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Wolverine (1988) #134
Wolverine vs the Marvel Universe
Wolverine vs the Marvel Universe Comic Book
356 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1992
116 people are currently reading
75 people want to read
About the author
Mark Gruenwald
920 books44 followersGruenwald got his start in comics fandom, publishing his own fanzine, Omniverse, which explored the concept of continuity. Before being hired by Marvel, he wrote text articles for DC Comics official fanzine, The Amazing World of DC Comics. Articles by Gruenwald include "The Martian Chronicles" (a history of the Martian Manhunter) in issue #13 and several articles on the history of the Justice League in issue #14.
In 1978 he was hired by Marvel Comics, where he remained for the rest of his career. Hired initially as an assistant editor in January 1978, Gruenwald was promoted to full editorship by Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter in 1982, putting Gruenwald in charge of The Avengers, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Spider Woman, and What If. During this period, he shared an office with writer/editor Denny O'Neil, whom Gruenwald considered a mentor.
In 1982, Gruenwald, Steven Grant, and Bill Mantlo co-wrote Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions, the first limited seriespublished by Marvel Comics. As a writer, Gruenwald is best known for creating the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and his ten-year stint as the writer of Captain America during which he contributed several notable characters such as Crossbones, Diamondback and U.S. Agent. He made a deliberate effort to create villains who would be specific to Captain America, as opposed to generic foes who could as easily have been introduced in another comic.
His 60-issue run on Quasar realized Gruenwald's ambition to write his own kind of superhero. However, he considered his magnum opus to be the mid-1980s 12-issue miniseries Squadron Supreme, which told the story of an alternate universe where a group of well-intended superheroes decide that they would be best suited to run the planet
In 1978 he was hired by Marvel Comics, where he remained for the rest of his career. Hired initially as an assistant editor in January 1978, Gruenwald was promoted to full editorship by Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter in 1982, putting Gruenwald in charge of The Avengers, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Spider Woman, and What If. During this period, he shared an office with writer/editor Denny O'Neil, whom Gruenwald considered a mentor.
In 1982, Gruenwald, Steven Grant, and Bill Mantlo co-wrote Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions, the first limited seriespublished by Marvel Comics. As a writer, Gruenwald is best known for creating the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and his ten-year stint as the writer of Captain America during which he contributed several notable characters such as Crossbones, Diamondback and U.S. Agent. He made a deliberate effort to create villains who would be specific to Captain America, as opposed to generic foes who could as easily have been introduced in another comic.
His 60-issue run on Quasar realized Gruenwald's ambition to write his own kind of superhero. However, he considered his magnum opus to be the mid-1980s 12-issue miniseries Squadron Supreme, which told the story of an alternate universe where a group of well-intended superheroes decide that they would be best suited to run the planet
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 15, 2025
A lot of these have the same formula. Wolverine is on the trail of a bad guy. Other Marvel hero is on the track of the same person. Two heroes paths meet and they think the other is a bad dude even though they've more than likely met before. They fight, then team up to get the bad guy.
The Good: Spiderman vs. Wolverine. Jim Owsley (Christopher Priest) wrote a fantastic book here and it still holds up. Wolvie Vs the Marvel U. Half the Marvel universe gets turned into cannibals and Wolverine is left to protect what's left of the human race.
The Bad: There's some real clunkers here too. Ann Nocenti's run on Daredevil sent to book into the toilet behind Hell's Kitchen.
The Ugly: Half the comic nerds I knew had that cover of Incredible Hulk #340 on their bedroom wall. McFarlane at his best. But the book itself is kind of clunky. Sam Keith's Wolverine art is weird and funky, but that story is funky as chicken that's been in the back of the fridge for too long.
The Good: Spiderman vs. Wolverine. Jim Owsley (Christopher Priest) wrote a fantastic book here and it still holds up. Wolvie Vs the Marvel U. Half the Marvel universe gets turned into cannibals and Wolverine is left to protect what's left of the human race.
The Bad: There's some real clunkers here too. Ann Nocenti's run on Daredevil sent to book into the toilet behind Hell's Kitchen.
The Ugly: Half the comic nerds I knew had that cover of Incredible Hulk #340 on their bedroom wall. McFarlane at his best. But the book itself is kind of clunky. Sam Keith's Wolverine art is weird and funky, but that story is funky as chicken that's been in the back of the fridge for too long.
July 7, 2020
I probably had 4 stars worth of fun over how bad a lot of this is, but objectively it is probably a 3 star collection with some 1 star moments. Thoughts on each story follow.
-Cap vs Wolverine (1985): the title bout last a couple of pages, then they team up to fight the love child of The Iron Giant and a Sentinel. The bad guy's motivation is that his son went into a catatonic state from thinking about how bad nuclear weapons could be for humanity. "Nuclear psychosis the doctors called it."
