Wolverine - Prehistory

 

This is another compendium/graphic novel that I picked up at a great price from our pal Kevin at the Founder's Club Punk Rock Flea Market (thanks Christy, for setting that up!). As the title would imply, these stories are ones that take place before Logan/Wolverine becomes part of the X-Men. I don't know if Logan's age has ever been confirmed but he is considerably older than he looks - another by-product of his healing powers, I assume - and has gone through literal wars (plural) before teaming up with Xavier and company.

There are lots of great and varied talent in these pages, with writers and pencilers that I am unfamiliar with to stars of the genre like the amazing Neal Adams. In here, Logan travels the world, from Pioneer days dealing with North American Indigenous people, fighting literal monsters and gaining his namesake, to fighting Nazis from within their concentration camps (in which he reconstitutes himself - more than once - after being cremated, which seems extreme, even for his healing powers) and fighting their version of a super-soldier, which is a literal werewolf, to inter dimensional beings (probably my least favorite tale here) to working with Carol Danvers to uncover a plot to expose the growing "mutant menace", where he discovers who and what he is while also learning of the Hellfire Club.

From there, Logan attempts to create his own, early version of what would become the X-Men, teaming up with Sabertooth and guilting Xavier, who at the time was simply a college student who wanted to be left alone. Of course, things don't work out as planned and Wolv-y declares that he's going solo from now on. Obviously, that doesn't take, either, and he has various team-ups, including a fun one with Ben Grimm and, once again, Carol Danvers.

Not every tale is a winner, but overall, this has some great stories and nice variations on the theme. I definitely enjoyed the interactions with characters we would come to know in later years. Overall, well done and a good way to flesh out this popular character's "prehistory".