Wolverine appeared in four titles this past week (February 25, 2009) and I include one other appearance I missed from the previous week…

I reviewed Wolverine Origins #33 and Wolverine: First Class #12 on Wednesday — the major revelations within seemed to require immediate attention.

As for the rest of his appearances…

New Avengers #50 (preview)
Writer: Brian Michael David Bendis
Art: Billy Tan, Matt Banning and Justin Ponsor

Not quite New Avengers vs. Dark Avengers, but Norman Osborn does make interesting opening gambit in his dealings with the New Avengers that makes one wonder where the hell this Brian Michael David Bendis was during Secret Invasion.

And a surprising bevy of guest artists really makes this issue a blast, especially Leinil Yu, Mark Morales and Dave McCaig on the Wolverine page, an amusing look inside Wolverine’s mind. Though I must admit it would have been a lot funnier if Joss Whedon hadn’t already done it in ‘Astonishing X-Men’…

X-Force #12 (preview)
“Suicide Leper, Part One”
Writers: Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost
Artist: Clayton Crain

I’m still having problems getting used to the enormous pupils and irises that Clayton Crain likes to use in his artwork.

As for the issue itself, it’s like every other issue of X-Force before it. So if you enjoy X-Force, you are sure to happy. If you are on the fence like me, you’ll probably stay there.

That said, awesome double-page spread to end the issue…

Young X-Men #11 (preview)
“End of Days”
Writer: Marc Guggenheim
Present Day Sequences: Rafa Sandoval & Roger Bonet
Future Sequences: Daniel Acuna

I completely missed this Wolverine appearance from last week.

A very intriguing future sequence with Wolverine that ties into the current storyline, again with Wolverine.

Since I haven’t been reading this series, please feel free to chime in with comments on just what the hell is going on…

Last but not least (for comics), Wizard Magazine #210 boast a Wolverine/Spider-Man cover by John Cassaday..

And don’t forget the excellent ‘Wolverine and the X-Men’ animated series.

Tonight’s episode, “Wolverine vs. the Hulk” (watch it here), is by far the best episode of the series. Unfortunately, after watching the ‘Hulk vs. Wolverine’ DVD, one realizes just how little Wolverine can do with the claws in a show geared towards kids. That said, this episode really is a hoot with some wonderful one-liners.

Now if only Nick Fury didn’t sound like Lando Calrissian…

What do you think? Feel free to share your opinion in the comments below OR join in on the fun in the Wolverine Files Forums…

From 2008 to 2009, Wolverine Files highlighted, in chronological order, iconic Wolverine covers and their homages. Want to start at the beginning? Click here…

1985.

Another year, another solitary classic Wolverine cover.

And this one is more about Wolverine’s shadow than it is about him.

Regardless, Uncanny X-Men #196 by John Romita, Jr. and Terry Austin is one of the most suspenseful covers of this era…

Next up is a selection of Wolverine covers from this time period, from awesome Wolverine cameos to covers that didn’t quite make the cut…

Exhibits A and B are the first issues of Secret Wars by Mike Zeck and Secret Wars II by John Byrne and Terry Austin, examples of tremendous covers, but Wolverine just didn’t dominate the cover enough for me to justify them as iconic Wolverine covers…

Uncanny X-Men #193 by John Romita, Jr. and Dan Green is often cited as a classic Wolverine cover, but it’s way too cluttered and their rendition of Kitty Pryde in the foreground just weakens the cover too much  for my tastes. And Uncanny X-Men #195 by Bill Sienkiewicz, a brilliant Moon Knight artist, and Dan Green simply falls flat.

The good news is another run of classic Wolverine covers is just around the corner…

Previous Classic Wolverine Cover: Alpha Flight #13 | Next: Heroes for Hope #1

Want to see the Classic Wolverine Covers from the beginning? Start here…

Some issues are easy to review without giving away spoilers.

Unfortunately, ‘Wolverine: Origins’ #33 is not one of those, so…

SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!

Wolverine: Origins #33 (preview)
Writer: Daniel Way
Penciler: Doug Braithwaite
Inker: Bill Reinhold

I am of two minds on this issue.

There is one wonderful revelation. Genuinely wonderful revelation.

But it gets obscured, at least for me, by some serious chronological confusion that I will do my level best to chronicle.

In other words, SPOILER ALERT, WILL ROBINSON, SPOILER ALERT!