-Daredevil vs. Wolverine (1987): The greatest part is when the bad guy takes a break to watch a Looney Toons short in a theater where homeless people are sleeping. And then he references the cartoon in his mayhem.
-Spider-man vs W (1987): I had heard about this. It is pretty goofy and there is some contrived fight across the Berlin wall. It is kind of boring, but the end with the moral quandary and resultant angst that Spider-man is put through is worth the price of admission.
-Hulk vs W. (1988) - Boring. Interesting to see some pretty bad and ugly early Todd McFarlane art though.
- Venom vs. W (1992) - Very interesting and the reason I came to this party. 1 year before The Maxx debuted, you can see all of the major beats here in Sam Keith's art. I am not sure if Mackie wrote what Keith wanted to draw or if Keith reworked Mackie's story into the Maxx the following year.
-Avengers and New Warriors vs. Wolverine (1999) - crappy roster of heroes to fight in this era of these teams. The biggest chore to get through of the bunch.
-Thor vs W (2010) - a digital exclusive reprinted here. Surprisingly good. I won't spoil too much, but you get to see a vision of Sabretooth pretending to be Thor. Very fun, though fast and stupid. In the Straczynski era of Thor.
-Zombies vs W. (2011) - I read this a long time ago. I did not care for it then. I skimmed it to remember why. Boring and drawn out attempt at Marvel Zombies the year after it had already worn out its welcome.
-Cap vs Wolverine (1985): the title bout last a couple of pages, then they team up to fight the love child of The Iron Giant and a Sentinel. The bad guy's motivation is that his son went into a catatonic state from thinking about how bad nuclear weapons could be for humanity. "Nuclear psychosis the doctors called it."
-Daredevil vs. Wolverine (1987): The greatest part is when the bad guy takes a break to watch a Looney Toons short in a theater where homeless people are sleeping. And then he references the cartoon in his mayhem.
-Spider-man vs W (1987): I had heard about this. It is pretty goofy and there is some contrived fight across the Berlin wall. It is kind of boring, but the end with the moral quandary and resultant angst that Spider-man is put through is worth the price of admission.
-Hulk vs W. (1988) - Boring. Interesting to see some pretty bad and ugly early Todd McFarlane art though.
- Venom vs. W (1992) - Very interesting and the reason I came to this party. 1 year before The Maxx debuted, you can see all of the major beats here in Sam Keith's art. I am not sure if Mackie wrote what Keith wanted to draw or if Keith reworked Mackie's story into the Maxx the following year.
-Avengers and New Warriors vs. Wolverine (1999) - crappy roster of heroes to fight in this era of these teams. The biggest chore to get through of the bunch.
-Thor vs W (2010) - a digital exclusive reprinted here. Surprisingly good. I won't spoil too much, but you get to see a vision of Sabretooth pretending to be Thor. Very fun, though fast and stupid. In the Straczynski era of Thor.
-Zombies vs W. (2011) - I read this a long time ago. I did not care for it then. I skimmed it to remember why. Boring and drawn out attempt at Marvel Zombies the year after it had already worn out its welcome.
November 20, 2023
Well... it's a hodge-podge. Some excellent, some sub-par. The cannibal story is great though the art is more like a high schooler's scribbling imho and for me, the conclusion to that story, was under-whelming.
November 18, 2019
An uneven anthology of Marvel's flagship character. Some of the stories are complete, others are unfinished, and a few are just fragments of a wider narrative. The quality runs the gamut from riveting to random to ridiculous and the whole things felt undercooked in the end.
August 1, 2024
honestly didnt think this was gonna turn into a zombie thing and i wasnt lookin to read marvel zombies i wanted wolverine killin folks just cus. i liked the classic hulk and the vs venom but the rest was just okay
November 30, 2024
the spider-man part was 5/5 brilliant
the zombies part was like 4/5 i loved the zombies omnibus it had the same vibes
but the rest was like,,,2/5 at most
so im just gonna give the collection 3.5/5
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
the zombies part was like 4/5 i loved the zombies omnibus it had the same vibes
but the rest was like,,,2/5 at most
so im just gonna give the collection 3.5/5
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
February 19, 2019
Fun but too hit-or-miss to completely fall in love with.
March 23, 2024
Fun read
I love a good Wolverine story. This is quite a set of them. Give them a shot. Please give them a read.
I love a good Wolverine story. This is quite a set of them. Give them a shot. Please give them a read.
November 18, 2024
Some good stories and some weak ones. Likewise with the art which is hit and miss at times. Not the best Wolverine collection although his early encounter with Captain America is interesting.
June 29, 2025
A lot of partial stories and unconnected threads with no end. They meant to say Wolverine vs the Marvel Universe part 1?
March 28, 2017
A good reprinting of Several of Wolverines best conflicts with other hero's. I had been looking for a copy of Captain America Annual #8 for a while for nostalgia sake, this also has one of my favorite Wolverine and hulk battles, and the very good Spiderman vs Wolverine.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews