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.

Wolverine (Vol. 1) #4

"Honor"
Published: December 1982
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Frank Miller
Inker: Josef Rubinstein

What's Going On?
After pulling his shit together at the end of last issue, Wolverine decides to take the fight to Shingen.  And by that, I of course mean running directly at Shingen and going with the stabby-stabby Wolverine neither attacks his enemy head-on, nor does he sneak his way toward his target.   Instead, he terrorizes Shingen's illegal businesses for all of two pages before sending Shingen a message, announcing his attack.  While that conflict approaches its natural conclusion...

...Yukio and Mariko do their best to come to terms with their concepts of honor.  Yukio tries to redeem herself for betraying Wolverine by saving Mariko's life.  After Shingen's death, Mariko is faced with a choice.  Does she honor her evil father and try to kill the man who murdered him, or does she honor the good man who killed a bad man?  Hint:

It looks like Wolvie starved himself to fit into that dress

Art!
The art in this series went downhill as it progressed.  It's still Frank Miller, so the bad isn't wretched, but his work is inconsistent.  The battle scenes between Shingen and Wolverine?  They're very cool.  But there are so many odd instances in this series.  Wolverine looking like an emaciated corpse in his wedding invitation?  That's awful.  The odd proportions of this shot are less obvious, but equally bad.

I'm still not a fan of the sparse page layouts, either.  Regardless, I would gladly take Miller's stylized choices over almost any other penciller's work in 1982.

Writing!
There are moments that I really like about this issue, and there are moments that stick out, especially in hindsight.  While there is something bad-ass about warning your enemy that you're coming for them --- letting the terror build with the anticipation --- it doesn't really feel like Wolverine's particular style of bad-assery.  Neither does spending the time to ruin Shingen's criminal network.  I suppose you can argue that Logan took this approach to force Shingen to face Wolverine as an equal, in honorable combat...but that ignores the fact the their last "honorable" fight, in issue #1, involved Shingen poisoning and manipulating Logan.

The supporting characters get a little space in this issue for some well-timed growth.  I really liked Wolverine's reaction to Yukio here, and it's a damn shame that the complexity of their relationship was never (I think) addressed in their future meetings.  It was nice seeing Mariko be more than a damsel in distress for a change, too.  Claremont never went to any great lengths to give her a definite personality before, but I really liked the potential of her trying to kill Wolverine to avenge her father.  It doesn't happen, of course, but the fact that it is something that is even considered --- especially since she obviously would not stand a chance if Wolverine wanted to defeat her --- gives her more credibility as a character Wolverine should be with.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- I love the shot of the X-Men receiving the invitation to the wedding for many reasons.  As a married man, I find it utterly hilarious that Wolverine sent the X-Men a wedding invitation that was completely blank on the outside.

The fact that theirs is a very formal and high-profile wedding makes that even funnier to me.  While Colossus' Cosby sweater is pretty amusing, too, I find it amusing that Nightcrawler is apparently always in uniform.  What's the matter?  Was Miller afraid that the audience wouldn't recognize him in a T-shirt? 

Wolverine (Vol. 1) #3

"Loss"
Published: November 1982
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Frank Miller
Inker: Josef Rubinstein

What's Going On?
This issue plays out an awful lot like John Lennon's "Lost Weekend" away from Yoko; Logan's relationship with Mariko is a defining point for his character, so seeing him with another woman in the 1980s feels a little strange and very temporary.  It seems that, in the aftermath of horrifying Mariko with his berserker side last issue, Wolverine has been hitting the bottle/strangers and carrying on a passionate affair with Yukio.  It may not be love, but they are kindred spirits enjoying each other.  Two things pop up to spoil their good time.  The first is Wolverine's old police chum, who asks for Logan's help taking down a shadowy figure in the criminal underground who has suddenly consolidated power.  The second is the fact that Yukio has been assigned to kill Logan, but hasn't.  Not surprisingly, both issues come to a head soon enough.  Yukio kills Logan's friend and Logan then pieces together the plot; Yukio has been working for Shingen since day one, helping him kill important criminal leaders so Shingen can reign supreme in the Japanese criminal underworld.  Just when Wolverine thought he couldn't get any lower, he finds out that he's been played for a chump.  That doesn't necessarily mean he has given up, though...

Art!
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I am getting less impressed with Frank Miller's pencils as the series goes on.  The backgrounds seem to be less and less detailed, and there are some shots that make the anatomy of the characters questionable.  Here's an example of the limited background (keep in mind that this is an entire page of art and writing)

That's just...awful.  A waste of space and probably the only time a Wolverine fight scene could be misinterpreted as a sequence where he clicks his heels in the air.  And I am really starting to dislike Miller's take on Logan's face.

