In the latest Drawing Crazy Patternswhere we spotlight five recurring themes in comics, we examine how many times Khonshu has brought Moon Knight back to life in the comic books.
When Insomniac Games announced it was going to release a Wolverine video game (due to various issues, the video game has yet to come out, but it looks like it will finally be released next year), there was a lot of coverage over how immaculate the attention to detail was in the game, including the fact that it referenced Wolverine’s fondness for bar fights.
However, recently, reader Mike W. asked me when, exactly, Wolverine getting into bar fights BECAME such a major part of his character. Interestingly, it really wasn’t something that took hold until the character had been around for over a DECADE, but really, the answer as to WHY it took so long is due to a very logical reason that I’ll get into.
When did Wolverine first get into a bar fight in the comics?
Table of Contents
- When did Wolverine first get into a bar fight in the comics?
- Wolverine’s first miniseries leaned into the bar fight aesthetic
- Wolverine and Havok’s adventures involved a bar fight right away
- When did Wolverine first get into a bar fight in Madripoor?
- Wolverine’s bar fights make it into graphic novels
Mike famously wrote in to me a while back to ask about one of the most underrated Wolverine comic book collectibles around1979’s Marvel Comic #335, a British comic book that featured the very first Wolverine solo story. In case you’re wondering why Wolverine’s first solo story appeared in a BRITISH comic book, it was because Marvel had Marvel UK, and as I noted in the earlier article, in England, comic books were released weekly, so they were short serialized stories that would combine to tell larger stories. Marvel’s comics would then be broken up into installments when reprinted. However, as they began doing original material, there was suddenly now a need for occasional short stories that could be slotted in when space was needed. So Marvel produced a number of short standalone stories that would be inserted into various titles (standalone so that they could be put in whenever needed without having to tie into anything).
The comic was written by Jo Duffy and drawn by Ken Landgraf and George Perez, and was later reprinted in color in 1980’s Marvel Treasury Edition #26 (again, once Marvel paid to create new original stories, it wasn’t going to NOT print those stories in the United States, ya know?), and it featured Wolverine and Hercules getting into a bar fight…
So wait, Wolverine debuted in 1974, and he didn’t get into a bar fight until 1979?! What gives with that?
Well, the issue is that Wolverine was part of a TEAM book, and a team book that had only SEVENTEEN pages of story per issue from X-Men #98-136 (and only one additional page from X-Men #94-97), so naturally, there really wasn’t a lot of room for Wolverine to get INTO bar fights, as he rarely got downtime to himself PERIOD! And when he DID get the occasional piece of downtime circa X-Men #120, it was spent with his girlfriend and future fiancee, Mariko.
So, of course, as soon as someone was able to write a Wolverine SOLO story, he got into a bar fight. Say, when was the NEXT time Wolverine had a solo story?
Wolverine’s first miniseries leaned into the bar fight aesthetic
In 1982, Chris Claremont, Frank Miller, and Joe Rubinstein gave Wolverine his first miniseries, and sure enough, right away, Wolverine got into a bar fight as he was irate that he encountered a crazed bear that had been poisoned by a hunter’s arrow. Logan confronted the bear hunters…
So I think you can see where this is going. When Wolverine had SOLO adventures, he spent a lot of time in bars, and thus, bar fights became a bigger deal.
Wolverine and Havok’s adventures involved a bar fight right away
Similarly, the Havok & Wolverine – Meltdown miniseries, which came out right around the time that Wolverine finally got his own ongoing series, opened with Wolverine getting into a bar fight while he and Havok are on a vacation in Mexico. The series, written by Walter Simonson and Louise Simonson, notably had Jon J. Muth draw Havok, and Kent Williams draw Wolverine…
I simply adore the fact that they gave Havok top-billing in this miniseries. It almost seems like it was a matter of spite of the sales.
When did Wolverine first get into a bar fight in Madripoor?
When Wolverine received his first solo ONGOING series, it was set in the island nation of Madripoor, and one of the main settings WAS a bar. When Wolverine first entered the bar, he got into a fight, but it was to take down some guys who were robbing the place, and obviously that doesn’t count as a “bar fight.”
The interesting thing, really, is that while in Madripoor, Wolverine went by the name “Patch,” and really tried to be Rick from Casablanca, so he tended NOT to get into bar fights in these early issues by Chris Claremont and John Buscema. A notable exception took place in Wolverine #10 (by Claremont, Buscema and Bill Sienkiewicz), where Wolverine is dwelling on the fact that it is almost his birthday, and he knows that Sabretooth will soon show up to torment him, and so “Patch” quickly messes with two jerks in a bar…
Wolverine’s bar fights make it into graphic novels
In the graphic novel, Wolverine: Bloodlustby writer/penciler Alan Davis and inker Paul Neary, we see how graphic novels with Wolverine in them soon started to lean into having Wolverine get into bar fights to establish Wolverine’s bonafides quickly. This is a really well-designed fight sequence…
The thing is Wolverine gets TOO out of control on the next page, which is sort of the topic of the story (Wolverine’s bloodlust).
As noted, though, by the release of this 1990 graphic novel, Wolverine getting into bar fights was just an established character trait for Wolverine, and it’s been that way ever since.
Remember, everyone, that these lists are inherently not exhaustive. They are a list of five examples. So no instance is “missing” if it is not listed. It’s just not one of the five examples that I chose. If anyone else has suggestions for a future Drawing Crazy Patterns, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com! Thanks for the question, Mike!