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Wolverine, Most over-rated character of the modern age, or not? Discuss!

Started by Jumpmaster,

23 posts in this topic

mikeyboy9000

mikeyboy9000

Posted
Posted

How does that make him over-rated? I liked his mystery, his mystery was part of his overall charm. To me, knowing only the basics (he was a experiment etc) gave him a sense that there was a surprise that could come any old time.

 

As a character he was gruff, blunt and completely different to the rest of the x-men, and he's an anti-hero which i do so enjoy, and there where/are fewer of them than heroes after all. So to me he was written well and i liked his badassedness.

 

To me he wasn't overrated, restoring his origin made him less appealing to me if anything.

 

And to say he's over-rated you could easily say the same of magneto, green lantern, superman, batman etc.

 

I personally hate superman and think he's overrated. but that's personal, lots o people like him. To say someone's overrated you need a reason or it's just plain opinion (heck it's opinion any way you cut it, but it's substantiated) and i personally think that saying ' because we didn't know his origins does not make him a good character' being your only reason so far is a little short of the mark.

 

And as far as weakness/fears of the writers, many characters who's background you don't know are a lot more larger than life because of it, removing mystery makes things less exciting.

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s-man

s-man

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He (along with the other X-Men) got me into collecting comics in the first place. The first time I ever saw him was on the old Spidey and his amazing friends cartoon and I thought he was so cool that I went out and bought the newest issue of the X-Men at that time (#172) and still have that very comic. I don't know if he is over rated, but if he wasnt so cool looking in the cartoon, I might never have started collecting.

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comicwiz

comicwiz

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WOLVERINE is great, or at least was until he started appearing in what seemed like was every other book in the late 1980s.

 

And he's CANADIAN! :headbang: . Well, at least until they do ANOTHER ORIGINS type story revealing his "true origin" as a US Super Soldier from WWII. doh!

 

I beg to differ, as Spidey and especially Punisher were heavily used as the Marvel poster-boys at that time - I mean when you start doing (Punisher) cross-overs with Archie, then you know its being over-commercialized. Probably a bias, but I regarded Wolverine appearances as being special, and it was Byrne's treatment at the time that slowly started to develop the mystery surrounding his origin through Guardian, leader of the X-Men spin-off team Alpha Flight.

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kidcolt

kidcolt

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He isn't from the modern age. I don't really like the X-men but I do like Wolverine. He is a hero but he is rough, tough and don't take any mercy on anyone. Fans like characters like him, he has an edge and hates authority but he still is there helping the good guys. He is certainly over used by Marvel but he is not overrated.

 

I think the sales figures show you wrong.

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Darth Corgi

Darth Corgi

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One of my first books was Wolverine #4 from the Miller original limited series.

Still have the book! Wolverine drew me into the world of comics like no other character.

Perhaps he might be over used now and in past years, but it does not make him over-rated.

Wolverine filled the need for a hero that was scrappy and rough around the edges along with a mysterious origin and conscience. A "runt" of a character...people always enjoy rooting for an underdog! SNIKT!!

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akaSteveRogers

akaSteveRogers

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...people always enjoy rooting for an underdog! SNIKT!!

 

This is what has taken away some of the appeal of the Wolverine character for me. Maybe its me but I think somewhere along the way...Wolverines healing factor went from healing bullet shot wounds and knife stabs to surviving a nuclear fallout or even being incinerated by Galactus!

 

As for the mysterious nature of the charcter...hey Wolvie has been around for 30 years...he can't be mysterious forever. You figure a now major-marvel icon had to be developed sooner or later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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s-man

s-man

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i don't know about over-rated, but does Wolverine have to be on every team? Making him an avenger for the last few years is a little ridiculous. A short stint maybe, but he should not be featured running around in 10 x-related titles a month and Avengers for the last few years as well.

 

Maybe he was cloned hm

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followtheleader

followtheleader

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Love the character, but he has been overused in too many books, overpowered in the wrong ways, and the origin revelations haven't provided much.

