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Comic Book Questions Answered is a feature where I answer whatever questions you folks might have about comic books (feel free to e-mail questions to me at brianc@cbr.com). Today, I will figure out what Wolverine’s first solo comic book story was.
A number of years ago, as part of my Turns Back the Page, where I spotlighted notable backup stories, I discussed 1980’s Marvel Treasury Edition #26, which was a magazine-sized comic book that reprinted a number of Hulk-related stories (as, of course, The Incredible Hulk TV series made the Hulk a very popular character among casual fans, and so JUST the sort of character that you would gear a treasury edition towards at the time). The backup story I mentioned there featured the first meeting between Hercules and Wolverine, who, of course, would years later make history as being a couple in an alternate Marvel universe.
Reader Mike Washburn got really into the story, which he theorized was the very first solo Wolverine story, and since he’s such a big Wolverine collector, he really wanted to collect this issue, which initially appeared in the Marvel UK comic book series, Marvel Comic…
As I noted at the time, in England, comic books were released weekly, so they were short serialized stories that would combine to tell larger stories. Marvel’s comics would then be broken up into installments when reprinted. However, there was always a need for occasional short stories that could be slotted in when space was needed. So Marvel produced a number of short standalone stories that would be inserted into various titles (standalone so that they could be put in whenever needed without having to tie into anything).
The only question is, though, is that comic book the first Wolveirne solo story? What IS the first Wolverine solo story?
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What are the candidates for the first solo Wolverine story?
Okay, so the first option is the aforementioned Marvel Comic #335, which came out in 1979. As I noted at the time, the story, dubbed At the Sign of the Lion,” features Wolverine getting into a fight with Hercules at a bar…
The story was written by Jo Duffy and drawn by Ken Landgraf and George Perez.
After Wolverine pops his claws, he and Hercules tussle a bit before they just decide to hang out together…
PROS FOR BEING THE FIRST WOLVERINE SOLO STORY:
It came out before any of the other options, and Wolverine is without the rest of the X-Men.
CONS FOR BEING THE FIRST WOLVERINE SOLO STORY:
I mean, the first page of the comic book story says “Wolverine and Hercules”…
Is it really a Wolverine solo story if it has Hercules in it?
EDITED TO ADD: Mike Washburn notes that the original comic said Wolverine VS. Hercules…
That definitely does make a much better case for this one.
The next option is 1980’s X-Men #133 (by John Byrne, Chris Claremont, and Terry Austin). In X-Men #132 (by Byrne, Claremont, and Austin), the X-Men try to infiltrate the Hellfire Club. While the more presentable members of the team entered the party as guests, Wolverine and Nightcrawler sneaked into the house through the sewers. The Inner Circle was sadly waiting for them, though!! Wolverine was beaten badly, and seemingly killed! Things went just as poorly for the rest of the X-Men as they were all easily captured, with Jean Grey actually switching teams and joining the Inner Circle under the control of Jason Wynagarde, the former Brotherhood of Evil Mutants member known as Mastermind!
However, while the Hellfire Club wre all whooping and hollering in their celebration, we pan down and see that Wolverine did not die when Leland tossed him down into the sewers and, well, they really should have made sure Wolverine was dead because, well, it is his turn now. The next issue, of course, Wolverine slices his way through the Hellfire Club’s guards as he rescues his teammates. This is the first time that we actually saw Wolverine in action quite like this, and it was epic…
The facial expressions on Wolverine and the guard on the last page are HISTORIC. Byrne compared Wolverine to Clint Eastwood, and that was essentially Wolverine’s “do you feel lucky, punk?” moment. We finally got to see what Wolverine was the best at, and it was actually kind of pretty, in a dark sort of way (the guards, of course, would later turn out to all somehow survive).
PROS FOR BEING THE FIRST WOLVERINE SOLO STORY:
It is titled “Wolverine:Alone!”
CONS FOR BEING THE FIRST WOLVERINE SOLO STORY:
It’s still an issue of the X-Men, and the rest of the X-Men are in the story, as well.
Finally, there is 1982’s Wolverine #1.
PROS FOR BEING THE FIRST WOLVERINE SOLO STORY:
It is obviously a Wolverine solo story
CONS FOR BEING THE FIRST WOLVERINE SOLO STORY:
It’s well after the other two stories.
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What is Marvel’s official answer to the question of what is Wolverine’s first solo story?
Now, as I mentioned, Mike Washburn is a really big Wolverine collector, and he was very interested in what he thinks is the first Wolverine solo story. Mike even got a cool write-up in the Toronto Star about his journey (they interviewed me, as well).
He went to Marvel themselves, and they gave him an “official” answer, and the official answer is that the Wolverine/Hercules story IS the first Wolverine solo story.
I’ll be honest, I don’t really have a problem with that. There’s no GREAT answer, but the Wolverine/Hercules story does seem like it was meant to be a solo story, just with Wolverine meeting Hercules.
Thanks for the info, Mike!
If anyone has a comic book question they’d like to see answered, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!
“}]] In its latest reader-submitted question, CSBG tries to decipher what Wolverine’s first solo comic book adventure was Read More