A Mystery Wrapped in an Enigma (version 2.0)
I was first introduced to Wolverine (or more accurately THE Wolverine)
when I picked up issue #111 of Uncanny X-Men at a 7-11 back in 1978. Chris Claremont and John Byrne were creating the
golden era of the X-Men, and I became mesmerized by this cantankerous Canadian. After school, my best friend and I would talk endlessly
about every last revelation of Wolverine's past. I even started a notebook tracking all references of his life before joining the X-Men.
Later it became a Word document that I updated and rewrote as more and more entries sprang to life from the pages of Marvel
Comics. After more than 25 years, I decided to put it on the Web and let others enjoy the fruits of my obsessive compulsion.
Is this the definitive chronology of Wolverine's past?
No, merely my personal conjecture, but clearly I believe in its premise. I
do ask that you respect this labor of love and not plagiarize (the characters and stories are obviously copyrighted by Marvel
Comics). If you want to link to it, cite it, or expound upon it, please drop me a line. If you want to disagree over an assertion
with factual information, please feel free to contact me. I welcome any and all comments, and I can be reached at DiG@typingmonkeys.com.
And if you are from Marvel Comics and want to offer me a job writing (or are overwhelmed by my compulsive nature), please
don't hesitate to give me a shout.
John Byrne, Comics File: X-Men Files© and ™ by Marvel Characters, Inc.
Now for a little background. In late 1974, Wolverine made his first appearance in the Marvel
Comics universe, debuting in the pages of The Incredible Hulk. In the stories that followed, the mystery of Wolverine's
seemingly contradictory past intrigued and infuriated fans alike, especially when tantalizing nuggets of his previous lives were
revealed over the course of 30 some years. As Chris Claremont noted, “My gut feeling has been that less is more, that certain characters
benefited from an over-arching sense of mystery. Wolverine's a character that deserves to have a certain measure of mystery
to his life.”[1]
In the following pages, I have attempted to make sense of that
past, weaving a chronological tapestry out of Wolverine's frustratingly enigmatic life as James Howlett, Logan, Weapon X and Wolverine.
But first, it is helpful to understand the waves of origin stories produced over the past 30 years; each building (and sometimes
contradicting) the stories that came before them. Many origin theories were floated by Marvel writers in the mid-1970s. By
the late 1970s, Chris Claremont had become the primary writer of Wolverine and created a definitive origin over the next 15 years that was eventually
ignored. In 1991, Barry Windsor-Smith revealed how Logan received
his adamantium skeleton and claws in the classic Weapon X storyline, and Jim Lee created the Victor Creed background
for Wolverine arch-nemesis Sabretooth. Larry Hama then added nearly a decade's worth of seemingly self-contradictory history
onto Wolverine's past. 2001 saw the 'true origin' of Logan's earliest years revealed in a story by Bill Jemas, Joe Quesada and Paul Jenkins,
produced in an era where strict adherence to continuity was viewed as an anathema to good storytelling.
And finally in the past few years, writers Jeph Loeb and Daniel Way have attempted to weave a consistent theme (and arch-villain) through the entirety of Wolverine's past with mixed results.
So without further ado, here is my speculative (but comprehensive) journey through Wolverine's past...
John Byrne and Terry Austin, X-Men #132. © and ™ by Marvel Characters, Inc.
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