But who is this cigar-chomping claw-popping fighting machine? Well, his history is long and complicated. Born in the late 1880s in Canada, James Howlett endured a lot in his early life. The product of an affair, early tragedy, living in the woods, fighting in both World Wars,
victim of the Weapon X program. He's been a member of numerous superteams, mainly the X-Men and the Avengers. Those who know him regard him as a complex man, a man who struggles to reconcile his animal instincts with his innately noble nature. He's been a leader and a protector, a soldier and a guardian.
In the 1980s, Wolverine's popularity would grow thanks to his membership in the X-Men and general tough-guy personality. It would reach the point where he would eventually get his own solo miniseries, which we're going to look at the first issue of here. So, did Wolverine's first solo adventure start strong? Let's find out as we look at Wolverine #1!
The cover is basic, but it works. This is Wolverine's first solo miniseries, and it showcases exactly what you're going to get. You're going to get the Canucklehead, and he's going to kick some butts. You want a piece of him? He's inviting you to try and get some.
"I'm Wolverine"
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Frank Miller
Inker: Josef Rubinstein
Colorist: Glynis Wein
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Editor: Louise Jones
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter
The story begins with Logan doing a bit of rock climbing.
He's doing some of his climbing in the Canadian Rockies, a place that is like home to him. You know, someone should write a Wolverine story set in the Canadian Rockies that pays homage to the film Cliffhanger. However, Logan isn't there for fun. He's hunting a killer. He found the remains of a pair of Mounties, and he's tracking the responsible party.
He carefully approaches a cave, knowing his quarry is there. Thanks to the wind shifting, Logan's quarry knows he's there. Logan waits for the quarry to come to him. The Wolverine's patience pays off.
A big angry grizzly bear. Wolverine quickly unsheaths his claws and slashes off the bear's arm. However, this only seems to anger the bear even more, driving it into a berserk fury. Wolverine quickly kills the mad animal. He notices that there's an arrow in the bear's back. He discovers that the arrow has a barbed tip, which is illegal. It's also coated with poison, which drove the bear insane. The hunter who shot this bear with the arrow didn't finish the creature off, probably thinking that the poison would do the job. Thanks to this hunter, quite a few people are dead. As Logan himself says, "Time to balance the books".
It takes a few days, but Logan is able to find the hunter who shot the bear at a bar near by the den. He approaches the hunter and tells him that the Mounties want a word with him. After all, two of their own are dead thanks to him. For his trouble, the Canucklehead gets a beer stein to the face. The bear put up a better fight than the hunter.
When he returned to the Xavier Institute, he got some mail. Among them were something that got him suspicious. He had written a bunch of letters to Mariko Yashida, who was a daughter of one of the most powerful and richest families in Japan. She first appeared in X-Men #118 (February 1979), and she had taken a shine to Logan in X-Men #123 (July 1979) after the two of them spent some time together during an adventure the X-Men had in Japan. He phoned the Japanese Embassy, and they told him she was there, but was summoned back home to Japan weeks ago. When he called her home directly, he got hung up on. Logan then takes the next flight to the Land of the Rising Sun.
When he arrives, he runs into an old friend: Asano Kimura. Kimura works for the immigration services in Japan now. Back the day though, the two did their fair share of...wetwork together. Evidently, Logan has a bit of a reputation in Tokyo. A rep that makes some powerful folks in the city a bit nervous. Logan doesn't really care. All he wants is just to talk to Mariko, and he's clearly being stonewalled. He wants to know why. They love each other, why is she being kept away from him?
Asano explains that because of her position, she has duties and is bound by some very ancient traditions. If she is in trouble, Logan can't help her. Logan's like, "Bull". There's also another problem. You see...Mariko is married. Her father disappeared during her childhood, and was presumed dead. But he recently resurfaced, and retook his place as head of the Clan Yashida. Evidently, during his disappearance, the old man had gotten some big obligation over his head, and the only way to pay it off was to marry Mariko off. Wolverine, being the ever-calm reasonable soul, show his understanding of the situation by Mighty Punching a lamp.
Asano reminds Wolverine that Mariko does value her honor. Logan can't live without her, but Asano tells him he must learn to. This marriage is important, and heartbroken as she may be, Mariko understands and accepts it. Logan has to see her, despite Asano's warnings that it will only make things worse...and Asano may have to hunt him down. Logan gets his costume on and invites Asano to try. That night, Logan arrives at the Yashida stronghold.
Logan is able to intimidate the guard dogs. He notices that he's having a rather...easy time breaking in. No guards, no traps, not even a "Keep Out" sign. This makes Logan rather wary. He finds Mariko kneeling in front of a Buddha statue in the stronghold's garden. The darkness conceals her, like she doesn't want to be seen. She tries to tell Logan to leave, but the feral mutant refuses. He wants her to look at him, but he is shocked at what he sees.
