{"id":9089,"date":"2023-06-04T13:24:55","date_gmt":"2023-06-04T12:24:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=9089"},"modified":"2023-06-05T19:53:19","modified_gmt":"2023-06-05T18:53:19","slug":"the-incomplete-wolverine-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=9089","title":{"rendered":"The Incomplete Wolverine – 2013"},"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>\u00a0|\u00a02001<\/a> | 2002<\/a><\/em> | 2003<\/em><\/a>
\n2004<\/a><\/em> |2005<\/em><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a02006<\/em><\/a> | 2007<\/a> | 2008<\/a><\/em> | 2009<\/em><\/a>
\n2010<\/em><\/a> | 2011<\/em><\/a> | 2012<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

We’re still in the phase when Wolverine is running the Jean Grey School. The end is drawing near, but you wouldn’t know it just yet, as Marvel continue to launch new books.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>SAVAGE WOLVERINE #1-5<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Savage”<\/strong>
\nby Frank Cho & Jason Keith<\/strong>
\nJanuary to May 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Savage Wolverine<\/em> ran for 24 issues with rotating creative teams, but most of the stories are set at various points in the past, so it won’t generally be troubling the timeline. In this first arc, Wolverine and Shanna the She-Devil team up to deal with a mysterious island in the Savage Land which causes technology to fail. Amadeus Cho and the Hulk show up too. The island’s temple turns out to be a containment unit for an evil space god,\u00a0the Dark Walker<\/strong> (Morrigan); they accidentally wake it, and in the epilogue it flies off into space to encourage its creator Visher-Rakk to attack Earth. Which never happens.<\/p>\n

Wolverine and Shanna have met multiple times before but the script seems entirely unaware of that. The story is little more than an excuse for Cho to draw stuff, predominantly Shanna’s arse. Awful.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN vol 1 #698\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Dying Wish, Prelude: Day in the Life”<\/strong>
\nby Dan Slott, Richard Elson & Antonio Fabela<\/strong>
\nNovember 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Avengers accompany Spider-Man to the Raft so that he can visit the dying Dr Octopus. This is where Otto swaps minds with Peter, and Otto becomes the new “Superior” Spider-Man<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN vol 1 #700<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Dying Wish: Suicide Run”<\/strong>
\nby Dan Slott, Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba & Edgar Delgado<\/strong>
\nDecember 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Avengers have a one-panel cameo fighting Octobots.<\/p>\n

X-FACTOR vol 1 #253<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Hell on Earth War, part 4”<\/strong>
\nby Peter David, Leonard Kirk, Jay Leisten & Matt Milla<\/strong>
\nMarch 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Avengers have a background cameo among the many heroes fighting a demonic invasion of Earth.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>AVENGING SPIDER-MAN #16<\/a><\/strong>
\nby Chris Yost, Paco Medina, Juan Vlasco & Dave Curiel<\/strong>
\nJanuary 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

The X-Men team up with “Spider-Man” to deal with a giant spider which is part spider, part mutant. Everyone realises that Spider-Man is acting oddly, but he’s earned enough goodwill over the years for everyone to follow his lead anyway. Wolverine\u00a0does<\/em> immediately suspect that something is wrong, but nobody else buys it.<\/p>\n

Once defeated, the giant spider turns into a girl, who joins the Jean Grey School – she won’t appear again until the 2023 X-Men Green stories in X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic<\/em>, where she’s going by\u00a0Gwen Warren<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

THUNDERBOLTS vol 2 #7<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Direct Action”<\/strong>
\nby Daniel Way, Phil Noto & Guru eFX<\/strong>
\nMarch 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another one-panel cameo. The Avengers fight AIM.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>ASTONISHING X-MEN vol 3 #59<\/a><\/strong>
\nby Marjorie Liu, Gabriel Hernandez Walta & Cris Peter<\/strong>
\nFebruary 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine orders the X-Men to find the missing Age-of-Apocalypse Nightcrawler – but refuses to explain why it’s so urgent. Eventually he admits to being upset that he made a mistake in trusting this Nightcrawler, and ignored the warning signs because he wanted so badly to believe that it was the Nightcrawler he knew. Wolverine says he wants the X-Men with him when he catches up to AoA Nightcrawler, so that he won’t kill the guy.<\/p>\n

Ostensibly, Wolverine wants to bring in Nightcrawler because he killed the AoA Iceman. But Nightcrawler also contributed to the sequence of events that led to Wolverine killing Daken, which is probably meant to be the core of it.<\/p>\n

Anyway, this story is a prologue to…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>X-TERMINATION<\/a><\/strong>
\nX-Termination<\/em> #1-2 by David Lapham, Marjorie Liu, Greg Park, David Lopez, Alvaro Lopez, Guillermo Mogorron, Raul Valdes, Matteo Lolli, Don Ho, Lorenzo Ruggiero, Carlos Cuevas, Allen Martinez & Andres Mossa<\/strong>
\nAstonishing X-Men<\/em> vol 3 #60-61 by David Lapham, Marjorie Liu, Greg Pak, Matteo Buffagni, Renato Arlem, Klebs de Moura, Raul Valdes, Carlos Cuevas, Christopher Sotomayor & Lee Loughridge<\/strong>
\nAge of Apocalypse<\/em> vol 1 #14 by David Lapham, Marjorie Liu, Greg Pak, Andre Araujo, Renato Arlem, Cris Peter & Lee Loughridge<\/strong>
\nX-Treme X-Men<\/em> vol 2 #13 by David Lapham, Marjorie Liu, Greg Park, Guillermo Mogorron, Raul Valdes, Ed Tadeo, Carlos Cuevas Don Ho, Walden Wong & Lee Loughridge<\/strong>
\nMarch & April 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Until I reached this in the reading list, I had genuinely forgotten that two of these books even existed. Age of Apocalypse<\/em> was a series about the heroic human resistance in the Age of Apocalypse timeline, the twist being that they’re the counterparts of all the anti-mutant lunatic villains, but in the AoA timeline they were right.\u00a0X-Treme X-Men<\/em> vol 2, despite the name, was basically another run of the alternate reality-themed series Exiles<\/em>. Both books were being cancelled as part of this crossover.<\/p>\n

The X-Men catch up with AoA Nightcrawler in San Francisco, where he and the Dark Beast are trying to use the Dreaming Celestial to return to their own world. Naturally, things go wrong, and the portal threatens to destroy the world. Going through the portal to the Age of Apocalypse world (Earth-295), the X-Men meet the X-Terminated<\/strong> – Earth-295 Jean Grey,\u00a0the Red Prophet<\/strong> (Earth-295 William Stryker),\u00a0Deadeye<\/strong> (Earth-295 Zora Risman),\u00a0Horror Show<\/strong> (Earth-295 Graydon Creed),\u00a0Goodnight<\/strong> (Earth-295 Donald Pierce),\u00a0Fiend<\/strong> (Earth-295 Francesca Trask) and Earth-295 Sabretooth. Moments later, another portals and a second\u00a0X-Men<\/strong> team emerges, comprising Dazzler, Sage, Earth-12025 James Howlett, Earth-12025 Hercules, Earth-24135 Kurt Waggoner, Earth-70213 Scott Summers<\/strong> and\u00a0Earth-16111 Charles Xavier<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Three\u00a0Exterminators<\/strong> then show up and kill Xavier, having been released from a Celestial containment cell thanks to the “X-Treme” X-Men’s antics. The Exterminators are the Celestials’ first attempt at creating their own opposites, which they rejected in favour of the Apocalypse Death Seed from X-Force<\/em>. Nightcrawler redeems himself during the battle, and Wolverine tacitly accepts his apology. Other than that, Wolverine plays very little role in the storyline, and gets marginalised early on. In the epilogue, he invites Dazzler to join the school.<\/p>\n

