{"id":7785,"date":"2022-06-05T11:16:34","date_gmt":"2022-06-05T10:16:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=7785"},"modified":"2022-07-03T16:19:15","modified_gmt":"2022-07-03T15:19:15","slug":"the-incomplete-wolverine-2001","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=7785","title":{"rendered":"The Incomplete Wolverine – 2001"},"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> | 1997<\/a><\/em>
\n1998<\/a> |<\/em>\u00a01999<\/a><\/em>\u00a0|\u00a02000<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Bill Jemas and Joe Quesada took over at Marvel in 2000, but it’s in 2001 that their direction for the company really becomes apparent. And there’s a point I should flag at the outset: a hallmark of this era is that Marvel weren’t really paying much attention to how various titles would fit together, and were also doing some quite lengthy storylines with no obvious gaps in them. This means that getting everything to fit into a coherent timeline can involve quite a bit of stretching, and series can often be miles out of synch with one another. So when I say “2001”, I’m using Wolverine’s solo title as the yardstick. There are other books that came out in 2001 – like Grant Morrison’s\u00a0New X-Men<\/em> – which we won’t reach until the 2002 instalment, because that’s just how it winds up fitting together.<\/p>\n

Also, I’m going by shipping date, as best as I can establish it, rather than the notional cover dates listed on Marvel.com for these issues (which don’t even appear on the covers by this point).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE vol 2 #159-161<\/a><\/strong>
\n“The Best There Is”<\/strong>
\nby Frank Tieri, Sean Chen, Norm Rapmund and various colourists<\/strong>
\nDecember 2000 to February 2001<\/strong><\/p>\n

Testing Wolverine to see if he’s worthy of being an ally, deranged mercenary serial killer\u00a0Mr X<\/strong>\u00a0sends a bunch of soldiers after him, led by\u00a0the Major<\/strong>, and including Blok<\/strong> and\u00a0the Ladykillers.\u00a0<\/strong>The Ladykillers are a female duo who go by the names\u00a0T\u00a0<\/strong>and, deep sigh,\u00a0A<\/strong>.\u00a0Welcome to the Frank Tieri run, which continues (with some interruptions) through to issue #186 in 2003.<\/p>\n

Logan fights off all the thugs, but loses to Mr X in single combat. Mr X takes Logan to his private island, where he explains his back story: as a child, he encountered a dying woman, could feel her passing, and became obsessed with recapturing that feeling. He’s also trained under the world’s greatest masters so that he can face ever greater opponents. Mr X gives Wolverine a choice between “accept[ing] my superiority and join[ing] me in my new murder avant-garde”, or dying because he now knows too much. Outraged that Mr X treats murder as a game, Logan flies into a berserker rage, escapes his restraints, and attacks Mr X. He does rather better this time, and Blok is forced to intervene – which Mr X regards as cheating. \u00a0He dumps Logan in a raft, and leaves a message that Mr X will get back to him in due course. So apparently Wolverine didn’t know too much after all – or maybe Mr X’s weird sense of the rules overrides that. Wolverine is troubled by the way he had to succumb to his berserker instincts to defeat Mr X, and is determined to be ready when Mr X comes back.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A subplot has Wolverine plagued by dreams in which he’s murdered the X-Men. As in his story for the 2000 annual, Tieri has Wolverine attribute this to the aftereffects of his time as a Horseman of Apocalypse, but it’ll eventually be revealed to be a side effect of the missions that Weapon X are sending him on without his knowledge. Tieri never really does anything with the Apocalypse storyline, but at least by acknowledging it in this way he smoothed it over a bit.<\/p>\n

Tieri’s run is a mixed bag. It has genuine strengths – he gets the voice of the character well, and his long-term plotting is pretty solid, something that becomes more apparent when you re-read the whole run. Mr X is eventually revealed to be a low level telepath, who can normally beat Wolverine because he can anticipate his moves, and that’s quite well foreshadowed here. The basic concept of Mr X is solid too; he’s another anti-Wolverine who embraces his murderous urges, but this time with a superficial classiness.<\/p>\n

