{"id":7449,"date":"2022-02-06T11:26:40","date_gmt":"2022-02-06T11:26:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=7449"},"modified":"2022-03-06T10:34:26","modified_gmt":"2022-03-06T10:34:26","slug":"the-incomplete-wolverine-1997","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=7449","title":{"rendered":"The Incomplete Wolverine – 1997"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part 1: Origin to Origin II<\/a> | <\/a>Part 2: 1907 to 1914<\/a>
\n<\/a>Part 3: 1914 to 1939<\/a> | <\/a>Part 4: World War II<\/a>
\n<\/a>Part 5: The postwar era<\/a> | <\/a>Part 6: Team X<\/a>
\n<\/a>Part 7: Post Team X<\/a> | <\/a>Part 8: Weapon X<\/a>
\n<\/a>Part 9: Department H<\/a> | <\/a>Part 10: The Silver Age<\/a>
\n1974-1975<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<\/a>1976<\/a> | <\/a>1977<\/a> | <\/a>1978<\/a> | <\/a>1979<\/a>\u00a0<\/a>
\n1980<\/a> | <\/a>1981<\/a> | 1982<\/a><\/em>\u00a0| 1983<\/em><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a01984<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>|\u00a01985<\/a>
\n1986<\/a>\u00a0| 1987<\/a> | 1988<\/a><\/em>\u00a0| 1989<\/a> | 1990<\/a><\/em> | 1991<\/em><\/a>
\n1992<\/em><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a01993<\/em><\/a> | 1994<\/em><\/a> | 1995<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a01996<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Last time Wolverine turned into an animal and then Marvel backtracked from the whole plot at tremendous speed. And so the search is on for a new direction.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE vol 2 #110<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Lesser Beasts”<\/strong>
\nby Tom DeFalco, Joe Bennett, Joe Pimentel, Joe Andreani & Paul Becton<\/strong>
\nFebruary 1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

The January 1997 issue was the end of a storyline, and we covered it last time. So we kick off with… a fill-in issue. Wolverine and Shaman team up to deal with a couple of murderous robbers who have accidentally released one of the\u00a0Great Beasts<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

WOLVERINE vol 2 #111<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Restoration”<\/strong>
\nby Larry Hama, Anthony Winn, Dan Green & Dana Moreshead<\/strong>
\nMarch 1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

Logan returns home from his jaunt to Japan and Canada, in time for Iceman’s leaving party – though he leaves early to go and drink on his own and mourn his supporting cast. A package arrives for Logan from Zoe Culloden, asking him to look after an “artefact” whose “nature and origin are not necessary for you to know at the present time”. Zoe’s message says that a dark time is coming, and malevolent energies are converging on him. Seems like a bad idea to give him an important artefact to look after, then. It’s a box with something glowing inside, but we never find out what it is, beyond that it has some sort of connection with both Ogun and Lady Deathstrike.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Later on, Wolverine watches the dawn and takes it as a symbolic reminder that things are bound to improve. He returns to the Danger Room wearing his normal costume for the first time in ages.\u00a0Other books take a while to catch up with this, hence the\u00a0Wolverine Index<\/em> being forced to suggest that he’s using his image inducer around the house, but as far as\u00a0Wolverine<\/em> itself is concerned, we’re back to his normal status quo and the “degeneration” arc lingers only as a new font for his dialogue.<\/p>\n

The Danger Room session is interrupted by a demonic figure (obviously Ogun, though Wolverine somehow fails to recognise him), who offers to resurrect Mariko in exchange for a favour; then, Stick interrupts\u00a0that<\/em> and reiterates Zoe’s warning about the cryptic stakes.<\/p>\n

There’s some nice character work in this issue. Wolverine thinks of the Mansion as his home, but Iceman regards it as just Wolverine’s latest address in his long life. We get the impression that Iceman doesn’t really like Wolverine much, and thinks Wolverine never made much of an effort to get to know him. Wolverine seems to be a bit hurt by that. He also doesn’t like parties generally, which he ascribes to “not being properly socialised”; and he dismisses the X-Men’s favourite bar, Harry’s Hideaway, as “a nice enough place if you like bad pub food served in a place where the quaintness is mostly made of plastic”. And Storm pretty much tells Logan that he’s a “hothouse flower” who can only survive in the weird environment of the X-Men.<\/p>\n