A string of minor appearances follows<\/p>\n

AVENGERS vol 5 #7 and #9<\/strong><\/a>
\n“The Last White Event” \/ “Star Bound”<\/strong>
\nby Jonathan Hickman, Dustin Weaver & Justin Ponsor<\/strong>
\nMarch & April 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

In issue #7, Wolverine is at Avengers Mansion as the White Event occurs. In issue #9, he’s among the Avengers who contain Nightmask and Starbrand <\/strong>(Kevin Connor). Both are non-speaking cameos.<\/p>\n

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN vol 1 #6<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Joking Hazard”<\/strong>
\nby Dan Slott, Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba & Edgar Delgado<\/strong>
\nMarch 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Avengers discuss the increasingly brutal behaviour of “Spider-Man”. Unlike in Avenging Spider-Man <\/em>#16, Wolverine is sympathetic – he points out that Spider-Man is still saintly compared to a lot of his teammates, and argues for waiting to see how things play out.<\/p>\n

ALPHA: BIG TIME #3<\/strong><\/a>
\n5-issue miniseries<\/strong>
\nby Joshua Hale Fialkov & Nuno Plati<\/strong>
\nApril 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

A non-speaking cameo as part of a montage in which Alpha<\/strong> (Andy Maguire) is overloading his super-senses. Logan is just going about his business.<\/p>\n

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN vol 1 #7-8<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Troubled Mind”<\/strong>
\nby Dan Slott, Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba & Edgar Delgado<\/strong>
\nApril 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Spider-Man”‘s brutality persists, so the Avengers stage an intervention. But their tests show that he isn’t an impostor, so they decide to let him carry on for now.<\/p>\n

NOVA vol 5 #7<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Away Game”<\/strong>
\nby Zeb Wells, Paco Medina, Juan Vlasco & David Curiel<\/strong>
\nAugust 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

A cameo on a video screen. He’s behind Nova’s elbow.<\/p>\n

In a flashback in A+X\u00a0<\/em>#5<\/strong>, Wolverine takes delivery of a pizza at Avengers Tower.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A+X<\/a><\/em> #6<\/strong>
\n“Captain Marvel + Wolverine”<\/strong>
\nby Peter David, Camuncoli, Michele Benevento, Dan Brown & Andres Mossa<\/strong>
\nMarch 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

While playing poker, Wolverine and Captain Marvel argue about whether astronauts would beat cavemen in a fight. Wolverine is on the cavemen’s side. Obviously, it’s a proxy for them to argue over their respective approaches to life. In a really weird meta ending, a random villain called\u00a0the End<\/strong> attacks, settles the argument by pointing out that the astronauts did beat the cavemen in Planet of the Apes<\/em>, and then joins the poker game.<\/p>\n

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE vol 2 #16-17<\/strong><\/a>
\n“The Enemy Within”<\/strong>
\nby Kelly Sue DeConnick, Matteo Buffagni & Jordie Bellaire<\/strong>
\nJune & July 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Avengers fight the Brood, and Wolverine fights a Kree Sentry, as backdrop to a story about Captain Marvel.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>AVENGERS: ENDLESS WARTIME<\/a><\/strong>
\nby Warren Ellis, Mike McKone & Jason Keith<\/strong>
\nOctober 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

British military contractor Hereward<\/strong> tries to control the\u00a0Ice Harriers<\/strong> – mixtures of Nazi technology and mystical creatures – which naturally go rogue. The Avengers deal with the threat. Wolverine kills the key individuals involved, then gives Thor and Captain America a dressing down for leaving the dirty work to him.<\/p>\n

Ellis’s thesis is that Wolverine is in the Avengers so that he can do the things that the rest of the team secretly want to see done, but like to believe that they’re above. Logan gets to point out that Steve Rogers surely<\/em> must have killed people during his military service in World War II, but there’s also a bizarre bit where Steve claims that the Avengers “taught [Logan] how to stand for something”, which… um, the X-Men, Warren?<\/p>\n

GAMBIT vol 5 #9<\/strong><\/a>
\n“A Man Walks into a Bar…”<\/strong>
\nby James Asmus, Clay Mann, Seth Mann & Rachelle Rosenberg<\/strong>
\nFebruary 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

A non-speaking cameo in the background of Avengers Mansion.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>ALL-NEW X-MEN vol 1 #2 and #4-5<\/a><\/strong>
\nby Brian Michael Bendis, Stuart Immonen, Wade von Grawbadger & Marte Gracia<\/strong>
\nNovember 2012 to January 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Beast brings the Silver Age X-Men to the present day in a bizarre plan to alter history by showing the past Cyclops what he became. Everyone else agrees that this is a terrible idea and that the teens must go straight back. But the Silver Age team take headmaster Wolverine to be \u00a0the main sign that they’re in a dystopian future and head off on their own.<\/p>\n

After the team are reined in, Wolverine suggests that they alter history and save Professor X by \u00a0murdering the junior Cyclops – presumably he’s just winding the kid up – but the Silver Age team insist on staying in the present and setting things right themselves. Jean insists that the timeline will be preserved because their memories can be wiped, and Kitty decides to serve as their mentor. Wolverine does seem to be shaken by the return of a Jean Grey, but all writers seem to steer well clear of having him try to hook up with her, no doubt for the obvious reason that she’s a teenager.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>ALL-NEW X-MEN vol 1 #6-7<\/a><\/strong>
\nby Brian Michael Bendis, David Marquez & Marte Gracia<\/strong>
\nJanuary & February 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

The next day, Cyclops steals Wolverine’s motorbike and rides off to get some space. Wolverine catches up with him and they have the obligatory argument. Cyclops to demands to know who Wolverine thinks he is, and Wolverine replies that “I’m the guy that Xavier put in charge of the school before you murdered him.” But when Cyclops protests that he’s being blamed for things he hasn’t done yet, Wolverine does get a bit more sympathetic. He still hopes that the Silver Age team will see sense and return home.<\/p>\n

Instead, Cyclops gives him the slip (which gives him the chance to be approached by Mystique, unknown to Wolverine). When Wolverine catches up with him again, Cyclops asks Wolverine why he<\/em> doesn’t just kill the present day Cyclops; Wolverine basically replies that that would be the easy option and that he wants to save Scott, as Xavier would have wanted.<\/p>\n

This is pretty good. The main problem with the Bendis era is that he writes two different X-Men teams – Cyclops’ revolutionaries and the time-travelling Silver Age group – but nobody seems to be steering the actual regular X-Men team, who drift badly throughout this phase. But on its own terms, All-New X-Men<\/em> works well in the early days.<\/p>\n