The two main problems with the Tieri run are an overreliance on casual sadist villains, and a lot of dodgy comedy that doesn’t land. Like having characters called T and A. Mr X is casually killing people all over the place without even being mildly inconvenienced as a result, which all feels a bit much. There’s a tone problem here, where Mr X is so extreme that you feel he belongs in something more comedic like a\u00a0Deadpool<\/em> story. It’s drawn by Sean Chen but the plot seems to cry out for Simon Bisley. To be fair, though, there are other stories later in the run that strike a better balance.<\/p>\n

For completeness: strictly speaking, the villain of this arc is never named. “Mr X” is what Wolverine calls him, but strictly speaking he’s anonymous throughout.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>X-MEN vol 2 #109<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Ceremonies”<\/strong>
\nby Chris Claremont, Thomas Derenick, Rick Ketcham, Norm Rapmund & Liquid!<\/strong>
\nDecember 2000<\/strong><\/p>\n

Logan visits Mariko’s grave. Viper shows up to return the broken bone claw that Kitty kept during Wolverine<\/em> vol 2 #125-128; Logan takes that as a message that the missing Kitty is okay. Viper expresses her hope that one day their marriage will be more than purely symbolic; he tells her to get lost.<\/p>\n

Later, the X-Men celebrate Christmas. Storm, Bishop, Rogue, Gambit, Psylocke, the Beast and Thunderbird all agree to leave and search for Destiny’s diaries, while keeping their activities secret from the main team. Wolverine is asked to stay behind at the Mansion and act as their liaison, on the somewhat bizarre grounds that his mind is “almost impossible for a telepath to scan”. Since when? That’s Rogue’s schtick, surely. Anyway, Wolverine accepts the role. Oh, and Storm introduces\u00a0Sage<\/strong> (formerly Tessa) as a member of the splinter team.<\/p>\n

This is the set-up for X-Treme X-Men<\/em>, the series created to continue Chris Claremont’s stories when Grant Morrison and Joe Casey took over the two core books. Despite the premise that Wolverine will serve as a liaison between the two teams, he won’t actually show up in\u00a0X-Treme X-Men<\/em> until issue #18.<\/p>\n

The Marvel Chronology Project lists 2002’s\u00a0X-Men Unlimited<\/strong><\/em> vol 1 #37<\/strong> here. It’s a very weird issue by Kaare Andrews which involves Mephisto tricking a man into believing that his son was killed by mutants. The man allies with Mephisto and an alternate-universe Magik in a scheme to bring all versions of the X-Men together in one place to be destroyed; a horde of Wolverines appear, but it’s not obvious that any of them are the “real” one. Decide for yourself if it counts as a Wolverine appearance. It’s probably placed here because none of the Wolverines are wearing Morrison-era costumes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>X-MEN DECLASSIFIED<\/strong>
\nby Karl Bollers, Pascual Ferry, Andy Owens, Rick Ketcham & Hi-Fi Design<\/strong>
\nOctober 2000<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine, Gambit and Shadowcat (who’s back with the team by now) break into an old Operation: Zero Tolerance base and retrieve Bastion’s files on them. It’s the framing sequence for a profile book, the twist being that Bastion’s files also contain new details that might be true or might be disinformation. In Wolverine’s case, it tries to revive the suggestion that Apocalypse had a hand in his adamantium skeleton.<\/p>\n

UNCANNY X-MEN vol 1 #390<\/strong><\/a>
\n“The Cure”<\/strong>
\nby Scott Lobdell, Salvador Larroca, various inkers & Hi-Fi Design<\/strong>
\nJanuary 2001<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thanks to Moira MacTaggert’s dying insights, the Beast finally develops a cure for the Legacy Virus. For some unfathomable but highly plot convenient reason, one person must inject the cure and kill themselves in order to cure everyone else worldwide. Colossus duly steals the cure, injects it and dies. Wolverine appears alongside the rest of the team to receive the news, but he doesn’t do anything.\u00a0A\u00a0flashback in\u00a0Wolverine<\/em> vol 2 #176<\/strong> shows Colossus’ funeral. Wolverine doesn’t go; he watches from a distance and grumbles that Colossus should have found a better way.<\/p>\n

