Why Wolverine?

If you're anything like me (ie, a bitter, cynical curmudgeon) when you think of Wolverine, the image that most comes to mind when you think of Wolverine is that of him in the 90s. The shiny Jim Lee designed shoulder pads on the yellow costume. His guest appearances in everything from Punisher to Captain America (Cap Wolf anyone?). The nose-less, Dread-Pirate-Roberts-mask wearing hot mess that his over saturation eventually devolved him (literally) into.

Yeah. That's what, since mid-1992, I've thought of whenever the topic of Wolverine has come up.

Yes, I recognize that he's had better iterations since. Morrison's New X-Men. Whedon's Astonishing. Aaron's Wolverine and the...  I also realize in retrospect that Hama's work on Wolverine's solo series in the 90s was far superior to what was being churned out in the mainstream X book. Still, the utter disappointment at what I'd felt in the early 90s after having gone through some truly rough childhood years with Claremont's Wolverine as a surrogate mentor have embedded myself deep in my psyche. Inspired by some obsessive podcast listening, however, I signed back up for Marvel Unlimited recently and went on a deep dive of Chris Claremont's work on the X-men, and remember why I'd loved Wolverine so much as a kid.

The first thing that came back to me was Claremont's narration and dialogue. There's something so deliciously melodramatic about everything Chris writes, from omnicient exposition, to first person narration, to dialogue. If a single issue that Claremont writes that doesn't include a verbal explanation of an characters powers, or the phrase "body and soul" it isn't a Claremont book. It's so good!

The second thing, having read the Wolverine solo miniseries from 1982 for the first time, is how much I relate to the character. Yes I realize the hypocracy of this statement (especially to those of you who follow me on Twitter). I recognize that I have as much in common with an immortal indestructible mutant who's been in a relationship with Storm as a Batman fan has in common with a billionaire ninja with a tank/car who is engaged to a thief who wears a leather cat suit. Still...

The reason I identify with him is that he is, as stated by my Rick Remender (my second favorite Wolverine scribe) in Uncanny X-Force 5.1, as "failed Samurai". He constantly strives to be something better than what he is, and though always falling short of his goal, makes constant, incremental strides toward what he want to be. If any of you have read excepts from my blog The Paladins Path (thepaladinspath.blogspot.com ) you'll know that this is a constant theme for me. It's not a matter of success or failure. It's the cumulative action of continually trying. This is demonstrated no where better than on the Wolverine solo miniseries from 1982, by Claremont and (I wish he had just stayed an illistrator) Frank Miller.

It's true that Claremont had been writing Wolverine specifically and the X-Men as a whole for several years prior, but it feels like with this series, as well as with the graphic novel God Loves Man Kills, that Chris really fell into his best stride. Prior to this, the X-Men had been banging around in the Savage Land, mucking about in space with the Brood and the Shi'ar, and fighting Dracula (notice that in the Dracula era stories Storm got naked. A lot).

Beginning with the Wolverine solo mini in 1982, Claremont's stories began to become more grounded. Rather than dealing with mutated pterodactyls, genocidal sleezoids, or the horny undead, the Wolverine mini dealt with issues of rejection, humiliation, betrayal, and divided romantic loyalties.

The same year, Claremont penned the graphic novel God Loves Man Kills, with art by Brent Eric Anderson. Prior to GLMK, the trope of the general public's distrust of mutants had been used a little more than an excuse to treat the X-Men like outcasts, similar to DC's Doom Patrol. Beginning with the release of this seminal graphic novel, however, Claremont began defining human/relations as an alegory to the systemic bigotry of white Christian America towards people of color, people of different faiths, and LGBT persons. This carries over in his later work featuring heightened anti-mutant hysteria, featuring the mutant hunting Nimrod, as well as the classic Mutant Massacre story arc. For a middle school/junior high kid who felt like an outcast because of his love of comics, these were defining and representative stories.

So, I'll be starting from here. These were the stories where Chris was willing to sacrifice his most sacred creation, Kitty Pryde, when he introduced Rachel Summers, when he transformed Storm from an African weather goddess to a punk/metal queen, who survived and led the team on her own bad-ass-ness alone.

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As always, the best way to reach me for comments or questions is on Twitter @GrantRichter09.  Also, if you like the way I string words together into pithy sentences and you'd like to support my efforts, consider heading over to patreon.com/grantrichterwrites.

See you neXt time Muties!