Finally, an origin story for Wolverine, whose history has been shrouded in mystery up to now - even to him. The story begins in the late 1800's in Canada, as 12-year-old orphan Rose is hired to be a companion for the wealthy John Howlett's sickly son, James. On the estate is a groundskeeper, Thomas Logan (a dead ringer for the present-day Wolverine), and his son, Dog, who is brutalized by the elder Logan. We see eventually that Paul Jenkins has been playing some sleight-of-hand with our assumptions, and this becomes clear when the young mutant's abilities finally come to the fore in a crisis which results in the killing of his father. It's interesting, too, that Wolverine's claws are here portrayed as an integral part of his mutation, and not just the adamantium prosthetics that were added on in later surgeries. This is not a spoiler, by the way; the cover is a vivid portrayal of Logan's hand with organic bony claws extending. Rose flees with young Logan, and they eventually light in a Canadian quarry settlement, where Logan finds his true nature, and seems at peace with himself, until tragedy again enters his life. This is an enthralling, well-told tale, with fine artwork too by Andy Kubert that puts me in mind of Richard Corben. And this is how I prefer origin re-tellings: The story expands upon what has already been delineated, and does not just pitch that which the writer finds inconvenient. I love the Ultimate Spider-Man stories, but I have long been troubled by the changes in Gwen Stacy's storyline especially, effectively nullifying a seminal part of Peter Parker's development. No such laziness here. The best Wolverine story I have seen thus far, and I like the fact that the diligent reader is rewarded for a deeper knowledge of Logan's history, parts of which are alluded to in this story. ( )

http://www.allconsuming.net/entry/vie... ( )

This is, debatably, the best Wolverine storyline to have ever been produced.
Although, it would seem, that much of Wolverine's appeal as a Marvel character, is that not much is known about him.
However, the whole plot has been debated in further issues in terms of plausibility, so, in reflection, the storyline is simply another page in the rather confused book of Wolverine's history, that gives us, to be quite honest, more questions than answers.
This is all a brilliant idea, though, and works exceedingly well.
As a long time Wolverine fan, I found this story to be intruiging and very well written.
The artwork itself makes the whole thing worth reading, because it is simply stunning. Very unique.

Overal, it is an essential for any fan of Wolverine, or, to be honest, Marvel comics. It was one of their finest hours. ( )

This is a great book, as much as I feel bad for them finally giving these answers, I did truely enjoy them. Finding out how old Wolverine really is was pretty cool. There are a lot of things we learn about Wolverine some of which are very interesting to someone who knows Wolverines later history. ( )

This isn't a bad story, but I wonder if it would have been better to leave Wolverine's origins shrouded in mystery - it's a big part of the characters appeal. ( )