X-Men Origins: Wolverine #1

History

The one-shot was edited by Nick Lowe under editor-in-chief Joe Quesada and was explicitly positioned as a companion piece to the Fox film — Marvel's own promotional copy described it as 'a perfect gift for people looking forward to the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie.' Yost scripted the issue while Texeira handled both pencils, inks, and cover art, with colors by John Rauch and lettering by Todd Klein. The issue was published on April 29, 2009, with a cover-dated June 2009 designation, and ran 30 pages — longer than a standard single issue — befitting its one-shot, all-new format within the ongoing X-Men Origins anthology initiative.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Written by Christopher Yost with art, inks, and cover by Mark Texeira; colors by John Rauch; letters by Todd Klein; edited by Nick Lowe.
• Published April 29, 2009 (cover-dated June 2009) as a standalone one-shot under the title 'Birth of a Weapon,' running 30 pages.
• The story recounts Wolverine's life from his childhood as James Howlett — including the deaths of Elizabeth Howlett and Thomas Logan — through Weapon X (featuring Abraham Cornelius, Carol Hines, and Major Chasen) to his resignation from the Canadian government program and his recruitment by Professor X.
• The issue's recruitment sequence directly adapts and retells the moment from Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975) in which Professor X brings Wolverine aboard alongside the 'all-new, all-different' team: Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Thunderbird, Sunfire, Cyclops, and Banshee.
• Characters appearing include early-life figures Rose and Victor Creed (Sabretooth), the Hudsons (James MacDonald Hudson and Heather Hudson) representing Alpha Flight's Canadian government context, and the original Giant-Size X-Men roster in cameo.
• The one-shot was part of Marvel's 2009 X-Men Origins anthology line of one-shots, each spotlighting a different X-character to capitalize on the theatrical release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
• The issue has been reprinted in collected form, including in the Giant-Size X-Men: 40th Anniversary Edition hardcover (released June 2015), which paired it with Giant-Size X-Men #1 itself, X-Men Origins: Colossus, X-Men: Deadly Genesis, and related material.
• The issue introduces no new characters to Marvel continuity; it is primarily an in-continuity recap/retelling drawing on established lore from 'Origin' (2001), Weapon X (Marvel Comics Presents #72–84), and Giant-Size X-Men #1.

Cast · 19 characters

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