Speaking with SciFiNow (via Totalfilm.com), Millar praised Mangold’s movie saying the director is brilliant. The movie started filming before Millar got the consultant job, but he has overseen much of the film’s production. Having written one of the best Wolverine stories, Old Man Logan, Millar believes the character is ripe for solo movies:

I don’t think it detracts having individual Wolverine adventures from the X-Men. He’s like a lone wolf character, he disappears and does his own thing sometimes and then he comes back and hangs out at the mansion, so it does feel quite natural for him to be in these movies.

While Wolverine is a favorite among fans, he does have the potential to be overused as can be seen in several comics nowadays. Millar doesn’t want to make that mistake:

You don’t want to have him out there all the time, because I think if you’ve got him in X-Men and Wolverine movies and they’re all running at the same time, it’s a little bit too much but as long as you’re smart with it then there’s a lot of other characters to explore… The X-Men universe is about the same size as the Marvel universe in terms of the number of titles it sustains at any one time, so there’s a ton of stuff to play with there and a lot of characters I’d like to explore there too.

Wolverine has been slightly overused in the past few years. You can’t swing a cat in the Marvel universe without hitting a team he’s on (CBT doesn’t condone swinging cats, it’s just a phrase). Say what you will about Millar, but the man has had a good grasp on the character. We know Wolverine will pop up in Days of Future Past, but maybe we’ll see his appearances scaled back a bit afterwards. What do you think about Millar’s comments? Do you like your Wolverine in moderation?

Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell, Mark Millar Doesn’t Want To Overuse Wolverine In Movies

Continuing on our killers theme, Frank Castle is out for more blood in Scott Gimple and Mark Texeira’s Punisher: Nightmare #3. This issue features a flashback to the Marvel Civil War where Captain America tells Frank how he really feels about him. Check out the previews for both books coming out the 16th with a $3.99 cover price.

Wolverine awakes to find himself transported to the Savage Land and labeled public enemy number one! With no memory of how he got there, and Shanna the She-Devil his only ally, Logan must unravel the mystery that slumbers at the heart of the Savage Land before it finds a way to kill him first. This January, Wolverine is all brawls, babes, and brachiosaurs, and you’ll never see the end — or the future of the Marvel Universe — NOW!

• A Special Forces soldier is injured and his family killed in the midst of a mob execution in Central Park, but this isn’t Frank Castle. This time it’s a young soldier named JAKE NIMAN, but the familiar story puts Frank on the path of punishment!

• As Jake Niman heals from his wounds, why is he growing strangely stronger?

• And who is the mysterious Johnny Nightmare?

• Bullets fly, anarchy reigns, allies become enemies, the Punisher becomes the punished, and no one is safe!!!

Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell, Killer Previews: Savage Wolverine #1 And Punisher: Nightmare #3

Mangold started off by stating that the film does borrow from the Claremont/Miller comic book series that sees Wolverine all alone in Japan, but it doesn’t follow the source religiously. He says the characters are there and a lot of the story beats from the source is there however. The film is set after X3 and all the other films that came before it, but it also serves as a standalone movie.

It’s set after X-Men 3, but I wouldn’t call it a sequel to X-Men 3. You have a choice the second you enter a world like this with a huge amount of comic books, backstories, three movies, a Wolverine origins movie … You have decide where you’re going to exist in relation to all these other things, particularly if you’re working with an actor who actually played the character in other films.

The director went on to explain why he decided to set the movie after the events of all the other films. Mangold emphasized it was important to find a Logan who is “stripped clean” of his duties to a team and even a sense of purpose.

Because of some of the themes in the Claremont/Miller saga. I felt it was really important to find Logan at a moment where he was stripped clean of his duties to the X-Men, his other allegiances, and even stripped clean of his own sense of purpose. I was fascinated with the idea of portraying Logan as a ronin – the definition of which is a samurai without a master, without a purpose. Kind of a soldier who is cut loose. War is over. What does he do? What does he face? What does he believe anymore? Who are his friends? What is his reason for being here anymore? I think those questions are especially interesting when you’re dealing with a character who is essentially immortal.

