Wolverine Crash Course
Wolverine is the best there is at what he does and what he does isn’t very nice. Wolverine is one of the flagship characters of Marvel Comics, and has been a household name longer than I’ve been alive.
His appeal comes from the man vs. beast struggle within him. Sometimes he’s a primal hunter resorting to violence over all things, while other times he can be the biggest lover boy and mentor there is on the entire X-Men roster.
The complexities of Wolverine, known also as Logan, and his trauma are what have made him a continuously explorable hero for teams to tell stories about. My list below is recommendations on where to start and where to dig into from there, with picks that try to capture different facets of who the character is.
Section 01
The Bread
The Essentials
Section 02
The Meat
Digging Deeper
Section 03
The Special Sauce
Hidden Gems
Start here
The Bread
This is the stuff that makes Wolverine who he is, the essential reads that shaped Logan into the icon we know today. Start here before venturing anywhere else.
Wolverine (1982) #1-4
Chris Claremont
Sabretooth’s Birthday Surprise – Wolverine (1988) #10
Chris Claremont
Weapon X – Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #72-84
Barry Windsor-Smith
The Shiva Scenario – Wolverine (1988) #48-50
Larry Hama
The Blueprint
Wolverine (1982) #1-4
Written by Chris Claremont · Art by Frank Miller, Josef Rubinstein
This is THE Wolverine story, bub. Chris Claremont and Frank Miller define who Logan is in this 4-issue limited series, as he chases the woman he loves through Japan only to find she’s married to another. What unfolds explores love, loss, and honor, giving us a much more nuanced look at Wolverine’s moral compass. The book also features some of Frank Miller’s best work, with incredible fight scenes and pacing that turned Wolverine from a bit player into a main character who’d feature on every hero roster in the Marvel Universe.
The Nemesis
Sabretooth’s Birthday Surprise – Wolverine (1988) #10
Written by Chris Claremont · Art by John Buscema, Bill Sienkiewicz
Before we get into the Weapon X of it all, here’s a pit stop at the most horrific holiday tradition in comics. Sabretooth is Wolverine’s nemesis, his Joker in many ways, the polar opposite of what Wolverine stands for. This issue shows the origin of Sabretooth’s birthday tradition for Wolverine, seeing him try to kill Logan or deliver him the gift of killing someone he loves. It’s a twisted issue, but a good indicator of the bullshit Wolverine is always going through that gives him such a gruff exterior.
The Transformation
Weapon X – Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #72-84
Written and Art by Barry Windsor-Smith · Letters by Jim Novak
Barry Windsor-Smith created this entire Weapon X serial single-handedly (with an assist on co-lettering by Jim Novak), crafting an abstract, body-horror-drenched tale of Wolverine’s transformation into a living weapon. It was light years ahead of its time, packed full of the form and storytelling that made Windsor-Smith a master of the art form. So many stories connect back to this one, making it an essential read whichever way you look at it.
The Reckoning
The Shiva Scenario – Wolverine (1988) #48-50
Written by Larry Hama · Art by Marc Silvestri, Dan Green
A three-part story that picks up the Weapon X thread in the ‘present day’ for Logan of the early 90s, forcing him to return and face the program that changed him forever. It introduces much of the memory-implantation material you may already know, giving a deeper look at how the Weapon X program manipulated Wolverine after his escape by revealing just how much of what he knows about himself is a falsehood.
Go deeper
The Meat
Once you’ve got the essentials down, here’s where you dig deeper into who Logan really is, from headmaster to hunted man, in stories big and small.
Enemy of the State – Wolverine (2003) #20-25
Mark Millar
Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure (1990) #1
Walt Simonson
Wolverine and the X-Men (2011) #1-3
Jason Aaron
Birthday Boy – The Amazing Spider-Man: Extra! (2008) #2
Zeb Wells
Wolverine by Larry Hama – Wolverine (1988) #31-118
Larry Hama
Wolverine by Ben Percy – Wolverine (2020) #1-50
Ben Percy
The Weapon
Enemy of the State – Wolverine (2003) #20-25
Written by Mark Millar · Art by John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson
Wolverine has always been treated as a weapon by those around him, whether he or they realize it, the answer to problems people don’t want to solve. In this story the Hand and Hydra get ahold of him and brainwash him into becoming their weapon. There’s a great inner monologue throughout of Logan fighting back against what they want him to be, a manifestation of him proving, again and again, that he’s not a monster but a man.
The King
Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure (1990) #1
Written by Walt Simonson · Art by Mike Mignola, Bob Wiacek
Holy moley, Mike Mignola art on a Wolverine story, written by THE Walt Simonson. It’s an extremely fun story of Wolverine accidentally taking over a tribe in the Savage Land. As he always does, he finds love and starts to care for the people around him, while figuring out the threat he went there to find. It’s a great look at Logan as more than the superhero we usually see, with a killer Apocalypse design from Mignola thrown in for good measure.
