Marvel Apes #1
Cover: John Watson
“Apes of Wrath”
Writer: Karl Kesel
Artist: Ramon Bachs

“The Official History of the Marvel Apes Universe, Part 1: When Simians Clash”
Writer: Tom Peyer
Art: Barry Kitson

I love monkeys.

I’ve seen every “Planet of the Apes” movie.

I followed Roddy McDowell’s career simply because of the way he portrayed Cornelius.

Hell, I even named my business, Typing Monkeys.

So believe me when I say that I was looking forward to ‘Marvel Apes’.

That is until I read the first issue.

‘Marvel Apes’ is dreadful. It’s not funny. It’s overly verbose. The characters are less than two-dimensional. I could go on and on.

The only saving grace is the artwork by Barry Kitson in the backup story. Artwork that is truly spectacular and quite evocative of Arthur Adams in his prime.

Certainly worth flipping through at your local comic book store. But not worth the $3.99 cover price.

And Wolverine? He graces only the cover.

From Marvel (preview):
“Flingin’ feces, True Believer– the entire Marvel Universe has gone APE!
Just when he thinks life can’t get any worse or weirder, Marty Blank – a.k.a. that lovable loser, the Gibbon — finds himself and the brilliant-and-beautiful Dr. Fiona Fitzhugh transported to a world where monkeys rule and humans don’t exist!
SEE the spectacular simian city of Monkhattan!
MEET the hominoid heroes and villains – SPIDER-MONKEY! DOC OOK! IRON MANDRILL! SIMIAN TORCH! THE APE-VENGERS! And more!
THRILL to the return of Speedball!
CONTAINS No-Ads, as we are thrilled to present you backup tales exploring the Apeiverse!
LEARN the dark secret of the primate planet!
WORRY that the fate of the entire universe is in the hands of the Gibbon!
Not a hoax, not a dream, not an imaginary story – just the most not-to-be-missed mini-series of the season! If you only buy one (well, two) comics this month about super-powered, intelligent apes-in-capes, it must be MARVEL APES!” On sale September 4, 2008.

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

In September of 1986, Marvel Comics released Classic X-Men, a series reprinting early new X-Men stories with additional pages and backup stories by Chris Claremont and John Bolton.

And awesome new covers by Arthur Adams…

First up is a preliminary cover sketch by Arthur Adams from the collection of Drew Cheskin.

There also seems to be an earlier preliminary sketch courtesy of Fog City Art Exchange.

Next, we have the homage covers for Avengers Classic #1 by Arthur Adams himself from 2007 and The Official Handbook of the Universe: X-Men – Age of Apocalypse 2005 (whew!) by Mark Brooks…

It is interesting to note that early issues of Classic X-Men also boasted art on the inside front cover, and this stunning Arthur Adams frontispiece from the first issue is perhaps the best new X-Men team picture ever done…

And finally, we feature the back cover by John Bolton, a teaser for the all-new pages Chris Claremont and John Bolton incorporated into Classic X-Men #1…

Previous Classic Wolverine Cover: Giant-Size X-Men #1 | Next: Deathblow and Wolverine #2

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

Wolverine Files features every Wolverine’s TV appearances in order, continuing with #3…

The X-Men animated series debuted on Halloween 1992 and had a successful run of five seasons over six years, making it the longest-running Marvel Comics-based TV series.

All in all, it was a pretty good series with terrific opening credits and music. And Wolverine finally came into his own, as his voice actor, Cal Dodd, dropped his infamous Australian accent.

The pilot episode, Night of the Sentinels, was split into two parts, and featured a strong X-Men lineup, the sentinels and a series of classic Wolverine lines including, “I go where I wanna go. Outta my way, Gumbo.”

And make sure to check out the storyboards for the opening credits, the model sheet for Wolverine and the differences between the original pilot and its later rebroadcasts courtesy of what appears to be an abandoned website, DRG4.

<<< Pryde of the (Australian) X-Men | Next: X-Men 02: Night of the Sentinels, Part II >>>

July 2008 sales numbers are out, and Marvel Apes hits the stands on Thursday, probably Wolverine’s sole appearance of the week (the variant cover is shown to the left)…

Wolverine News: July Sales
-Not surprisingly, ‘Uncanny X-Men’ sales are way up due to the 500th issue, and ‘Wolverine’ sales are down 15% after the huge spike from the first issue of ‘Old Man Logan’. ‘X-Force’ dropped 11%, ‘Wolverine: First Class” another 7% and ‘Wolverine: Origins’ by 1% (for full details see CBR’s Sales Estimates for July 2008).

Wolverine Comics This Week
-Marvel Apes #1: Sneak Preview (Marvel)
-Marvel Apes: Kesel Talks ‘Marvel Apes’ (CBR)
-Marvel Apes: ‘Wolverine: First Class #6 Variant (EW)

The good news is that I seem to be able to keep up with the daily updates so far.

The bad news is that I still haven’t finished updating 006: The Lost Years. But I am making progress.

And due to Labor Day, I have pushed everything by a day. So expect Wolverine News on Tuesday, Wolverine TV on Wednesday and Classic Wolverine Covers on Thursday this week.