It looks like it has been cut and pasted from another piece of art, especially when you compare it to some of the more detailed close-ups Miller does.  One face looks like it was done in the style of Hanna-Barbara for a classic team-up episode of Scooby-Doo, and the other looks like Miller is trying to be photorealistic.  I don't even like his detailed work with Logan's face; I think he's making Wolverine too clean-cut, too chipper, and too chiseled.  Plus, his take on Logan's bizarre haircut is the most exaggerated to date; Byrne and Cockrum at least made it plausible for that hair to exist without two bottles of Aqua Net.

Miller's work with Yukio is even less consistent. In some scenes, she looks almost elven, while in others, she looks disfigured. 

Well, I think she looks lumpy, anyway.

Even with a weaker outing, there are still some stunning pages from Miller. The silhouettes on this page, combined with the ink-line-free coloring in the background, were very cool.

Writing!
I'm still not very happy with Yukio and Wolverine being lovers --- keep in mind that this was back before we knew how old Logan was, and before he had a string of romances in his own title --- although Chris Claremont does a pretty good job justifying it as something two primal people would naturally fall into.  Given the later development of Yukio's character, it was odd to see her murder a police officer.  The turning point of the series comes at the very end of this issue, and it is pretty effective, especially as a manifesto for how the character would be written for the next 10+ years.  Claremont inexplicably forgot how to write a monologue that sounds anything even remotely like Wolverine, but at least the opportunity for character growth wasn't missed.

Who are you, and what have you done with Wolverine?

Retrospectively Amusing:
- Wolverine's impossible, shaped-to-resemble-his-cowl haircut never looked ultra-realistic, but this is the first issue where it just gets silly.  It looks like he's smuggling handlebars on his head.

- While it is not unusual to see superheroes looking sad on the covers of their comics, it is pretty odd to show them being just...depressed.  Especially when this is not an ongoing series, but the penultimate chapter of this limited series.  Every other cover in this series shows Wolverine being a badass.  This one looks like he's hung over.

Wolverine (Vol. 1) #2

 

"Debts and Obligations"
Published: October 1982
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Frank Miller
Inker: Josef Rubinstein

What's Going On?
Wolverine in recuperating at Yukio's, after his loss to Shingen in last issue.  He awakes to find ninja assassins, a group known as The Hand, about to attack.  Wolverine protects his new friend, and a bunch of faceless ninja cannon fodder serve their purpose and die. 

To repay his debt to Yukio, Wolverine offers to scare (and mmmaybe kill) the crimelord that sent The Hand after her.  Little does Logan know that Yukio is secretly working for Lord Shingen; she is tasked with the job of eliminating Shingen's only remaining rival in the Japanese criminal underworld --- and then she is to kill Wolverine!  Gasp!  Ignorant to all of that, Wolverine helps Yukio get where she needs to go.  In the process, Wolverine protects Mariko from an assassination attempt.  You would think that would earn the man some points with the little lady, right?  Well, to protect her, Wolverine went berserk and slaughtered a bunch of assassins before her eyes.  It seems that "savagely killing" is not one of Mariko's turn-ons, so she is horrified and Wolverine is extra depressed as the issue closes.

Worth Noting:
- This is the first time Wolverine faced The Hand, and the first time The Hand were seen outside the pages of Daredevil.

- Yukio as a lusty assassin?  Yeah, that happened.  Most, if not all, of Yukio's later appearances cast her as a carefree adventurer, rather than a hardened killer.  As for her attraction to Logan, I believe that is also something kept to this miniseries.

Art!
I was pretty happy with Frank Miller's pencils in the first issue, but a few things started to bother me in this one.  Why is the art so sparse?  There are a lot of panels here without any background whatsoever and Miller's attention to detail comes and goes, sometimes noticeably on the same page.  The action sequences are all still choreographed well, but I don't know if Miller ever really captures the savagery of Wolverine.  Wolverine berserk looks a lot like Wolverine in control to me.

Even with those issues, there are still some stellar pages that play toward Miller's love of the over-the-top.

Ninjas are terrible marksmen, apparently

Writing!
This issue is interesting, in that it has Wolverine do what he does and he still ultimately loses.  That quickly becomes a theme for Wolverine, but this is the first major instance of it I can recall.  Really, this is one of the few times to this point where he has been shaken up (the Proteus and Dark Phoenix stories being the others).  Claremont keeps the series going with lots of action and some subplot advancement.  He was a little less successful with the fleshing out of Yukio, though.  This is her first proper appearance, and she comes across as dangerous and mysterious, which is good.  It's a little weird seeing her hit on Logan so shamelessly, but it kind of fits her wild character.  There are a few points with Yukio, though, that are just painful to read...

Retrospectively Amusing:
- The first page of this issue has Yukio being frightened and pleading for Wolverine to wake up and fight.  In no other scene does she act desperate or ask for help, even when surrounded by ninjas about to kill her.  The page works on its own, but when you consider the character Claremont was trying to mold here, the same character who plays "chicken" with the bullet train in the next issue, it sticks out like a sore thumb.  Issue-to-issue contradictions are pretty common, especially early in a character's development, but page-to-page contradictions are always amusing.

