Long-time readers are no doubt familiar with the many comments of Roleplay Adventures. Well, we’ve finally given him a chance to speak his mind… as Gabriel Zero.
We all read comics for fun right?
We spend our hard earned money on them for the purpose of being entertained, to feel the rush of excitement that comes from the pages of the X-Men. All of us might have a different opinion on what is the best Wolverine comic, but we all share a strong feeling for the hero who calls himself Wolverine.
But what some of us forget to realize is that comics are meant to be enjoyed and not argued over. Words like “canon” and “retcon” can get in the way of enjoying the true purpose of our favorite comic books, which should be enjoyment and fun. Collecting comic books is a great hobby, but the reason I collect them is to read the story so I can relax after a hard week of work.
I’m here to talk about why I think Wolverine Origins is a great book, and hopefully my opinion will help you see the good points in it.
Having a poor artist on your favorite comic book can be a real let down; the same goes for a writer with very little imagination. Sometimes we get those writers who make it painfully obvious that they are just in this to cash their check. After reading ‘Wolverine Origins’, I truly believe that the comic book doesn’t fall into this category. Despite being dark and violent, the back story does have some strong points that serve Wolverine’s back story very well.
I think most of the hate mail comes from the old Wolverine fans who are afraid of change, which is very understandable since the comic book character has been around for a very long time. I’ve read some complaints from readers who think Logan’s past should have remained a mystery, and so they argue that having it revealed is destroying the character. I strongly disagree because Logan’s past has always been a train wreck. In some issues he’s a wandering cowboy, in others he a super secret agent, and sometimes he is a noble samurai; his background mostly depends on the writer who has him that month (just look at what Larry Hama did to Logan and his relationship with Silver Fox).
I knew whoever would be in charge of Logan’s past would end up with a lot of hate mail. The writer would have to choose which memories were real and which weren’t because of the House of M event. Regardless of how talented he or she was, they would end up stepping on the toes of a million dedicated comic book fans. However despite all of this I believe Way is sticking close to the character that first appeared in Chris Claremont’s X-Men comic books. Back in those classic stories it was unknown if Logan’s claws were even real!
Thankfully as the character evolved he became something much more, but one thing stood the same and that was Logan’s willingness to kill those who would harm the innocent. Even his teammates felt uncomfortable on more the one occasion. As an example, I remember Angel left the team because he refused to work with Logan. Perhaps this is what Daniel Way is referencing when he shows us what happened during Wolverine’s early days.
Most of us can probably agree that Logan found his true purpose after he joined the X-Men. Logan mentioned more than once that he never felt like he belonged anywhere else. It’s been retconned more than once that Logan stood with Xavier in order to get his memory back, but eventually the X-Men became his family and his friends.
We would all like to point the finger at Weapon X for destroying Logan’s life before he joined X-Men. But Weapon X is no longer just an enemy of Logan; they have kidnapped hundreds of mutants and made an enemy of the entire X-Men. For me Weapon X stopped being interesting when they evolved into Weapon Plus and introduced Director Malcolm Colcord. It was time for a new adversary to step up, one who was exclusive to Wolverine and his past traumas.
I would like to give a shout out to Dig for being an awesome person; I would really be lost without him. As long as he continues to update his incredible site he will always have my full support.
Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes #1 (preview)
Wolverine: First Class #8 (preview)
Wolverine: Origins #29
Secret Invasion #7 (no preview)
Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #1
