Little Girl: ‘Are you Spider-Man?’
Logan: ‘No, darlin’, Spider-Man is a sissy.’ — Wolverine
MANILA, Philippines - This is the gospel according to the book of Bub. Wolverine — created by Len Wein, John Romita Sr. and Herb Trimpe — is easily one of the most popular comic-book characters of all time (just ask the guys from Wizard magazine where he was ranked no. 1, beating Spider-Man and Batman). There is something about this badass X-man with mysterious mutant healing powers, retractable claws, tendency for uncontrollable berserker rages, and the immortal catchphrase, “I’m the best there is at what I do, but what I do best isn’t very nice.” Former X-Men artist Jim Lee says, “Wolverine is the only true, rough, tough, hell-on-wheels type of character,” adding that he is one of the few comic-book figures you could see drink beer, smoke a cigar and open a smutty magazine. There are depths to this character. Writer Matthew Manning says that Wolverine, like Walt Whitman, “contains multitudes.” The dude is three-dimensional — not just someone who flies around in red briefs and matching red cape, and whose only weakness is via of a piece of rock from a planet millions (or is it billions… trillions… whatever) of light years away from Earth. Plus, Wolverine, also known as “Logan” could regale anyone with riveting war stories, travelogues, bawdy jokes and wisecracks, and accounts of trysts with the fairer sex.
The genesis: A weak and sickly adolescent, James Howlett (who later on becomes “Logan”; read the Wolverine Origin series to learn about the crucial name-change) is transformed into an almost-indestructible fighting machine with powerful bone claws. The death of the man whom he thought was his father triggers the chain of events that would eventually lead Logan into Professor X’s team many, many years later. And nothing will be the same again for Logan when, as part of the diabolical Weapon X project, his skeleton gets bonded with the metal called adamantium and his memories are erased.
Ah, the 100-plus-old mutant and his life’s rich pageant. Here’s a sampling of Wolverine’s adventures, not necessarily in chronological order:
Logan enlists in the Canadian army during World War I, fighting the Germans in Belgium. He goes head-to-head with Lazaer, the angel of death. He fights during the Spanish Civil War in 1937 with Alpha Flight’s Puck and, believe it or not, Ernest Hemingway. He travels to Japan, falls in love with Mariko Yashida and tussles with a band of ninjas known as The Hand. He is imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp called Sobibor in Poland during World War II and goes by the name “Prisoner Zero.” He manages to escape and joins the storming of Normandy during the D-Day invasion. He survives the atom bomb explosion in Hiroshima in 1945. He fights villains (including Lady Deathstrike in Alpha Flight No. 33) as a member of Canada’s premiere superhero team called Alpha Flight. He becomes a full-fledged X-Man (Giant Size X-Men No. 1) and this event, to legions of comic book readers, heralds the golden age of Marvel Comics.
“Just think how I might’ve turned out,” Wolverine philosophizes. “I might’ve wound up a pastry chef.”