Wolverine: Origin Review (Marvel Premiere Classic)

Wolverine: Origin

Plot: Bill Jemas, Joe Quesada, & Paul Jenkins

Script: Paul Jenkins

Pencils: Andy Kubert

Inks: Richard Isanove

Collects Wolverine: Origin #1-6; originally published 2001-2002

I should probably start off by saying that I'm more than a little biased against Wolverine. I really do like the character, and you're lying to yourself if you say you don't at least like the basic concept of an indestructible badass with claws. But he really works best as a supporting character. Don't get me wrong, I love the X-Men and am all for any additional stories they want to tell. But I love Lord of the Rings too, that doesn't mean I have any interest in watching/reading/hearing about Gimli: Origin. So, I guess I'm not so much biased against the character of Wolverine, but of Marvel's marketing him. He's really not that complex of a guy... does he really need four solo titles (Wolverine, Wolverine: Origins, Wolverine: First Class, and the soon to be launched Wolverine: Weapon X), plus starring roles in at least four other team books (Uncanny X-Men, Astonishing X-Men, New Avengers, and X-Force... and I may be missing some)? That's not even counting one-shots, limited series, and guest starring roles in other books. That's almost 200 pages a month for an indestructible badass with claws. People are obviously buying them, but still, that's a bit ridiculous. Can I just throw out a suggestion that his next solo ongoing book be titled the Ubiquitous Wolverine?

Okay, that rant is over (for now). On to the review: I've had this book for a while, but was putting off reading it for a couple of reasons. I bought it because it's one of the Marvel Premiere Classics, and I love that line of books. Top of the line quality all the way. But I knew some vague details about this story which made me put off reading it. I knew it introduced the concept of Wolverine's claws being made of bone (which I hate) and I had a pretty good idea that it established Wolverine as being a foppish, prissy, sickly, whiny English boy. I was close. He was apparently a foppish, prissy, sickly, whiny Canadian boy. And the fact that the setting of the first three issues was in Canada wasn't really ever made clear either. His babysitter turned love interest kept wanting to talk about "what happened in Alberta," and I just kept thinking, "wait, what happened in Alberta? Should I know what they were doing in Alberta?" until I realized that Wolverine's childhood home was in Alberta instead of somewhere in England. I mean, I knew Wolverine was Canadian, but I just kind of assumed he adopted that nationality along with the name Logan while he was in British Columbia since he didn't know about his past, and since everything in the first few issues looked so Victorian-era-England-esque.

And for as much as this story supposedly touts itself as the finally explaining Wolverine's past, there sure was a lot left unexplained. For instance, what exactly was the relationship between Logan (the original farmhand one) and Wolverine's mother? I kind of got the impression he may have been Wolverine's real father. And who was it that had the other set of bone claws? The ones that slashed up Wolverine's mother's side? Logan? Wolverine's brother? According to his gravestone, he was 12 when he died which is when his mutant powers would've kicked in. If that's the case, did either of Wolverine's parents have mutant abilities? I'm assuming not his mother, since she freaked out and shot herself when she found out Wolverine had them, but what about his dad? It just seems unusual that two brothers would have the same powers if neither of the parents did.

Okay, on to the bone claws. Here's why I hate that idea. Wolverine's story seems so much more tragic to me without them. If Wolverine's only mutation is his healing factor (I'll include his heightened senses with that too), then Weapon X basically hunts him down and captures him just so they can do whatever kind of twisted experiments they want on him and see what happens. I mean, don't the people at Weapon X seem so much more sadistic if they're just sitting around thinking about experiments to do, and one of them sits up and says, "Hey! I've got it! How about we give him claws?" As if they could have decided to do absolutely anything to him. "Hey! Let's replace his blood with acid!" or "Hey! Let's see if another set of arms will stick!" or "Hey! I wonder if we can give him wings?" If he's already got bone claws, all Weapon X did was lace/replace his skeleton with metal. Like they just found him, started putting the adamantium in, and said, "Oh, how 'bout that, he's got claws. Better metal those babies up, too."

I just really don't like this notion that Wolverine has to be this tragic hero. As if he's not likable unless he's a tortured soul with a heart of gold. His tragedy is that he just wants to be left alone, but because of his mutant powers, people consistently want to use him just to achieve their own ends. And he finally has found a home with the X-Men because they accept him as a person, and treat him as family, not as weapon to accomplish their own agenda. I want to think of him as a loner who is fiercely loyal to his friends, but will just as soon claw your face off if you mess with him or those he's close to. 

This is a tragic story, sure, but it really doesn't explain why a man would end up that way. Weapon X does, Origin does not. I guess if Marvel wants a more "mainstream" hero instead of the traditional anti-hero Wolverine is usually portrayed as, Origin sort of establishes that. But when the anti-hero persona is what made the character popular enough to merit 200 pages of comics a month, I'm not sure why they'd want to change that.

Anyway, the art was great, and the presentation was excellent (nice hardcover, quality paper, lots of extras) but the story did nothing for me. I guess I just don't like thinking of Wolverine as a wuss.

Final Verdict: 4/10