X-Men movies and soon his own, Wolverine is as popular as ever. Perhaps people seen in Wolverine what many would like to envision in themselves. He was a scrappy small bad-ass character who was mainly a loner but joined a team and didnt take well to orders and took crap from nobody. Wolverine was the character most likely to slit your throat and not care about it. But through it all, Wolverine also had his decent side which mostly showed for women characters like Jean Grey, Kitty Pride and Mariko. He was the guy you most wanted on your side in the trenches. Seeing the good in you and having your back to the death in a fight. Wolverine captured bad-ass the way few characters have before or since.
Pros: A character generally seen as cool in most circles. Gritty, tenacious and tough as nails, Wolverine is someone we all loved to see unleash and show no mercy on the bad guys. Endless array of cool shots drawn by all the hottest artists. Generally no artist has turned down a shot to do a good Wolverine pic. Collection of all appearance generally considered reachable compared to other older character's collection of works. Key books tend to hold value or increase over time.
Cons: Just too overexposed and played out. Has became a love him or hate him character. Appearances sometimes more for sales than for any true need in some titles. Revelation of origin details took place over way too long of a time frame so not all fans have a complete understanding of just how Wolverine came to be.
Author's thoughts: Early on in my collecting years the X-Men was easily my favorite comic book and Wolverine was quite possibly my favorite character just as he became many others. But, I was never sure he completely took that spot because once the X-Men lost Byrne, I started a long decline on losing interest in Wolverine. The more his popularity rose, the more my feelings were he wasnt the character I originally loved. When Wolverine appeared almost exclusively in X-Men was the days I will regard as the best. Perhaps my favorite memories of Wolverine is X-Men #112 where Magneto is using his power to make Wolverine try and stab himself. And in the Dark Phoenix Saga when he got ahold of Phoenix a woman he secretly loved and nearly killed her except for a moment of her showing a side of her old self giving the Dark Phoenix just enough time to throw Wolverine off. Those are memorable moments that are small, but etch themselves in my memory. I have found few of those types of moments in the last 25 years. And for me, Wolverine just isnt what he used to be.
Favorite Era: The Classic Bryne years of X-Men #108 - 143 where Wolverine came into his own.
Least Favorite Era: The overexposure of the early 90s when it seemed he needed to be apart of nearly every book.
My personal favorite to see draw Wolverine? Well, I could have just said John Byrne and let it end right there, but I'd have to add Barry Windsor Smith's version of Wolverine into it as well (which maybe even I love more than John Bryne's version, but Bryne has the more classic X-Men appearances). The Frank Miller mini series was also a favorite and well done in my opinion.
What's your feelings on Wolverine?