Although some have said Wolverine is one of the most abused comic book
characters, I think some of the latest story lines have been interesting--
he's had to play more of a thinking man's game.  Feedback?

40 responses total.

I've talked with a lot of people and tend to agree with them
that Wolverine was best as a character with little exposure..
2 x-men titles and his own monthly are a little much.. 
altho Captain America has 2 monthlies presently plus the Avengers..
and Spider-Man.......

Perhaps it's because I didn't read all the stories about him.  Before, he just
seemed like he was a character 14 yr. olds thought was cool-- he came out of
nowhere, had no revealed past, did his own thing, had an admantium-laced
skeleton, etc., etc.

But he seemed too powerful and seemed to move too fast with the admantium.
Maybe they went overboard defining his character, but the writers did present
him with formidable challenges.

You remember how his healing factor was reduced to the point that his body
began to slightly reject the adamantium.  He's the only X-Man to remember the
Siege Perilous incident.  Then Magneto removed his admantium.

So I find out Wolvie has to think a lot more to fight.  Ironically, the lack
of adamantium allowed more human and less bestial thinking.  But it also meant
his claws could be broken.

What a challenge it was when Sabretooth was given adamantium in *his*
skeleton.  Wolverine almost died fighting him.  Of course, it was resolved
when they and Shadowcat were pitted against each other and some of their
traits were traded.  Kitty and Logan made it by the fact Sabretooth was given
a sense of honor.

Oh, and then there was Wolvie's marriage to Viper..

I'm really behind on the story, actually..last I read was when he fought
Wendigger..er, what's his name?

Wendigo.
I haven't picked up Wolverine since #128 which i only picked
up to see if any sense was made of it all.. very little was
i plan to pick it up again when Erik Larsen starts.

Yes, I remembered.

I still disagree.  Basically, the idea has been to show more what's going on
in Wolverine's head to show his continuing struggle to think more like a man
than a beast.  Always, the emphasis has been on his challenge to work harder.

Interestingly enough, Sabretooth has been changed through all the incidents.

What kind of work has Erik Larsen done?  You think he's somehow going to make
this all crystal-clear or something?  Is he a regular write for Wolverine?

<lumen doesn't read enough comics and misses the best of the best, apparently>

It's obvious I'm no expert. :P

Erik Larsen..
hmm.. he's written some Spider-man that I've really liked..
beyond that.. he's written Savage Dragon for over 50 issues
now (of which I've read very few), but I do expect an entertaining
run from him with Wolverine and I'll probably pick up his 
Nova series when he starts that at Marvel as well..

and trust me.. i'm far from an expert on comics (or anything) myself..

you're better versed than I..

is that good or bad?  was my first response to finding
out i'm more knowledgeable than someone
about comics...

just not up on it, really.. a smattering here and there, in teeny amounts..

i'm not exactly reading every comic book put out myself, but
thru a mailing list and some news sites i stay caught up.

Wolverine is rumored to have his adamantium returned when Erik Larsen begins
writing.

and Sabretooth has already gotten some adamantium..
i don't  know if i care a whole lot if he gets it or not..
other's opinions?

Yes, I know-- which is why Wolvie nearly got the s**t beaten out of him.  I
think Wolverine's adamantium was removed so he'd have to work harder to
survive, as I said, and I think he has.  I think it would be cool if he got
it back, but it doesn't matter to me.. I think we all agree the writing needs
to be good.

i've read Larsen's first issue of Wolverine..
not too bad characterization wise and such, but i don't
care much for the artist (Matsuda?).. i hear that the second issue
was a lot of self-serving garbage where Wolverine defeated a
of Marvel Universe heroes basically so he could prove he was a 
fighter.. all in all, he couldn't have defeated most of the
heroes as easily as he did.. if at all.. Wolvie beat Vision, yeah right.

Hrm-- I'll have to take a look at it.  It's sad sometimes when comic
characters simply fight and the outcomes are merely based on who's more
popular.

very much so

but that's business for you..it appeals to the lowest common denominator. 
The music business is like that, too.  There are so many people involved that
you have to sell a lot, or they all lose money.

But what's strange is that those of us with discriminating tastes go on to
something ouside the mainstream, and the, after a while, everyone thinks it's
cool :P

picked up Larsen's Wolvie run to date.. i'll write on them when i've read
them..

will be waiting with hungry ears..don't know why I don't pick it up myself

I think, the reason they gave Wolvie back his adamantium was probably be 
because of all the protesting that Wolvie's loyal fans did when they had 
Magneto remove it.  The way I understand it, the fans were talking about 
lynching the writers or some such thing.

I, btw, am a very large fan of Shadowcat, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler, 
and I was just livid when *I* read the mag with the story in it.  

Still, check it out, everybody just keeps getting better.  Check out 
'Cat.  Ain't she somethin' else.

BTW whatever happened to Nightcrawler, anyway.  I'm poor and I haven't 
been able to afford to buy comics for a while.

Yes, Shadowcat is all grown up, apparently, and the last artist that had 
been working on Wolverine during the battle with Sabretooth had her 
looking mighty fine.

