4. Wolverine: Origins
Writer: Daniel Way Artist: Steve Dillon
Wolverines past was originally a mystery nobody knew who he really was, where he came from, how old he was, least of all Wolverine himself whose memory was wiped out by a secret government agency. Over the years though his past has been coloured in from Jemas/Jenkins/Kuberts Origin which revealed his childhood as a sickly 19th century child growing up on a Canadian plantation to various other books that pick up Logans story at different points over the years explaining how he got the adamantium claws, etc. Daniel Ways series Origins kicked off with the concept: what if Logan got ALL of his memories back? What if he found out about all of the unsavoury missions hed been brainwashed into doing and knew the people who had used him? And what if he found out that he had a son The Origins series is a story of fathers and sons and revenge like Wolverine getting revenge on his former handlers who used him as Weapon X during the Cold War against his will. Moreover Way makes his biggest contribution to Wolverines history by creating his son Daken, the Dark Wolverine. Daken inherited his fathers healing factor and bone claws but grew up hating his absent father, thanks largely to mental conditioning from an early age by one of Wolverines enemies. The series sees Wolverine dealing with the revelations of his past and his sons sudden appearance, especially as said son is looking for a material called carbonadium the only known material that can cause permanent damage against Wolverines healing factor to bond it with his bone claws to kill his dad. Throw in numerous heroes and villains along the way: the X-Men, Captain America, Deadpool, Omega Red, Nuke, and many more, and youve got one action packed series. The first few books illustrated by Steve Dillon are the best and bloodiest and differ markedly from Jason Aarons more playful stories by being completely serious. Its nevertheless a solid read and well worth a look if youre looking for a long Wolverine series thats readily available.