–Nick Fury suggests that the reason the Canadian government allowed Logan to work for the CIA was because the U.S. government knew about Weapon X and blackmailed the Canadian government into using Logan. But the accompanying visual shows Logan as part of Team X — BEFORE he received his adamantium at Weapon X…

–Nick Fury also talks of Frederick and Elias Hudson, the owners of the Hudson Bay Company. Slight historical problem here as the Hudson Bay Company was named for the Hudson Bay (think East India Company), not any owner named Hudson…

Read more…

For those of you who missed Hugh Jackman hosting the Academy Awards last night, this is an absolute must-watch!

I wonder if he’ll get to sing and dance in ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’?

“Mariko! I just met a girl named Mariko!”

Oh and Wolverine also hosted the AICN Comics 5th Annual Awards Show…

Speaking of ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’, here is the final extended trailer from last week (see the first two here)…

In more ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ Movie and Video Game News…
-Yahoo! Movies: 10 Essential Wolverine Movie Facts…
–Marvel.com: Video Game Cover Art Unveiled…
–Marvel.com: ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ Toys Debut at Toy Fair 2009…

‘Wolverine and the X-Men’ News…
–Marvel.com: ‘X-Calibre’ (episode 6) Preview…
-NickToons: Watch the Full Episode Online…

Wolverine Comic Book News…
–IGN: ‘X-Force/Cable: Messiah War’ Preview (3/25/09 release)…

Probable Wolverine Appearances in stores on 2/25/09…
–New Avengers #50 (preview): New Avengers vs. Dark Avengers…
–Wolverine: First Class #12 (preview): Fred Van Lente’s final issue…
–Wolverine: Origins #33 (preview): Nick Fury tells Wolverine what he knows about Romulus…
–X-Force #12 (preview): Suicide Leper, Part 1..

Wolverine appeared in three titles this past week (February 18, 2009) and I include reviews of four other appearances I missed from the previous week…

And don’t forget the excellent ‘Wolverine and the X-Men’ animated series continues with new episodes every Friday night on NickToons!

Now on with the reviews…

Marvel Adventures the Avengers #33 (preview)
“You’re Driving Me Crazy”
Writer: Paul Tobin
Penciler: Ig Guara
Inker: Sandro Ribeiro

You know you’re in trouble when ‘Marvel Adventures’ is the lead Wolverine appearance for the week.

And long-time readers of this site (all two of you) know that I abhor this series.

So believe me when I say that this one is pretty funny.

Between Wolverine philosophizing on deep-fried sausage pretzels to Ka-Zar learning how to drive in New York City, this story actually elicited several laughs from me.

My favorite line comes courtesy of Storm, “Wolverine… quit hitting them with the bus stop sign, please.”

Uncanny X-Men #506 (preview)
Writer: Matt Fraction
Penciler: Terry Dodson
Inker: Rachel Dodson

I really am not of fan of these types of Wolverine cameos.

Two pages. Five panels. Nine words of dialogue.

Oh… and Wolverine has something stuck in his teeth for three of those panels…

X-Men Legacy #221 (preview)
“Salvage, Part 2 of 5”
Writer: Mike Carey
Penciler: Scot Eaton
Inker: Andrew Hennessy

What do I dislike more than two-page Wolverine cameos?

How about two-page Wolverine cameos that are only physical manifestations of Rogue’s psyche…

Dark Avengers #2 (preview)
Writer: Brian Michael David Bendis
Art: Mike Deodato

No Wolverine. Only Dark Wolverine.

But you do get a terrific story by Brian Michael David Bendis and even better artwork by Mike Deodato.

Best line of the issue, “Skrulls are yesterday’s news.”

If only ‘Secret Invasion’ had been this good…

Marvel TV: Galactus – The Real Story (preview)
“Monsters, Myths and Marvels”
Writer: Frank Tieri
Artist: Juan Santacruz

I can’t believe I missed Frank Tieri’s triumphant return last week!

My favorite Wolverine writer of all-time. With such memorable characters as T and A. And who can forget when Wolverine got ball-gagged. That was so awesome!

And God knows, the Marvel universe would not be complete without this wonderful story about how Galactus doesn’t really exist. And what a great one panel cameo for Wolverine! I love those!

Agent of Atlas #1 (preview)
“Logan: Agent of Atlas”
Writer: Jeff Parker
Artist: Benton Jew

Another comic I missed from last week.

