What makes an animal different from a man? Is it our higher brain functions? Our genetic make up? Or is it just because we humans have opposable thumbs?
What would it take for a man to become an animal? To be broken down completely and utterly until the only thing left of him is the primal instinct to survive. What would it take for him to retain his humanity in this state?
In Uncanny X-Men #205 (released in May of 1986), Chris Claremont and Barry Windsor-Smith would ask this question, as well as tell what would become one of the seminal Wolverine tales: “Wounded Wolf”.
Chris Claremont could do no wrong. Having taken over the reigns of Marvel’s merry mutants in 1975, Claremont and his many collaborators (a whose who of some of the greatest artists of all time including: Dave Cockrum, John Bryne, Marc Silvestri, Jim Lee, John Romita Jr., and many others) turned X-Men (later the Uncanny X-Men) from a fledgling book about people born with superpowers trying to make the world a better place, into a decades spanning soap opera filled with action, drama, and tons of superheroics.
Wounded Wolf would be the third collaboration between Claremont and Windsor-Smith, the two having worked previously on the critically acclaimed “Lifedeath” and it’s (less revered) sequel “Lifedeath II”, both of which focused on the aftermath of X-Men leader Storm losing her powers. For Wounded Wolf, Claremont and Windsor-Smith chose to focus on squarely on Wolverine.
In the beginning of Claremont’s run, Wolverine was a very beligerent and angry soul. Always quick to jump into the fray and cause a ruckus whether it be with friend or foe. A very guarded and standoffish individual by nature, by 1986 the raging canucklehead had started to mellow out. Becoming a trustworthy teammate and even a mentor to the likes of young Kitty Pryde (the two having formed a bond in the Kitty Pryde and Wolverine miniseries that Claremont wrote with artist Allen Millgrom back in 1984).
“Wounded Wolf” is another exploration of Logan’s eternal internal conflict as he reconciles what he is (a man), from what he was made into (an animal). Always trapped between these two worlds. Neither gaining control of the other for long.
At this point in the character’s history, his past was still VERY much a mystery to the reader (and even the Marvel offices). Outside of a few bits drip fed here and there, Logan’s story wouldn’t fully start to unravel until Windsor-Smith’s “Weapon X” story in 1991, and later in 2001’s “Origin” (but those are stories for another day).
Wounded Wolf opens not with our featured hero, but his adversaries, most notably with the “death” of Yuriko Oyama and the “birth” of Lady Deathstrike.
BWS creates a horrific image of multi-colored wires, cables, and nodes jutting out of Deathstrike at all angles while Claremont’s broken bits of single line dialogue paint a picture of a mind being reformed from nothing. It mirrors a scene from Ghost In the Shell (the original manga coming out in 1989, while the more famous animated movie would release in 1995).
Watching her is Spiral (a woman who would become important in the Mojo arc) as well as three men: Cole, Macon, and Reese. These three are former members of the villainous Hellfire Club who were maimed by Wolverine when the team first battled them during the Dark Phoenix Saga.
The story then shifts to a busy New York City in a snowstorm during the Christmas season. That’s right, this is a Christmas comic.
Now while Wolverine is the main focus of the book, he’s not really the protagonist. No, that honor belongs to one Katie Power, the youngest member of the kid superhero team Power Pack. Who we first see being escorted around town by her babysitter Miss Randolph (whose face we never see).
Power Pack at this point had debuted two years prior in 1984 as the brain child of famed writer and editor Louise Simonson. Long story short, the book centered on on the Power siblings: Alex, Julia, Jack, and Katie as they balance superhero life and being in bed on time. The children are able to swap abilities with one another, but Katie’s main power is creating “power balls” that she can attack with.
This isn’t Power Pack’s first time appearing alongside the X-Men. The two teams previously encountered one another in a psuedo three part story that happened in the pages of Power Pack #11-12 as well as Uncanny X-Men #195.
Katie is essentially our viewpoint character of the issue, as she is forcibly caught up in the cyborgs’ hunt for Wolverine through the snow covered city.
There are some details missing as we are thrust into the melee, notably just how the villains found Wolverine, as well as why he’s in NYC in the first place (the previous issue he was in San Francisco with the rest of his team, who are absent this issue), but in the grand scheme it’s not really an important element to the story. Plus us being thrown right into the middle of things along with Katie adds to the tension.
A bulk of the issue centers around Katie escorting a wounded and animalistic Logan (having regressed mentally due to the villains’ onslaught) through the storm as they are hunted by Deathstrike and her men. It’s a tense issue, made even more so by the fact that it’s seen almost entirely through young Katie’s eyes.
She’s scared, helpless, and alone; her only companion barely able to form words she can understand. There are a few points in the story where Katie wants to abandon Logan and run, and at her age you wouldn’t blame her, but this is just as much her story as it is his. Despite her young age, she’s a hero, and her bravery, compassion, and more importantly kindness are crucial to both her and Logan’s survival.
As for their pursuers, the future Reavers have no compassion in their hearts for anyone. The only thing on their mind is their quarry, but in even that they disagree. Cole, Macon, and Reese want Wolverine dead as revenge for what he did to them, but Deathstrike needs his skeleton, believing it to be the last remnants of her deceased father.
In both cases, the Reavers see Logan not as a man, but an animal to be put down and or used for their own ends.
That’s not to say that Wolverine has nothing to do besides be lead around. Despite not having much dialogue until the latter half of the story, he is still very active especially in the end when he recovers and takes down the Reavers one by one, culminating a very bloody final fight with Deathstrike in the snow.
The fight between Yuriko and Logan brings home the central theme of the issue: what makes a man different from an animal?
In the end, Yuriko is beaten and helpless, the same “wounded wolf” that Logan was at the beginning of the issue. Logan is horrified at the state of her, wires and technology strewn about as she lay in a pool of circuits and blood as he realizes what she has become.
My healing factor makes me a mutant. Lacing my bones with adamantium…that was done to me. But you asked to be changed. You did this to yourself. Threw away a humanity I’d give pretty near anything to possess.
The tragic irony of the story is on display in this quote. Logan never asked to be what he was. He never volunteered to become Wolverine. It was forced upon him. An act that stripped him of his humanity.
Yuriko chose to give hers away, hoping to gain the approval of her deceased father. The two couldn’t be more opposite.
She begs for death as punishment for her failure, but Logan refuses.
You made me an animal again, Deathstrike. Took me back to a time in my life I thought I’d put behind me.
While he may hate Deathstrike and her men for what they did to him, killing them will only reinforce what they already believe Logan to be, an animal. But his refusal to kill Yuriko, and his conversation with Katie at the end of the story show that Logan has moved past that. In this instance, Logan is a man through and through.
Wounded Wolf is one of my favorite comic books of all time. From the emotional script, and excellent character writing, to the stellar artwork, this issue encapsulates just who Wolverine is as a character. He’s a man of contradictions, but also discipline. Capable of great violence, but also warmth and compassion.
His path is not an easy one, and his mettle will be tested many times after this, but in the end Logan will always choose to be a man. To move forward and not chase the past.