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN vol 2 #36<\/strong><\/a>
\nby J Michael Straczynski, John Romita Jr, Scott Hanna & Dan Kemp<\/strong>
\nNovember 2001<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the 9\/11 commemorative issue. Wolverine has a brief cameo among the many heroes shown assisting in the emergency operation.<\/p>\n

X-MEN UNLIMITED vol 1 #30 (fourth story)<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Seeds of War”<\/strong>
\nby Joe Pruett, J Czop, C Michaels & Kevin Tinsley<\/strong>
\nJanuary 2001<\/strong><\/p>\n

A brief trailer for the “Eve of Destruction” arc. Quicksilver visits the X-Men to offer his condolences over the death of Colossus, and to warn that with the Legacy Virus out of the way, Magneto’s Genoshan government is turning its thoughts towards war on humanity.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE: SON OF CANADA<\/strong>
\nby Howard Mackie, Ron Lim, Walden Wong & Sotocolor<\/strong>
\nApril 2001<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine is among a group of heroes who stop Blastaar\u00a0<\/strong>from invading Canada. This was\u00a0a Canadian-exclusive Doritos-sponsored freebie and it’s not available anywhere (at least, not at any price that I’m willing to pay for it), but it’s in the Wolverine Index,\u00a0<\/em>so it’s officially canon. By all accounts it’s mediocre.<\/p>\n

WOLVERINE vol 2 #162-166<\/strong><\/a>
\n“The Hunted”<\/strong>
\nby Frank Tieri, Sean Chen, Mark Texeira, Norm Rapmund & Raymund Lee<\/strong>
\nMarch to July 2001<\/strong><\/p>\n

And now we dive in to a lengthy storyline.<\/p>\n

Logan has a nightmare in which he brutally murders\u00a0Senator Drexel Walsh <\/strong>– only for the news to report that Walsh is actually dead, and security footage to show Logan as the killer.\u00a0It eventually turns out that Logan was sent to kill Walsh by the new Weapon X Program, because he was going to expose them. Sending Wolverine to kill someone pushed the limits of their control too far, breaking their mind control, and leaving him too confused to destroy the security footage as he was meant to.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>On the run, Logan sets out to find out what happened, with the Beast in tow for some reason. Obnoxious S.H.I.E.L.D. agent\u00a0Brent Jackson<\/strong> is assigned to bring Logan in; suspecting that Jackson will just kill Logan, Nick Fury hires the supernatural bounty hunter\u00a0Shiver Man<\/strong>\u00a0(Caleb Jackson) to catch Logan first. But the heroes do get captured by Jackson, and they’re thrown into the Cage, a prison for superhumans where power suppressors remove everyone’s powers. The Cage is run by corrupt warden\u00a0Montgomery Battle<\/strong> and violent, anti-mutant warder\u00a0Caleb Tillis<\/strong>. The prisoners include\u00a0Peepers<\/strong> (Peter Quinn), once of the Mutant Force, who is \u00a0delighted to have some fellow mutants in prison to shelter behind. Other prisoners include\u00a0the Kangaroo<\/strong> (Brian Hibbs),\u00a0the Red Ghost<\/strong> (Ivan Kragoff) and\u00a0his Super-Apes Igor, Mikhlo<\/strong> and\u00a0Peator<\/strong>,\u00a0Hammerhead<\/strong> and Silvermane\u00a0<\/strong>(Silvio Manfredi). \u00a0While in prison, Logan also gets notes from a mystery informant with not-especially-useful hints about the Weapon X conspiracy. These eventually turn out to be from Mr X, but we’ll come back to that.<\/p>\n