Evidently, Mariko's hubby is rather fond of using her as a punching bag. Logan is understandably infuriated. He tries to get her to come with him. After all, any court in the land would grant her a divorce from her husband. She doesn't want to, saying she is bound by more important obligations. Mariko shows Wolverine a pair of swords, forged by the legendary swordsmith Masamune. The swords represent her family. They represent the Yashida Clan's honor, duty, and traditions. Mariko was a free woman when she made her commitment to Logan. But with her father back, things have changed, and she has her honor and duty to think about. Logan is outraged by this. Mariko is a human being! But she gave her word, and is bound by honor.
Logan then picks up another scent, one he finds foul. And it's one that understandably gets the claws out. It's her husband, a crime boss named Noboru Hideki, angry she didn't do what she was told. Logan greets Nideki in the form of a hand to his throat, planning to introduce his claws to the man. Mariko stops him, pleading with him to let her husband live. Logan, despite his protests, agrees. After all, he loves her and can deny her nothing. The feral mutant leaves the room, planning to leave for New York tomorrow. However, he gets some poisoned shuriken for his trouble.
For an ordinary man, the poison would be fatal. But Wolverine is no ordinary man. He has a healing factor, so it only knocks him out. However, it does hurt, and the poison was incredibly potent, so he barely made it. Yeah, at this point, Wolverine's healing factor wasn't portrayed as powerful as it was in current comics. He could recover from injuries and diseases quicker than the average man, but he still needed time. When he awakens, he finds himself in the company of Lord Shingen Yashida, head of the Yashida Clan.
Logan's still a bit messed up from the poison. His senses are scrambled. He could easily dispatch the Sumo guards Shingen has, but Mariko is outside and she could get hurt. Shingen is not too fond of Logan. He knows that the Canadian is in love with his daughter and desires her hand. Based on his dialogue, it can be assumed that he sees Logan as a bit of an unwashed peasant. You see, the Yashida Clan is an old family, as old as the Emperors of Japan. In fact, Shingen believes that he has a legit claim to the Emperor's throne.
Shingen picks up a sword...a wooden sword. It's a bokken, which is used for training in sword combat, as it's relatively safer than an actual sword. The Western equivalent is a waster. Who says comics aren't educational? He passes one to Logan, and basically tells him "Beat me in a wooden swordfight, and I'll show you respect." Also, he feels that the Canucklehead is not worthy of fighting with the real thing.
The two fight. Thing is, Wolverine hasn't used a sword in years. He's good, but Shingen is a master. He's also a master cheater. Logan's system is still dealing with the poison the shuriken gave him, so as a result, Logan is slower and weaker than normal. It's something Shingen takes full advantage of, attacking Logan's nerve clusters, intending to kill him. In desperation, Logan tosses the bokken aside and unleashes his trademark metal claws. It's then that he realizes exactly what Shingen was planning.
Shingen was trying to make Logan look dishonorable...and it worked. Mariko didn't understand what Shingen was trying to do to him with his bokken attacks, and she's also unaware that Logan was poisoned. Logan's mind and heart are now as off-balance as his body, and Shingen is able to hand him his butt.
Logan wakes in an alley in Tokyo. His body will recover, but as for his heart...well, what can a healing factor do to fix heartbreak and a shattered soul. A group of punks decide that Logan could use another good beatdown, because they aren't too fond of foreigners. However, before they can give Logan some hands...and a lead pipe...and a knife...they all take daggers to the back and drop dead. Logan thinks his savior is Asano. After all, the killings look like they're a professional job. But he's wrong.
A mysterious woman picks Logan up. The story ends with her telling him he is hers, now and forever.
This issue was pretty good. It does a very good job establishing Wolverine's characterization and the dilemma he has to deal with here. I have to admit, I do like Logan's narration in the comic, as it gives the story a bit of a noir feel. It's also interesting hearing some of the things Logan says about his past. At this point, Logan's backstory still had a lot of mystery around it. It's interesting seeing him mention that he knew his father, despite later revelations about his past. As well as the remark about Wolverine and Asano working together in the past. It does give the impression that Claremont may have had some basic idea about what Wolverine's backstory was intended to be. I can't help but wonder, if he did have plans, what were they? What did he intend Wolverine's origins to be? I would love to know.
As for the art, Frank Miller's art is quite interesting in this one. It's great, but it's interesting. Nowadays, when people think of Frank Miller's art, they think of his work in Dark Knight Returns and Sin City, which has much stockier figures and in Sin City's case, the usage of shadows. It's amazing that the art in this comic came from the same man who made those. I can't help but wonder if the noir feel of the story was Miller's influence. Would make sense, considering film noir is one of Miller's big influences.
I read this in the trade Wolverine: First Cuts, a 2013 trade paperback released in promotion of the 2013 solo Wolverine film. It collected stories that were used as inspiration for the film. Sadly, it didn't collect the whole 1982 Wolverine solo miniseries, just the first two issues. I don't understand why, just include the whole thing for completeness' sake. Anyway, this comic was really good, and I highly recommend it. Next time, we join Batman for a holiday celebration...
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