Wolverine Classic, Vol. 1

Wolverine Classic #1

by Chris Claremont, John Buscema

He's known by many names: Logan, Weapon X, Wolverine. One fact is certain: He's the best there is at what he does, and what he does isn't pretty! Here - in stories collected for the first time in color - the feral X-Man adopts his now-infamous Patch identity in Madripoor as he tries to track down the mystical Black Sword. Ages 12+

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, X Men, Comic Book, Superheroes, Fiction

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Chris Claremont is a writer of American comic books, best known for his 16-year (1975-1991) stint on Uncanny X-Men, during which the series became one of the comic book industry's most successful properties.

Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.

Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. This initial run of the first ongoing monthly solo title for Wolverine lands somewhere smack dab in the middle of "okay" and "good" (hence the 2.5 stars). From the standpoint of the potential for a solo title involving Wolverine, this is a disappointment (given the high expectations). However, taken on its own mertis, it is a decent read.

[Ramón S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I put 4 stars because John Buscema.
He is a master and a great artist. I enjoyed the drawing and the composition of each page.
It's a good comic book of adventures . And yes, its becoming a classic

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wolverine's first volume of his first long running series is...decent.

So after some major events, Logan is now Patch. He wants the world to think wolverine is dead, so in doing so, he takes on underground type missions. One of his first missions is to safe Jessica Drew, AKA, Spider-Woman. Along the way we get to see the Silver Samurai as well as the next adventure beginning with two creatures, one a musclehead bulldozer and a vampire like person.

The thing is these aren't all that amazing. It's simple adventures, a little noir flavor, but it doesn't have the grit I want from a solo wolverine comic. Not to mention, and I know not a lot will agree with me, but Chris Claremont overwrites scenes. Too much internal dialogue ruining fight scenes that otherwise could be simple and effective. I also think him recapping his own series every issue can be real annoying.

Overall though I didn't hate read it. They were fun enough, Wolverine...I mean Patch was cool enough as a hero. it just feels very typical late 80's, early 90's action star and I want more from a Wolverine comic is all. a 3 out of 5.

[William Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chris Claremont was writing pretty much every X book Marvel had on the market around this time, and I can't thank him enough for removing the Wolverine title from regular X-Men affairs. Setting it overseas, far away from Westchester, was the best possible decision he could have made.

Others may see these issues as soft, but I enjoyed the pulp feel of the book, and the addition of Wolverine's Japanese stories. It's more espionage and stealth than anything else, and we see Wolverine acting more like Nick Fury, but I love it. We get away from Inferno and Madeline Pryor and everything else going on with all of the New Mutants and instead get to just enjoy 'Patch' in what really looks to be his natural environment.

Grade: A

[Garrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

A better collection than the Frank Miller one.

[Frédéric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just like the title says: classic. 3.5*

Classic isn’t an obscenity. Here it means solid stuff, done by seasoned professionals. It won’t blow up your mind but it won’t let you down either.

Dig this: Chris Claremont writes a classic- eh - adventure plot with a Wolvie in great shape. I’ll turn a blind eye-pun intended- on the hilariously stupid idea that nobody recognizes him because of a simple patch on one eye. World class disguise, indeed.
That done you can enjoy pure old-fashioned entertaining action, like they did back in the day. Claremont’s take on Wolverine, whether in X-Men or in this series clearly defined the character for the decades to come. The 80’s were arguably his best years.

On the artboard nothing but top artists: John Buscema on pencils and either Al Williamson or Klaus Janson on inks. Some may say their style is dated and they may be right but one simple fact remains: these guys could draw anything with grace and talent and I know more than one artist of these last few years who could (should) take lessons from them.
Colours on the other hand are horrible. I think I lost some eyesight in the process.

I reckon you will enjoy these books more if like me you grew up in the 80’s but good stuff never goes out of style.

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rough start, but often they are

[Labyrinth Rossiter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Features the "Patch" persona in fictional Madripoor. Guest stars Jessica Drew/Spider Woman. First story is about the "Black Sword" that possesses its owner until it finds the right one. Silver Samarai makes an appearance and is actually like-able here. Second story begins Wolverine's entanglement in a gang war. There are 2 mutant assassins introduced, called Roughhouse and Bloodsport, who are capable of giving Wolverine some trouble. Karma, from The New Mutants, also makes an appearance. Wolverine's "I'm the best at what I do, and what I do isn't very nice," sums up the mood of these tales. I found myself turning pages and smiling. Wolvie's in his element, and he's the ultimate action hero.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally got around to reading Wolverines first ongoing series. Pretty good story here. Issues 1-3 were about the black sword featuring Jessica Drew and Silver Samurai. Some cool sword fight sequences and a rescue attempt. Issues 4-5, wolverine is dealing with the crime lords in Madripoor fighting for position of power. “Patch” and a friend infiltrate a opium warehouse. Some nice action there. Overall, I dug the story. Volume 2 up next.

