Wolverine #166
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeWolverine #166 is the thunderous conclusion to Frank Tieri's five-part 'The Hunted' arc and the issue that formally introduces Malcolm Colcord — known as the Director — the disfigured former Weapon X guard who becomes the driving villain of the 2002 Weapon X ongoing series. The issue also carries the first comic appearances, in a flashback panel, of characters from the then-imminent Wolverine: The Origin miniseries (including Dog Logan and Rose O'Hara), making it a genuine prelude to one of the most significant revelatory stories in Wolverine history. Its double-sized page count, combined with a five-page Barry Windsor-Smith sequence that visually bridges his classic 1991 'Weapon X' serial to the present narrative, gives it an unusual artistic weight for a late-run chapter of the 1988 series. Notably, 'The Hunted' arc — closing here — was the last story in the long-running Wolverine volume to carry the Comics Code Authority seal of approval.
ComicBooks.com Value
This exact issue on ebay
Raw / ungraded ▾ $2.95–$9.99 4 listings
More listings for this title
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
Written by Frank Tieri with pencils by Sean Chen and Norm Rapmund on inks, the issue went on sale July 25, 2001, under editor Mike Marts and editor-in-chief Joe Quesada. The special Barry Windsor-Smith section — a flashback to the original Weapon X escape, scripted by Tieri — was drawn by Windsor-Smith himself as part of what became essentially his farewell to mainstream Marvel work; the cover was by J.H. Williams III and José Villarrubia. According to a contemporary forum account cited by the House to Astonish retrospective, Tieri was not fully briefed on the plot details of the Origin miniseries at the time he scripted the flashback panel depicting Dog Logan and Rose O'Hara, which explains why the panel composition focused on Dog rather than the young Logan — an awkward fit that Origin #1 would later clarify.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Malcolm Colcord (The Director), the disfigured ex-Weapon X guard and principal villain of the 2002 Weapon X ongoing series, created by Frank Tieri and Sean Chen.
- Concluding chapter (Part 5) of the five-part 'The Hunted' arc (Wolverine vol. 2 #162–166), in which Wolverine's true memories of his Weapon X captivity are restored after he is brought to the new Weapon X facility.
- Contains the first comic appearances of Wolverine: The Origin characters — including Dog Logan and Rose O'Hara — in a flashback panel, functioning as an in-continuity prelude to the Origin miniseries that launched the following month.
- Features a special five-page section drawn and partially scripted by Barry Windsor-Smith, revisiting the original Weapon X escape sequence — one of his final contributions to mainstream Marvel Comics.
- Maverick (Christoph Nord / David North) and John Wraith both suffer apparent deaths in this issue at the hands of Sabretooth, acting as a Weapon X enforcer.
- The 'Hunted' arc closing in this issue was the last Wolverine story published under the Comics Code Authority seal of approval.
- Double-sized issue (40 pages of story content) with a cover by J.H. Williams III and José Villarrubia; edited by Mike Marts with Joe Quesada as editor-in-chief.
- Reprinted in multiple collected editions, including the out-of-print Wolverine/Deadpool: Weapon X trade (ISBN 0785109181), the Weapon X: The Return Omnibus, and Wolverine Epic Collection Vol. 14: The Return of Weapon X (2024, ISBN 978-1302958114).
Cast · 24 characters
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Wolverine #104 (2002), Wolverine #105 (2002), X-Men #1/2003 (2003), Wolverine: Weapon X #[nn] (2007), Wolverine Weapon X #[nn] (2009), Wolverine Omnibus #1 (2009), Marvel Gold : Wolverine - Arme X #[nn] (2012), Marvel Série II #9 (2012), Wolverine: The Return of Weapon X #[nn] (2013), 100% Marvel HC. Lobezno: Arma X #[nn] (2017), Weapon X: The Return Omnibus #[nn] (2018), Wolverine Weapon X #[nn] (2022), Wolverine: Vapen X #[nn] (2023), Wolverine Epic Collection #14 (2024), Wolverine / Deadpool: Weapon X #[nn]
Key issues in Wolverine
Variants (1)
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.