Wolverine appears in the backup story that originally was presented as a free Marvel Digital comic. Nothing to write home about, but it does boast Logan in Cuba during the late 1950s…

And finally, I tracked down a copy of ‘Official Index to the Marvel Universe’ #2 from last week and found references to two Wolverine appearances I had not been aware of previously: ‘Uncanny Origins’ #9 and ‘X-Men Origins: Colossus’. I will be trying to hunt down copies in the next week, but if anyone can shed light on the Wolverine appearances within, I would be most grateful!

What do you think? Feel free to share your opinion in the comments below OR join in on the fun in the Wolverine Files Forums…

From 2008 to 2009, Wolverine Files highlighted, in chronological order, iconic Wolverine covers and their homages. Want to start at the beginning? Click here…

After a tremendous run of covers in 1982 and 1983, Wolverine hit a dry spell in 1984 and 1985. So I humbly present the only good Wolverine cover of 1984: Alpha Flight #13 by John Byrne (with inks possibly by Bill Sienkiewicz and/or Al Milgrom).

What’s even sadder is Wolverine’s appearance is only a dream. That said, I do enjoy how John Byrne uses elements within his artwork for editorial purposes, such as the gravestones for all the artists involved in this particular cover…

Next up are two examples of the sort of love that Wolverine was receiving around this time. Note the wonderful depiction of the back of Wolverine’s head…

We continue with examples of the sort of crappy covers Wolverine had to endure when artists did deign to use the front of his mask…

And when the covers weren’t crappy, Wolverine was having his lunch handed to him by Spider-Man and Firestar.

I mean, come on. Firestar?!?

Finally, even when Wolverine did get a little love, such as in the ‘Kitty Pryde and Wolverine’ miniseries, he was saddled with a series of horrendous covers by Allen Milgrom, such as the two below.

Curse you, Allen Milgrom!

Previous Classic Wolverine Cover: Uncanny X-Men #173 | Next: Uncanny X-Men #196

Want to see the Classic Wolverine Covers from the beginning? Start here…

Sorry for the delay on the news this week, but I finally decided it’s high time that I pull out my Wolverine script and run it through the rewrite machine. The good news is that the script for the first issue of my proposed Wolverine miniseries is looking pretty good. The bad news is that no one at Marvel is even aware I exist and said rewrite is eating up all the free time I usually put into this site. So bear with me for the next few weeks as I bang away on the script on the oft chance that someone at Marvel ever wants to take a look at it…

FOX is airing three clips from ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ over three nights to create an extended super clip. Above is the first clip, below is the second, and third airs tonight. JoeBlo has more details…

In more ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ Movie and Video Game News…
–Marvel.com: Four New Movie Photos…
–Newsarama: ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ Video Game Hands-On…
–ComingSoon: ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ Toy Gallery…

‘Wolverine and the X-Men’ News…
–Newsarama: Steve Blum — Wolverine for Life…
–Marvel.com: Episode 5 Preview or Watch Full Episode…
–Marvel.com: Play ‘Wolverine MRD Escape’…

Wolverine Comic Book News…
–IGN: New Avengers #50 Preview (2/25/09 release)…
–ComicBookResources: Advance Solicitations for May 2009 include Wolverine appearances in Cable #14, Wolverine #73 and #74, Wolverine: First Class #15 by Peter David, Wolverine Noir #2, Wolverine: Origins #36 (still with Daken), Wolverine: Weapon X #2, Uncanny X-Men #510, X-Force #15 and X-Men Forever Alpha (phew!)…

Probable Wolverine Appearances in stores on 2/18/09…
–Dark Avengers #2 (preview): Daken as Dark Wolverine…
–Marvel Adventures The Avengers #33 (preview): Savage Land…
–X-Men Legacy #216 (preview): Cover appearance at the very least…

Wolverine appeared in five titles this past week (February 11, 2009) and I also include a review of the hard-to-find Wolverine/Power Pack #4 from the previous week…

And don’t forget the excellent ‘Wolverine and the X-Men’ animated series continues with new episodes every Friday night on NickToons!

Now on with the reviews…

Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #4 (preview)
“The Way of the Black Dragon”
Writer: Jason Aaron
Penciler: Stephen Segovia & Paco Diaz Luque
Inker: Noah Salonga & Paco Diaz Luque

I really like Jason Aaron.

I like how he builds up a story. I like his humor. And I especially like his research.

But this is his second consecutive “big finale” that has failed to live up to the promise of that wonderful buildup.

That said, it does boast a genuinely surprise ending that sets the stage for ‘Wolverine: Weapon X’…

.

