Shout Outs! and Scream Ats! Special Wolverine Edition

by Matt


Welcome to a very special “Shout Out/Scream At!” column dedicated to my fellow Canadian Wolverine! With the new Wolverine movie coming out I am dedicated this column to what makes me a happy fanboy (Shout Outs!) and what frustrates me (Scream Ats!) about Wolverine.

SHOUT OUT! Hugh Jackman as Wolverine
I never thought in my wildest dreams that they could get an actor that could portray Wolverine the way Hugh Jackman did. And I cannot imagine anyone else playing Wolverine. Hugh was the third man cast for Wolverine, Russell Crowe was the first choice but he backed out due to the pay he was going to get. Dougray Scott was the second choice but he had to back out because of another movie he was filming. Hugh Jackman was the right choice and I knew it the moment I saw him.



SCREAM AT! Wolverine's claws
This drives me nuts to no end. Ever since the X-Men movie came out, Wolverine's claws have looked different. In the beginning, Wolverine's claws came out on top of his hands. Not in between his knuckles. Marvel claims that movies do not affect the comics but I call baloney on this one. I am old school, I think they looked cooler on top of the knuckles and not in the middle of them.





SHOUT OUT! Wolverine Declawed
It sure took Magneto a long time to finally just rip the metal out of Wolverine and I couldn't believe that it actually happened in X-Men #25. What I really liked about it is that it took Marvel a good chunk of time for the Adamantium to return. Wolverine without metal first appeared in Wolverine #75 and it took until issue #145 to get it back. That was about five years he had the bone claws! And that was another cool surprise seeing him pop the bone claws for the first time. I thought Marvel really showed some guts with this move. They first teased him getting his metal back with #100, which I liked because Wolverine chooses to be an animal than pay the price for getting the metal and that it swerved readers and the metal would not come back for another couple of years. Unfortunately he looked really, really stupid. No nose, really hairy arms, he walked like an ape and wore a bandana. Ugh, that part was just horrible and I was glad it didn't last that long.

SCREAM AT! Daken Overdose
I didn't mind the addition of Daken in Wolverine: Origins but he is wearing out his welcome. Wolverine is overexposed but at least I like that character and I never felt in the beginning that he was forced down my throat the way Daken is. Marvel is trying to hard to make me like him by throwing him all over the place. To be fair, I do like that he is part of Dark Avengers but I am not happy that he is taking the best Wolverine costume with him!




SHOUT OUT! Wolverine: First Class
This series makes me laugh. I don't consider this series to be canonical and I think that is what makes me like it. There is nothing mind blowing about this series but I enjoy it quite a bit. I really like that his relationship with Kitty feels like it got its start here. Issue #6 is my favorite. Wolverine has to babysit Kitty, Siryn and Amp (the girl they rescued in the first issue) and all he wants to do is watch the hockey game. And of course, that doesn't happen. This book is just harmless fun.



SCREAM AT! Wolverine "Enemy of the State"
I did enjoy Mark Millar and John Romita Jr's run on the book quite a bit. Romita was the main pull for me and I was not disappointed. The story was like a summer action picture and I was in for the ride. The thing that really bugged me about this run was Wolverine killing Northstar. I didn't mind that Millar had Wolverine killing a teammate but I think it was not as a big deal as Millar thought it was. Wolverine killed a teammate but he did not kill someone he was extremely close too. Wolverine never served with Northstar in Alpha Flight, Wolverine was before his time. Northstar and Wolverine were not friends, they were co-workers at best. They never hung out together and Northstar was barely a member of the X-Men when he was killed. It would have made the impact Millar wanted if only Millar was able to kill someone that meant more to Wolverine. I can think of at least five other Alpha Flight members that would have meant more to him than Northstar. Now I am not saying it was not traumatic, it just wasn't as big as Millar and Marvel hyped.

Wolverine still ranks as one of my favorite characters and no matter what happens to him, I will still want to read about it.