This is all leading to the epilogue, where Logan decides to leave the Mansion for a while and move to New York to prove to himself that he can in fact live with normal people. That’s the new direction for 1997, and this is a good set-up issue for it. But there are a few other stories to shoehorn in before we get there.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>MARVEL: SHADOWS AND LIGHT<\/a><\/strong>
\n“The Spoon Job”<\/strong>
\nby John Paul Leon<\/strong>
\nDecember 1996<\/strong><\/p>\n

A HYDRA chemist tests a special poison on Wolverine, designed to kill people with healing powers. But he leaves behind the crucial clue that will lead Wolverine first to the antidote, and then to the chemist. A simple anthology entry, notable mainly for the art.<\/p>\n

BALLISTIC \/ WOLVERINE
\n“Devil’s Reign, part 4”
\nby Larry Hama, Joe Benitez, Aaron Sowd & Dean White
\nFebruary 1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Devil’s Reign” was a crossover between Marvel and Top Cow. Responding to an urgent call from Zoe Culloden, Wolverine follows through a portal to the Top Cow Universe. He teams up with\u00a0Ballistic <\/strong>(Cassandra Taylor).\u00a0She’s looking for her missing teammate\u00a0Heatwave<\/strong> (Dylan Cruise), who in turn has been installed by Mephisto as mayor of New York. They rescue Zoe, but can’t prevent everyone in Times Square from vanishing as the new year begins. (Wolverine’s entry into the story is also shown as a cameo in the previous chapter,\u00a0Ghost Rider \/ Ballistic<\/strong><\/em>.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE \/ WITCHBLADE<\/strong>
\n“Devil’s Reign, part 5”<\/strong>
\nby David Wohl, Christina Z, Michael Turner, D-Tron & Jonathan D Smith<\/strong>
\nMarch 1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine tracks down Mephisto, who is impersonating\u00a0Ian Nottingham<\/strong>, and who is trying to convince Sara Pezzini that she imagined her superhero career as Witchblade<\/strong>.\u00a0Then, Wolverine and Witchblade team up. It’s mostly an issue of Witchblade angst.<\/p>\n

WITCHBLADE \/ ELEKTRA<\/strong>
\n“Devil’s Reign, part 6”<\/strong>
\nby Christina Z, David Wohl, Michael Turner, David Finch, Joe Benitez, D-Tron, Joe Weems & Jonathan D Smith<\/strong>
\nMarch 1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

Elektra shows up. Logan is consumed by fire and plays no further part in the crossover, which continues into\u00a0Elektra \/ Cyblade<\/em> and\u00a0Silver Surfer \/ Weapon Zero<\/em>. Presumably he just gets restored at the end.<\/p>\n

X-MEN vol 2 #61<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Bolt”<\/strong>
\nby Scott Lobdell, Cedric Nocon, Dave Hunt, Mike Miller & Joe Rosas<\/strong>
\nFebruary 1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine, Cyclops and Phoenix arrive just in time for the tail end of a fight between Storm and\u00a0Candra<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

X-MEN ’97<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Not a Cloud in the Sky”<\/strong>
\nby John Francis Moore, Steve Epting, Dan Green & Brad Vancata<\/strong>
\n1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Gamesmaster<\/strong> creates a small-scale paradise in Salem Center, where everything starts to go improbably well for the X-Men. Joseph figures it out, and the Gamesmaster is defeated without Wolverine having any direct involvement.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE vol 2 #112-114<\/a><\/strong>
\n“The Light at the End of the Day” \/ “The Wind from the East” \/ “The Snark was a Boojum, You See!”<\/strong>
\n#112 by Larry Hama, Anthony Winn, Dan Green & Joe Rosas<\/strong>
\n#113 by Larry Hama, Leinil Francis Yu, Edgar Tadeo & Joe Rosas<\/strong>
\nApril to June 1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

Back to the main series, then. Logan arrives in the East Village, and immediately encounters\u00a0Kirsten<\/strong> and her boyfriend\u00a0Clive<\/strong>, two characters from Hama’s\u00a0Venom<\/em> run. They tell him about a vacant apartment. He settles in and, with some prompting from Kirsten, decides to get a job. He goes to work for a co-op construction site run by\u00a0Helen Bach<\/strong>, and insists on not being paid. (Logan claims to be “independently lower middle-class”.) Helen is impressed by his work but understandably sceptical about his vague blather about running from something and trying to reconnect to the world.<\/p>\n

