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I'm not a Wolverine guy. I started reading comics heavily in the nineties and by that point, Wolverine seemed like an overexposed parody of who he had been in the eighties. I read a lot of his books because they would frequently cross over with the other X-titles but it's notable that when crossover events went out of fashion and Wolverine's book became more self-contained, I easily ducked out, rarely looking back. He just wasn't the reason I read X-books.
That said, I loved Hugh Jackman's portrayal of the character enough to name a cat Logan. I thought this version was an anomaly and that's mostly because that version of Logan was more based on an earlier version of the character that I hadn't really gotten to know too well. I would dig into back issues but my Wolverine issues never dipped back to THIS version of the character.
And that's a damn shame because THIS. Is great.
Chris Claremont, man. That man could make Wolverine work in ways that other writers very much struggle with. I'm a little upset with myself for never searching out the books in this particular collection but not only do you get a great version of Wolverine but you also get some first appearances of core Marvel places and characters that I never really got to see forming. This is the first appearance of the Island Principality of Madripoor which features heavily in X-books to this day and has recently entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Several Madripoor characters also get first appearances within and some characters get redefined from earlier showings.
In short, you get a great Wolverine and great stories and learn about what are now classic locations and characters from the ground up. Almost all of it by classic X-Scribe Chris Claremont and legendary artist John Buscema. Inkers Klaus Jansen and Bill Sienkewicz are also amazing draws.
The bad news is that it seems like this book was forced upon an already overwhelmed writer. Wolverine was a solo series that was going to happen whether or not Claremont was involved and since Chris Claremont wanted to maintain creative control of the characters he had developed since the mid-seventies, he did his damndest to fit this book (and the newly developed EXcalibur) into his schedule. That was never going to last and by the end of this volume, he's left the title and Peter David pens a six parter to cap off John Buscema's run on the book. Be that as it may, Claremont's work is gold and, including the story from Marvel Comics Presents that starts off this volume, it makes an impressive start for Wolverine's solo title.
As a spin off from the main X-title, Wolverine's adventures are more self contained here. It's mostly taking place on Madripoor. Because the X-Men are all considered dead, Logan adopts another identity and wears another costume for most of the book. His other identity, Patch, is one of the most ridiculous attempts at a secret identity I've encountered (he wears an eye patch and... that's it) and when Peter David arrives, he doesn't take too long dismantling that identity (he still uses it occasionally but it's fun to know that everyone knows he's pretending and that no one is being fooled). The secondary costume gets pulled out occasionally but by Peter David's story arc, Logan is back in his traditional Wolverine costume.
John Buscema is not a name I typically associate with the X-books and whenever I see him on various X-projects from the past, I'm surprised. But it keeps happening so maybe I should just be content with the fact that Buscema was a prolific artist who would lend his talents to a TON of work. Regardless of his X-bonafides, this is some really solid art. By Peter David's story, Big Jon is partnered with Bill Sienkewicz and the two are producing magic together, aside from a few story-telling hiccups.
I keep mentioning Peter David's concluding story in this volume but I haven't mentioned his writing yet. That's because it wasn't very good. David will have his time to shine on the X-books (X-Factor) but this wasn't it for me. A lot of it is forcing a situation so that it'll lead to a witty one-liner or another and they aren't even that funny. His first issue is probably the best. The humor lands more often and it's subdued nature fits the title better. In all, it's a serviceable story that isn't Peter David at his best. The art is amazing, though.
As far as extras are concerned, you get two Marvel Age features on Wolverine: one for his Marvel Comics Presents story and the next for the start of his ongoing. There's also a lot of line art by John Buscema from various issues, a house ad from Marvel Age for the ongoing, two Marvel Fanfare covers, an Amazing Heroes cover advertising Marvel Comics Presents, a Buscema cover of the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide featuring Wolverine and Punisher, an unused cover for Wolverine by Buscema, the reprint cover for Wolverine's story arc in MCP by Sam Kieth, and cover treatments from different versions of the first Wolverine Essential book. So there are some meaty extras!
This is a great collection and I'm embarrassed that as big of an X-Fan as I claim to be, I have NEVER read it before. I'm hoping reading Wolverine books with this volume to color my perspective will strengthen my enjoyment of a character that has never really worked THIS well for me. It's a great, weird start to Wolverine's first ongoing solo book.
Two final thoughts: Claremont brings in Jessica Drew (the original Spider-Woman) who was languishing in comic book limbo and she is great here. Fifteen years later, Drew would properly return to the role of Spider-Woman and Marvel Comics in a big way but it's nice to see Claremont, a former writer of her first ongoing, hadn't forgotten about her and found a good way to include Jessica in a book. It makes me with I could pick up some Spider-Woman Epic Collections. Maybe someday?
Finally, the cover treatment on this version of the book is stupid flawed. The front and back are fine but the spine has the "WOLVERINE" title located in a different location than every other Wolverine Epic Collection or any other Epic Collection I own. It looks wrong on a shelf and bothers me quite a bit. Presentation is everything, people. Hopefully this problem is corrected in future versions of this collection. I think there's a new printing coming out soon. This guy gets rereleased a lot.
OK! That's all I've got. It's a good book and you should read it!
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