Classic Wolverine Cover: Marvel Comics Presents #1
From 2008 to 2009, Wolverine Files highlighted, in chronological order, iconic Wolverine covers and their homages. Want to start at the beginning? Click here…
It was during the 1980s that Wolverine grew to become an extraordinarily popular character. And after two successful miniseries, the powers that be at Marvel decreed that Wolverine should have his own series.
To show just how much the comics industry has changed, the reason Wolverine didn’t already have his own series in 1988 was over concerns by writer Chris Claremont that a solo series would destroy the character. Wolverine worked best as part of an assemble with periodic solo travels, it was argued, and a monthly series would inevitably dilute his effectiveness as a character.
If only the Chris Claremont of 1988 could see the weekly deluge of Wolverine now…
In any event by 1988, such concerns had been brushed aside, and Chris Claremont wrote a ten-part Wolverine series (eight pages per chapter) to kick off a new bi-weekly anthology series, Marvel Comics Presents, a storyline that would lead directly into the upcoming monthly Wolverine series.
So when Walt Simonson delivered the following cover for Marvel Comics Presents #1, it could only mean one thing…
Wolverine was going solo.
The full wraparound cover is even more impressive when one realizes that Wolverine is joined by Man-Thing, Shang-Chi and Silver Surfer (who intersects nicely with the flash of Wolverine’s claws).
Sal Buscema provided the interior artwork and this impressive first appearance of the “capital of a small island principality south of Singapore.”
Better known as Madripoor…
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Want to see the Classic Wolverine Covers from the beginning? Start here…
I can’t say I miss that(the past is the past), but I agree with you, it was good ;p Besides, there’s an actual Madripoor story in the pages of Astonishing Tales.
Man, I remember how absolutely excited I was to actually see this on the stands!
I love how Marvel Comics Presents TPB vol 1 took out the cigar
Remember kids, stabbing is good, so is shady criminal organizations, but cigars are absolutely forbidden !
Good times. Am I the only one who reaaaally loved the Madripoor/Patch times, and really misses them?
The first Wolverine comics I ever collected were the ones that took place in Madripoor. Those are still some of my favorite stories.
I miss these Classic Cover Updates. I wish you would bring these back!