[Adam Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

As you read through most Wolverine books, you can make a checklist:

Searches for something from his past
Runs into someone he loves/loved
Somehow ends up in Madripoor or Japan
Fights someone with claws or magic swords
Kills a bunch of ninjas

You'll usually check ever box. And this is the first book where that's true. Wolverine goes to Madripoor to help an old friend, who dies. He then uses his Patch identity to help Spider-Woman and friends to intercept a magic sword before The Silver Samurai and Viper get it.

The highlight of this volume is seeing Patch/Wolverine's story through the lens of Lindsay Maccabe (Spider-Woman's friend and roommate). She gets delightfully drunk and sometimes helps/sometimes hinders Wolverine's quest to snatch the magic sword before The Silver Samurai.

If you're a Spider-Woman or Silver Samurai fan, this is a Must Read. If you like early Wolverine, this is okay. But it's not a book I plan on reading again.

[hln · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great. Start to wolverine

Such a great start to original wolverine series. Edgy, awesome storyline of wolverine doing solo missions not super mutant centric either. It was a good change of pace from other x titles.

[Indika de Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adventures of good ol Patch in Mandipoor...

Very interesting, camp and non-lethal.

An enjoyable read...

[Richard Schaefer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pulpy and fun, art and writing that mesh well tonally, but still far from amazing.

[Kurt Rocourt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow start

It start the Wolverine regular series but it does so slowly. The end of this book isn’t even the end of the actual story. It’s fine but just that.

[Du4 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm amazed at how awful this book is. I picked up a bunch of these out of nostalgia for the old Claremont days of UNCANNY X-MEN, where everyone thought the X-Men were dead, nobody knew what was going on with all the dangling plot threads... and Wolverine had this awesome double life on a tiny Indonesian island called Madripoor where he adopted the identity of "Patch."

Twenty years later, this is pretty fucking retarded. Nobody recognizes Wolvie because he put an EYEPATCH on??? Nobody recognized the claws? The weird hairdo? Ugh. Terrible comics. It also astounds me that Marvel would launch Wolverine in his first ongoing series and not put him in costume until well into the series.

Worst of all is the art. Jon Buscema, I don't know who you are but you need to never draw comics again. I know this type of style was acceptable back in the '80s/'90s, but really? AWFUL shit. I mean, freshmanly awful shit. What is that over Logan's eyes, pantyhose?

I hate how much I hate this. Because it's a cool concept, and there are some GREAT materials here for ongoing stories: Logan in his fedora (which Buscema draws like it's a porkpie hat, fucker), Logan's stake in the Princess Bar, the Casablanca cast of characters, etc. It doesn't pick up for the better until much later in the series, which is a damn shame.

[Rick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I suppose I should first say that I'm not big fan of Wolverine. He's marginally less ridiculous than characters like Deadpool, Cable & the Punisher, but only marginally. I mean how serious can you take a character who's constantly having to reinforce his own sense of self-esteem by insesently claiming that he's the best there is at what he does, but what he does isn't pretty. Also this series was no where near as well done as the earlier one that Claremont did with Frank Miller. This time around Claremont and John Buscema are going for a gangster noir flavor and it almost works. Almost. The problem is that Claremont had become so burnt out on the X-Men that all the characters "sound" the same. Each and every character has the same syntax of dialogue and their lines are virtually interchangeable. This leaves every character sounding like a 10 year old with self-worth issues.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Black Blade (1-3). Claremont makes better use of the Madripoor setting in this follow-up to its Marvel Comics Present's premiere, probably in part because he's no longer writing in 8-page segments. However, this story is also written slightly better and feels more connected to the previous Wolverine mini-series ... though Claremont continues to skirt the line of self-parody. Still, the supporting cast is nice and the plot line is a good one [6/10].

Gang Wars (4-6). Claremont continues to nicely increase his supporting cast in this second story. Some of them are pretty silly, like Roughhouse and Bloodsport, but we also get the return of Karma and the general state of the gangs on the island. Though this story starts out a bit slow, the final issue is a nice bit of action [6/10]. (Sadly, that last issue is cut out of this volume because Marvel was stupidly dividing Claremont's Wolverine run in half, whether it made sense or not. So you'll need to continue straight on to Volume 2 to get the complete story ... and the continuing narrative in issues 7-8.)

[David Kiersh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I originally read these comics when I was 10 years old. I had a great time rereading these as an adult. I always loved John Buscema's art but is rare that he is drawing stories that don't feature costumed superheroes. I also appreciate the Japanese setting that Claremont has set these stories in. Al Williamson and Klaus Janson's inking compliment Buscema's style really well.

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure which is more important: artwork or story. Here story was okay, but drawn by another artist I may have liked it better. Not saying the artist was bad, just didn't feel like it fit. Not as some reviewed, but not great either. Lowered expectations to the thinking of picking this up.

[C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its Wolverine, so he kicks ass. Its Claremont when he was writting half a dozen x-stories am month, so its not terribly inspired.

[Jostalady · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one is alright. I enjoy Wolverine, but this has several incidents where he deliberately went into his animal berserk mode, and I like to think that he tried to use his other skills more heavily.