MRL - Wolverine: Origin (2001)
May. 14th, 2025 07:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sonotadreamDid you know that the main Marvel universe has never been rebooted and you can read the main continuity from the begginning? Well, I found that out recently and decided it would be fun to try. I love a good checklist.
I'm following this list from Comic Book Reading Orders. It goes in chronological order, not publication, and I'll be skipping anything I don't feel like reading, otherwise this would be unmanageable.
So let's start with Wolverine: Origin (2001), written by Paul Jenkins, art by Andy Kubert, colors by Richard Isanove:
Rose, recently orphaned, arrives at the Howlett Estate to be a companion to the young son, James, a sickly child. There's another boy, the groundskeeper's son (whose name is Logan! And looks exactly like Wolverine!), who everyone calls Dog (poor thing).
I think there's supposed to be some mystery about which kid grows up to be Wolverine, but 1. I already knew the answer and 2. Sometimes the foreshadowing isn't that subtle.
Groundskeeper Logan is a mean, violent drunk, with a massive chip on his shoulder towards his boss. When Dog attacks Rose and they're finally kicked out, he decides to strike back by kidnapping James' mom. It turns into a bloodbath, with both Howlett's dead, and James claws coming out, injuring Dog and killing Logan.
It also damages his mind, leaving him with little memory of what happened. He and Rose run away and end up in a mining camp, where Rose (the only woman we see in the camp) finds a job as a secretary and James changes his name to Logan and, thanks to the hard labour, develops into a healthy, strong young man who likes to run with wolves.
He gets the respect of the other men in the camp, who give him the nickname Wolverine, and the overseer, Smitty, who chooses Logan as his successor when he decides to leave with Rose. These two have a little sweet romance, based on a love of poetry. Smitty also gives Logan a book about japanese Samurai, which feels a bit tacked on tbh.
Anyway, Logan is jealous, because he thought he and Rose were meant to be, and things come to a head when they get paired in a cagematch. In the end, Logan throws the match, giving the couple his blessing, but then Dog shows up to confront Logan and tragedy ensues.
They fight, Logan remembers, and he accidentally kills Rose with his claws.
The series concludes with Logan running way to stay with the wolves in the wild, while Smitty calls to him, not for revenge, but because they should be grieving together - which I found was a nice beat.
My thoughts: I really like this, the art and colors are amazing and the story is coherent and self contained enough that it's easy to follow. It's definetely more rewarding when you're already familiar with Wolverine. Some callbacks are a bit on the nose, but not too distracting, and it offers a reasonable explanation to Wolverine's memory problems - it's just trauma.🙃
I'm following this list from Comic Book Reading Orders. It goes in chronological order, not publication, and I'll be skipping anything I don't feel like reading, otherwise this would be unmanageable.
So let's start with Wolverine: Origin (2001), written by Paul Jenkins, art by Andy Kubert, colors by Richard Isanove:
Rose, recently orphaned, arrives at the Howlett Estate to be a companion to the young son, James, a sickly child. There's another boy, the groundskeeper's son (whose name is Logan! And looks exactly like Wolverine!), who everyone calls Dog (poor thing).
I think there's supposed to be some mystery about which kid grows up to be Wolverine, but 1. I already knew the answer and 2. Sometimes the foreshadowing isn't that subtle.
Groundskeeper Logan is a mean, violent drunk, with a massive chip on his shoulder towards his boss. When Dog attacks Rose and they're finally kicked out, he decides to strike back by kidnapping James' mom. It turns into a bloodbath, with both Howlett's dead, and James claws coming out, injuring Dog and killing Logan.
It also damages his mind, leaving him with little memory of what happened. He and Rose run away and end up in a mining camp, where Rose (the only woman we see in the camp) finds a job as a secretary and James changes his name to Logan and, thanks to the hard labour, develops into a healthy, strong young man who likes to run with wolves.
He gets the respect of the other men in the camp, who give him the nickname Wolverine, and the overseer, Smitty, who chooses Logan as his successor when he decides to leave with Rose. These two have a little sweet romance, based on a love of poetry. Smitty also gives Logan a book about japanese Samurai, which feels a bit tacked on tbh.
Anyway, Logan is jealous, because he thought he and Rose were meant to be, and things come to a head when they get paired in a cagematch. In the end, Logan throws the match, giving the couple his blessing, but then Dog shows up to confront Logan and tragedy ensues.
They fight, Logan remembers, and he accidentally kills Rose with his claws.
The series concludes with Logan running way to stay with the wolves in the wild, while Smitty calls to him, not for revenge, but because they should be grieving together - which I found was a nice beat.
My thoughts: I really like this, the art and colors are amazing and the story is coherent and self contained enough that it's easy to follow. It's definetely more rewarding when you're already familiar with Wolverine. Some callbacks are a bit on the nose, but not too distracting, and it offers a reasonable explanation to Wolverine's memory problems - it's just trauma.🙃
