Comments on: How Did Marvel Lose Control Of Wolverine?

By: snootay

snootay — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:16:10 +0000

They had the same problem with the Punisher back in 1998 so they killed him off in that Purgatory mini series(which got lampooned but I always thought was pretty cool) and put him on the shelf for two years and brought him back fresh.(Didn’t hurt that they got Garth Ennis to write the comeback series. Welcome Back, Frank was awesome)

The problem is, Wolverine is so popular that there is no way they can get rid of him for any amount of time and the character is pretty much doomed to mediocrity at this point.

By: 4zsasz4

4zsasz4 — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:56:48 +0000

Sorry, I wasn’t more clear – I meant that he would kill women and children too, innocents. True, Sabertooth fits that bill, but he doesn’t have the history as a hero that Wolverine does, including that stint as an X-man. I would like to see Wolverine as a true monster. If he truly is ‘the best at what he does’, I think the results would be both fascinating and horrific.

By: figerrific

figerrific — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 01:13:43 +0000

@4zsasz4: They did that in Enemy of the State. Had him killed, resurrected brainwashed by the Hand, kill a boatload of people (mostly SHIELD agents, those poor fools), mauled your standard number of heroes (mostly street level, those poor fools) and then fixed.

I like the new vampire arc running through the X-books. Industry wise, I don’t know why miniseries just can’t be released straight to trades. That would fix a lot of the confusion for characters since trades are (for me anyhow) placed as their own story. When single issues get released featuring Wolverine in space, another where he’s in hell, another where he’s a vampire, another where he’s stranded on Utopia, it’s confounding to fans who’re hungry for that character.

By: 4zsasz4

4zsasz4 — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:23:20 +0000

Wolverine was always a killer, but never an indiscriminate killer. As Weapon X, he was just that, a weapon to be pointed at a target, so why not make him into a nuke? Get rid of all the sorting out the past crap, with his son and whatever, by plunging the Muramasa blade into his head and have him full-time berserker rage through the marvel universe. Heroes and villains falling everywhere! Obviously his enemies want him put down, but his hero friends remember that he was their ally and are conflicted about what to do with him. Do it!

By: nodnolan

nodnolan — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:26:47 +0000

I firmly believe that once a character becomes too popular or well known outside the comic medium, that character then gets stuck in a rut.

The company behind the character can’t change the character in fear they will alienate any incoming potential reader. Seeing as they then can’t make any lasting change to the character all they can change is the environment that the character is in…

By: gminnj

gminnj — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:36:24 +0000

Well said. Personally, I think once Origins hit, this was doomed to happen. Then giving him his memories really fast forwarded the whole situation.

As much as his best appearances used to have him struggle with his man/animal problem, there was an element of happy-go-lucky to him at times. He kept things simple. He had a code, and there wasn’t too much agonizing.

Emphasizing his tortured past has just made him tiresome.

By: Evan Narcisse

Evan Narcisse — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:05:54 +0000

Great post, Graeme. The character’s just too spread out now and I think it was a big mistake to make him an Avenger. Even there’s talent I like on the books (like Jason Aaron on Weapon X), it fails to move me. And the vampire thing is just… gahhh.