New This Week: Last week I gave a sneak peek of Wolverine 1974, so now I am following up with Wolverine 1975, replete with newly scanned covers. Enjoy!

Marvel Adventures The Avengers #27
“And Some Other Small Problems”
Writer: Paul Tobin
Penciler: Jacopo Camagni
Inker: Troy Hubbs and Norman Lee

While Wolverine does not appear in the dreadful (and offensively stereotypical) lead story by Jeff Parker and Ig Guara, he does have a humorous (if highly improbable) cameo in the backup story.

And that seems the biggest problem with this series — going for the stupid sit-com laugh over any sense of story, reality or continuity.

As I’ve said before, I don’t see how any of these stories could possibly hope to bring in new readers.

Especially when the top-selling manga that are pulling in the young audience are all about story, continuity and a depth rarely seen in the comic book industry anymore.

From Marvel: “Marvel: Okay, 27 is your final Avengers issue- we’re expecting something special.
Parker: Oh don’t you worry, it will be. Heh.
Marvel: Really? Great! Who’s in it?
Parker: Um… the guy with the thing- trust me, it’s going to RAWK.
Marvel: You don’t know what the story is yet, do you.
Parker: -think my phone’s running out of juice-zzzz-can barely hear you— bwip*” On sale August 27, 2008.

X-Force (Vol. 2) #6
‘Angels & Demons, Part 6’
Writer: Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost
Artist: Clayton Clay

When ‘X-Force’ launched on the heels of “Messiah CompleX” in April 2008, it seemed a perfect fit for the bloody, desperate world of the X-Men.

But since then, ‘Uncanny X-Men’ #500 moved the mutant community to the happy shininess of San Francisco, and now ‘X-Force’ seems jarringly at odds with the rest of the X-Men universe, especially with Wolverine, Angel and Cyclops appearing in both series.

And if the final page is any indication, these conflicting and contradictory visions are going to be with us for some time to come.

That said, Wolverine is given the best line of the issue, “Sixteen apiece. Kill’em all.”

From Marvel (preview): “The shocking finale to the first arc! Wolverine versus Bastion. Archangel versus the Choir. Wolfsbane versus her father. X-23 versus Matthew Risman. Warpath versus…? This is how a species dies.” On sale August 27, 2008.

Wolverine: First Class #6
Writer: Fred Van Lente
Artist: Salva Espin

Another terrific issue from Fred Van Lente.

Wolverine is hysterical, decked out in Calgary Flames gear and waiting for game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals to begin as is his unrivaled joy at the prospect of an evening drinking beer, watching hockey and eating donuts.

Even better are his reactions to all the obstacles that attempt to get in his way.

“I’m the best there is at what I do. And what I do is WATCH HOCKEY!”

Absolutely priceless.

And the comedy dissolves to a very sweet ending, even for a curmudgeon like me.

From Marvel (preview): “TONIGHT! On a brand-new ‘When Teenage Mutant Girl Sleepovers Turn Deadly’: SIRYN and KITTY PRYDE get into a no-holds-barred throwdown of a catfight over COLOSSUS’s love, with WOLVERINE caught in the middle!” On sale August 27, 2008.

Ultimate X-Men #97
‘Absolute Power, Part 4’
Writer: Aron E. Coleite
Penciler: Mark Brooks; Jaime Mendoza

Now this is an outstanding finale.

A startling revelation, a balls-to-the-wall clash between X-Men (the Wolverine-Colossus fight is ‘epic’) and a final sequence that will blow you away (quite literally).

And a very clever, very funny tip of the hat to the unfinished ‘Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk’ series.

The best single issue of Ultimate X-Men in a very long time, perhaps ever.

Bravo, Aron Coleite, bravo.

From Marvel (preview): “The battle lines of Ultimatum are drawn! Who is the true power behind Banshee? What is their connection to Wolverine and the X-Men? The answers will make the X-Men reconsider everything they’ve ever believed in! How can one ever be human again after being a god? It’s the shocking finale by Aron E. Coleite (TV’s Heroes) and Mark Brooks!” On sale August 27, 2008.

Wolverine #68
‘Old Man Logan, Part 3’
Writer: Mark Millar
Penciler: Steve McNiven; Inker: Dexter Vines

Having reread all three issues so far of this 8-issue epic story, I get the sense (even stronger than before) that Mark Millar is writing more about his vision of a dark and depressing future in the Marvel Universe than he is about Wolverine.

Wolverine is a passenger, quite literally, on this journey.

That’s not to say it hasn’t been an enjoyable journey. It has.

And certainly this latest issue has raised the stakes quite considerably.

But this is not a Wolverine story. At least not yet.

And due to the intermittent publishing schedule, we will have to wait until November to find out if it will be.

From Marvel (preview): “’50 years after the super heroes died, WOLVERINE and the blind archer, HAWKEYE, continue their journey across a ruined America. Next stop: Cedar City, Utah—home of the man who killed Magneto: the all-new, all-different KINGPIN! And he isn’t about to let Logan and Hawkeye pass without paying the toll… Plus: the secret of Hawkeye’s daughter is revealed! The biggest WOLVERINE story of the century by the best-selling creative team of the millennium continues! PART 3 (of 8).” On sale August 27, 2008.