While many X-Men fans love Wolverine for his short temper and brutal fighting style, classic Wolverine writer Larry Hama thinks there's another important and oftentimes overlooked aspect to the character that makes him so popular.
Hama, who worked on Wolverine during the 1990s, told Inverse that he believes empathy and loyalty are large reasons as to why the character has connected so well with audiences over the years. "I got to return to Wolverine recently for Wolverine: Patch and it was great," he said. "I still love writing for Wolverine because he's still interesting to me. Wolverine is a guy who's got a big heart and a lot of empathy, but he never likes to show it."
"He's also very protective — that's what I think is the biggest part of his appeal, especially to children," he continued. "Wolverine is the fantasy of the extremely loyal friend. That doesn't exist in the real world. As soon as a kid enters Kindergarten, they learn that betrayal is just around the corner at any given point, so the loyalty fantasy is really strong in kids and Wolverine speaks to that. Wolverine would never let you down."
Hama started collaborating on the character in 1990 when he wrote Wolverine #31. "When I came onto Wolverine, it was really close to being canceled," he said. "I guess they figured Hama couldn't screw it up any more than it already was, so they let me do whatever I wanted. Two years later, It was the number two book in the country. See, I'm not a story guy, I'm a character guy. To me, a plot is just a basic framework to hang great characters on. I was concerned about Wolverine's inner self — his moral and ethical center and how that contrasts with his gruff exterior."
Hama worked on a number of other Wolverine and X-Men projects over the years that followed, including Before the Fantastic Four: Ben Grimm and Logan #1-3, X-Men Legends #7, Wolverine: Exit Wounds and several others. Wolverine: Patch takes place before Hama's original run on Wolverine and sees the character make a different name for himself, "Patch," while staying on the island of Madripoor. The first issue will release on March 23.
Wolverine fans can also keep up with the character in Marvel's currently ongoing X Lives of Wolverine and X Deaths of Wolverine, two series simultaneously running that chronicle the hero's adventures into the past and future.
Source: Inverse