Wolverine: Weapon X by Jim Rugg - Available Now from Bloomsbury Marvel

Every superhero has an origin story. Wolverine first turned up in 1974 in The Incredible Hulk 181, but his story remained unknown for almost two decades. Jim Rugg's Wolverine: Weapon X examines those beginnings and the industry shift that made them possible. It also explores the legacy of Barry Windsor-Smith.

A New Era for Marvel Comics

"In many ways, Weapon X is the opposite of a superhero comic. It is a punk rock manifesto against the superhero genre!"

When Weapon X hit shelves in 1991, it was a product of a new era.  Changes in publishing allowed for changes in content. This shift was driven by a combination of social factors, an ageing consumer base, new business models, and new distribution methods. More mature readers meant more mature content. Antiheroes and superhero characters with more ambiguous moral codes began to rise in popularity.

"Weapon X is the most violent comic story that Marvel ever published," Rugg writes. "Comic books are full of assassins, ninjas, barbarians, and vigilantes, but they rarely focus on the traumatic receipts of the violence. And that is what separates Weapon X. It is the ultimate inversion of the male superhero fantasy. Helplessness."

Barry Windsor-Smith's One-Man Masterpiece

Barry Windsor-Smith is credited as the writer, penciller, inker, colourist, and co-letterer of Weapon X. A rare feat for a single creator on any Marvel title. Unhampered by continuity, Windsor-Smith broke from the standard Marvel house style in striking ways. Rugg examines his storytelling choices, his linework, and a distinctive drawing technique that sometimes used colour shapes with no ink lines at all. Windsor-Smith's storytelling shifted the typical narrative responsibility of text onto the imagery, inverting the usual comic book reading experience.

Thirty-five years after its first publication, Windsor-Smith's Weapon X is still celebrated. In 1991, it was ahead of its time. Today it is timeless.

Jim Rugg is an Eisner and Ignatz Award-winning cartoonist, designer, zinemaker, and illustrator. His books include Hulk Grand Design, the Street Angel series, the PLAIN Janes, Octobriana 1976, Supermag, and Afrodisiac. He is the co-creator of YouTube's Cartoonist Kayfabe channel. His comics are held in the Smithsonian permanent collection and the National Archives. He has taught visual storytelling at the School of Visual Arts and the Animation Workshop in Denmark. Rugg lives and draws in Pittsburgh.

Find out more about Wolverine: Weapon X and other books at www.bloomsbury.com/marvel-books.