Wolverine: The End #1

History

The issue was written by Paul Jenkins, penciled and inked by Claudio Castellini, colored by Paul Mounts, and lettered by Dave Sharpe, with Joe Quesada serving as Editor-in-Chief and Tom Brevoort as editor. It arrived in November 2003 (cover-dated January 2004) as part of Marvel's 'The End' imprint, a line of out-of-continuity limited series launched in 2002 with Hulk: The End that imagined apocalyptic final chapters for major Marvel characters. Jenkins's participation carried deliberate editorial symmetry: he had co-written Wolverine's origin story, so assigning him the character's hypothetical swan song was a pointed creative choice. The standard edition featured a cover by Castellini with colors by Richard Isanove; a separate variant — distributed exclusively to three-day pass holders at the 2003 Wizard World Texas convention — substituted a new cover by artist David Finch and carried a reduced page count compared to the standard retail edition.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Published November 5, 2003 (cover date January 2004) by Marvel Comics as issue #1 of a six-issue limited series.
• Written by Paul Jenkins; penciled and inked by Claudio Castellini; colored by Paul Mounts; lettered by Dave Sharpe; edited by Tom Brevoort under Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada.
• Set in the alternate future reality Earth-4011, placing it entirely outside mainstream Marvel continuity (Earth-616) — a status confirmed by Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort.
• The story opens with an aged, arthritic Logan living in wilderness isolation; the death of Victor Creed (Sabretooth) — depicted as a reformed missionary in this reality — draws him out of seclusion.
• Issue #1 contains the first appearance of Dr. Abraham Cornelius (Earth-4011) in flashback, and introduces the Earth-4011 versions of several established characters including Mystique, Blob, and Wild Child, all shown attending Sabretooth's funeral.
• A Wizard World Texas convention exclusive variant exists with a cover by David Finch (inked by Art Thibert), distributed only to three-day pass attendees at the 2003 show; it features a lower page count and different house ads from the standard edition.
• The series was collected in a trade paperback (ISBN 0-7851-1349-5) and later reprinted in a new printing (ISBN 978-1-302-92460-7), confirming ongoing reader interest in the Jenkins/Castellini run.
• Paul Jenkins was deliberately chosen to write the series as a narrative counterpart to his earlier work co-writing Wolverine: Origin (2001–2002), bookending Logan's story from birth to hypothetical death.

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