Ogun shows up, possessing a mime. He tries to steal the box that Logan got from Zoe – Logan now remembers having seen it before, when he first met Ogun decades ago. Remarkably, it still takes him a while to figure out that he’s fighting Ogun now. Storm and Phoenix show up for no particularly clear reason. Logan takes a knife meant for Storm, and Ogun is momentarily shocked into realising his own moral deterioration. That allows Jean to drive him away. Lady Deathstrike also show up to claim the box, which is, apparently, something to do with the legacy of her father. Oh, and\u00a0Daimon Hellstrom<\/strong> shows up briefly, to emphasise how very, very important the box is. Shame we never found out why, really.<\/p>\n

But… to all intents and purposes this is the end of the Hama run. He writes the next five issues – the Flashback Month story, and an “Operation: Zero Tolerance” crossover – but he never gets the chance to return to these storylines, and the issues that follow will instantly dismantle the East Village set-up.<\/p>\n

The next issue box in issue #113 is telling: “Wolverine, back the way you like him!” Phoenix tells us outright that “Wolverine’s feral regression has pretty much halted itself… He’s more competent now than he ever was.” And his font has been toned down, too.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>X-MEN UNLIMITED vol 1 #15<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Second Contact”<\/strong>
\nby Howard Mackie, Duncan Rouleau, Rob Hunter & Shannon Blanchard<\/strong>
\nJune 1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine and Iceman track down teenage Legacy Virus sufferer\u00a0Chris Bradley<\/strong>, who has run off with Maverick. By the time they catch up to the two, Maverick has taken Chris under his wings, and Wolverine decides to let them go.<\/p>\n

UNCANNY X-MEN vol 1 #342<\/strong><\/a>
\n“–Did I Miss Something?!”<\/strong>
\nby Scott Lobdell, Joe Madureira, Tim Townsend & Steve Buccellato<\/strong>
\nMarch 1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine is among the X-Men at the Mansion when Cannonball reports back that the other half of the team have been teleported off into Shi’ar space. Since\u00a0Uncanny<\/em> follows the spacebound half of the cast, Wolverine won’t appear in the book again until issue #350.<\/p>\n

PSYLOCKE & ARCHANGEL: CRIMSON DAWN #1<\/strong>
\n“Before the Break of Dawn”<\/strong>
\nby Ben Raab, Salvador Larroca and various<\/strong>
\nAugust 1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine shows up briefly to check on Psylocke’s recovery, and to warn Archangel not to push her too hard. Wolverine and Archangel seem to be on relatively good terms here, for once.<\/p>\n

STAR TREK \/ X-MEN: SECOND CONTACT<\/strong>
\nby Dan Abnett, Ian Edginton, Cary Nord, Scott Koblish & John Kalisz<\/strong>
\nMay 1998<\/strong><\/p>\n

The X-Men and Excalibur team up with the crew of the Enterprise\u00a0<\/strong>from\u00a0Star Trek: The Next Generation\u00a0<\/em>to fight Kang and\u00a0the Borg<\/strong>.\u00a0Although it came out in 1998, it expressly precedes Operation: Zero Tolerance, so it’s placed here. Unusually, the book ends by leading into\u00a0Star Trek: The Next Generation \/ X-Men: Planet X<\/em>, which wasn’t a comic, but a licensed novel.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>INCREDIBLE HULK vol 2 #454-455<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Best Intentions”<\/strong>
\nby Peter David, Adam Kubert, Mark Farmer, Dan Green & Lovern Kindzierski<\/strong>
\nJune and August 1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the Savage Land, the Hulk sets himself up as the god of the Locot tribe, upsetting the balance of power in their feud with the rival Nowek tribe. Wolverine and Ka-Zar try to persuade him to leave the tribesmen alone, without success. When a giant monster attacks, the tribes team up to defeat it, leading to a celebratory dinner afterwards. Unaware that both tribes have actually poisoned each other, Wolverine mistakenly thinks the Hulk was planning to unite them against a common enemy all along – but the Hulk then collapses too. Wolverine brings him back to the Mansion, to the X-Men’s horror. Wolverine argues that the Hulk simply needs to be treated with respect, and that any attempts to control him are doomed to backfire. The rest of the X-Men don’t listen, try to trick the Hulk with the Danger Room, and wind up proving Wolverine right. At the end, the Hulk simply vanishes. (He’s teleported away by Apocalypse, to become the new War.)\u00a0During this story, Wolverine also encounters\u00a0Cary St Lawrence<\/strong>, leading US forces pursuing the Hulk.<\/p>\n