ALL-NEW X-MEN vol 1 #8<\/strong><\/a>
\nby Brian Michael Bendis, David Marquez & Marte Gracia<\/strong>
\nMarch 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Avengers find out about the Silver Age X-Men and demand to know what the hell the X-Men think they’re doing to the timeline. Junior Cyclops makes a nice speech, and Wolverine congratulates him on it. Meanwhile, teen Angel tries to return home, but Marvel Girl won’t let him.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN vol 1 #24<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Ain’t No Sin to Be Glad You’re Alive”<\/strong>
\nby Jason Aaron, David L\u00f3pez, Alvaro L\u00f3pez & Morry Hollowell<\/strong>
\nJanuary 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine is feeling overwhelmed with his responsibilities running the school. Storm, who takes over Kitty’s role as headmistress, tells him “to stop being afraid that you’ll break these kids and get in there and help them, the way only you can”. Sounds like terrible advice to me, what with Wolverine being, well, Wolverine. But we’re clearly meant to agree. Anyway, they kiss.<\/p>\n

This issue revives the Storm\/Wolverine romance that Chris Claremont had been setting up until Storm was traded to Black Panther<\/em> to become a supporting character; it’ll stick around for a while without going anywhere in particular.<\/p>\n

In a prologue, where Wolverine doesn’t appear, Black Panther wishes Storm well in finding new romance, but begs her to choose anyone but Wolverine. She eventually tells Wolverine about this conversation, since he mentions it in Wolverine<\/em> vol 5 #8.<\/p>\n

X-MEN LEGACY vol 2 #11-12<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Invasive Exotic”<\/strong>
\nby Simon Spurrier, Paul Davidson, Tan Eng Huat, Craig Yeung, Rachelle Rosenberg, Jay Leisten & Cris Peter<\/strong>
\nMay & June 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two minor cameos. In issue #11, the X-Men discuss what to do about Legion; in issue #12, Legion announces that he’s decided to accept Marcus Glove<\/strong>‘s mutant cure pill, and Logan watches the coverage on TV.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>SCARLET SPIDER vol 2 #17-19<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Wrath”<\/strong>
\nby Chris Yost, Carlo Barberi, Walden Wong & Rex Lokus<\/strong>
\nMay to July 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Scarlet Spider<\/strong> (Kaine) has agreed to kill someone for the Assassins Guild in exchange for the Guild leaving his friends alone. They send him to kill Wolverine. Scarlet Spider and\u00a0Hummingbird<\/strong> (Aracely Penalba) duly attack Wolverine in the Jean Grey School and get defeats. Scarlet Spider then persuades Wolverine to team with him against the Guild, so they go to New Orleans and fight Guild members including Belladonna,\u00a0Harvest, Flower<\/strong> and\u00a0Smithy<\/strong>. They everyone teams up against Candra, who now calls herself Red Death<\/strong>. All this turns out to be of a convoluted scheme by Scarlet Spider to get out of his favour to the Guild, and Wolverine is generally irked at being dragged into it all.<\/p>\n

A+X #9<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Animal Cruelty”<\/strong>
\nby Nathan Edmondson, Humberto Ramos & Victor Olazaba\u00a0<\/strong>
\nJune 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Captain America, Wolverine and Dr Strange retrieve a magic staff from a chimp.<\/p>\n

ALL-NEW X-MEN vol 1 #10 and #11 (part 1)<\/strong><\/a>
\nby Brian Michael Bendis, Stuart Immonen, Wade von Grawbadger, Marte Gracia & Rain Beredo<\/strong>
\nApril & May 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cyclops’ rival X-Men team<\/strong> show up at the school to recruit students for their “New Xavier School”, and Wolverine is understandably outraged. (A version of this scene also appears in\u00a0Uncanny X-Men<\/strong><\/em> vol 3 #4<\/strong>.) The Stepford Cuckoos and the Silver Age Angel accept the offer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>UNCANNY AVENGERS vol 1 #5<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Let the Good Times Roll”<\/strong>
\nby Rick Remender, Olivier Coipel, Mark Morales & Laura Martin<\/strong>
\nMarch 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine recruits Sunfire to join the “Uncanny” Avengers team. He also shows up at the press conference where Captain America announces the new team, and Havok gives a speech rejecting identity politics. The Grim Reaper attacks, and Rogue seemingly kills him on camera.<\/p>\n

In a\u00a0flashback in\u00a0Howard the Duck<\/em> vol 5 #8<\/strong>, the Uncanny Avengers destroy some Sentinels, one of whom will later resurface as\u00a0the Iron Punisher<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

ALL-NEW X-MEN vol 1 #11 (part 2) to #14<\/strong><\/a>
\nby Brian Michael Bendis, Stuart Immonen, Wade von Grawbadger, Marte Gracia & Rain Beredo<\/strong>
\nMay to July 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Wolverine, Kitty and the remaining Silver Age X-Men go looking for Mystique, but get sidetrack by the Avengers, who demand that the Silver Age team go back to their own time. It turns out that a fake Silver Age X-Men team has been committing crimes, which is obviously one of Mystique’s schemes, so Wolverine persuades the Avengers to go away.<\/p>\n

Wolverine, Kitty and the Silver Age X-Men then track down Mystique, who is in the middle of bargaining with\u00a0Madame Hydra<\/strong> (formerly Viper) to “buy” Madripoor. During the ensuing fight, Marvel Girl creates an illusion of herself as Phoenix in order to intimidate the villains, and Wolverine responds by trying to kill her. The heroes win, but some of the villains escape.<\/p>\n

ALL-NEW X-MEN vol 1 #15<\/strong><\/a>
\nby Brian Michael Bendis, David LaFuente & Jim Campball<\/strong>
\nAugust 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

A cameo – Marvel Girl destroys Logan’s bike while practising her telekinesis, and he isn’t pleased.<\/p>\n

GAMBIT vol 5 #17<\/strong><\/a>
\n“All In”<\/strong>
\nby James Asmus, Clay Mann, Jay Leisten, Ed Tadeo & Rachelle Rosenberg<\/strong>
\nSeptember 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another cameo. Wolverine and Kitty talk to Gambit in the epilogue as he returns to the school.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN vol 1 #25-28<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Savage Learning”<\/strong>
\nby Jason Aaron, Ram\u00f3n P\u00e9rez & Laura Martin<\/strong>
\nFebruary to April 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Apparently prompted by Storm’s pep talk in the previous issue, Wolverine takes a class of students to the Savage Land for a survival class expedition, and pretty much leaves them to fend for themselves. These kids, he says, were chosen as the ones who had the most to learn, and who would need to work as a group in order to succeed together. The hapless bunch are Broo (currently in a completely feral state), Oya, Kid Omega, Evan Sabah Nur, Glob Herman, Shark-Girl, and the debuting Sprite<\/strong> (Jia Jing) and\u00a0Eye Boy<\/strong> (Trevor Hawkins).<\/p>\n

A series of flashbacks throughout the arc show him speaking with each of the group during the flight down. Wolverine is blatantly trying to steer Kid Omega into taking responsibility and living up to his potential, and cast the deciding vote to make him Student Council President. (Quite how the vote was tied, when the main story presents Quentin as hopelessly unpopular with his classmates, is hard to fathom.) He also apologises to Evan for not telling him the truth about his origins, and gives the overenthusiastic Sprite her codename (to give her a legacy to live up to, since she’s already obsessed with proving herself to be a great X-Man).<\/p>\n

