Origin #1–6 by Bill Jemas, Joe Quesada, Paul Jenkins (plot), Paul Jenkins (script), Andy Kubert (pencils), Richard Isanove (digital painting)
If you’ve read this blog before, you might have picked up on the fact that I entered the world of mainstream American superhero comics via the X-Men, specifically Chris Claremont’s Uncanny X-Men. I am not unique in this; this is a very common story for a lot of male superhero fans of my generation. The mix of superhero action and soap drama, with a hint of alienation to appeal to the teenager, provided a potent mix to lure the reader in and keep them. And one of the key characters was Wolverine.
Wolverine was never my favourite character of the Uncanny X-Men (that would probably be Kurt ‘Nightcrawler’ Wagner) but even I knew that he was the coolest character. The claws, the attitude, the mystery, the internal struggle with the beast within: Logan had it all. Well, except for an origin story. But, here’s the thing: he didn’t need one. There were hints about his age, about being in Japan, fighting in the second world war, all of which were part of the appeal. Admittedly, the Barry Windsor-Smith Weapon X was blatant origin stuff, but it was still enjoyable and didn’t answer everything. Which left it to your imagination and kept the appeal. Again, I think, this is a commonly held belief. As is the following: Origin is completely unnecessary.
I’ve read this trade paperback three times, and I still find it hard to believe that this version of events is the agreed origin of Wolverine. Or, rather, James Howlett. The book just shouts: ‘This is serious stuff with serious themes and serious thoughts.’ It’s one of the most bizarre books I’ve read from Marvel. The book reads like some Mark Twain story for the first half, then Old Man of the Woods for the second half. Even the art suffers from pretensions: the old-fashioned feel and excessive lushness is supposed to make it ‘arty’ but Kubert’s style doesn’t quite gel with the approach. I mean, look at the cover: does that look like it’s telling you the story of what was once the coolest character in comics? Wolverine is probably the most recent new creation in the Marvel universe to continue and thrive on his own, yet you wouldn’t think it based on this book.
The only aspect of the book that actually shows a hint of something behind it is the switch-and-bait of James Howlett, the boy who will become Wolverine, is a foppish and feeble son of wealthy plantation owners whereas the boy who you think is Wolverine as a boy is just the son of a man called Logan, the family groundskeeper. But that’s it. Everything else seems forced in: the inclusion of a red-haired girl called Rose (for Wolverine’s supposed obsession with Jean Grey), whose accidental murder by James is really, really stupid; Wolverine being given a book on samurai by a sailor friend, to infer his love for Japanese culture; the other boy coming back as a sort of Sabretooth character (what happens to Dog Logan, by the way? Is that covered in other stories?). It all feels so arch and inorganic. This is revealed by the long list of people involved in making this book, as well as the fact that an introduction in the trade reveals that Quesada said that the reason we have this book is because, if anybody is going to reveal his origins, it’s going to be Marvel books and not a film. I think I’ll treat this as a possible origin story; I prefer the mystery of not knowing, especially if it means I don’t have to read this again.