July 1997 was “Flashback Month”, when most books shipped #-1 issues set before Fantastic Four<\/em> #1. That’s why this two-issue arc covers three months, and why there’s no July 1997 issue of\u00a0Wolverine\u00a0<\/em>in this post.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>X-MEN vol 2 #62-64<\/strong>
\n“Games of Deceit & Death”<\/strong>
\nby Scott Lobdell, Ben Raab, Carlos Pacheco, Art Thibert & Chris Lichtner<\/strong>
\nMarch to May 1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

Following a lead from British secret service veteran Clive Reston<\/strong>,\u00a0the X-Men team up with Shang-Chi to investigate Sebastian Shaw’s schemes in Hong Kong. Shaw is trying to get his hands on Fu Manchu’s Elixir Vitae as a potential cure for the Legacy Virus, which he intends to use as leverage to control other mutants. The X-Men fight Fu Manchu’s\u00a0Si-Fan Ninja<\/strong>, including four\u00a0Cyber-Ninjas<\/strong>, only three of whom get names: Bludgeon, Fist<\/strong> and\u00a0Katana<\/strong>. It’s that sort of story.\u00a0Shaw persuades the X-Men to steal the Elixir Vitae from\u00a0Fujikawa Enterprises<\/strong>, currently under the control of the Kingpin, and eventually Storm destroys the thing rather than let either villain have it. Slight but pretty.<\/p>\n

(Several earlier stories claim to lead into this story, but it can’t come any earlier because it leads directly into the next arc with no break in the action.)<\/p>\n

On their way back to America, the X-Men’s jet is intercepted by the anti-mutant military outfit\u00a0Operation: Zero Tolerance<\/strong>, who demand surrender.<\/p>\n

X-MEN vol 2 #65<\/strong><\/a>
\n“First Blood”<\/strong>
\nby Scott Lobdell, Carlos Pacheco, Art Thibert, Chris Lichtner & Aron Lusen<\/strong>
\nJune 1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

Operation: Zero Tolerance pursue the X-Men’s jet, shoot it down, and capture the whole team. It’s intercut with the public announcement of OZT, and various reactions, but that’s basically the plot.\u00a0As already noted, July 1997 was Flashback Month, so the story picks up again in…<\/p>\n

X-MEN vol 2 #66<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Start Spreadin’ The News”<\/strong>
\nby Scott Lobdell, Carlos Pacheco, Art Thibet & Liquid<\/strong>
\nAugust 1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine appears in a single panel as a prisoner of Operation: Zero Tolerance.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE vol 2 #115-118<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Operation: Zero Tolerance”<\/strong>
\nby Larry Hama, Leinil Francis Yu, Edgar Tadeo & Joe Rosas<\/strong>
\nAugust to November 1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

These four issues, all part of the “Operation: Zero Tolerance” crossover, complete the Larry Hama run.\u00a0The official timeline places another flashback in Wolverine<\/em> vol 3 #58<\/strong> of Wolverine fighting Lazaer right at the start. That’s fair enough, since issue #115 does indeed begin with Wolverine seeming to have died from his injuries.<\/p>\n

Of course, his healing factor kicks in eventually, and he frees his captive teammates. Escaping across the desert, they come upon a trailer park. A blind man called\u00a0Mustang<\/strong> explains that the residents are all being treated by\u00a0Prospero<\/strong>, a supposed doctor who is actually an OZT scientist. Investigating Prospero’s facility, the X-Men find that he’s turning his patients into\u00a0Prime Sentinel<\/strong> cyborgs. OZT activate the Sentinels whose “treatment” is far enough along, but the X-Men defeat them. Mustang, who is still in the early stages, is naturally upset at the loss of his humanity, but Wolverine tells him that whether he is still a man depends on how he acts. When OZT try to activate Mustang, he resists and is shocked back into his senses.<\/p>\n

OZT are defeated by other X-Men in other titles, but Cyclops is shot with some sort of nanotech implant that might be a bomb. The X-Men give Mustang a box of floppy discs with Prospero’s records before flying home in a stolen OZT ship.<\/p>\n