Wolverine repeatedly claims that the kids’ lives are actually in danger on this expedition, which is the sort of thing that people say a lot in this book. Unusually, it’s directly contradicted – Wolverine tells us in a flashback that he’d never let anything happen to them, and that the Savage Land isn’t really that dangerous at all. And Kid Omega outright tells the others to ignore it. Once it gets going, this is a relatively sane story.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Wolverine’s attempts to monitor the group are derailed when he comes under attack from Dog Logan, who was brought to the present in\u00a0Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine<\/em>. Dog is convinced that he’s the real hero, that Wolverine is still the little rich kid he remembers as a child, and that the kids need to learn from a real man like him. In theory this ought to be a good angle for a Wolverine villain, offering another counterpoint to him, but it didn’t really catch on, probably because nobody really thinks\u00a0Origin<\/em> is all that important. Anyway, Dog uses his time travel diamonds to bring random threats to the Savage Land, and then offers to help the students against them. These baffled villains include\u00a0Roxxon Human Resources Droids of the 53rd century<\/strong> and the Silver Age western villain\u00a0Iron Mask<\/strong> (Don Hertz). Eventually Dog realises that he’s been a failure and sends all the villains back home. Wolverine takes most of the class home, but Glob Herman quits the school and joins the Hellfire Club instead. Wolverine assures the remaining kids that means he failed, not them.<\/p>\n

In a\u00a0flashback in issue #29<\/strong>, the X-Men track down Dog’s cabin in the Canadian Rockies, but find it abandoned. They retrieve a box, which won’t open.<\/p>\n

AVENGERS vol 5 #10<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Validator”<\/strong>
\nby Jonathan Hickman, Mike Deodato & Frank Martin<\/strong>
\nApril 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Avengers and Department H agents Porter<\/strong> and\u00a0Robert Michaud<\/strong> enter the transformed city of Regina, Saskatchewan to rescue Omega Flight. They find a race of dwarf-like primitives who worship the one surviving Omega Flight member, Validator<\/strong> (Michaud’s daughter). She teleports the Avengers and Michaud away, and Michaud kills himself.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN vol 1 #29<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Key to the Future”<\/strong>
\nby Jason Aaron, Ram\u00f3n P\u00e9rez & Laura Martin<\/strong>
\nMay 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine gets the kids to put things in a time capsule to be opened in 25 years time. In the future, an older Logan opens the capsule and is inspired to send a message back to the present, along with a key to the box that the X-Men retrieved from Dog’s cabin; it contains a toy boat that Logan and Dog played with as children.<\/p>\n

A+X #12<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Wonder Man + The Beast”<\/strong>
\nby Christos Gage, David Williams & Veronica Gandini<\/strong>
\nSeptember 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cameo in a montage. Beast and Wonder Man shave half of Logan’s head while he’s asleep. He’s not happy. (As Wonder Man points out, it’ll grow back \u00a0by morning.)<\/p>\n

CABLE & X-FORCE #1, #3, #6 and #14<\/strong><\/a>
\nby Dennis Hopeless, Salvador Larroca & Frank D’Armata<\/strong>
\nDecember 2012 to September 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mostly just cameos. In issue #1, the Avengers show up in the aftermath of a battle between the latest version of\u00a0X-Force<\/strong> (Cable, Colossus, Domino, Dr Nemesis and Forge) and some seemingly unarmed men; X-Force refuse to explain their actions. In issue #3, Wolverine stands in the background as Havok questions Hope about Cable. In issue #6, Wolverine visits Colossus in jail (he’s turned himself in by this point), but Colossus still won’t explain what happened in issue #1. And in issue #14, Wolverine stays neutral while X-Force fight the rest of the Avengers.<\/p>\n

In a\u00a0flashback in\u00a0Uncanny X-Force<\/em> vol 2 #1<\/strong> – yes, there were two different X-Force teams this year – Wolverine fires Psylocke as a teacher for assaulting the students, but gives her a lead about Spiral and strongly hints that she should follow it up.<\/p>\n

UNCANNY X-FORCE vol 2 #4, #6 and #13<\/strong><\/a>
\n#4 by Sam Humphries, Ron Garney, Scott Hanna, Adrian Alphona, Christina Strain, Marte Gracia & Israel Gonzalez<\/strong>
\n#6 by Sam Humphries, Adrian Alphona, Dexter Soy, Chris Sotomayor & David Curiel<\/strong>
\n#13 by Sam Humphries, Phil Briones & David Curiel<\/strong>
\nMay to October 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Issue #4 is just a cameo of Wolverine reading the news about the last few issues. In issue #6, Wolverine protests to Psylocke about the attention she’s been drawing and tries to get her to abandon her mission and come back to the school. Psylocke essentially accuses him of trying to get her to kill Spiral, the idea being that he’s now gone all the way to making other people do\u00a0his<\/em> dirty work for him – a nice idea, but weirdly unrelated to anything else in the story. She says that her team won’t side with him or Scott. When Psylocke turns out to be guarded on the astral plane by\u00a0the Demon Bear<\/strong>, Wolverine backs down and leaves her to it.<\/p>\n

Issue #13 is just a single panel of him sleeping.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>UNCANNY AVENGERS vol 1 #7-11, #13 and #21-22<\/a><\/strong>
\nby Rick Remender & Daniel Acu\u00f1a<\/strong>
\nApril 2013 to July 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

This sprawling storyline matches the ambitious of Rick Remender’s\u00a0X-Force<\/em>, but unfortunately not its success – it’s basically a sprawling diatribe against separatism. It includes a 7-issue detour into a self-cancelling alternate timeline, which doesn’t appear in the list above because, as far the mainstream Wolverine is concerned, it didn’t happen. It’s not a particularly important storyline for Wolverine either.<\/p>\n

The Apocalypse Twins<\/strong> (Eimen\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Uriel<\/strong>) make their debut, killing a Celestial and destroying SWORD’s orbiting space station. They claim to be the rightful heirs of Apocalypse, now that Wolverine and X-Force have killed everyone higher up the list. Wolverine ducks awkward questions about what exactly he knows about the Twins, and what exactly X-Force did; ultimately, this leads to the Avengers learning that X-Force killed the child Apocalypse clone. Wolverine stands by that decision (even though, in the original story, it wasn’t actually his decision). Naturally enough, some of the regular Avengers are appalled by this, though Thor is a more sympathetic. The Twins are trying to drive a wedge between the X-Men and the regular Avengers, but only Havok figures that out, and nobody listens to Havok.<\/p>\n

After much squabbling, Wolverine, Thor, Sunfire and Rogue quit the team and go after the Twins on their own. They encounter the new\u00a0Four Horsemen of Death<\/strong>, who include a resurrected Daken. Daken guilt-trips Wolverine, claiming that he was sure his father would draw back from killing him at the last moment. While Wolverine is distracted by angst, Daken defeats him and takes him prisoner. According to Daken and the Twins, the Red Skull is going to use footage of Wolverine killing Daken to help spark a race war. But they plan to save mutantkind by essentially staging a rapture and taking the mutants to their own planet, whether they like it or not. Issues #13-20 consist of events in that timeline, where the mutants\u00a0do<\/em> go to their own world, Earth is destroyed by the Celestials, and the Avengers eventually figure out how to go back in time to change history. This leads to both events being averted. Kang, who figures into the Twins’ back story, then shows up at the last minute to try and steal the power of a Celestial, and the whole Avengers team work together to stop him, though Havok gets horribly scarred in the process. Wolverine only appears in a single panel of the finale.<\/p>\n

