Marvel Has A Jaw Dropping Line-Up Of Wolverine Comics This Summer
"Deadpool and Wolverine" — which is due out on July 26, 2024 — will mark Hugh Jackman's return as Wolverine after a seven year hiatus. (I remember vividly when 2017's "Logan" was supposed to be his final bow.)
Ever since superhero movies have become Marvel and DC's biggest cultural footprints, the comics have had the mandate to follow their lead. The adaptations point the direction of the source material, not the other way around.
Take how, in the 2010s, Marvel relegated the X-Men from the top shelf to the dustbin because 20th Century Fox owned the mutants' movie rights. Once Marvel's parent company Disney acquired Fox (and the X-Men with it) in 2019, the X-Men were raised back up. "Deadpool and Wolverine" is the greatest culmination of that merger yet, with the film's trailers suggesting the Merc with a Mouth is entering the MCU full-throttle — and bringing the rest of Fox's Marvel films along with him.
With Wolverine back on the big screen, Marvel's publishing slate this summer is set to give Logan many starring comic roles. "X-Men '97" proved this year that the 1990s never ended for the X-Men and there's nothing more 90s than Wolverine dominating Marvel Comics.
Here are all the new "Wolverine" comics you should be on the lookout for in the coming months (listed in release order from earliest to latest).
Wolverine: Madripoor Knights by Chris Claremont and Edgar Salazar
Len Wein is the writer who created Wolverine and added him to the X-Men, but Chris Claremont (writing "X-Men" from 1975 to 1991) made Logan into an icon. Claremont's "X-Men" is why Wolverine was popular enough to get his own book. Naturally, Claremont also co-wrote the first solo "Wolverine" title, a 1982 mini-series drawn by Frank Miller, and the first issues of the first ongoing "Wolverine" series (begun in 1988).
Recently, Claremont has been diving back into his legendary "X-Men" run to tell new stories. One of those stories is this year's "Wolverine: Madripoor Knights" (drawn by Edgar Salazar), set in the fictional southeast Asian island named in the title. (If you don't recall from "Falcon & The Winter Soldier" or "Shang-Chi," Madripoor is a Mos Eisley-esque hive of scum and villainy.)
This five-issue mini-series is a follow-up to "Uncanny X-Men" #268, most famous for its Jim Lee-drawn cover showing Wolverine standing side-by-side with Captain America and Black Widow. (Marvel Unlimited's description of the issue jokes that the only thing that could make the cover better would be Rogue in a bikini.)
That issue followed two parallel timelines; in 1941, Cap and Logan meet in Madripoor and team up to rescue a young Natasha Romanoff from the ninja cult the Hand. In the present day, Logan (with Jubilee and Psylocke in tow) and Black Widow reunite.
"Madripoor Knights" takes place shortly afterwards; Captain America shows up in Madripoor while tracking a weapons deal, so Wolverine and Black Widow help out. The mini-series delivered the three-way team up that "X-Men" #268 suggested on its cover. "Madripoor Knights" #1's cover, drawn by Philip Tan, is a near recreation of Lee's classic one too.
The fifth and final issue of "Wolverine: Madripoor Knights" publishes on June 26, 2024.
Life of Wolverine by Jim Zub and Ramón F. Bachs
Even for a Marvel superhero, Wolverine's history is tangled and full of contradictions. Not just because of different writers offering conflicting answers, but because Wolverine himself doesn't remember everything. Thanks to a brainwashing or too, his memory is like a fog; even memories he does have are incomplete or incorrect. For a long time, he didn't even remember where he came from or if his true name was actually "Logan" at all.
"Life of Wolverine" #1 looks to streamline this history. True to its title, the book will tell the whole story of Wolverine's life in a single, sequential book. His birth in 19th century Canada, his time fighting in World War II, his days living in Japan, his tortuous time in captivity at Weapon X, and of course, his days as an X-Men. The cover, illustrated by Ron Lim, shows Wolverine himself at many of these different times. Filling out the cover are important figures from Wolverine's life, including his "daughter" (clone) Laura Kinney/X-23, his son Daken (who is not a bastard by parentage but is definitely one in disposition), and his teen sidekick Jubilee. Also shown are some of his loves (Jean Grey, Mariko Yashida, Daken's mother Itsu, and Silver Fox) and foes (Sabretooth, Omega Red, and Mister Sinister looming large).
Marvel says that "Life of Wolverine" was commissioned in honor of Wolverine's 50th anniversary (he debuted in "Incredible Hulk" #180, published October 1974). The book is being written by Jim Zub ("Champions," "Wayward") and drawn by Ramòn F. Bachs (a prolific "Star Wars" comic artist). It's also a one-shot, meaning it's a single issue that will stand alone instead of kicking off a new series. Can "Life of Wolverine" fit a life that eventful into just 36 pages? We'll know soon.
"Life of Wolverine" publishes on July 3, 2024.
Wolverine: Deep Cut by Chris Claremont and Edgar Salazar
As "Madripoor Knights" wraps up, "Wolverine: Deep Cut" begins. Like that series, this one sees Claremont go back to an unturned stone from his "X-Men" run and finally lift it up. "Deep Cut," announced as a four-issue mini-series, will be set during one of the later periods of Claremont's run, the "Outback Era" (roughly "Uncanny X-Men" issues #229-252).
After the 1988 "Fall of the Mutants" crossover, some of the X-Men (Wolverine, Storm, Rogue, Colossus, Psylocke, Dazzler, Longshot, and Havok) were assumed dead. They decided to keep it that way, operating in secret out of a remote base in the Australian Outback; teleporting Aboriginal mutant Gateway used his powers to send them on covert missions across the globe.
In "Uncanny X-Men" #246, Wolverine took a brief leave of absence. When he returned, the X-Men had been devastated by the cyborg Reavers (led by Donald Pierce and Lady Deathstrike). According to a release by Marvel, "Deep Cut" will finally explore what Logan was up to during his brief hiatus. The currently-released artwork and solicitations for "Deep Cut" suggest that this mission will see Wolverine face off with his nemesis, Sabretooth, and Mister Sinister's mutant minions, the Marauders. (Sabretooth made his "X-Men" debut as part of the Marauders during the event "Mutant Massacre.")
While "Deep Cut" will have limited scope due to it being a fill-in-the-gaps comic, it coming from the original author gives it some more legitimacy. Claremont and Salazar made "Madripoor Knights" into a fun romp and I'm confident they can do the same here.
"Wolverine: Deep Cut" issue #1 publishes on July 3, 2024.
Wolverine: Revenge by Jonathan Hickman and Greg Capullo
"Wolverine: Revenge" will bring together a dream team: writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Greg Capullo. The teaser cover audaciously declares "The best there is... by the best there is."
Here's the announcement you've all been waiting for. Jonathan and I will be joined by my new inker @TimTdog10000 and my long time partner @fcoo 🤘🏻✏️🤘🏻 pic.twitter.com/oGVG8MGTtq
— Greg Capullo (@GregCapullo) May 21, 2024
Capullo is part of the 1990s wave of artists (he got his start drawing "X-Force" at Marvel and "Spawn" at Image Comics) and his style reflects those roots; beefy heroes, gritty hatching, manga-style decompression, and dynamic hero shots that take up whole pages. These days, he's most known for his work at DC Comics with Scott Snyder, particularly their 2011-2016 run on "Batman." The released images of "Wolverine: Revenge" look very much like Capullo's "Batman" art, particularly since he kept the same colorist FCO Plascencia.
Jonathan Hickman is the best writer in Marvel's stable right now. He's written all of the publisher's four major franchises ("Fantastic Four," "Avengers," "X-Men," and "Spider-Man") and done a bang-up job each time. His recent projects include "Ultimate Spider-Man" (which you should really jump on), "G.O.D.S" (Marvel's answer to "The Sandman"), and a one-shot "Doctor Doom" comic (mostly conceived by the book's artist, Sanford Greene).
"Wolverine: Revenge" will run for five issues. Revealed art shows Wolverine in the Savage Land about to fight some dinosaurs, but little about the story beyond that is known so far. What is known is that the book will be bloody; it will even be published with accompanying "Red Band" editions that feature more gore (compare the different covers).
"Wolverine: Revenge" issue #1 publishes on August 21, 2024.
Wolverine by Saladin Ahmed and Martín Cóccolo
It's not all mini-series for Logan this summer. Since 2020, "Wolverine" has been written by Benjamin Percy, but his run ends at issue #50. Now, like the rest of the "X-Men" comics, "Wolverine" is being relaunched under the banner "From The Ashes."
The new "Wolverine" writer is Eisner Award-winner Saladin Ahmed ("Black Bolt," "Daredevil"), partnered with artist Martín Cóccolo ("Immortal Thor"). Ahmed previously wrote a story for issue #2 of the 2020 anthology book "Wolverine: Black, White, and Blood."
Wolverine also recently showed up in issue #7 of Ahmed's "Daredevil," which currently looks like a trial run for his next book. For now, it seems Ahmed (who told Marvel that he's thought of Wolverine as "the coolest character in comics" since his childhood) will be writing both "Daredevil" and "Wolverine" simultaneously.
Published information says that Ahmed and Cóccolo's "Wolverine" will begin in the Canadian wilderness. Wolverine will be descending into his bestial side, but as old and new villains rise, his best buddy on the X-Men, Nightcrawler, will need to pull Logan back to his humanity.
How "Wolverine" will intersect with Gail Simone and David Marquez's relaunch of "Uncanny X-Men" (starring Logan and Nightcrawler alongside Rogue, Gambit, and Jubilee) remains to be seen.
"Wolverine" issue #1 publishes on September 11, 2024.