It’s not the way you’d want Hama’s run to end, given that it started all the way back in issue #31. Issues #116-117 in particular are X-Men stories, not Wolverine stories. But at least Hama tries to give it some closure by using Mustang to remind us of Wolverine’s own journey, and the Prime Sentinels have some resonance with Wolverine’s back story. Bastion also gets to spell out that Wolverine “is a perfect symbol of what humanity fears in mutants.” And here end the Larry Hama years.<\/p>\n

Well, mostly. There’s a coda, and we’ll come to that.<\/p>\n

UNCANNY X-MEN vol 1 #350<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Trial & Errors”<\/strong>
\nby Steve Seagle, Joe Madureira, Tim Townsend & Steve Buccellato<\/strong>
\nDecember 1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine’s group of X-Men appear in a single page subplot, still on their way home.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>X-MEN vol 2 #70<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Homecoming”<\/strong>
\nby Joe Kelly, Carlos Pacheco, Art Thibert & Chris Lichtner<\/strong>
\nDecember 1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

The X-Men arrive back at the Mansion to find it stripped bare by OZT, meaning that there are no medical facilities to treat Cyclops. Iceman, Marrow and medic\u00a0Cecilia Reyes<\/strong> (who debuted during OZT) are already there. Logan takes an immediate dislike to Cecilia, who doesn’t want to be there, and who’s trying to pull rank in the emergency without actually explaining who she is. Eventually she guides the X-Men in combining their powers to perform an operation that saves Cyclops’ life (with Wolverine acting as scalpel). The Juggernaut shows up halfway through, as do the rest of the X-Men, who now include\u00a0Maggott<\/strong> (Japheth). But after taking a look round, Juggernaut just leaves, amused by the pathetic state that the X-Men have been reduced to. Later, Cyclops and Phoenix privately worry about whether this dysfunctional new line-up is remotely viable.<\/p>\n

Trish Tilby is also there, so Wolverine gets to yell at her for breaking the Legacy Virus story, and accuse her of ignoring the consequences of her actions. She’s very upset, and Hank defends her, but Logan doesn’t back down.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>UNCANNY X-MEN vol 1 #351<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Hours & Minutes”<\/strong>
\nby Steve Seagle, Ed Benes & Chris Sotomayor<\/strong>
\nJanuary 1998<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cecilia decides to try and return to her day job. Logan discourages her, but gives her a lift into town afterwards, and gives her a fairly standard liberal pep talk about how to stand up for yourself. Cecilia promptly gets fired after an incident with Pyro and Daredevil, and when she arrives back at the Mansion, Logan is only surprised by how quick it was. Cecilia now accepts that it’s her best chance of doing good. At this point the X-Men are basically sleeping on mattresses in an empty building.<\/p>\n

UNCANNY X-MEN vol 1 #352<\/strong><\/a>
\n“In Sin Air”<\/strong>
\nBy Steve Seagle and various artists<\/strong>
\nFebruary 1998<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a Scott and Jean story with an absurd number of artists in completely clashing styles. In a subplot, Wolverine is irritated that Angel has only just got around to showing up; Marrow takes some comfort from seeing Wolverine behave just as aggressively towards a veteran.<\/p>\n

GHOST RIDER vol 3 #88<\/strong><\/a>
\n“A Kind Face”<\/strong>
\nby Ivan Velez Jr, Josh Hood, Derek Fisher & Brian Buccellato<\/strong>
\nSeptember 1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just a cameo as a pedestrian.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>ELEKTRA vol 1 #10<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Flowers & Flamethrowers”<\/strong>
\nby Peter Milligan, Mike Deodato Jr, Scott Koblish & Christie Scheele<\/strong>
\nSeptember 1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

Logan drops by once again, and has the obligatory fight with Elektra’s new boyfriend\u00a0McKinley Stewart\u00a0<\/strong>before she calms them both down. Logan is amused by the whole thing, and says that the guy seems okay.<\/p>\n

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN vol 1 #429<\/strong><\/a>
\n“The Price”<\/strong>
\nby Tom DeFalco, Joe Bennett, Bud LaRosa, Al Milgrom & Bob Sharen<\/strong>
\nDecember 1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

A cameo by Beast and Wolverine, reading the newspaper.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>X-MEN vol 2 #71<\/a><\/strong>
\n“A House in Order”<\/strong>
\nby Joe Kelly, Carlos Pacheco, Art Thibert, Chris Lichtner & Aron Lusen<\/strong>
\nJanuary 1998<\/strong><\/p>\n

