A look back at Wolverine (Vol. 1)

It's hard to imagine these days, but there was a time when Wolverine was not the omnipresent corporate mascot that he is today.  When his first series was launched in 1982, his character had only a few defining moments.  Aside from the times where he went berserk and attacked his own teammates, his biggest issue to date was in Uncanny #133, when he killed loads of anonymous Hellfire Club henchmen.  He was the X-Man who was truly dangerous, and was defined more by what he was not (a team player, a nice guy, etc.) than by what he was.

That helped make the character popular, but it was painting Chris Claremont into a corner, development-wise.  As legend (and Claremont, in numerous interviews and the foreward to at least one of the paperback collections of this series) has it, Claremont wanted to explore the character more, and make him more than just a psychopath.  Frank Miller wasn't interested in the character at all.  However, over a long car ride together, they hashed out the ideas that eventually became this limited series.

And what a productive series it was!  The concepts introduced here have had a direct impact on the character ever since.  This may be one of the most important limited series of all time, given the major character changes it introduces.  After this series, we don't see Wolverine as an uncontrollable psycho again until his ill-advised nose-free era.

Easily the worst thing in the X-comics (until the Draco)

The concept of honor becomes central to this character in this series.  This is what allows Wolverine to become a father figure to Kitty Pryde and Jubilee.  This is what allows him to co-lead the team after the Mutant Massacre.  This is what drives him to open the Jean Grey school.  This is the point where he begins building up the respect of the Marvel Universe to the point where he could become an Avenger.  None of those major character developments would have been remotely plausible without this story.

In terms of the writing, Chris Claremont does a great job with the story and the larger concepts at play.  The writing style is a little restrained for him, with the only prose-heavy part in the entire series being Logan's epiphany on the last page of #3.  I wouldn't say that this is the best example of Logan's narration you are likely to find --- I think the tone falls in and out of character, personally --- but Claremont hits enough of the right notes for this to work.

Frank Miller and Josef Rubinstein's artwork has some truly iconic imagery on display, but it is pretty inconsistent.  Miller has always had a talent for bringing out the ugly in his characters (that's not a knock, just an observation), but some of the less important scenes look like they were rushed through and the page layouts are uncluttered to the point of appearing incomplete.  Happily, the action scenes are uniformly fantastic --- and in a Wolverine comic, that is what is most important.  Whenever there is a sword fight or ninjas to be slain, the artwork jumps off the page.

Wolverine (Vol. 1) is definitely a must-read for any fan of the character.  Hell, it's even a good read for folks who hate his current ubiquity.  The odd thing about this story is that, despite its importance, this is not a definitive take on the character; it's more like the first chapter of the rest of Wolverine's life.  Is this the best Wolverine story ever?  Probably.  But if you haven't read it before, it's worth keeping in mind that this is character-shaping, not character-defining.