Alternate Cover: How Much Wolverine is too much?

This week, Marvel announced the creation of yet another Wolverine comic. This series will be titled “Wolverine: Weapon X” and deal specifically with Logan’s past in the Weapon X project, tying into next summer’s big Marvel movie in much the same way this year’s launch of “Invincible Iron Man” did.

The thing is, while Iron Man already had his own ongoing comic, a second wasn’t exactly too much, especially for a character that was, in both the comics and mass media, at his most prominent for some time. By comparison, Wolverine is perhaps the most frequently-used character in all of Marveldom, already sporting THREE ongoing series to his name – Wolverine, Wolverine: Origins and Wolverine: First Class – as well as being part of the regular cast of both Uncanny X-Men and New Avengers.

Of course, characters have carried four simultaneous ongoing series before. Superman and Spider-Man both had their fair share – the question is whether or not you believe Wolverine is a strong enough character to carry this level of exposure. When you’ve been reading comics as long as me, it becomes clear that despite the vocal protestations of some fans, there is apparently no limit to the amount of Wolverine that buyers can stomach. If that’s what people want, are Marvel not duty-bound – at least to retailers and shareholders – to put the product on the shelves? All that should matter to readers is that it’s significantly original – so let’s examine the current “Wolverine” line:

“Wolverine” – one of Marvel’s longest-running ongoing series, Wolverine was launched in 1988 and ran for 189 issues before being relaunched with a new #1. Currently, the series has reached #69, making for a running total of 258 issues – more than a large number of Marvel’s other series. At present, this series tells self-contained arcs that often complement other, wider stories in the Marvel Universe, and with its revolving-door creative teams, is essentially a series of limited series numbered like an ongoing, and presumably sells better as a result. Pretty sneaky!

“Wolverine: First Class” – set out-of-continuity, this is an “all ages” Wolverine series that sees him partnered with a young Kitty Pryde. Designed to appeal to the “newsstand” crowd of casual buyers, stories tend to be one or two issues in length. While it is technically a Wolverine ongoing, its fringes-of-continuity status means that “hardcore” fans can still avoid it if they want to.

“Wolverine: Origins” – this is a true Wolverine ongoing series, with its own supporting cast and a single writer for the duration of its 30-issue (and counting) run. This series has a very similar title to the Wolverine movie released next year (which is called “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”) and tells stories rooted in the character’s mysterious past.

Now, the problem with the newly announced “Wolverine: Weapon X” is that it appears to have an identical remit to “Wolverine: Origins”. Those complaining about “too much Wolverine” might have a point, but let’s think again – does it not seem fairly likely that “Wolverine: Origins” will be canned by the end of 2009? After all, Marvel have shown in the past that they’re not above cancelling profitable comics in order to avoid diluting their market – especially when one seems redundant.

Consider, too, that the writer of “Weapon X”, Jason Aaron, is undoubtedly considered much hotter property than current “Origins” writer Daniel Way. “Weapon X” will be the book getting the promotional push during the movie season if only because of its new #1 issue. The signs are all there - a very similar situation saw “Iron Man” getting re-purposed into a “War Machine” series a few months after the far more successful “Invincible Iron Man” was released by a critically renowned writer off the back of a movie.

So, without wanting to stake my reputation on it or anything, it wouldn’t surprise me to see “Wolverine: Origins” wrapping up its story some time next year. I’m going into this with an open mind, and the hope that we may finally find out how much Wolverine is too much. The answer? Four books a month!

James writes Alternate Cover every Monday at Den Of Geek. His previous column can be found here.