Somewhere around here, as mentioned in Wolverine<\/em> vol 5 #3,\u00a0NYPD Detective Chieko Tomomatsu<\/strong> introduces Wolverine to the Guernica Bar in New York, “a pub for people in our line of work”. In a\u00a0flashback in\u00a0Wolverine<\/em> vol 5 #4<\/strong>, Logan has a drink in the Guernica Bar with\u00a0Victoria von Frankenstein<\/strong>, and they discuss ways that he could use his powers to achieve short bursts of speed, albeit in an extraordinarily painful way. (I confess that I’ve read this scene several times and still don’t understand how it’s meant to work. But there are a number of stories that have previously suggested that Wolverine is just slightly superhuman in general.)<\/p>\n

ASTONISHING X-MEN vol 3 #62-65<\/strong><\/a>
\nby Marjorie Liu & Gabriel Hernandez Walta<\/strong>
\nMay to August 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Iceman is corrupted by a fragment of Apocalypse power that he picked up in the “X-Termination” storyline and goes on a rampage for a bit until Dark Beast builds a machine to sort it out. Wolverine is there as a member of the X-Men, but it’s not his story.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>ASTONISHING X-MEN vol 3 #66-67<\/a><\/strong>
\nby Marjorie Liu & Amilcar Pinna<\/strong>
\nAugust to September 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

The X-Men investigate an\u00a0infant alien\u00a0<\/strong>which is possessing people. Wolverine and Gambit catch up with it in Indiana, and also encounter a fan,\u00a0Wendy<\/strong>. The\u00a0alien’s parent<\/strong> shows up to reclaim its child, satisfies itself that the two X-Men are heroes by reading Wendy’s mind, and departs in peace; the heroes congratulate Wendy on her courage. Logan gets to make a speech in part one about the importance of the X-Men making time for some normalcy and just hanging out together – it’s the macho pragmatic version of a “sensitive leader” speech. Logan and Storm’s relationship is also picked up here.<\/p>\n

ASTONISHING X-MEN vol 3 #68<\/strong><\/a>
\nby Marjorie Liu & Gabriel Hernandez Walta<\/strong>
\nOctober 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the last issue of the series, and it’s a Warbird spotlight. The X-Men capture the Dark Beast after his latest atrocity, and Wolverine refuses to let Warbird kill the prisoner in cold blood. Warbird can’t understand this, and briefly walks out. Later, Wolverine tells her that they should<\/em> have killed Dark Beast, and that if he wasn’t an X-Man, he’d have done it himself. This is the interpretation of Wolverine where he’s deliberately setting himself higher standards because of the need for the X-Men to be symbolic.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN vol 1 #30<\/a><\/strong>
\n“The Hellfire Saga, Prelude”<\/strong>
\nby Jason Aaron, Pasqual Ferry & James Campbell<\/strong>
\nMay 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine and Rachel Grey attack the Hellfire Club Mansion, so that Wolverine can send a message that he’s going to hunt them down and take revenge for their recent actions – i.e., shooting Broo and luring Oya and Glob away from the school. The Inner Circle aren’t in, and couldn’t care less.<\/p>\n

WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN vol 1 #31-35<\/strong><\/a>
\n“The Hellfire Saga”<\/strong>
\nby Jason Aaron, Nick Bradshaw, Walden Wong & Laura Martin<\/strong>
\nJune to August 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

This arc is mostly about the Hellfire Club’s rival school,\u00a0the Hellfire Academy<\/strong>, which Kid Omega joins in an attempt to rescue Oya. It’s completely ridiculous, which works better when it’s the evil version – but the Jean Grey School is so absurd to start with, in Aaron’s stories, that there’s really nowhere much to go in terms of escalation. Anyway, the X-Men spend most of the arc following up leads in the B-plot, which is really just busy work to keep them away until the finale. It’s also the arc where 14-year-old Oya is dressed in a Black Queen costume, which might politely be described as “ill-advised”.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Wolverine also spends much of the arc grumbling that he’s failed as a teacher, and that once he’s rescued the kids he’s going to call it a day and shut down the school. (He quietly drops this as soon as the mission is over.)<\/p>\n

Eventually the X-Men and Krakoa attack the Hellfire Academy. As the Academy starts to collapse, the rest of the teen Inner Circle turn on Kade – Max and Manuel view the whole project as a ludicrous waste of time, while Wilhelmina is just furious that it’s distracting attention from her. However, Kade has a convoluted plan of his own, involving the Siege Perilous, and is dementedly convinced that everything is going fine. Dog Logan, working as one of the teachers, bundles Kade through the Siege to start a new life; everyone else escapes before the building explodes. All the Hellfire Academy students are apparently brought back to the Jean Grey School, along with non-mutants Max and Manuel.<\/p>\n

At some point here, Wolverine presumably meets the Hellfire Academy staff, who include a new Wendigo<\/strong>,\u00a0Philistine <\/strong>and\u00a0Madame Mondo<\/strong>, as well as students\u00a0Mudbug, Infestation, Snot<\/strong> and\u00a0Tin Man<\/strong> (Owen Backes), who (together with Oya and Broo) make up a shortlived new version of\u00a0the Hellions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

AVENGERS vol 5 #14-17<\/strong><\/a>
\nby Jonathan Hickman, Nick Spencer, Stefano Caselli & Frank Martin<\/strong>
\nJune to August 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Little more than background cameos as a face in the Avengers crowd. He’s present in Perth when Pod<\/strong> is activated, and he’s there when Manifold tells the Avengers that Captain Universe wants the team to “get bigger”.<\/p>\n

X-MEN LEGACY vol 2 #15<\/strong><\/a>
\n“The Place of Broken Things”<\/strong>
\nby Simon Spurrier, Tan Eng Huat, Craig Yeung & Jos\u00e9 Villarrubia<\/strong>
\nAugust 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another cameo, as a distraught Legion visits the school following his mother’s murder.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE: JAPAN’S MOST WANTED #1-2 and #4-13<\/a><\/strong>
\n13-issue miniseries<\/strong>
\nby Jason Aaron, Jason Latour, Yves Bigerel, Paco Diaz, Ale Garza, Marte Gracia & Israel Silva<\/strong>
\nJuly to October 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is an early Marvel digital comic, published under the “Infinite Comics” imprint – not to be confused with today’s vertical-scrolling “Infinity Comics”, the “Infinite Comics” were basically designed to be read in panel view, and used storytelling techniques designed to take advantage of that format. It’s much less throwaway than you might think – it does nothing of any great importance for Wolverine, but it’s a significant story for the new Silver Samurai. (Issue #3 is a Silver Samurai story, in which Wolverine doesn’t appear.)<\/p>\n

In Tokyo, Wolverine fights Sabretooth’s Hand, and gets manoeuvred into killing Councillor Masayoshi Fujita<\/strong>, a corrupt politician working for the Hand. Retired ninja Hiromichi<\/strong> refuses to help Wolverine.\u00a0Commander Kojima Haruki<\/strong>, head of the Japanese secret police (and a former Hand agent himself), tries to take Wolverine in, but Wolverine escapes. The Silver Samurai then attacks, leading high-tech ninjas – he says that Wolverine’s decimation of Hand traditionalists has cleared the way for people like him and Sabretooth to reinvent the Hand in their image. The Samurai also plans to destroy\u00a0the Hon<\/strong> (Osen Ono), a living repository of Hand tradition, who has a history book tattooed on her body. Wolverine rescues her, and they reluctantly team up – in Wolverine’s view, a Hand led by Sabretooth will be far worse than the traditional version.<\/p>\n