The Headmaster
Wolverine and the X-Men (2011) #1-3
Written by Jason Aaron · Art by Chris Bachalo
The Headmaster Wolverine era of Marvel Comics is a concept still ripe for exploration: taking the rough and gruff furball that is Logan and putting him in charge of a new school of young mutants. These first few issues see Logan’s first foray into becoming a better leader of mutantkind, stepping into a role he was always destined for, with some great school bits, schedules, and humor throughout the full run.
The Tragedy
Birthday Boy – The Amazing Spider-Man: Extra! (2008) #2
Written by Zeb Wells · Art by Paola Rivera
From happy to outright heartbreaking, we’re back to Wolverine’s birthday. This is one of the most tragic Wolverine stories in a unique way. Wolverine pretty much forces Spider-Man to hang out in a dive bar under the guise of needing help, and it ends up just being so he doesn’t spend the rest of his birthday alone. The reason he invited Spider-Man specifically is the real gut-punch, and one worth reading for yourself.
The Definitive Run
Wolverine by Larry Hama – Wolverine (1988) #31-118
Written by Larry Hama · Art by Marc Silvestri and more
If you’d rather dive in at the deep end with something much longer, this is where to start. Larry Hama’s run on Wolverine, from #31 all the way to #118, is my favourite of the character, and it’s the run that made him the flagship character you know today. If Claremont and Miller’s Wolverine is the birth of the real Wolverine, this is his first steps toward everything that came after.
The Modern Era
Wolverine by Ben Percy – Wolverine (2020) #1-50
Written by Ben Percy · Art by Adam Kubert and more
The other modern series worth reading front-to-back is Benjamin Percy’s run, starting in the Krakoan Era with Wolverine (2020) #1 and going all the way through to #50. It’s a great jumping-on point for a modern Wolverine story and a look at who Logan is lately, with some great events and tie-ins along the way. Worth reading House of X/Powers of X first for a little extra context on the state of Mutantdom.
The hidden gems
The Special Sauce
Beyond the essentials, there’s a whole lot of Wolverine worth exploring, whether that’s a whole different medium or a quieter story that still captures who he is at his core.
Wolverine: The Long Night (2018) Ep. 1-10
Benjamin Percy
The Incredible Hulk #340
Peter David
Save the Tiger – Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #1-10
Chris Claremont
Sleight of Hand – Black Cat (2019) #9-10
Jed MacKay
Wounded Wolf – Uncanny X-Men (1980) #205
Chris Claremont
The Cryptid
Wolverine: The Long Night (2018) Ep. 1-10
Written by Benjamin Percy · Directed by Brendan Baker
Not a traditional suggestion, but this audio drama podcast, written by Benjamin Percy, is the story that made me fall in love with Wolverine enough to go back and read most of his appearances up through the 90s. It follows FBI agents investigating a string of brutal, unexplained deaths in an isolated Alaskan logging town, with Wolverine (played by Richard Armitage) treated almost like a cryptid, lurking at the edge of scenes. The Long Night and its sequel, The Lost Trail, are well worth a listen.
The Foil
The Incredible Hulk #340
Written by Peter David · Art by Todd McFarlane
‘I’ve spent my entire life vacillating between doing what I should do and what I want to do. Between duty and desire.’ That quote applies to both Hulk and Wolverine, and it’s why this issue is a must-read. This meeting of Hulk and Wolverine, while not their first, happens almost completely by chance, with the Hulk bringing out the primal side of Logan with such fury. The two serve as good foils for one another, showing how both of them can never get further than they think they have as people.
The Patch Origin
Save the Tiger – Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #1-10
Written by Chris Claremont · Art by John Buscema, Klaus Janson
A classic Wolverine story with all the elements you’d expect: a guy with literal knives for hands, a beautiful woman from his past, and Madripoor. This is classic Claremont-era Wolverine fun, and it introduces some big elements to the character, including the origin of Patch, Wolverine’s coolest and most suave secret undercover identity (he wears an eye patch).
The Heist
Sleight of Hand – Black Cat (2019) #9-10
Written by Jed MacKay · Art by Kris Anka
Black Cat goes to steal a painting from a ‘Mr. Patch’ in Madripoor, fully unaware that Mr. Patch is just Wolverine. Most of the time with Wolverine we’re digging into the man-or-beast narrative or scorned people from his past; this, alternatively, is a very fun story where Wolverine gets to be silly with his friend Black Cat, featuring the best gag use of Wolverine in any comic, plus gorgeous Kris Anka art.
The Quiet Moment
Wounded Wolf – Uncanny X-Men (1980) #205
Written by Chris Claremont · Art by Barry Windsor-Smith
A great spotlight for Wolverine, though it does touch on some X-Men-specific ideas like the Body Shop that may confuse new readers. Barry Windsor-Smith is on art duties, which alone makes it worth reading, but it’s also a more quiet look at Wolverine’s core on his roughest days, the days he still chooses to be good. Wolverine is an extremely complicated character who can easily be made one-dimensional, so stories that take the time to dive into his complexities like this one deserve to be read.
Wolverine has decades of stories behind him, and it’s impossible to capture them all in one list. If there’s a Logan story that means something to you that didn’t make the cut, let us know!
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