- Yukio introduces her catch phrase in this issue: "Gotcha!"  She only uses it in her first few appearances, but it is awkward every time it is used.

Wolverine (Vol. 1) #1

"Here, kitty, kitty..."

"I'm Wolverine"
Published: September 1982
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Frank Miller
Inker: Josef Rubinstein

What's Going On?
After a week or two of distributing rough justice in the Canadian wilderness, Wolverine returns home to find a stack of returned mail.  It appears that Logan's lady love, Mariko Yashida, has returned to Japan without a word.  When he tries to call her in Japan, whoever is on the other end simply hangs up the phone.  That's enough for Logan to drop everything and fly to Japan.  Once there, he finds Mariko --- and things get worse.  Mariko's father, Lord Shingen, has returned after a lengthy absence, and has resumed his position as the head of the Yashida clan.  To pay off a debt he incurred during his absence, Shingen has given away Mariko's hand in marriage.  Worse, Mariko's husband is crude and physically abusive.  Wolverine would have killed this loser, but Mariko intervened.  Her argument is that her love for Logan is secondary to her familial obligation to honor her father's wishes.  That would have been that, and Logan would have returned home and listened to Morrissey in his bedroom for a few weeks, but he was attacked with poison-tipped shurikens.  When he awoke, still groggy from the drugs, Shingen challenged Wolverine to a sparring match with wooden swords in front of Mariko.  Despite the non-lethal weapons, Shingen's expertise showed itself when he began landing blows that would have killed a normal man.  It doesn't take long for Wolverine to get sick of that crap and to pop his claws.  While justified in defending himself against lethal force, it certainly appeared to the onlookers that Wolverine had given in to his bestial nature and took a friendly match to a deadly extreme.  It didn't matter, though.  Shingen still solidly trounced Wolverine.  The last thing Wolverine remembered before losing consciousness was Mariko declaring him unworthy of her love.

Worth Noting:
- This is the first appearance of both Yukio and Lord Shingen.

- This limited series was published during the X-Men's Brood Saga, between September and December of 1982, but the end of the series was designed to coincide with Uncanny X-Men #172, which was published in August 1983.  I felt certain that there was some sort of behind-the-scenes drama that caused that delay, but I haven't been able to find anything online.  So, maybe that is not "worth noting."

- Is this the first X-Men spin-off?  I think it is!  Alpha Flight didn't start until 1983.  Even the Magik limited series, which picks up on plot threads from Uncanny X-Men #160, did not start until the end of 1983. 

Art!
We have Frank Miller on pencils here, and this is star-on-the-rise Miller.  What does that mean?  It means that this is less stylized than his later work, but he still adds enough nice touches to push the envelope of mainstream comic art circa 1982.  Take this page, for instance:

I didn't catch Miller's clever arrangement at first glance; it's clever and understated, words that stopped being used with his work about fifteen years ago.  Even though Wolverine has been featured in literally thousands of comics, having the path of his claws cross multiple panels and guide your eyes across the page is still pretty unique.

As much as I appreciate some of his choices, I have to admit that I don't particularly like the way Miller draws Wolvie's head in this issue.  It's a combination of his take on Logan's haircut --- it looks like it was styled from a Jello mold --- and some inconsistencies in the way he draws Logan's face.  But that's really just nitpicking.  The art is expressive and Miller captures the action well, which is exactly what you want in a Wolverine series.

Writing!
This series marks a huge departure for Wolverine as a character.  Of course, having Chris Claremont write 95% of his appearances to this point certainly helped assure that these changes actually stuck.  Up to this point, Wolverine was a loose cannon that was as dangerous to his friends as his enemies.  This is the point where the character starts to grow up and move beyond his origin as a clawed lunatic.  How different is this comic?  There is a three panel sequence that zooms in on Wolverine's eyes. 

Top panel: a face or a Rorschach test?

No claws.  No "bub."  No cowl.  Just eyes.  Right there, you have something more obviously character-based than any of his appearances to date.

It is also worth noting that Wolverine gets his ass handed to him by Shingen here.  Sure, it's the first issue of a limited series, but that is still a pretty rare feat.  This might be the first occurrence of Claremont's favorite method of legitimizing a threat to Wolverine and/or the X-Men: beating up Wolverine when he has been weakened.

Retroactively Amusing:
Wolverine mentions in this issue that the only family he knows is his father.  It's a throwaway line, but the notion that Wolverine knew anything about his past (pre-House of M) seems odd now.  Looking back, this is well before Wolverine met Sabretooth, who was sometimes suspected (and even plotted) to be his father, and long before it was revealed that Wolverine's memories were mostly forgotten or false.