They go to Hell’s Wind, the ancestral home of the first Hand clan, where the remaining members of the\u00a0First Clan of the Hand<\/strong> are led by seemingly insane ferrywoman\u00a0Masako<\/strong>. The Samurai and his men follow, and Wolverine and the Samurai fight. The Samurai derides Wolverine for meddling in Hand affairs, claiming that he hates his life as a father and teacher so much that “you’ll look for any excuse to be free of it”. (Aaron clearly thinks this is a core point since he repeats it in the next issue.) Wolverine later concedes that the Samurai is right about this. But he accuses the Samurai of inheriting his father’s money and power without any of the respect. He challenges the Samurai to abandon his technology and fight using his father’s blade. Wolverine defeats the Samurai (cutting off his hand in the process), then refuses to kill him, leaving him to report back to Sabretooth. In fact, Sabretooth never expected the Samurai to win – he just wanted the rookie to be scarred by Wolverine so that he would be bound to seek revenge on him in future. Wolverine leaves the Hon in charge of what remains of the traditionalist Hand, and leaves Japan feeling that he hasn’t achieved a great deal.<\/p>\n

X-MEN vol 4 #4<\/strong><\/a>
\nby Brian Wood, David Lopez, Cam Smith & Cris Peter<\/strong>
\nAugust 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Logan joins Jubilee and her newly adopted baby\u00a0Shogo Lee<\/strong> on a trip to California. They visit Santa Monica Beach, her childhood home, and the mall where Jubilee used to live. He tells her that she’ll be a good mother, and secretly buys her childhood home for her, in case she wants it one day.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>SAVAGE WOLVERINE #12-13<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Come Conquer the Beasts”<\/strong>
\nby Phil Jimenez, Scott Lope & Rachelle Rosenberg<\/strong>
\nNovember & December 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Logan visits the Kruger National Park in South Africa for his annual check on his favourite herd of elephants, and is shocked by the rhinos who have been mutilated for their horns. He tracks the trade to Madripoor and confronts Tyger Tiger, who is currently running the place.<\/p>\n

Thus far, it’s a less than subtle story about the ivory trade, but it gets more interesting in the second half: Wolverine assumes that Tyger must not know about this trade, but in fact she knows all about it, couldn’t care less about animal rights, and maintains that this is just part of the price for Madripoor’s way of life. It’s basically an attack on the whole idea of Tyger as a “good crimelord”. Wolverine yells at Tyger and cuts his own face open to make a point about what’s happening to the animals, before leaving in fury.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>MARVEL KNIGHTS: X-MEN<\/a><\/strong>
\n5-issue miniseries<\/strong>
\nby Brahm Revel & Christiane Peter<\/strong>
\nNovember 2013 to March 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine, Kitty and Rogue travel to a small town in Western Virginia, where Cerebro has detected two mutants, and a remarkable number of local kids have gone missing. The two mutants are\u00a0Krystal<\/strong>, who claims to be a precog but actually has psychic suggestion powers, and Darla<\/strong>, who can bring memories to life. Chaos ensues, since Krystal drugs Darla (who promptly summons up an array of X-Men villains), and uses her suggestion powers to make Wolverine turn on the others (he starts deriding Rogue as an ex-villain unfit to be on the team). The story also involves\u00a0the Cooks<\/strong>, an isolationist cult who used to kill mutants to make drugs, but whom Krystal has turned into rabid pro-mutant cultists.<\/p>\n

There’s a rather sentimental ending which depends on everyone summoning up their good memories to fight the illusory villains, and Krystal accepting responsibility for her actions, but on the whole it’s remarkably good.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE vol 5 #1-4<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Hunting Season”<\/strong>
\nby Paul Cornell, Alan Davis, Mark Farmer & Matt Hollingsworth<\/strong>
\nMarch to June 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

With that, we finally come to the Paul Cornell run, which will take us through to\u00a0Death of Wolverine<\/em>. This being 2013, the book renumbers to issue #1 again<\/i> during his run, despite it being a single storyline that runs through the whole of volume 5-6. The thirteen issues that make up volume 5 run through without interruption – honestly, the whole Cornell run rather ignores the fact that the character is meant to be appearing in other books – so we’re going to get them all in a block here.<\/p>\n

In “Hunting Season”, a mysterious alien weapon starts possessing ordinary people who touch it, and sends them on spree killings. We’ll find out later that the aliens in question are a sentient virus<\/strong> from the Microverse, which never gets a name. Wolverine has to kill poor\u00a0possessed\u00a0Robert Gregson<\/strong> in front of his young son\u00a0Alex Gregson<\/strong>. The gun then possesses Alex, and Wolverine manages to save the boy without killing him – but Alex is still understandably traumatised by the sight of the “superhero” who killed his father. During this sequence, the gun shoots Wolverine with a mystery bullet – we’ll find out in issue #7 that it contains a virus infection, which lies dormant for now.<\/p>\n

Wolverine discusses the affairs with Nick Fury Jr<\/strong> and more Guernica Bar regulars – Officer Tomomatsu, Victoria von Frankenstein, Damage Control’s Anne-Marie Hoag, bookmaker Robert Templeton,<\/strong> comic book write Marcus Harold<\/strong>, and superhuman cataloguer Dr Jason Rivera<\/strong>. This crew were evidently intended to be a new long-term supporting cast. When Fury tells Logan that “You found another team. Some ‘loner’ you are”, Wolverine replies that he\u00a0isn’t<\/em> a loner at all. He likes people. By 2013, when Wolverine’s been a persistent team player for years, not to mention having random friends popping up on a regular basis for one-off stories, that’s clearly the more natural reading of the character.<\/p>\n

The virus, acting through a range of possessed pilots and scientists, has a plan to infect thousands of people at Yankee Stadium by blowing up a plane overhead, but Wolverine manages to steer it harmlessly into the sea. At the end, Nick Fury shows up to inexplicably announce that Dr Doom was behind it all, and demand that Wolverine comes with him for debriefing. Wolverine immediately figures out that Fury is possessed by the virus, but plays along.<\/p>\n

This is a good solid action arc, with Wolverine getting to be a relatively straightforward superhero – aside from the bit where he kills someone in front of his son. Cornell’s basic theme is to explore how much of this is an act, so it’s the sensible place to start.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE vol 5 #5-6<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Drowning Logan”<\/strong>
\nby Paul Cornell, Mirco Pierfederici, Karl Kesel & Andres Mossa<\/strong>
\nJune & July 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the Helicarrier, Wolverine confirms that the whole crew are infected with the virus, and winds up teaming with a handful of uninfected agents who were stuck in a decompression chamber (including\u00a0Sophia McDougall<\/strong>). They escape an attempt to drown them – the narrator actually remembers that this is how Wolverine killed Daken, and plays that up – and learn about the virus’s origins in the Microverse. Sophia frees everyone from the virus by flooding the ship with stun gas. But in the aftermath, Wolverine collapses, realising that the aliens are inside him, and that he isn’t healing.<\/p>\n