It was only to my advantage to set it after the X-Men films because the X-Men had effectively ended at that point. A lot of the key characters had died. There was a sense if I’m locating this film not five minutes after the other movie, but a period of time after that last X-Men movie, I can find a Logan who is living separate from the world. He is no longer a member of some superhero team.

The other advantage to the films chronological setting is that you don’t have a sense of how it will end. In a prequel you know things will go well because you’ve seen where the character is now. With this setting everything is wide open.

I felt the most liberating thing about coming after the other movies is you don’t have to hand it off or end it in some way that meets up with a previous film. For creative freedom, I didn’t want to have to, essentially, land this film in Wichita because that’s where the next one takes off from. It helped me to be really free, and in some ways be more loyal to Claremont/Miller, without having to be tied to other films.

You can read the rest of Mangold’s comments where he talks about his relationship with Hugh Jackman and how big a fan of comic books he was as he was growing up by clicking here. Everything we’ve heard about The Wolverine so far makes it sound like we are getting the Wolverine movie we’ve been waiting for. What do you think of Mangold’s reasoning for setting it after X3?

Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell, James Mangold On Setting The Wolverine After X3

Jason Aaron had one of the most memorable runs in the history of Wolverine.  Spanning multiple books, his run became synonymous with the character to some.  Those are some damn big shoes for Cullen Bunn to fill.  #305 shows though, that he is up to the task while delivering a great start to his first arc.

Cullen Bunn’s writing of Wolverine very much in the style of how Aaron wrote him, but has a touch of his style.  He’s a nice guy that just so happens to have  very dark past.  It is nice to see Logan think about what he is doing first.  He goes to investigate and look for clues, giving Bunn a chance to show how far Logan has come over the years.  The school even makes a quick appearance without feeling forced. With Wolverine being on so many teams and in so many books, it’s nice to see Bunn giving this book a firm place in everyones pull list.

One of Aaron’s lesser used characters was Dr. Rot.  He was a great creation that Aaron just never got around to using.  He was suppose to be Wolverine’s version of the Joker, and it was clear.  Bunn uses Rot as the villain of this arc, and sets up the character very well.  He’s creepy, but diabolical, and is going to make Wolverine do more than just stab things.  Bunn catches readers up with who Dr. Rot is, and how Logan knows him, which does bog down the issue.  But it’s quick, and Bunn gets to work showing why there are always new stories to tell with our favorite Canadian hero.  It’s damn fun to read, with Bunn giving Wolverine some dramatic inner monologue, but also throwing in plenty of one liners throughout the issue. Bunn does spend to much time playing catch up for lapsed readers, but with a character like Wolverine, it’s not really needed.  His origin and who he is is so ingrained into pop culture, a writer could get away with without telling who he is again.

Paul Pelletier‘s pencils have always beens strong, but it seems that he has found the right inker on Wolverine #305.  If Pelletier has the wrong inker, his pencils come across as thin and a little flimsy.  But David Meikis inks them in just a way that makes his lines thick, but not thick enough that they look weird.  The fight scenes are bloody.  Very bloody.  They perfectly convey the world that Wolverine has put himself in.  Dr. Rot’s creations look great, striking a great balance of creepy and weird.  The panel that stands out the most is Logan’s eyes after he kills a few of Rot’s creations.  It’s startling and gives the reader a great sense of how pissed Logan is right at that moment.  If #305 is any indication, Pelletier is going to have a great run as penciler on Wovlerine.

With such big shoes to fill, Cullen Bunn starts his run off on the right foot.  Look for this book to only get better (until Jeph Loeb takes over for a few months with #310)

Wolverine #305 gets 4/5.

MrComicBook, Wolverine #305 Review