Posted in: Comics | Tagged: fanfic, john byrne, wolverine, x-men

John Byrne Creates Wolverine Origin Comic As He Would Have Told It

Published Tue, 16 Nov 2021 14:57:14 -0600

For the last few years, John Byrne has been creating his own X-Men fanfic comic book, ostensibly what might have happened with the X-Men comic if he had not left, but instead had taken it over as writer and artist. He has been publishing it on the Fanfic section of the John Byrne Message Board for readers to enjoy for free – and comment on separate threads. Marvel EIC C.B. Cebulski approached John Byrne over publishing the comic book as an official Marvel series, but Byrne declined.

Dubbed X-Men: Elsewhen, John Byrne recently finished issue 27 and has started issue 28, seeing Shaman of Alpha Flight helping Wolverine's healing process, which has seen Logan travel through his own timeline, from the start to the present. Wolverine's origins in the comics, from Barry Windsor-Smith and from Paul Jenkins, Joe Quesada, and Adam Kubert are not a part of this story. Byrne says that "you're seeing a basic outline of something that dates back to the late Seventies, when I first set to cogitating on Wolverine's "origin". So, long before Shooter-imposed nonsense, and the lunacy that grew from it." Additionally Byrne stated "I have not seen anything of BWS's version beyond a couple of covers."

Called "What Price Yesterday" it begins with a young Logan born in the early twentieth century, son of the man who would later be known as Sabretooth. Which, of course, was the John Byrne/Chris Claremont plan for the character, as well as Wolverine being about 60 years old…

…and having served in World War II after escaping from Sabretooth. And so we have him fighting as a soldier alongside Captain America…

…and the rest of the Invaders. Though with a healing factor more in keeping with the original plans, including not being able to heal his own bones as easily as his flesh.

Suffering serious injuries in the war, they were compounded when returning home…

… which sees him paralysed for decades before being part of an experimental treatment.

Though don't speculate as to who you see too much. As Byrne said in the comments as people started making guesses as to the identity of one character, "PLEASE STOP!!!!!!! Despite my pleas, speculation continues, so what I had hoped would be a bit of "fun" has become, for me, an annoyance. I've changed the second page, giving the character a name that has nothing to do with who I originally intended him to be, or any other Marvel character. He now exists only in this sequence." So bear that in mind going forward.

When asked about the twenty year gap in the comments, Byrne said "When I was in college, circa 1970, I heard for the first time the story that the big veterans hospital in downtown Calgary was still caring for horribly mutilated soldiers from the First World War. It disturbed me deeply, even tho I was not able to confirm it. In some ways, this origin story is an attempt to exorcise those memories."

So we have every single bone and bone fragment being extracted from Wolverine's body…

…and substituted for an adamantium replacement. More to come, to see where Wolverine's life goes next… and a whole 27-plus issues to catch up on first.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!