There’s a bit in issue #5 which seems important to Cornell’s approach: Wolverine is trying his best not to kill the possessed SHIELD agents, but not to the point of actually risking defeat. We’re told that although he doesn’t identify with the aristocratic elements of samurai culture, he\u00a0does<\/em> identify with the idea that a samurai has to be “willing to shoulder the sin of killing”. At this stage, it’s presented as a serious piece of samurai lore; however, volume 6 #11 informs us that it’s actually just a throwaway line from an anime.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE vol 5 #7<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Mortal”<\/strong>
\nby Paul Cornell, Mirco Pierfederici, Karl Kesel & Andres Mossa<\/strong>
\nJuly 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Beast confirms that Logan’s healing factor is gone – and it’s going to stay that way through to Death of Wolverine<\/em>. He provides a drug to counteract Wolverine’s adamantium poisoning (which the healing factor normally handles), but pledges to look for a cure. Logan claims that that would just be a cure for death, but privately he’s deeply shaken by his new vulnerability. He struggles with his new ability to get drunk, and doesn’t know how to shave properly (because he never had to avoid cuts before). Meanwhile, a series of minor villains with virus-control powers come under attack. Fury reports that the last remaining virus controller is thought to be\u00a0the Host<\/strong>, currently imprisoned in Wakanda – but they suspect that the Black Panther has been compromised.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE vol 5 #8-13<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Killable”<\/strong>
\nby Paul Cornell, Alan Davis, Mark Farmer & Matt Hollingsworth<\/strong>
\nAugust 2013 to January 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine distracts the Black Panther while Storm, Fury and Victoria rescue the Host. In fact, Panther is playing along because he knows the Wakandan authorities have been compromised too, though we get a lot of mutual taunting about Storm, and Wolverine failing to keep his cool. Mystique breaks into the school, trashes Wolverine’s room, and steals his sword. Deciding that the virus threat isn’t the sort of thing he can really help with – and determined to prove that he deserves his sword back – Wolverine changes tack entirely and starts focussing on the sword (while Fury continues to deal with the virus in the B-plot).<\/p>\n

Wolverine goes after Mystique, and Kitty tags along. Along the way, they fight mercenaries Batroc and\u00a0Fiber<\/strong>, whose “weaponised acupuncture” causes pain but doesn’t seem to cause any real damage. The trail leads to Logan’s childhood home, which has apparently been knocked down and turned into a shopping mall since we were last there in\u00a0Wolverine: Origins<\/em>. Thanks to a force field, Wolverine and Kitty wind up trapped in the mall along with a bunch of innocents – along with Mystique, Lord Deathstrike, the Silver Samurai and the 13 Ninjas<\/strong>. (As near as I can make out, the 13 Ninjas are\u00a0the Pointing Finger, the Testing Finger, the Curled Finger, the Little Finger, the Thumb, the Tattoo, the Sinew, the Nails, the Meat, the Reflex, the Form<\/strong> and the Will<\/strong>, plus one that never gets a name.) Wolverine finds that Fiber’s attack has made him feel more pain after each new wound, and some sort of illusion means that all escape routes just lead back to the centre of the mall.<\/p>\n

Despite being in a state of fear and panic, Wolverine tells Kitty to rescue the innocents while he heads off to face the villains alone – which, without his healing powers, is suicidal. Kitty is busily telling a sympathetic security guard,\u00a0Kathy Stubbs<\/strong>, that Wolverine’s biggest problem right now is self-hatred – only for an injured Wolverine to return, and announce that he’s just killed a ninja. Kitty is horrified. The head security guard, who is awful, yells at Wolverine, who responds by lashing out and cutting off his hand. The guard turns out to be Mystique, but she’s made her point. Poor Kitty protests that Wolverine would\u00a0never<\/em> hurt an innocent and must have known subconsciously, but Wolverine simply ignores her and demands that Sabretooth face him in person.<\/p>\n

Sabretooth then shows up wearing a suit, and easily defeats the battered Wolverine, before explaining the moral as he sees it: Wolverine abandoned all his values when faced with fear of death, the same thing most people live with all the time; Wolverine joined the Avengers and the X-Men so that he could take credit for their code of honour without actually living by it; he’s a rich kid who pretends to be a regular guy; and everything about Wolverine is a lie, while Sabretooth is authentic. Satisfied that Wolverine is crushed, Sabretooth gives him the sword back (calling it an empty symbol) and leaves, declaring that he will spend the next few decades watching Wolverine grow old.<\/p>\n

Right at the end, the A-plot returns: the virus, which is on the verge of being eradicated by the Host, offers to give Wolverine his powers back if he turns off his anti-virus shield and lets them back in. He refuses, and the Host finishes eradicating the virus. Wolverine breaks the sword over his knee, and declares that “the Wolverine is dead now.”<\/p>\n

A very strange year-long arc in which Wolverine heads off on an honour-obsessed side quest of his own and completely abandoned the A-plot – but that’s the point, which is why it works.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0Wolverine<\/strong><\/em> vol 6 #1<\/strong>, Wolverine spends three weeks in the school infirmary, with Kitty not speaking to him. In a\u00a0flashback<\/strong> later in the issue, Logan and Storm go to the Guernica bar; Logan now has a scar over his right eye. He claims he was just being melodramatic when he said the Wolverine was dead. He’s not at all happy that everyone knows about his position, and rejects Beast’s idea of an armoured costume. (He’ll change his mind on this soon.) He does agree to look at some training options, and does some shooting practice with Black Widow.<\/p>\n

Wolverine<\/em> kind of wants to just continue straight into the next arc from here, but a bunch of other stories show Wolverine without his healing factor and sort of have to go in here, even though he isn’t showing the sort of existential angst that’s central to his solo title.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>DEADPOOL vol 5 #15-19<\/a><\/strong>
\n“The Good, The Bad & The Ugly”<\/strong>
\nby Brian Posehn, Gerry Duggan, Declan Shalvey & Jordie Bellaire<\/strong>
\nAugust to November 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Butler<\/strong> (Bartol Utler) kidnaps former Weapon Plus subjects Deadpool, Wolverine and Captain America and takes them to his base at a North Korean prison camp, where the inmates include some rather baffled North Koreans who have been turned into versions of Thunderbird, Banshee, Cyclops, Sunfire, Colossus, Storm and Wolverine<\/strong>, despite knowing little or nothing about the originals. Despite the premise, these characters are actually written fairly straight. Butler is trying to find a cure for\u00a0his unnamed sister<\/strong>‘s cancer. The heroes help to destroy the camp and escape.<\/p>\n

INFINITY #1<\/strong><\/a>
\n6-issue miniseries<\/strong>
\nby Jonathan Hickman, Jim Cheung, Mark Morales & Justin Ponsor<\/strong>
\nAugust 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

