The Wolverine saga

You saw him become indestructible in the recent film. But how did Wolverine become the world’s top comic book hero? Mutant fan Ashwin Ahmad traces the journey

Wolverine! Even those of you who don’t know or care about the biggest brand in the comic book industry today, will have (thanks to the X-Men movies) realised who the Wolverine is. A 5-ft 3-in beer guzzler with an indestructible skeleton, sharp claws and sharper one-liners, this mutant (he doesn’t much like the word “hero”) is a legend. Wolverine has a Hollywood film, two solo comic book series and his own exhibit at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art in the US — the shrine for all comic book lovers — to his credit. Plus, his snarling face is used to sell everything from school bags to coffee mugs to paper weights. Not bad, for a Canadian!

 

As all good stories go, it wasn’t this way always. Created in 1975 by Marvel Comics, Wolverine was given a hard time from the start. Fighting against the Incredible Hulk, Wolverine looked set to remain one of those comic book villains who are exciting but not dangerous enough to become a regular character. Then, the times in the Marvel world were not good. With a flurry of editors entering and exiting, Marvel Comics in the ’70s faced dropping sales and an uncertain future. Thirdly, he was Canadian. At the time of his creation, Marvel, or the Western comic book world for that matter, had never run a major non-American comic hero before. In fact, Wolverine’s then writer Chris Claremont had considered dropping him from the X-men series, preferring to concentrate on another mutant with an equally interesting past: Nightcrawler. It was only at the behest of artist John Byrne, a fellow Canadian, that Wolverine got his lease of life. The rest, as they say, is history.

Thanks in large part to Wolverine and the X-Men, Marvel has not only got off its slump but seems to be winning the comics war with DC. According to estimates, Marvel and DC control roughly 75 per cent of the comic book trade with Marvel taking 40 per cent and DC 35 per cent. And, according to a recent US survey of the 10 best comic books, Marvel has seven, DC two, and the remaining is a joint venture between the two companies.

The success of Marvel, and Wolverine, has uncanny parallels with our own cinema history. Bored with the romantic mush of Rajesh Khanna, we turned to an angry anti-hero (no prizes for guessing who). The same seems to have happened here. Picture-perfect with no shades of grey (with the exception of Batman, and he came later) DC’s heroes were America’s Rajesh Khannas. You saluted Superman, ogled Wonder Woman, and got friendly with Flash. You were comfortable. For these were the good guys. With Wolverine you never got that close or personal. His appearance meant that the happy days of goodies versus baddies were gone. A self confessed “killing machine”, he injected a chilling aspect into the role of the “super hero”. No longer need a super hero be from another planet, he could be custom-made and home-designed, through torture if necessary. And it was almost always necessary. No longer did the super hero know the difference between right and wrong. Wolverine’s fits of “beserker rages” meant he wanted blood. The rmantic reassuring world of Superman had gone. In its place was real life.

On a brighter note, Wolverine and the X-Men have put an international face to comic book history. Storm, an African, Nightcrawler, a German, Colossus, a Soviet superhuman, all led by the Canadian, ensured that American comics did not necessarily mean dwelling on Americans — a change from the Superman days. And this is where Marvel may have stolen a march over DC. While Batman was busy fighting Ra’s Al Ghul, an immortal Arab, Wolverine was busy learning about Japanese culture through his wife Itsu. The wolf it seems can be tamed. But watch out. He still growls!