In "When We First Met", we spotlight the various characters, phrases, objects or events that eventually became notable parts of comic lore, like the first time someone said, "Avengers Assemble!" or the first appearance of Batman's giant penny or the first appearance of Alfred Pennyworth or the first time Spider-Man's face was shown half-Spidey/half-Peter. Stuff like that.

Today, based on a suggestion from the always helpful Steve R., we look to see how long it took for Wolverine to actually cut a person with his claws (as opposed to monsters, demons, neckties, etc.).

When we first see Wolverine (in Incredible Hulk #180-181 by Len Wein, Herb Trimpe and Jack Abel), he TRIES to cut the Hulk and then he DOES cut into the Wendigo, but again, we're talking a monstrous beast here and not really a human....

Oddly enough, the rest of his fight with the Hulk does not use his claws. They're there, but they are not part of his attack plan. This jibes with how Len Wein originally saw the character, where he thought that his "superpower" was really just the ability to never back down in a fight. He'll just come at you over and over again until he wins. Wein was basing this on the way that an actual wolverine is so much smaller than other animals and yet can more than hold its own in fights....

Okay, so we move to Giant-Size X-Men #1 (by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum) and Wolverine cuts a necktie...

and a mutated lobster (why does Krakoa have mutated lobsters?)....

but that's it.

In X-Men #95 (by Len Wein, Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum and Sam Grainger), the X-Men's first official mission sees them fighting the Ani-Men and Wolverine doesn't get a chance to cut Cat-Man...

In the following issue (by Claremont, Cockrum and Grainger), we see Wolverine go berserk for the first time and try to stab Nightcrawler...

Later, we see Wolverine just being a total jerk and cutting a tic tac toe game into Xavier's furniture...

and at the end of the issue, Wolverine just slices and dices a demon...

In the next issue (by Claremont, Cockrum and Grainger), he almost stabs Cyclops...

In the classic X-Men #98 (by Claremont, Cockrum and Grainger), we see that his claws are a part of him for the first time when he breaks free from his shackles...

In X-Men #100 (by Claremont and Cockrum), everyone is WAY too ready to believe that Wolverine just stabbed Jean Grey, but he could tell that she was a robot...

In a brief appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #161 (by Len Wein, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito), he cuts a rope...

He tries to cut Juggernaut in X-Men #102 (by Claremont, Cockrum and Grainger), but he fails to do so...

He is stopped short of stabbing Eric the Red in X-Men #105...

He is blasted before he can stab Oracle in X-Men #107 (with John Byrne now aboard as penciler)...

He tries to stab the Vindicator in X-Men #109 (by Claremont, Byrne and Austin)...

He tries to stab Warhawk in X-Men #110 (by Bill Mantlo and Tony DeZuniga)..

He tries to stab Magneto in X-Men #112 (by Claremont, Byrne and Terry Austin)...

When did he actually finally cut someone?

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In the rematch with Magneto in the following issue, Wolverine finally cuts someone...

A couple of issues later, Wolverine KILLS someone for the first time, so the escalation came pretty quick, ya know?

Thanks to Steve for the suggestion!

If anyone else has a suggestion for a comic book first, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!