A single-panel cameo at the X-Men Mansion.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>BATTLE OF THE ATOM<\/a><\/strong>
\nX-Men: Battle of the Atom<\/em> #1 by Brian Michael Bendis, Frank Cho & Marte Gracia<\/strong>
\nAll-New X-Men<\/em> vol 1 #16 by Brian Michael Bendis, Stuart Immonen, Wade von Grawbadger & Marte Gracia<\/strong>
\nX-Men<\/em> vol 4 #5-6 by Brian Wood, David L\u00f3pez, Cam Smith & Laura Martin<\/strong>
\nUncanny X-Men<\/em> vol 3 #12 by Brian Michael Bendis, Chris Bachalo, various inkers & Marte Gracia<\/strong>
\nWolverine and the X-Men<\/em> vol 1 #36-37 by Jason Aaron, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Andrew Currie & Matt Milla<\/strong>
\nX-Men: Battle of the Atom<\/em> #2 by Jason Aaron, Esad Ribic, Andrew Currie, Tom Palmer & Ive Svorcina<\/strong>
\nSeptember & October 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the X-books’ big summer crossover for 2013. It’s not particularly important to Wolverine, who doesn’t even appear in every chapter, but he meets a bunch of new characters, so…<\/p>\n

Beast’s time machine activates and a new team appears, who claim to be the X-Men of an alternate future (later numbered Earth-13729). In fact, they’re the Earth-13729 Brotherhood of Evil Mutants<\/strong>, \u00a0comprising Charles Xavier II, Beast<\/strong> (Hank McCoy), Deadpool<\/strong> (Wade Wilson), Molly Hayes, Xorn<\/strong> (Jean Grey),\u00a0the Ice Hulk<\/strong> (just an ice golem) and a character initially pretending to be Kate Pryde, but who’s actually Raze Darkh\u00f6lme<\/strong>, the son of Wolverine and Mystique. They insist that the Silver Age team must return home to protect the timeline; the Silver Age team promptly make a break for it. The school X-Men and the future “X-Men” eventually tack them down in the company of Cyclops’ team from\u00a0the New Charles Xavier School<\/strong> – himself, Emma, Magneto, Magik, Silver Age Angel, the Stepford Cuckoos,\u00a0Tempus<\/strong> (Eva Bell),\u00a0Goldballs<\/strong> (Fabio Medina), Hijack<\/strong> (David Bond),\u00a0Triage<\/strong> (Christopher Muse) and\u00a0Benjamin Deeds<\/strong>. Wolverine is not impressed by Cyclops taking these trainees into the field, and a big fight ensues until Marvel Girl reads the mind of her future self and persuades the Silver Age team to stand down.<\/p>\n

Back at the Mansion, Silver Age Beast and Iceman travel into the future to see it for themselves, thus exposing the future X-Men as impostors. This leads to yet another fight where the fake future X-Men fight Logan’s team, Scott’s team, the Silver Age team and\u00a0the real Earth-13729 X-Men: Jubilee<\/strong> (Jubilation Lee),\u00a0Iceman<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>(Robert Drake),\u00a0Colossus<\/strong> (Piotr Rasputin),\u00a0Phoenix<\/strong> (Quentin Quire),\u00a0Wiccan<\/strong> (Billy Kaplan),\u00a0Kymera<\/strong> and\u00a0Sentinel-X<\/strong> (Shogo Lee). Future Quentin explains that the Silver Age X-Men literally can’t go home just yet, because “something won’t let them”. The Brotherhood then attack Cape Citadel, and all the X-Men go to fight them. S.H.I.E.L.D. respond, and the Brotherhood activate their hidden\u00a0Sentinels<\/strong>, horrifying both Cyclops and Wolverine. During the battle, future Jean berates both of them for their schism, and explains that she comes from the timeline where the Silver Age X-Men never managed to return home. Wolverine and Cyclops squabble some more about moral authority; the Brotherhood escape; the future X-Men go home; and the Silver Age team, along with Kitty, quit the Jean Grey School and defect to Cyclops’ camp.<\/p>\n

INFINITY: THE HUNT #1-2<\/strong><\/a>
\n4-issue miniseries<\/strong>
\nby Matt Kindt, Steven Sanders & Jim Campbell<\/strong>
\nSeptember & October 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine attends Avengers Academy to announce the Contest of Champions, a competition for students from metahuman schools around the world. As well as the Academy, the Jean Grey School and the Future foundation, other participants include\u00a0Braddock Academy, the Wakandan School of Alternative Studies, the Pan-Asian School for the Unusually Gifted<\/strong> and\u00a0the Latverian School of Science<\/strong>. Before anything much can happen about this,\u00a0the Black Order’s Invaders<\/strong> attack and the whole thing gets sidetracked by the crossover.<\/p>\n

NEW AVENGERS vol 3 #8-9<\/strong><\/a>
\n“What Maximus Made” \/ “The Cull Obsidian”<\/strong>
\nby Jonathan Hickman, Mike Deodato & Frank Martin<\/strong>
\nJuly & August 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

More of the Infinity <\/em>crossover. It’s just cameos of the X-Men fighting the Black Order, including Corvus Glaive<\/strong> and\u00a0Supergiant<\/strong>. A single panel of\u00a0Infinity<\/em> #2 also shows this.<\/p>\n

INFINITY: THE HEIST #4<\/strong><\/a>
\n4-issue minseries<\/strong>
\nby Frank Tieri & various artists<\/strong>
\nJanuary 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

A single panel cameo. The Avengers capture Taskmaster.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>AVENGERS ASSEMBLE vol 2 #21-25<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Inhumanity”<\/strong>
\nby Kelly Sue DeConnick, Matteo Buffagni & Nolan Woodard<\/strong>
\nNovember 2013 to March 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

We’re now in the period where latent Inhumans are gaining powers around the world, as Marvel begins its doomed effort to try and make them a big deal. AIM arms dealer\u00a0Kashmir Vennema<\/strong> steals a terrigen cocoon and sells it on to June Covington. The Avengers and Spider-Girl (whose teacher\u00a0Richard Schlickeisen<\/strong> was in the cocoon) team up to stop Covington. Along the way, Spider-Girl teams up with various individual Avengers; Wolverine’s main contribution is to decide that she’s hopeless inexperienced, demand that she follow his orders to the letter, and tell her to wear something more practical.<\/p>\n

WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN ANNUAL #1<\/strong><\/a>
\nby Jason Aaron, Nick Bradshaw, Walden Wong, Karl Kesel, Victor Olazaba & Andres Mossa<\/strong>
\nNovember 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a Kid Gladiator story. Wolverine has a cameo in the epilogue, where Kid Gladiator delivers a class presentation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN vol 1 #38-40<\/a><\/strong>
\nby Jason Aaron, Pepe Larraz & Matt Milla<\/strong>
\nNovember 2013 to January 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

Twins\u00a0Joseph and Josephine Bricklemoore<\/strong> join the school – they’re actually SHIELD infiltrators with fake mutant powers, but Wolverine misses that bit of the story.<\/p>\n

Wolverine gets Kid Omega to hack into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s central database and locate their hidden Sentinel storage facilities. But it’s a trap left by S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Dazzler (actually a disguised Mystique). When Wolverine shows up, Cyclops is already there, and they figure out that they’ve been lured together in the hope that they’ll kill each other. Seems a bit of a tenuous plan, but hey, it got them there. Instead, the two team up to defeat the Sentinels and have a relatively civilised conversation. Cyclops continues to protest that he wasn’t responsible for his actions when he killed Professor X, and points out that everyone forgave Jean for doing something far worse; Wolverine points out that Jean at least took responsibility. He tells Scott that “you don’t hate yourself nearly enough”, and that they need the old Scott back.<\/p>\n

Next time,\u00a0Death of Wolverine<\/em>.<\/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-9089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wolverine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9089","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=9089"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9159,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9089\/revisions\/9159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}