WHERE ARE THEY NOW? – Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, WOLVERINE 1982


It’s been 31 years since Chris Claremont and Frank Miller teamed-up to produce the legendary Wolverine limited series, a run that helped define to berserker character we love today. As part of our new WHERE ARE THEY NOW series, UTF decided to revisit this epic run, and check-in on the two creators who made it happen.

WOLVERINE: THE LIMITED SERIES

The Wolverine we know today was born on a road trip back in early 1980’s, somewhere along the rambling spine of I-5 between San Diego and Los Angeles. The California coastline may seem like an unlikely spot for a hero who got famous defending the Canadian wilderness to get re-imagined, but according to Chris Claremont that’s exactly what happened.

Here’s the story: Chris Claremont and Frank Miller were stuck in a rental car together, retreating home after the San Diego Comic Convention. Picture them: They’re young, exhausted, and bored as fuck with each other. Looking for distraction, the conversation turned towards Wolverine, who, Claremont suggested, was due for his own limited series. What if they worked on a book together? Claremont could do the story; Miller the art.

Frank Miller wasn’t so sure. Yes, Logan had become one of the most popular players in the X-Men family, but as a character the little dude lacked depth, Miller argued. He was just an attack dog — a berserker prop writers used to spice up team dynamics. Alone, he wasn’t much. His magnetism came from the role he played, not the range of his individual characterization. You can hide a character’s shallowness within a team, but in a solo book? Not possible. It was a bold accusation, but somewhere over the course of the conversation Claremont had to concede it was true. Wolverine was, Claremont confessed, “uni-dimensional” (Wolverine, Volume 1, Introduction).

But maybe it didn’t have to be that way.

Over the course of the next six hours Claremont and Miller decided to destroy Wolverine. Or, put plainly, craft a story where Logan lost everything and needed to get rebuilt. Maybe they could create a new image of the savage runt: part-animal, yes, but also emphasizing his humanity. Maybe Logan could be a character in conflict with himself — a natural killer, but a wounded lover, too; a hero trying to define his bravery by restraint, not brutality. And failing. And then succeeding. For those of you who follow Wolverine, Logan’s struggle between animal and man feels perennial now. But back when Chris Claremont and Frank Miller first launched Wolverine, the limited series, it was groundbreaking.

 

CHRIS CLAREMONT

THEN:

When Claremont took over the X-Men in 1975, no one really wanted it. Sales of the title were poor, the characters felt as developed as stick figures, and the book rarely, if ever, attracted new fans. The title was so troubled that Claremont, a former intern and newly promoted writer, got the job without a fight. Trained as an actor, and with aspirations of becoming a fiction writer, Claremont approached the title in a way that reflected his artistic sensibilities: as a character-driven drama, where the internal life and personal affairs of the young heroes were just as important as the adventures they undertook. The result was a 17 year run that’s produced some of Marvel’s most iconic and complicated characters, and a series that reads like real fiction. Not the Sunday funnies.

NOW:

Claremont left X-Men better than he found it. And his work is still evident today. The title is more diverse, more developed, and serves as a gateway drug, creating new comic fans every year. Maybe Claremont’s most lasting legacy is that he developed a platform where strong female protagonists like Storm, Psylocke, and Kitty Pryde are the norm, not just hot walk-ons. If wasn’t for his non-gender conforming writing it’s doubtful the current female-driven version of the X-Men would even be possible. After leaving X-Men, Claremont shifted his attention away from Marvel, opting instead to write for Image and Dark Horse, and most notably the development of a new team book, Sovereign 7, which was published by DC. But deep down it seems Claremont always wanted to be a fiction writer. He’s sent a good portion of the last few years trying his hand at fantasy prose; his most recent novel is Wild Blood.

 

FRANK MILLER

THEN:

Wolverine isn’t the first character Miller re-created. And in fact, Miller’s beginnings, and knack for reinventing exhausted titles mimic those of Claremont. As young writer for Marvel, Miller mostly fought for scraps, illustrating or writing on any book he got offered. Prime example: Daredevil. Back in 1980 Daredevil was an unloved hero; like the X-Men, old horn-head’s sales were in the toilet and without the crunch of team dynamics to fall back on writers had run out of new directions to push the mid-shelf hero. But Miller saw something in Matt Murdock. He pushed to make the title grittier and the character more tortured; he made the city central to the book and infused each script with many of the urban anxieties that typified the 80’s: drugs, violence, and crime. It was during his initial run on Daredevil that Miller came to develop his now signature crime-noir style, which later blossomed into Born Again, Miller’s seminal recreation of Matt Murdock. And then came the Dark Knight Returns, which, put simply, mind-fucked the entire industry.

NOW:

For better or worse, The Dark Knight Returns will always be considered Frank Miller’s signature accomplishment. Someday, after Miller dies, you should expect this classic re-imagining of the Batman will get mentioned somewhere in the first sentence of his obit. And while Miller’s done a lot since 1986, he shouldn’t be ashamed of the fact his career will be forever fused with this iconic book. It’s just fucking great. Still. And most incredibly The Dark Knight found a way to balance a balls-out embrace of the vigilante spirit Miller become famous for, while still demonstrating a level of restraint that much of Miller’s later work struggled to achieve. Yes, Miller continued to gain fans and garner praise well after the 80’s, but his uber-hard-ass writing style and violent characterizations began to ring more hollow as the years went on — consider All Star Batman and Robin or Holy Terror as exhibit A and B.

Back in 2011 Miller might have officially jumped the shark with many fans after his tirade against the Occupy protesters, where he wrote: “In the name of decency, go home to your parents, you losers. Go back to your mommas’ basements and play with your Lords Of Warcraft.” Ironically, these ramblings would have sounded more authentic tumbling past the lips of a 1986 Dark Knight, but they felt strangely one-dimensional coming from a writer who’d spent his early career fighting for creator’s rights against profit hungry publishers — a crusade most Occupy protestors would have applauded. The backlash was intense; and even Alan Moore chimed in, chiding Miller. Since then Miller’s kept a low profile.

 

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Max Delgado is the founder and curator of The Longbox Project (@LongBoxProject), a memory project where comics are both inspiration and point of departure. You can check it out here.