Hoping to be rid of their troublesome prisoner, Battle and Tillis drug Logan and hand him over to\u00a0Mauvais\u00a0<\/strong>(Jean-Pierre Baubier), a sorcerer who was imprisoned in the old French prison that once stood on the same site, and who has been magically confined in the basement. Mauvais’s magical powers are fuelled by eating human flesh, so he takes the opportunity to replenish himself by eating chunks of Wolverine. Then he magically teleports himself to freedom. Again, we’ll get back to that.<\/p>\n

After this odd diversion, Logan, Hank and Peepers are rescued by Weapon X, and Logan meets the new Weapon X Director,\u00a0Malcolm Colcord<\/strong>. Colcord was a rookie soldier whose face was mutilated by Logan during his initial escape; he insists that he was just an ordinary soldier who didn’t deserve this fate. Colcord then explains the plot, including the use of Logan’s old memory implants to control him. Brent Jackson is revealed as a Weapon X agent; and for some reason they had to send the prisoners to the Cage first – Tieri doesn’t\u00a0really<\/em> explain why, but I suppose the idea is that Jackson needed to maintain his cover within SHIELD, which is fair enough.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Colcord insists that his new Weapon X will adopt a carrot-and-stick approach to its mutant agents. He offers to fully restore Logan’s memories and give him control of his rages, if he joins up. (A brief flashback to\u00a0Origin<\/em> appears here – that story was due out shortly, and this is its first mention in wider continuity.) When Logan predictably refuses, Colcord tries to reactivate his memory implants, but the Shiver Man rescues Logan before the process can be completed. Afterwards, Logan and Nick Fury discuss how to bring down Weapon X, while Colcord wonders whether any of his programming took root before Logan was broken out.<\/p>\n

There’s an awful lot going on here, and to be honest it’s better than I remember. It does suffer from Tieri’s overuse of sadism, but Logan is still providing a heroic anchor to the proceedings, and Colcord – Tieri’s signature villain – has a bit more going on than just the cruelty.<\/p>\n

This is the last arc to feature the Comics Code seal of approval; the cover box also switches to showing Logan in his Morrison-era costume with effect from issue #164, though he never wears a costume in the story itself.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE vol 2 #167-169<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Bloodsport”<\/strong>
\nby Frank Tieri, Dan Fraga, Norm Rapmund & Raymund Lee<\/strong>
\nAugust to October 2001<\/strong><\/p>\n

The mystery informant from the previous arc invites Logan to repay the favour by entering Madripoor’s annual Bloodsport fighting tournament; he also reveals that he’s the reigning champion, so that Logan can discover his identity by showing up. (Or indeed just by asking around, you’d have thought, but okay.) Logan doesn’t particularly feel that he owes this guy a favour – the information he provided wasn’t especially useful – but he’s intrigued enough to show up.<\/p>\n

The tournament is overseen by Viper. Logan meets his assigned assistant\u00a0Jae Lo<\/strong>, and a bunch of expendables: Headhunter, Oddball<\/strong> (Elton Healey),\u00a0Puma<\/strong> (Thomas Fireheart), Taskmaster<\/b> (Tony Masters),\u00a0Anaconda<\/strong> (Blanche Sitznski),\u00a0Forearm<\/strong> (Michael McCain),\u00a0the Eel<\/strong> (Edward Lavell) and\u00a0Speed Demon<\/strong> (James Sanders) are all in the tournament. Some of them seemingly get killed, which is pointless, and later writers just politely ignore it. The mystery informant turns out to be Mr X, who was genuinely trying to help Logan against Weapon X, albeit for his own reasons: he objects to Logan taking “credit” for a murder that he only committed under mind control, and he still wants Logan as an ally. In the tournament final, Logan figures out that Mr X is actually a low-level telepath who can anticipate his opponents’ moves, and deliberately enters a berserker rage in order to thwart him (which is indeed how he beat Mr X the last time round). Unable to read Logan’s mind when he’s acting purely on instinct, Mr X is defeated, but Blok spirits him away.<\/p>\n

