Marvel Was Planning To Cancel Wolverine Until A GI Joe Writer Took Over (And Made Him Great Again)

Wolverine One of Marvel's best characters, but because of the symbolism GI Joe writer Larry Hama, whose solo book sales were once so low that it was in danger of being cancelled. The Joe the scribe was then tasked with turning sales around until it became one of Marvel's best-selling titles.

Speaking on the “Wolverine: 50th Anniversary” panel at Dragon Con 2024, Larry Hama explained how he got the writing job. Wolverine. “At the time, I was struggling to find a writing job at Marvel“, said Hama, “I had book number one GI Joe…but they said. “GI Joe is a chance.”“

Surprisingly, Marvel's brass at the time could have been wrong about Hama GI Joebut they were right to allow him to write Wolverine, It not only cemented the author's reputation as a comics maestro, but also saved him X– the most iconic character of the franchise from a humiliating fate.

GI Joe writer Larry Hama on how he made Wolverine a huge success for Marvel

Hama spoke at DragonCon 2024

Larry Hama expanded his reach
Wolverine
when he took over, he immediately sent the character out into the world and explored previously untouched areas of his mysterious past.

According to Haman, he bought the book mainly because sales figures for Logan's solo title were down:

Wolverine was on the brink of elimination—the numbers were too low—so they thought, “Well, Hama can't hurt him any more (than he already did).

Hama admitted that he didn't know who Wolverine was at the time, saying:

”
I wasn't super aware of the character until he offered me the book.
“

Larry Hama had read all of Wolverine's comic appearances up to that point, even taking several Marvel interns to lunch to ask what they liked about the character.essentially as a form of “market research”. Later, Larry Haman's first release, Wolverine #31 – which brought up the previous one X-Men The art team of Mark Silvestri and Dan Green marked the beginning of a turnaround for the character.

According to Haman,

T
hey i write
(Wolverine)
and they left me alone. And a year and a half later, it sold the number two book in the country.

Then solo Wolverine The series went through several creative teams following the departure of original writer Chris Claremont, leaving the book with an identity crisis. Until Hama rules, Marvel Wolverine the book focuses mainly on Logan's adventures as Patch in Madripur, leaving him mostly separate from the events of the other. X-names. Larry Hama expanded his reach Wolverine when he took over, he immediately sent the character out into the world and explored previously untouched areas of his mysterious past.

Larry Hama brought Wolverine to life in the 1990s – And Marvel never looked back

Wolverine #31 – Hama's First Issue

Larry kept writing to Ham Wolverine From 1990 to 1997, it turned out to be one of the longest continuous runs any writer had with the character. Some of Haman's more notable contributions were created by Wolverine's android double Albert and his companion Elsie Dee. X-Men the villain Donald Pierce will kill Wolverine once and for all. It also expanded Barry Windsor-Smith's previous “Weapon X” storyline delves deeper into Logan's past and reveals which memories are real and which are implanted.. Hama got a lot of narrative mileage out of the idea that Weapon X implanted false memories in Logan's mind in their relentless attempts to turn him into the ultimate killing machine.

Backed by mega-successes X-Men In the early 90s and with a superstar artist in Marc Silvestri Wolverine quickly returned to the top of the sales charts. Hama attributes much of this success to the fact that she was left alone to do whatever she wanted with the book, giving the creative team a freedom that a more successful title might not have. That's basically how Hama built it GI Joe Enter the franchise today: No one else at Marvel wanted to write a toy bundle, so Hama took the opportunity to tell the stories he wanted to tell the most.

There's no denying Larry Haman's Influence on Modern Comics

Legend of the Middle

For a long time
GI Joe
left a mark on the character as brought by writer Larry Haman
Wolverine
from the brink of cancellation to one of Marvel's best-selling games.

Working on it GI Joe He held his position for almost eight years WolverineHama certainly has experience juggling several different ideas to make them work as a story. As a licensed property from Hasbro, GI Joe was a special case because new toys and characters would be introduced from time to time and Hama had to find a way to work them into the story. It proved to be good training for his work Wolverineas Hama would have to work within X-Sets up offices and incorporates stories and ideas from other creators into his work.

It's certainly amazing to think that sales have fallen this far Wolverine Marvel was almost ready to cancel the title, but luckily, Larry Hama and Marc Silvestri turned the ship around for the most prominent X-Man ever.. It's a reminder that these characters are only as good as the creators telling their stories, because what matters is finding the right story or having any character. For a long time GI Joe left a mark on the character as brought by writer Larry Haman Wolverine from the brink of cancellation to one of Marvel's best-selling games.

Source: Larry Hama, “Wolverine: 50-Year Anniversary,” Dragon Con 2024