Wolverine was born James Howlett and prefers to go by the name Logan. Perhaps best known for his bone claws (later adamantium) and edgy disposition, Logan also has the ability to heal and was born in the 1880s in Alberta, Canada(Think Highlander and you’ll get the picture!)
His long lifespan has led him on many travels from the Canadian wilderness to the isle of Japan. He epitomizes the anti-hero and has been drawn time and again to many conflicts including fighting alongside Captain America in WWII, running covert ops for the CIA and was eventually recruited into the Weapon X program where his bones were fused with adamantium that is his popular look known to most audiences today.
Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas asked writer Len Wein to devise a character specifically named Wolverine, who is Canadian and of small stature and with a wolverine's fierce temper. John Romita, Sr. designed the first Wolverine costume, and believes he introduced the retractable claws, saying, "When I make a design, I want it to be practical and functional. I thought, 'If a man has claws like that, how does he scratch his nose or tie his shoelaces?'" Wolverine first appeared in the final "teaser" panel of The Incredible Hulk #180 (cover-dated October 1974) written by Wein and penciled by Herb Trimpe. The character then appeared in a number of advertisements in various Marvel Comics publications before making his first major appearance in The Incredible Hulk #181 (November 1974) again by the Wein–Trimpe team. In 2009, Trimpe said he "distinctly remembers" Romita's sketch and that, "The way I see it, [Romita and writer Len Wein] sewed the monster together and I shocked it to life!... It was just one of those secondary or tertiary characters, actually, that we were using in that particular book with no particular notion of it going anywhere. We did characters in The [Incredible] Hulk all the time that were in [particular] issues and that was the end of them." Though often credited as co-creator, Trimpe adamantly denies having had any role in Wolverine's creation [source: Wikipedia]
He’s the perfect comic book character though there’s nothing comical about his character. Logan is the reason I began collecting to begin with. I remember the first issue I ever bought was at a comic store at Metcalf South. The issue was from his mini series, issue #2 because I liked the cover. I eventually bought the other 3 issues as well.
Flash forward to 2015 when I decided to visit the local Comic Con. I ended up buying a Wolverine 1988 series issue #1 graded CGC 9.8. I hadn’t really thought about it much up to that point, but the collecting bug was rekindled. I dug out my collection that had been stored away and decided to start submitting my back issues. I looked online to fill gaps in my various collections and thousands of dollars later I’ve acquired quite a few comics and am trying to avoid collecting too many series at a time! I also like to collect covers I find appealing (see Incredible Hulk 340) and 1st appearances here and there. It’s all a labor of love! Be sure to check out the descriptions of the individual comics as I'm investing the time to make sure they are informative and whenever possible describe the individual story lines!.