Issue #169 is billed as part 3, but it’s really a separate story. Ogun has been hopping from body to body among Viper’s henchmen, and sowing dissension. Logan helps her to hunt down Ogun, and stops her from killing possessed innocents. It turns out that Ogun was using Blok as a host. Ogun tries to possess Logan, but finds his mind unbearably damaged, and retreats into Viper. Ogun figures that, as the hero, Logan won’t be willing to hurt Viper in order to defeat him. Ogun is completely wrong. After Ogun is driven away,\u00a0Viper grudgingly accepts that Logan has fulfilled his promise to her. She agrees to a divorce, and swears revenge on him.<\/p>\n

The tournament stuff suffers badly from misfiring comedy, but the Ogun story’s not bad. Tying Logan to Viper didn’t work, and Tieri can hardly be faulted for getting rid of it at the first convenient opportunity. At least he does his best to draw a proper line under it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>UNCANNY X-MEN vol 1 #392-393<\/a> and X-MEN vol 2 #112-113<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Eve of Destruction”<\/strong>
\nUX #392 by Scott Lobdell, Salvador Larroca, Scott Hanna, Tim Townsend & HiFi Design<\/strong>
\nUX #393 by Scott Lobdell, Tom Raney, Scott Hanna & Hi-Fi Design<\/strong>
\nX #112 by Scott Lobdell, Leinil Francis Yu, Dexter Vines & Liquid!<\/strong>
\nX #113 by Scott Lobdell, Leinil Francis Yu, Dexter Vines, Edgar Tadeo, Gerry Alonquin & Liquid!<\/strong>
\nMarch & April 2001<\/strong><\/p>\n

Magneto is preparing the Genoshan army for war, and has kidnapped Professor X. With most of the X-Men otherwise engaged, Cyclops and Wolverine sneak into Genosha, while Phoenix recruits a makeshift team comprising Joanna Cargill, Northstar, Dazzler,\u00a0Wraith<\/strong> (Hector Rendoza),\u00a0Paulie Provenzano<\/strong> (who was meant to be codenamed Omerta, but the name never gets used) and the new\u00a0Sunfire<\/strong> (Leyu Yoshida). Cyclops has just returned from his possession by Apocalypse, and much of the Cyclops and Wolverine strand involves Wolverine worrying about how the experience has changed Cyclops. Cyclops seems more in touch with his emotions than before, but to Wolverine this might actually be a bad thing – it was Cyclops’ coldness that made him so trustworthy in the field.<\/p>\n

While they’re discussing that, the duo help a bunch of human refugees to escape, fight the Blob and\u00a0Random<\/strong> (Marshall Stone III), and despatch some bozos from\u00a0the Homo Sapiens Liberation Army<\/strong>. They finally make it to Magneto’s rally at Magda Square in time to help against Magneto. Professor X is freed, Wolverine finally gets to gut Magneto just like he wanted for the last few years, and the Genoshans stand down. The novices all decide not to stay.<\/p>\n

This is a really weird arc. It’s a wrap-up for stray plot threads before the Morrison\/Casey relaunch, but it reads like an abortive relaunch in its own right. Some of the material with Cyclops and Wolverine is unexpectedly interesting.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE: BLACK, WHITE & BLOOD #3 (second story)<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Burn”<\/strong>
\nby Donny Cates & Chris Bachalo<\/strong>
\nFebruary 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

Logan bumps into Cosmic Ghost Rider<\/strong> (a time travelling alt-future Frank Castle) in a bar, and they get into a fight with the Juggernaut. Barely a story, really. I’ve placed it here because it’s the latest place where Wolverine is in his yellow costume and the Juggernaut is still a villain.<\/p>\n