From the couple of issues that I've got of Excalibur last of which Rachel was
suck out of the present timeline and was brought to the future as the mother
Askani so as to let Captain Britain back from the time stream, that was the
last I saw of Nightcrawler

of all the characters that Marvel had created, I think that Wolverine is the
best among all of them. Aside from him doing the best at what he does
(snikt!).

Nightcrawler is currently a member of the X-Men.

i don't think Wolverine is much of a character.
He's alright, but there are so many characters worthy of 
half the recognition he gets.  Joe Kelly's version of
Wolverine was hilarious in Deadpool #27. i highly
recommend you read that book.

Regarding Nightcrawler, from the issues I have of the XMen's recent upheavals
in their lives such as Onslaught, Zero Tolerance etc. I have never seen Elf
on any of the XMen team. Now I might be wrong Ken since our Bookshops here
in my country releases comics a month late. But I think Elf is still part of
the Excalibur team in England. Nope I haven't read Deadpool #27 but I got
these Three part mini series of Wolverine and Venom that I think is worth the
laugh. I'm an avid collector of the XMen series and had started to collect
them again from issue #137 onwards same with the Wolverine comic book which
I started to collect from issue #50. Well, name me a character of Marvel that
is worthy of half the recognition that Wolverine gets.

Excalibur ended with issue #125 and i believe the team may 
have disbanded, but either way.. it saw
Nightcrawler, Collossus, and Kitty Pryde returning
to the US and the X-Men in Uncanny X-Men #360 and X-Men #80.

i personally believe that any character has the capability to
be "popular" if given a good writer and enough word of mouth.
i guess the trick is to make a character so "kewl" that people
will buy his comics even when the writing sucks.

Characters I feel are worthy of half Wolverine's Recognition:
(again i feel any character could be.. but here's a few off the top
of my head)- Spider-Man 2099, Prowler, Nova, Black Cat, Blue Shield,
Quasar, Silver Sable, Sleepwalker.... any of these characters are
interesting enough to merit the recognition Wolverine gets, but don't get
hardly any.. something i'd attempt to remedy if i ever became a comics writer.

Rumor: Wolverine will get his adamantium back in October's issue #145.
this is a rumor.

but hell, they've been baiting us since December of last year =P

resp:27 keep your eyes peeled for me, would you, Luke?  I've got a
frightfully busy schedule for a while and no cash that isn't already  dedicated
to other purposes.

will do. as soon as i go back and reread the response you're responding to.

ahh.. i've not yet heard any more obout Wolverine and Adamantium, but will keep
you posted..

as far as I can see, they are continuing to delay the possibility of 
Wolvie getting back any adamantium.

According to present Wolverine writer, Erik Larsen,
Wolverine will indeed get his adamantium back in Wolverine #145.
Will this improve the character? I dunno.. 
heh

heh, Marvel just decides to give its characters a challenge and a change 
every so often.  I'm not sure if Capt. America got back his original 
shield, for example..isn't he still carrying that energy one?

returning the adamantium, I think, will just be a people pleas

i've actually forgotten what Wolverine was like WITH adamantium so i
don't much care if he has it or not.. i think Cap either has or soon
will have his original shield back..

really?  Hmmm, I'm not sure, either, but the adamantium was said to have
repressed his feral instincts somewhat.  I have said it was harder for Wolvie
to fight without the adamantium because he had to think harder to make up for
the disadvantage.  Apparently, he thinks harder not just to compensate for the
physical damage loss..and that his claws can now be broken, but he has to fight
to repress the animal urges now.



That's why I found it interesting they gave Sabertooth adamantium.  One more
plot development, and *BAM* he had a sense of honor that drove him crazy.



I'm sure you remember the Seige Perilous story.  Since Wolvie didn't pass
through the Seige Perilous, being nailed to a crucifix, he suffered a reduced
health factor due to the trauma of ripping himself off.  Thereafter, his body
began rejecting the adamantium transplants, causing him excruciating pain from
time to time.  He was quoted as saying pain was good for him.  By the way,
Jubilee was with him at the time he went down-- she didn't pass through the
Seige Perilous either-- and I wonder if Marvel ever decided to make good on
that fact with another story idea.



I think I also mentioned that this was akin to the fact DC has been giving
Superman numerous challenges-- Superman and Batman have been compared in..I
believe it was this conference, and it was Batman himself who pointed out Supe
could beat anyone with his hands tied behind his back.  Interesting to see the
writers noted what we did here.  I think Marvel has been doing this to Wolvie
just to promote some better character development.  I still disagree that
keeping him mysterious and as a supporting character would have been the best
idea-- I've liked some of the challenges.

Make the runt suffer.

hehehe.. too late.  Everything that Marvel has said in recent issues 
(editorials, I mean) seem to say that Wolvie *will* get his adamantium 
back, and probably in issue #145 or so.

btw, this is Wolvie's 25 anniversary, I think, so..

(they had a promo with the hook that the anniversary probably should be 
adamantium instead of silver)

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss