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A review by quadrille
Wolverine: Origin by
3.0
So the funny thing is that I apparently already knew many of the general plot beats of this story, thanks to the X-Men movies — which meant most of the intended “gasp! what!!!” reveals, which were meant to surprise readers, didn’t catch me off-guard.
The most interesting thing for me was reading the background material that went into the making-of Wolverine’s origin, particularly the behind-the-scenes emails trying to beef up the plot. I hadn’t actually known that it took that long for Marvel to come up with a background for one of their most iconic characters, nor that it was the impending movies that finally jumpstarted their doing it, in order to beat the films to the punch. As a result of his background in coming so much later than the character himself, his details do feel a bit shoehorned in or like they’re ticking off a checklist to get through his origin: his claws, a fetish for redheads and love triangles, a fascination with Japan, the name Logan, the name Wolverine, Sabretooth, check check check. Reading some of the long long process that went into the writers beating around this story and throwing things against the wall to see what sticks, you can get a sense for why they initially struggled.
And did it work? Sort of. It’s a tragic drama set against a mountainous Canadian backdrop and which evokes the Old West (the writers reference Mark Twain & Jack London, which seems apropos), and it’s all pretty fitting for Dark & Brooding Logan, Gruff But With A Heart Of Gold. The main thing that drives me honest-to-god bonkers — and which is in large part why I’m rating this so lowly — is superhero comics’ requisite fridging of a female love interest in order to drive his dark dark manly manpain. I mean, I’ve seen the movies, I know that that’s practically Wolverine’s #1 hallmark, but that doesn’t mean I’m not tired of it. I love character archetypes like his so much (I own Logan on Blu-Ray and I’ve seen it like five times and wept buckets every time), but I do wish we could all build them on different tropes going forward.
The most interesting thing for me was reading the background material that went into the making-of Wolverine’s origin, particularly the behind-the-scenes emails trying to beef up the plot. I hadn’t actually known that it took that long for Marvel to come up with a background for one of their most iconic characters, nor that it was the impending movies that finally jumpstarted their doing it, in order to beat the films to the punch. As a result of his background in coming so much later than the character himself, his details do feel a bit shoehorned in or like they’re ticking off a checklist to get through his origin: his claws, a fetish for redheads and love triangles, a fascination with Japan, the name Logan, the name Wolverine, Sabretooth, check check check. Reading some of the long long process that went into the writers beating around this story and throwing things against the wall to see what sticks, you can get a sense for why they initially struggled.
And did it work? Sort of. It’s a tragic drama set against a mountainous Canadian backdrop and which evokes the Old West (the writers reference Mark Twain & Jack London, which seems apropos), and it’s all pretty fitting for Dark & Brooding Logan, Gruff But With A Heart Of Gold. The main thing that drives me honest-to-god bonkers — and which is in large part why I’m rating this so lowly — is superhero comics’ requisite fridging of a female love interest in order to drive his dark dark manly manpain. I mean, I’ve seen the movies, I know that that’s practically Wolverine’s #1 hallmark, but that doesn’t mean I’m not tired of it. I love character archetypes like his so much (I own Logan on Blu-Ray and I’ve seen it like five times and wept buckets every time), but I do wish we could all build them on different tropes going forward.