We now enter the Morrison era – kind of. As I said, we won’t reach any actual Morrison issues for a while. But from this point on, the X-Men are in their Morrison\/Quitely uniforms, and Wolverine dumps his traditional costume for a while in favour of a nice jacket.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0a flashback in\u00a0Weapon X\u00a0<\/em>vol 2 #21<\/strong>, Logan visits Chris Bradley to tell him about the death of Maverick. Maverick isn’t actually dead, of course, but Logan doesn’t know that.<\/p>\n

X-FORCE vol 1 #116<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Exit Wounds”<\/strong>
\nby Peter Milligan, Michael Allred & Laura Allred<\/strong>
\nJuly 2001<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just a two-panel easter egg cameo, as a customer in the new fame-chasing, brand-building\u00a0X-Force<\/strong>‘s gift shop.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>X-FORCE vol 1 #120<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Snikt!”<\/strong>
\nby Peter Milligan, Michael Allred & Laura Allred<\/strong>
\nNovember 2001<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine records a vox pop for\u00a0Doop<\/strong>‘s documentary\u00a0Doop’s-Eye Video of the New X-Force’s First Year<\/em>. He says that when he first heard about the new X-Force, he wasn’t sure about them. But now that he’s seen what they’re about, and has a better understanding of their motivations, he’s even\u00a0less<\/em> sure. In fact, Doop is Wolverine’s old friend, and he’s playing along for the video – but in private, he does ask why Doop is wasting his time with this bunch of losers.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, at Doop’s request, Wolverine intervenes to save the team’s more well-meaning members,\u00a0the Orphan<\/strong> (Guy Smith) and\u00a0U-Go Girl<\/strong> (Edie Sawyer), from being murdered by the treacherous\u00a0Coach <\/strong>and his henchmen\u00a0Smoke<\/strong> and\u00a0Succubus<\/strong> (who plan to hype up the new X-Force by killing its members off). Wolverine also gives Orphan evidence that his team’s original members were murdered.<\/p>\n

THUNDERBOLTS vol 1 #57<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Storm Clouds Gathering”<\/strong>
\nby Fabian Nicieza, Patrick Zircher, Al Vey & Hi-Fi<\/strong>
\nDecember 2001<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you look\u00a0really<\/em> closely, Wolverine is among a horde of superheroes held prisoner by\u00a0Graviton<\/strong>\u00a0(Franklin Hall). Really. He’s just below Reed Richards’ head.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Also shown on panel, and meeting Wolverine for the first time, are the new\u00a0Captain Marvel<\/strong> (Genis-Vell),\u00a0Aegis<\/strong> (Trey Rollins),\u00a0the Steel Guardian<\/strong> (Josef Petkus) and\u00a0the Rangers – the Texas Twister<\/strong> (Drew Daniels),\u00a0Shooting Star\u00a0<\/strong>(Victoria Star) and\u00a0Red Wolf\u00a0<\/strong>(William Talltrees). And, making a rare appearance outside their own book, there’s the rest of X-Force:\u00a0the Anarchist<\/strong> (Tike Alicar),\u00a0Vivisector<\/strong> (Myles Alfred) and\u00a0Phat<\/strong> (William Reilly).<\/p>\n

Presumably Wolverine is also off panel in issue #58 when the prisoners are freed. He\u00a0doesn’t <\/em>meet the Thunderbolts in this arc, and in fact, he still hasn’t met them at all.<\/p>\n

Wolverine doesn’t appear in\u00a0Spider-Man: Sweet Charity<\/strong><\/em> #1<\/strong>, but according to that issue, he and Rogue agreed to spend the day with the winners of a charity auction, who turned out to be Al Pacino and Beverly D’Angelo. The two actors report that the heroes were unbelievably depressing. Because the X-Men are angsty, you see. It’s one of those awful “comedians write superhero one-shots” comics that Marvel used to commission around this time, but it\u00a0is<\/em> drawn by Darick Robertson, so that’s something.<\/p>\n

CAPTAIN AMERICA vol 3 #50 (sixth story)<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Stars & Stripes Forever”<\/strong>
\nby Evan Dorkin, Kevin Maguire & Avalon Studios<\/strong>
\nDecember 2001<\/strong><\/p>\n

