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Topic: Should Wolverine have gotten his own long running titles? Post ReplyPost New Topic
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John Byrne
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Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
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Posted: 10 July 2019 at 7:27am | IP Logged | 1 post reply

Never give the fans what they think they want -- Stan Lee

And has there ever been a character who suffered more from the ignoring og this "rule" than poor ol' Wolverine?

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Andrew Cate
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Posted: 10 July 2019 at 7:47am | IP Logged | 2 post reply

JB - And has there ever been a character who suffered more from the ignoring og this "rule" than poor ol' Wolverine?

**************************



Venom is a horse that has been beaten to a pulp. 


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John Byrne
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Posted: 10 July 2019 at 8:03am | IP Logged | 3 post reply

I mean a worthwhile character!
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Andrew Cate
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Posted: 10 July 2019 at 8:10am | IP Logged | 4 post reply


JB - I mean a worthwhile character!

*******************************


Ha. You got to admit the original concept of the character was a cool one especially when at home in the main Spidey titles. 
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Eric Sofer
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Posted: 10 July 2019 at 8:10am | IP Logged | 5 post reply

I rather dislike the direction(s) that the original Wolverine was taken. I first encountered Wolverine in Giant Size X-Men #1*, but all along, he seemed to follow the concept that he was a wolverine in human form - even though that was never used as his origin and that was fine.

There were stories to tell about him - how did he get to work for Canadian government? How did he get metal claws? - but once these were established as part of his origin, there was no need to complicate it. Wolverine was a hunter and a killer, with steel claws, incredible senses, and a temper as long as "Jewish Sports Heroes." It was even cool that he speaks Japanese - another little nugget of history. 

But stories developing characters should go forward, not backwards to his past. Yeah, it worked for Superman and Batman occasionally, but there was so much crap jammed into Wolverine's past that he became hard to track. As someone noted, it seemed impossible for him to do all the stuff he did, being in four or five monthly comics... each with different history.

Enriching a character should be an ongoing story, not a repeat of an unknown history, or so I feel. James Howlett, Patch, previous wives and/or lovers**, service in earlier wars and historical events... that doesn't appeal to me.

I know it worked for Superman as Superboy... but it's also noted that Superboy was NEVER in real danger. He couldn't be... everyone knew he would grow up to be Superman. Similarly, seeing Logan in danger during World War I is kinda "meh... we know he'll be fine."

And that's not even considering my hatred of a bloodthirsty sociopath headlining a book. I know others got onto that schwerve*** - Punisher, Ghost Rider, probably others that I successfully ignored - but I recall when those used to be the BAD GUYS. Not morally ambiguous characters.

So obviously, I think Wolverine should not have had his own series. If naught else, I thought he was too "one note" - what kind of stories could  you write about him?

*I do not own Hulk #181 and #182. If you wish to send them to me, let me know; I'll get you an address.

**I wonder... did Wolverine leave a passel of kids (and now grandkids) in his history? A guy that lives that long couldn't have gotten lucky every single time he made love, could he?

***From the German "schverve", meaning "more consonants at the beginning!"
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John Byrne
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Posted: 10 July 2019 at 8:28am | IP Logged | 6 post reply

According to what I’d worked out, Sabretooth was Wolverine’s father, which would make Logan a “mule” and likely sterile. (Later I played with this for Namor.)
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Greg McPhee
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Posted: 10 July 2019 at 9:17am | IP Logged | 7 post reply

If I recall correctly in Comics Creators on X-Men, Chris Claremont felt Wolverine could justify a solo mini-series every few years, but resisted the idea of an ongoing.

It was TPB at Marvel that forced it down that route.
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Eric Jansen
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Posted: 10 July 2019 at 10:24am | IP Logged | 8 post reply

I refer to Venom as "the evil costume."
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Brian Floyd
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Posted: 10 July 2019 at 4:01pm | IP Logged | 9 post reply

Wolverine was ruined a long time ago.  Both by his origin being revealed and his healing factor being ramped to godlike levels.

He once regenerated quickly from being burned down to just a skeleton. Back when Paul Smith was drawing Uncanny X-Men, it took him two weeks just to heal from a katana injury to his midsection.




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John Byrne
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Grumpy Old Guy

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Posted: 10 July 2019 at 6:58pm | IP Logged | 10 post reply

Ha. You got to admit the original concept of [Venom] was a cool one especially when at home in the main Spidey titles.

•••

Hey, I created Venom!

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Mike Norris
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Posted: 10 July 2019 at 7:25pm | IP Logged | 11 post reply

It's comics, maybe someday someone will expose "James Howlett" as implanted memories or something. 
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Peter Martin
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Posted: 10 July 2019 at 9:02pm | IP Logged | 12 post reply

Wolverine having a monthly title was not a great idea. I never collected the title, but in my opinion it wasn't a disaster either. In fact, my opinion may have softened on it over the years. Back then, I just didn't fancy John Buscema's art as a good match for the character, despite being a fan of Big John Buscema in general. Looking back, the thought of an ongoing monthly with the great man drawing it is very appealing, no matter which character. 

But, in direct answer to the precise question asked in the original post ("was the character designed to carry long story arcs?"), you'd naturally have to look to Len Wein. He once said that he thought part of the character's attractiveness lay in his unpredictability. Clearly that is not mutually-exclusive with an ongoing monthly, though nor does it necessarily back the idea of supporting long story arcs.

My personal take is not that the character couldn't support being a solo star, but that so many tales inadvertently caused years of attrition upon the mystery surrounding the character that eventually was very damaging. Buttress against the attrition on the mystery, maintain the enigma, and I don't think it would have been all that bad. 


Edited by Peter Martin on 10 July 2019 at 9:03pm
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