Header image by Jim Lee, Scott Williams and Alex Sinclair
Big week this week on the superhero front, never mind the re-releases of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Terminator 2 Judgement Day, and some card game or other celebrated its 30th anniversary. The 15th of September saw the launch of Wolverine’s latest digital sojourn courtesy of Insomniac and the 19th is Batman day
Wolvie has possibly (?) become Marvel’s most popular character, rivalling Spider Man, though up until recently definitely had more success in the cinema (even with that upstart Deadpool doing great numbers). And he’s Canadian, not even from the USA.
Art by Frank Miller
Since his first full appearance debut in Incredible Hulk 181 (he had a cameo in 180), he’s changed a bit. Created by writer Len Wein, Herb Trimpe first drew him on the comic page, but his look was designed by Spiderman artist John Romita Sr. Originally his creators considered that he was a little hard guy with claws in his gloves rather than the tortured mutant with extendable stabbing appendages we know and love today.
Art by Herb Trimpe
He got purloined by co-creator Len Wein for the relaunch of the then failing X Men title, debuting in Giant Size X Men 1 , drawn by Dave Cockrum. Wolverine joined the new team of X -Men who set out to rescue the original team from the living island of Krakoa and despite being a loner, has been a team member ever (almost) ever since.
Art by Gil Kane and Dave Cockrum
Once Chris Claremont (plot / script) and John Byrne (plot / art) they allude to Wolvie’s complex and mysterious background, dropping hints and red herrings as to his origin, but it’s not completely revealed in the comics for decades. Claremont and his artistic collaborators can take credit for developing the character and helped solidify his current personality, and such was his popularity he eventually spun off into his own critically acclaimed 4 issue mini series, and various ongoing series.
Wolverine is very old, which is just as well as the creative teams who have worked on the character have given him a lot to fit in.
Art By Barry Windsor Smith
He’s a samurai, he’s had time with the Hand – the shadowy ninja organisation introduced in the pages of Daredevil, he’s been an agent of the intelligence service SHIELD, fought in World War 2, worked for the CIA, the Canadian Secret Service. He’s been experimented on and given an adamantium skeleton, lost it (following a particularly excruciating encounter with Magneto), and got it back, fathered children who subsequently sought revenge on him. He’s worked with Nick Fury, been brainwashed countless times, been an Avenger, teamed up with the other gritted teeth heroes of the MCU (Punisher, Ghost Rider etc) and led the X-Men and X-Force. Like all good superheroes, he’s died at least once (and at least for quite a while), also like all good superheroes, he’s got a list as long as your arm of arch enemies, Cyber, Lady Deathstrike, Omega Red, at some point his own son, Daken, , and of course, mortal enemy Sabretooth.
Art By Jorge Molina and Dean White
For all his bloodthirsty and aggressive nature constantly battling his feral nature , he’s quite a paternal chap, mentoring the X-Men Shadowcat and Jubilee and his clone X23. He even opened his own school for mutants, named after his unrequited love, Jean Grey.
Wolverine’s popularity remains undiminished, but it’s only with the X Men and his solo silver screen appearances has he really reached public consciousness as his older Marvel stablemates.
Don't forget to check out Wolverine and X men related merch' here.
In the meantime, September the 19th is Batman day.
Where there may be some question over whether Wolverine is the most popular Marvel character, there is no doubt that Batman is the most popular DC character.
Art by Bob Kane
Unlike Wolverine who hasn’t changed that much and for years his origin is a mystery, Bats’ has remained roughly the same and set fairly early on. Young Bruce Wayne’s parents were shot in front of him after leaving a showing of Zorro at a Gotham City cinema. Using his inherited fortune, he trains for years to become the Bat-Man (as he was known originally) to fight crime and strike fear into the criminal fraternity.
Art By David Mazzuchelli & Richmond Lewis
The origin story has been done to death, but Batman as a character has had many interpretations and versions. From the Dark Knight of the 40s, to the avuncular, upstanding citizen of the 50s, back to the detective of the 70s and the grim and gritty 80s and 90s. Each era has brought a different Batman. It’s hard to believe that in the early eighties the character though well-known was basically sliding into irrelevance, until Frank Miller redefined him with the classic Dark Knight Returns and brought him back to basics with artistic partner David Mazzuchelli in Year One. The character has been “rebooted” a few times in the comics, with differing and acclaimed interpretations by creatives teams such as Grant Morrison and artistic cohort ambitiously encompassing all the iterations of the character in their run. Tom King killed off major members of the supporting cast and most recently Matt Fraction bringing him back to the 70s detective sensibility. The non superpowered Batman has had his back broken, been replaced in the role a few times, fought with and against gods and other superpowered beings and even franchised his vision of crime fighting Batman Incorporated.
Art by Andy Kubert
Though he started in comics, the flying rat has been hugely successful in other media. T most notably the acclaimed Batman The Animated Series, and it’s spiritual successor running on Amazon Prime Batman the Caped Crusader and other animated fare such as the recent screen adaptation of Knightfall and The Dark Knight Returns. There is also the cult favourite TV show from the 60s, playing the character for laughs to the adult section of the audience, Tim Burton’s gothic screen version, until it slid back to the 60s camp with Joel Schumacher, before Christopher Nolan’s urban vigilante version and most currently Matt Reeves vision for the character, with the second film due in 2028 and a Clayface film now on release.
Again, considering he is ostensibly a loner, the whole bat family has grown and shrunk as times and trends dictated. Morrisons introduced the wildly popular latest Robin, Damian Wayne, the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al’ Ghul, Dick Grayson still remains to be Nightwing, there is a Batwoman, Batgirl, etc but at the moment – no Alfred.
Art by Frank Quitely
What often defines Batman are his villains, and he has some of the most disturbing in all of comics. Apart from the Joker, who when written correctly can be terrifying, there are the characters like Two Face, Killer Croc, Victor Zsasz, Scarface, Scarecrow and Professor Pyg.
Art by Brian Bolland
The biggest DC hit for years is the Absolute line, and specifically, Absolute Batman, where the essence of the character is still in place, but the twist is that Bruce Wayne is not a millionaire, but still pursues his lonely war on crime. with other twists on the interpretation of other classic Batman related characters, a monstrous (literally) Joker, a radical reinvention of the Robin concept etc. Graded copies of the first issue of the series are already reaching hundreds of pounds.
Art by Nick Dragotta & Frank Martin
Of course he’s not been short of the odd video game. Almost every era of gaming has had a Batman game, from the classic Sinclair Spectrum isometric effort, riffing off the 60s series to the now classic Arkham series of the modern era and their slightly more tongue in cheek Lego compatriots. The comics go from strength to strength, as does the accompanying merch.
Check out the games and merch’ that is available for Batman and related characters at The Game Collection and TGC Collectables.