Captain America has apparently died in action, and Wolverine is among the many heroes at his funeral.<\/p>\n

One for the seriously completist: X-Men Unlimited<\/strong><\/em> vol 1 #47\u00a0<\/strong>sees present-day Wolverine narrating a story that Psylocke once told him, as he reflects on her life in the wake of her apparent death in\u00a0X-Treme X-Men<\/em> vol 1 #2. If you think the time frame of a narrative caption counts as an appearance, it takes place here.<\/p>\n

CYCLOPS vol 1 #1 and #4<\/strong>
\n4-issue miniseries<\/strong>
\nAugust to November 2001<\/strong>
\nby Brian K Vaughan, Mark Texeira, Jimmy Palmiotti & Transparency Digital<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two cameos. Wolverine appears in a Danger Room training session at the start of issue #1, and he “greets” Scott, in typically surly fashion, on his return home in issue #4.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>UNCANNY X-MEN vol 1 #394<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Playing God”<\/strong>
\nby Joe Casey, Ian Churchill, Mark Morales & Avalon Studios<\/strong>
\nApril 2001<\/strong><\/p>\n

The X-Men fight the reality-warping mutant\u00a0Warp Savant<\/strong> when he attacks Cape Citadel on his 18th birthday in imitation of Magneto. (He’s a budget Kid Omega who’s never seen again.)<\/p>\n

During the fight, Wolverine and Phoenix are trapped in a psychic pocket dimension within Warp Savant’s mind. When Warp is about to die, Wolverine and Jean believe that they’ll die too, and he kisses her as his final act. But then they’re restored to the real world after all. Wolverine makes clear that he remembers what happened; Jean claims not to be sure. She leaves with Scott, as Logan watches.<\/p>\n

This strange little one-off story is an odd way to start the Joe Casey run, but it’s not bad. Wolverine points out that all is not well between Scott and Jean; it’s played here as if he’s needling Scott, but in fact this is foreshadowing for New X-Men<\/em>.<\/p>\n

DEADPOOL vol 3 #60<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Deadpool: Agent of Weapon X, part 4”<\/strong>
\nby Frank Tieri, Georges Jeanty, Jon Holdredge, Walden Wong & Color Dojo<\/strong>
\nNovember 2001<\/strong><\/p>\n

Deadpool is killed by the Weapon X Project after refusing to join up. Wolverine only appears in the epilogue, where he receives Deadpool’s severed hand together with a threatening letter. (“Still don’t want to join?”)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>DEADPOOL vol 3 #61<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Funeral for a Freak, part 1”<\/strong>
\nby Frank Tieri, Jim Calafiore, John Holdredge & Color Dojo<\/strong>
\nDecember 2001<\/strong><\/p>\n

Logan attends Deadpool’s funeral, having presumably arranged it himself. The Weapon X team watch mockingly from nearby, and a fight naturally breaks out among the erratic collection of mourners.<\/p>\n

As you might imagine, although a bunch of mainstream characters do attend, Logan ticks a bunch of obscure Deadpool<\/em> supporting characters off his list here:\u00a0Patch<\/strong> (Bob Stirrat),\u00a0C.F.\u00a0<\/strong>(Steele Fitzpatrick),\u00a0Fenway<\/strong> (Homer Un – I know, I know),\u00a0Montgomery<\/strong> (the precog from Landau Luckman & Lake), and\u00a0Kid Deadpool<\/strong> (Chris Cassera). He also has the inestimable joy of meeting\u00a0the Lightning Rods<\/strong> –\u00a0Flatman<\/strong> (Val Ventura),\u00a0Dinah Soar, Mr Immortal\u00a0<\/strong>(Craig Hollis),\u00a0Big Bertha<\/strong> (Ashley Crawford) and\u00a0Doorman\u00a0<\/strong>(DeMarr Davis).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE ANNUAL 2001<\/strong>
\n“The Watch”<\/strong>
\nby Frank Tieri, Matthew Marsilia, various inkers and Raymund Lee<\/strong>
\nNovember 2001<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine fights Bloodscream, who is preying on the homeless and has magically placed\u00a0Vermin<\/strong> (Edward Whelan) under his control. Bloodscream is working for Mauvais, but nothing really turns on that, and Wolverine doesn’t learn about it. The title refers to a sentimental bit about Logan retrieving a victim’s beloved pocket watch and delivering it to his ungrateful estranged son.<\/p>\n