X-Men Origins: Sabretooth #1 (preview)
Writers: Kieron Dillon
Artist: Dan Panosian

This is not what I was expecting.

This is less an origin that a series of vignettes than try to tell a story, but in the end is simply a series of vignettes.

And from a chronologist’s perspective, this gives a better view into the Sabretooth-Wolverine conflict, but pointedly ignores Jeph Loeb’s chronology-busting first meeting between Logan and Creed in Japan.

It is a must-read for Wolverine fans, but again, when I finished, I was left shaking my head at the point of even publishing this collection of vignettes. I mean, is it too much to ask for us to get back to telling good stories that actually have a point and, perhaps more importantly, an ending?

Eternals #8 (preview)
“Manifest Destiny, Part Two”
Writers: Charles & Daniel Knauf
Artists: Eric Nguyen & Sara Pichelli

Wolverine fights an Eternal.

Why? I’m still not really sure…

X-Infernus #3 (preview)
“What You Wish For”
Writers: C.B. Cebulski
Penciler: Guiseppe Camunculi
Inker: Jesse Delperdang

“These aren’t the demons we’re looking for…”

With that line, you know you’re in for a lot of fun.

And this issue does not disappoint as Wolverine really gets to cut loose…

Avengers/Invaders #8 (preview)
“Cry D’Sparye”
Plot: Alex Ross & Jim Krueger; Script: Jim Krueger
Pencils: Steve Sadowski & Patrick Berkenkotter

I’ll say the same thing I’ve said for the previous seven issues of this series. Why is Wolverine in this? Once again he merely stands in the background without a single line of dialogue…

Wolverine and Power Pack #4 (preview)
“Alex Power: Master Ninja”
Writer: Marc Sumerak
Artist: Gurihiru

Finally tracked down a copy of this issue from last week and it’s actually a pretty good story for what it is. But don’t think I’m going to be shedding any tears now that this miniseries is over…

What do you think? Feel free to share your opinion in the comments below OR join in on the fun in the Wolverine Files Forums…

From 2008 to 2009, Wolverine Files highlighted, in chronological order, iconic Wolverine covers and their homages. Want to start at the beginning? Click here…

Uncanny X-Men #173 by Paul Smith continued a remarkable run of tremendous Wolverine covers in 1982 and 1983. Unfortunately, as will be seen next week, this cover also marked the end of that remarkable run…

Next up is an unused cover sketch by Paul Smith for Uncanny X-Men #173 that, for the life of me, I can’t remember where it is from. If anyone knows the owner of this particular piece, please let me know so I can get official approval for its use…

In the issue itself, we finally return to Logan’s impending marriage to Mariko. Unfortunately, Jason Wyngarde as Mastermind brainwashes Mariko into calling off the wedding during the ceremony. When Logan asks for an explanation, Mariko responds with the classic line that cuts Logan deeper than any blade could, “Because gaijin, you are not worthy.”

The final panel poignantly shows Logan’s response…

And finally, the little known 1992 cover to X-Men Classic #77 with a neat role reversal of Rogue and Wolverine by Adam Hughes, who may be best known, as Wikipedia puts it, for “his voluptuous, pinup-style female characters.”

Previous Classic Wolverine Cover: Uncanny X-Men #172 | Next: Alpha Flight #13

Want to see the Classic Wolverine Covers from the beginning? Start here…

A lot of great Wolverine news broke this weekend at the New York Comic Con, so make sure, if you haven’t already, to check out Saturday’s Wolverine News…

Marvel released a bunch of updates on their NYCC announcements…
–X-Force: Sex and Violence…
–Dark Wolverine…
–Old Man Logan Giant-Sized…
–Ultimate Requiems…
-As well as Astonishing Tales #3: Wolverine/Punisher Digital Comic Exclusive

More CBR coverage of NYCC…
–Marvel Animation Panel…
–Aron Coleite on ‘Ultimate X-Men: Requiem’…
–Marvel and Activision Video Game Panel…

More Newsarama coverage…
–Marvel Animation Panel…
–Christopher Yost of ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’…

And, finally, probable Wolverine appearances coming out February 11, 2009…
–Avengers/Invaders #8 (preview): Will Wolverine ever get the spotlight?
–Eternals #8 (preview): Wolverine makes the cover…
–Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #4 (preview): Finally…
–X-Infernus #3 (preview): “These aren’t the demons we’re looking for…”
–X-Men Origins: Sabretooth #1 (preview): The origin of Sabretooth…