Logan discusses the newcomers with Ororo. He doesn’t trust Maggott, while she doesn’t want Marrow around. Scott makes the usual argument that the newcomers deserve the same chance that Logan got – only for Logan to point out that the last person to get the benefit of that argument was Sabretooth, and didn’t that turn out well? Kelly was good at inverting some of these tropes.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Wolverine agrees to stay and help keep the team together while Scott and Jean recuperate. But he warns them to expect a different approach from him. Then, he promptly goes to confront Marrow (who is sulking in the basement) and tells her that if she’s going to stay, she’s got a lot to learn. The relationship between Wolverine and his brattish shadow Marrow is a key focus of Kelly’s early issues.<\/p>\n

By this point the Mansion has been somewhat re-furnished – there are at least beds and a proper kitchen. Word also breaks during this issue that the Avengers and the Fantastic Four have returned from “Heroes Reborn”.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>X-MEN vol 2 #72<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Life Lessons”<\/strong>
\nby Joe Kelly, Carlos Pacheco, Art Thibert & Liquid!<\/strong>
\nFebruary 1998<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine tries to connect with Marrow. He brushes aside her nihilist ramblings and tells her that if she’s going to stay with the X-Men, she needs to live by their rules. She responds by fighting him, and he seems quite enamoured of that side of her. When Marrow rants about the Morlocks’ treatment by humanity, Wolverine replies that the Morlocks may have had it tough, but at least they had dignity – while Marrow, apparently, is a “disgrace to [her] people”. Wolverine defeats Marrow and tells her that she doesn’t understand her cause, hasn’t earned her hate, and isn’t even a good enough soldier to die at his hands – rather, her recent actions show that she knows she needs to improve herself, and he’s offering her the chance to join the X-Men and learn.<\/p>\n

At which point, Marrow rejects the offer and stabs him in the throat. Wolverine flies into a berserker rage, and Cannonball has to step in to save her life. It’s a nice little inversion of the usual trope.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>X-MEN UNLIMITED vol 1 #17<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Alone in his Head”<\/strong>
\nby Terry Kavanagh, Tom Lyle, various inkers & Ariane Lenshoek<\/strong>
\nDecember 1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

To clear his head, Logan takes a skiing break in Aspen. Really, he does.<\/p>\n

It’s a mind-swap story, as Sebastian Shaw gets his mind-swapping aide\u00a0Ms Hoo<\/strong> to swap Wolverine’s mind with Sabretooth’s. “Wolverine” then tries to get Angel to let him into a Worthington Industries factory which, apparently, is trying to reverse-engineer Forge’s Neutralizer. The real Wolverine catches up with him and of course the minds get swapped back in the end, though the plotting on that bit is seriously ropey and drags the issue down. Otherwise, it’s a sound fill-in story based on a neat idea that Sabretooth and Wolverine both have similar feelings about Angel.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE ’97<\/strong>
\n“Heart of the Beast”<\/strong>
\nby John Ostrander, Joe Edkin, Leonardo Manco & Shannon Blanchard<\/strong>
\n1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

Former Russian agent Volk is hired to kill Wolverine; the two crossed paths years ago when Volk stopped Logan from rescuing defector Smitri Suhkarov, but allowed him to escape with Dmitri’s daughter Viktoria. Meanwhile, Viktoria tells Logan that she has finally tracked down Volk, and that Volk is now a werewolf. This all leads to Volk taking Viktoria hostage and leading Wolverine back to the site of their previous encounter. During their fight, Wolverine continues to resist his animal rages and retains his humanity, while Volk willingly succumbs to his rage and turns permanently into a wolf, at which point he just leaves, because he’s a wolf and doesn’t care about his mission any more. Wolverine concludes that all Volk really wanted was to lose his humanity; Viktoria is furious that Volk survived the encounter and remains determined to hunt him down and kill him. The idea is that maybe Wolverine’s anger and rage are his human traits, not his animal ones. It’s quite a good story, with some lovely art.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>KITTY PRYDE: AGENT OF S.H.I.E.L.D.<\/strong>
\n3-issue miniseries<\/strong>
\nby Larry Hama, Jesus Redondo, Sergio Melia & Glynis Oliver<\/strong>
\nDecember 1997 to February 1998<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the aforementioned coda to Hama’s run. Ogun seizes control of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier – he \u00a0apparently got techno-powers by briefly possessing Lady Deathstrike in Wolverine\u00a0<\/em>#114 –\u00a0and poses as Kitty Pryde to lure Wolverine to the Brooklyn Bridge. Seeing the Helicarrier behave erratically, and improbably picking up Kitty’s scent on board, Logan uses the bridge as a ramp with which to jump his bike onto the Helicarrier. He can do all that. It’s canon.<\/p>\n