 

In my opinion, the best part about the X-men and Wolverine were the mysteries. Though I'd agree that there were far too many mysteries at one point in the X-men history, they are now left with none. And quite frankly, when those revelations come, it's almost always a disappointment. Better to leave a few dangling and really come up with a great revelation over time.

 

Now overrated? I wouldn't go that far. The character is super popular and recognizable. Just spread too thin by under-talented writers. Want a good taste of not being overrated? Read the recent Wolverine arc (Old Man Logan). Absolutely contrary to the normal Wolverine and full of intrigue. Great story.

 

Pat

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General Zod

General Zod

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Not overrated, but overexposed, definitely. If anyone doesn't really understand the appeal of Wolverine's character, buy yourself a reader's copy of Uncanny X-Men #133 (or the Dark Phoenix Saga on TPB as I think it covers #133 as well?) Claremont and Byrne's take on Wolverine still defines this character to this day for me.

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s-man

s-man

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I think they have way too many inter-changable characters and too many cross-overs. One of the (many) reasons I stopped buying moderns was there were too many characters jumping around from title to title and crossing story lines, so that you were made to buy 10 other titles just to figure out the one story line in the one title book that you liked and collected. This is an obvious ploy for the publishers to sell more books of course (more books sold = more profit), but it really gets to be an annoyance after awhile. rantrant

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awe4one

awe4one

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Okay, so IMHO, Wolverine is at best over-rated! Just because Marvel refused to divulge his origin for years does not make a good character. All this does is show the weakness, or fear, of the writers at the time. DISCUSS!

 

The unknowing nature of his origin was one of, if not THE, best plot devices Wolverine had. Not knowing made him more a questioning hero. Not sure of why he is or why he does what he does. It was an important and crucial aspect of the character...and frankly made him a more interesting hero in my opinion. Some of the best stories of Wolverine Vol 1 was his quest to find out his history...even though it was ultimately futile. Regardless, it made for some very interesting stories and even the aspects they did reveal, whether they were real or implanted memories, only made for a stronger and more fascinating character.

 

Now that Marvel has laid all the history out...and in rather unimpressive fashion, not that they could ever top what readers imaginations could envision, it's made for a substantially weaker character. And frankly a character I really don't care much for now. He's just another run of the mill superhero...

 

Jim

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helionaut

helionaut

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You just had to be there. He was one of the first 'anti-heroes' in mainstream comics, and while that may not mean anything when the current comic scene is based on anti-heroes, it was something really cool and different then. The claws were just so cool and new and unapologetically dangerous and yet so much more believable in a way than flying or webshooting or turning into a bunch of rocks that it just made him extremely popular.

 

And he wasn't overexposed. The X-Men were in 1 book, and a crossover every once in a while, but rarely. You didn't even know his first name or anything about him personally for 5 years. So while they have basically stripped away everything that made him awesome, and put him in every book except Not Brand Ecch, that doesn't take away what he was once upon a time.

 

Check out his method of non-lethal interrogation in the X-Men Graphic Novel, tell me that wasn't cool.

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RikkiB

RikkiB

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but he has been overused in too many books, overpowered in the wrong ways...

Pat

 

(thumbs u Liked him when I was collecting in the late 80's, early 90's. When I got back into collecting, he was still the same character, but over-powered. Anti-hero? Like the Punisher (over-rated IMO), Lobo, and all the other characters that followed this stereotype in the early 90's. He's not unique in that respect. More of the same. Hulk rips him in half and he climbs up a mountain to find his legs. He regenerates from a single drop of blood? Can he even die by drowning now? Maybe with Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk 3 the Hulk will drop him in the ocean and he'll drown. I don't dislike Wolverine, but the luster of his character has definitely been tarnished for me. His "anti-hero" persona is tired and dated. Maybe Magneto could rip out his adamantium and.... nevermind.

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