Wolverine's past returns to haunt him in hellish adventure

Wolverine is going to hell.

Literally.

Marvel Comics’ “Wolverine: Weapon X” recently ended its run. In its place is a new series reclaiming the one-word title of “Wolverine.” And its opening story arc is a hellish one for Logan, aka the fierce mutant Wolverine.

“The story opens where he’s already in hell, and we don’t really know how he got there or who put him there or anything,” said writer Jason Aaron. “Or at least his soul is in hell. His body is still running around on Earth, possessed by demons coming after people who are close to Logan.”

In trying to fight his way out of hell, Wolverine will have to face all those foes he’s killed over the course of his very long life. Aaron, who was also the writer of “Wolverine: Weapon X,” says it’s an opportunity to put Wolverine in the middle of “a kind of horror story we’ve never seen before.”

“Just having him in hell and facing all these characters is intriguing. There are the characters that everybody is going to expect to see, but there will also be a few that people aren’t thinking of.”

Renato Guedes is the artist on “Wolverine.” Aaron calls him the perfect choice.

“He’s brought a different style to what could be a really dark and uncommercial story,” Aaron said. “His vision of hell is pretty jaw-dropping, I really wanted to give hell a real geography and sense of place instead of just being just the sort of smoky cave that we usually see it portrayed as.”

The story will spill into two new Wolverine-related titles: “Daken: Dark Wolverine,” starring Wolverine’s son, and “X-23,” which features a female clone of Wolverine.

“When this group comes after Logan, they’re also striking at people who are close to him,” Aaron said. “So X-23 and Daken both get drawn into that.”

The dark story might seen an odd choice coming as Marvel ushers in what it’s calling the Heroic Age, bringing in a bit of light after the civil wars, secret invasions and dark reigns of recent years. Not so, Aaron says.

“If you look at the Wolverine stuff I’ve done, one of the seeds I’ve been planting is that Wolverine is developing a sense of faith and hope,” Aaron said. That journey — to becoming a believer, a person with hope for the future — continues in the new story arc, he said.

“I’ve said all along this is my Heroic Age Wolverine story.”

The popular Wolverine constantly pops up all over the Marvel universe, fighting alongside both the X-Men and the Avengers. His solo title, Aaron said, will reflect his varied roles.
“You will see X-Men show up and also see characters from the world of the Avengers.”