The MCP has this story earlier, but I’m not sure what the point is of separating it so far from its backup strip (which, in turn, is referenced as a recent event in\u00a0Wolverine<\/em> #170).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE: BLACK, WHITE & BLOOD #1 (third story)<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Cabin Fever”<\/strong>
\nby Declan Shalvey<\/strong>
\nNovember 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n

A state trooper on the take is persuaded by his partner to quit the arrangement. After killing the trooper and his family, hitmen wait for the partner to show up at their cabin so that they can kill him too, but a passing Wolverine stumbles upon them first and kills them all.<\/p>\n

I’ve placed it here because Wolverine’s wearing his Morrison-era costume and the opening caption indicates that he’s “near the Canadian border”.<\/p>\n

WOLVERINE ANNUAL 2001 (second story)<\/strong>
\n“Red Snow”<\/strong>
\nby Matt Nixon, Killian Plunkett & Raymund Lee<\/strong>
\nNovember 2001<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another of Logan’s previously unmentioned old friends, Gus, runs a bed and breakfast in a small town outside Medicine Hat. When he goes missing, Logan investigates and finds that the townsfolk have been slaughtered by a captured\u00a0alien\u00a0Plodex<\/strong> which they had chained up and worshipped as a demon for forty years. It was released by a priest, Father Braun, after he failed to get them to change their ways. It’s a rather half-formed horror story.<\/p>\n

The MCP lists\u00a0the 2002 miniseries\u00a0Elektra & Wolverine: The Redeemer<\/em> here, but the\u00a0Wolverine Index<\/em> seems to treat it as non-canon, and I agree – it’s an illustrated novella rather than a comic and it’s an alternate version of their first meeting. Even if it is canon, I don’t really understand why it would be placed here.<\/p>\n

WOLVERINE vol 2 #170-172<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Stay Alive”<\/strong>
\nby Frank Tieri, Sean Chen, Norm Rapmund & Raymund Lee<\/strong>
\nNovember 2001 to January 2002<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Arctic-based reality show\u00a0Stay Alive\u00a0<\/em>– a parody of\u00a0Survivor<\/em> – goes badly wrong when one of the candidates turns out to be a disguised Mauvais, who bites a chunk out of another contestant on the live feed, then takes everyone hostage. Wolverine, who is still in Canada, races to investigate, and feels somehow drawn to the right location. Mauvais plans to reconquer Canada for France – meaning him – and powers himself up by eating the Wendigo’s heart, deliberately turning himself into the new Wendigo. Wolverine and Alpha Flight disrupt Mauvais’s ritual, allowing the local gods –\u00a0the Inua<\/strong>, specifically\u00a0Nelvanna, Hodiak<\/strong> and\u00a0Turoq<\/strong> – to intervene. The gods open a portal, and the heroes drive Mauvais through it. As he disappears, Mauvais claims that he doesn’t need to take revenge on Wolverine, given all the terrible things that are about to happen for him.<\/p>\n

This is one of those Tieri stories that’s better in synopsis than in execution; the TV parody is painfully heavyhanded and has nothing to do with the A-plot, so it gets forgotten about early on. And he’s got an TV executive openly killing employees for their creative decisions, which is not only stupid, it’s a spot he already did with Mr X just a few issues ago.<\/p>\n

Next time, most of the rest of the Tieri run… and we finally get to Grant Morrison.<\/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-7785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wolverine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7785","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=7785"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8046,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7785\/revisions\/8046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}