Once on board, he meets Kitty and S.H.I.E.L.D. intern Rigby Fallon<\/strong>, a potential rival for Pete Wisdom in Kitty’s affections. Ogun possesses Rigby, but Kitty defeats him on the astral plane. Once again, Ogun is shaken by the realisation of what he has become, and leaves. It’s an amateurish looking book but actually more fun than I remember it being.<\/p>\n

SPIDER-MAN \/ KINGPIN: TO THE DEATH<\/strong>
\nBy Tom DeFalco, Stan Lee, John Romita, Dan Green & Steve Oliff<\/strong>
\n1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

The X-Men have a one-panel cameo pursuing Spider-Man, who’s been framed for murder.<\/p>\n

ELEKTRA vol 1 #14<\/strong><\/a>
\n“A Hand Raised Against Her!”<\/strong>
\nby Larry Hama, Mike Deodato Jr, Scott Koblish & Christie Scheele<\/strong>
\nJanuary 1998<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine helps Elektra to hunt down the Hand, and gives her the usual sage advice on her problems – mainly, to try to move on with life.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>MAVERICK #4<\/strong>
\n“Found and Lost”<\/strong>
\nby Jorge Gonzalez, Jim Cheung & Andrew Pepoy<\/strong>
\nDecember 1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the East Village, Logan stumbles upon a fight between the Friends of Humanity and a group comprising \u00a0Maverick, Chris Bradley (now calling himself\u00a0Brian Johnson<\/strong>), Elena Ivanova and\u00a0Donna Funaro<\/strong>. Maverick’s condition has improved, and he’s got his powers back. Elena, Maverick and Brian\/Chris cover their escape when Elena uses a psychic illusion to make everyone think they’ve died – including Donna, who is left behind. Afterwards, Logan tells Elena that this is cruel but necessary. Maverick admits to Wolverine that he hasn’t revealed his remission to Brian, who believes they’re both dealing with the Legacy Virus together; Maverick doesn’t want to take that emotional support away from him. Not an issue that really needs Wolverine, but he serves as a sounding board from outside the regular cast for a lot of their emotional baggage.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE vol 2 #119-122<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Not Dead Yet”<\/strong>
\nby Warren Ellis, Leinil Francis Yu, Edgar Tadeo & Jason Wright<\/strong>
\nDecember 1997 to March 1998<\/strong><\/p>\n

After Larry Hama departs, Wolverine<\/em> enters another phase of rotating writers which will last until issue #133. We kick off with a very good and well remembered fill-in arc by Warren Ellis. It has little impact on continuity, except for the fact it blows up the East Village flat – you suspect Ellis had a remit to dismantle that status quo and chose to dispose of it in passing rather than try to tell a story about it. Ellis isn’t exactly a superhero enthusiast, but he seems comfortable on Wolverine, probably because the character can be written without much stretching into the ex-spy genre where Ellis is more at home.<\/p>\n

Logan is stalked by McLeish, a mercenary assassin who he met and seemingly killed many years ago (as documented in extensive flashbacks). McLeish is back for revenge. An extended chase sequence has McLeish anticipating Logan’s every move and manipulating Logan in an attempt to prove his superiority; eventually Logan prevails with mindgames of his own. McLeish takes great pride in the supposedly\u00a0small\u00a0<\/em>number of people he’s killed, and part of his point seems to be to provoke Wolverine into killing a load of henchmen in order to prove his lack of discrimination. But Logan has no real view on whether he’s ultimately a better person than McLeish.<\/p>\n

With that, we enter 1998, in which confusion reigns.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part 1: Origin to Origin II | Part 2: 1907 to 1914 Part 3: 1914 to 1939 | Part 4: World War II Part 5: The postwar era | Part 6: Team X Part 7: Post Team X | Part 8: Weapon X Part 9: Department H | Part 10: The Silver Age 1974-1975\u00a0|\u00a01976 | […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wolverine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7449"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7675,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7449\/revisions\/7675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}