Free Comic Friday: Wolverine - Origin of an X-Man

Wolverine: Origin of an X-Man #1
“Kingdom of No”
Writer: Fred Van Lente
Art: Gurihiru
Letters: Dave Sharpe
Cover: Ed McGuinness, Mark Farmer and Justin Ponsor
Production: Anthony Dial
Consulting: Ralph Macchio
Editor: Nathan Cosby
Editor-in-chief: Joe Quesada
Published by: Marvel
Released: May 2, 2009

Let's jump back to 2009, for an adventure featuring Wolverine that jumps back to before his first appearance in “Incredible Hulk” #180. The issue is subtitled “Origin of an X-Man” to tie in with the “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” movie, which premiered the day before Free Comic Book Day that year.

I picked this issue since Hugh Jackman is reprising his role as Wolverine in a film debuting today. That would be cause for excitement from me if it wasn't the third Deadpool movie, about which this issue also provides me an opportunity to air my grievances.

The story starts with James Macdonald Hudson – sadly not in a full-body, red-and-white maple leaf uniform – lobbying a group of shadowy Canadian military officials* to dispatch Department H’s new superhuman operative Weapon X, aka Wolverine, to investigate strange goings-on in the fishing village of Harbordale. His presentation includes a quick recap of Wolverine’s status at that point, as a mutant with an exceptional healing factor, adamantium-coated bones and claws and no memory of his past or how he became such a lethal weapon.

On the flight to the village, Wolverine is only half listening as Hudson briefs him and he reads through a book on memory loss that will be important later. The village is covered in some kind of gray substance, and Wolverine leaps out of the plane, sans parachute, to begin his investigation.

Logan quickly finds the problem: hundreds of insect-like robots covering everything in sight with a metallic substance that seems to be made from the artificial materials they encounter. They decide his adamantium would make a fine ingredient in the mix, but Wolverine disagrees.

They summon a larger, tank-like bot that doesn't intimidate Wolverine but does manage to capture him. He’s taken through the town past various scenes recreated with what appear to be robots and notices the vehicles follow glowing lines on the streets.

The machines attempt to drop him in a vat of cyber stuff to add him to the menagerie around town. Those aren't robots, he realizes, but people made into life-size pieces of the display.

Wolverine breaks free and continues to tangle with the mechanical marauders, causing some to wreck by shredding the lines on the ground. Something clicks into place when an event larger robot, looking like a seahorse, attacks. Once he’s reduced it to scrap, he follows one of the thinnest glowing lines and finds a group of armored soldiers who turn out to be the missing commandos.

They're guarding a glowing egg-like structure that contains the source of the whole mess: a young man Logan surmises is a mutant. Turns out it’s not just any mutant but Madison Jeffries, who can manipulate inorganic materials and who would go on to become a member of Canada’s premiere superhero team, Alpha Flight.

Back at Department H, Hudson explains Jeffries' powers went haywire as a result of PTSD sustained during his military service. He asks Wolverine how he figured out what was going on, and Logan explains he learned through the book he was reading that the Greek word for seahorse is hippocampus, which is the part of the brain that regulates memories. The wider lines represented stronger connections to good memories while the thinner ones went to bad, repressed memories.

Hudson informs Wolverine the success of his mission convinced the government to greenlight Alpha Flight, but before we get any more cameos, he’s called out to another assignment: intervening in the last page of the aforementioned Incredible Hulk #180 to set up the cover to #181.

It's a relatively simple story that gets a little confusing with all the memory stuff, or maybe that's just me. Other than being a little smaller – in terms of dimensions, not page count – than standard comics, it's a solid issue that tells a one-and-done story that's more of a look at a specific time in Wolverine's past than an origin story. It's actually more of an origin story for Alpha Flight – with Jeffries and Hudson, who goes on to become Vindicator/Guardian – than Wolverine himself. The art of duo Gurihiru may not be what you'd typically expect of Wolverine, but it fits with the fun, all-ages vibe of the story.

And that accessibility to a variety of fans is what made it particularly appealing to me as the MCU’s first R-rated film is debuting to audiences.

Van Lente at the time was writing “Wolverine: First Class,” an all-ages title featuring Wolverine and young teammate Kitty Pryde. I later read a few of his issues but didn't start buying it until the one and only Peter David came aboard (and penned an issue featuring Dazzler drawn by Gurihiru). I remember reading an interview in which David said something to the effect of if he couldn't write a Wolverine story without a lot of blood and violence, he wouldn't be a very good writer. And he's a fantastic writer.

Wolverine is undeniably a violent character. And good stories can be and have been told in that realm. The ones that appeal to me are when Logan struggles with his violent nature or takes on darker assignments for what he believes is the greater good or to protect others from said darkness.

The tilting of the scales toward violence and darkness without much light or hope to back it up is why I would rather watch the messy “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” than “Logan,” which is a better film by almost any measure. Relentless darkness and “heroes” racking up a body count while fighting for those they love, as if other life doesn't matter at all, isn't the kind of story I find compelling.

That was the first Deadpool movie in a nutshell. By my recollection, he was the hero by default, because his murders were less terrible than those committed by Ajax and company and his lines were better. In the second movie, he at least was motivated by something other than revenge, but the filthy jokes kept me from enjoying it much either.

I’ve written about my dislike for unending profanity but also acknowledged that I can look past it if there's something else there. I have a feeling “Deadpool and Wolverine” will have some clever moments, the heart Kevin Feige has promised in interviews and a host of fun Easter eggs. But the trailers have focused on the vulgarity and a loving fascination with a particular word that rhymes with “duck.”

Sure, I’ll watch it eventually, probably on Disney+, because it is part of the MCU and I can't comment on it if I don't see it. That's a pretty hollow protest, and I know my decision won't affect the box office one way or the other. But I'm still not paying extra to see a movie I have little hope will leave me anything but disappointed and disgusted. I hope I'm proven wrong.

Wolverine doesn't need to exist solely in all-ages, kid-friendly stories, but he can be in those too, as this issue and “Wolverine First Class” show. Deadpool works fine in a PG-13 space. It's not like the Joe Kelly stories that made him what he is were hard R.

If audiences want R-rated fare like this, studios will keep making it. It's just a shame that the first major incarnation of the X-Men in the MCU - even if it is alternate realities and variants - plus perhaps the once-and-for-all finale of Fox’s X-movies is going to be presented in a manner that will alienate some fans and make the movie completely inappropriate for younger ones to watch.

* - No commentary here, their faces are all hidden in shadows

** - And penned an issue featuring Dazzler drawn by Gurihiru.