“"I'm the best there is at what I do, but what I do best isn't very nice"

~ James Howlett

This near perfect set features only non-signature issues in order to remain as true to original condition as possible. No other non-signature Wolverine set is as complete at this point in time! Each issue features thorough descriptions and high-resolution scans of the front and back using an Epson15000 professional scanner. Wolverine is arguably Marvel's most popular and well-known characters so as a tribute, I’ve worked tirelessly to complete what I hope is considered worthy of his stature. Hopefully anyone looking at this collection will consider it one of the top examples in the modern category for complete runs, making it one of the Best in Age! Made up of many very rare issues, some with very storied production related hurdles, sets like this are far and few between. Ultimately, I hope others find as much pleasure looking through this set as I’ve found in buiding it! Please enjoy! By next year, I hope to finish my Ms. Marvel 1977 set that already has all of the toughest to find issues including issue 3 in 9.8! 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 and started to collect his regular series when it was around issue 5. I bought back copies to fill in the blanks and to this day, Wolverine is my favorite character. My collecting days went on hiatus when the comic market got a little carried away with variants. 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! My favorites at this point are the Wolverine 1988 series, Alias 2001 and Harbinger’s 1992 series. I have collected a few odds and ends in between and will eventually fill out my Rai 1992, Shadowman 1992, Psylocke Mini Series 2010 and the various X-23 and NYX series and will consider other series once I have the bulk of these filled up. 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!. For those of you that don't know me, my real name is Eric Smith. I want to take a moment to thank Jimmy Mint (Jimmy Vykol), frostking70 (Allen Hentges), Matt (Matt Niezgoda) and JSantucci (Jeff Santucci) for their help through private transactions with filling in quite a few missing pieces. This set is a culmination of finding raw issues that I've been able to submit on my own along with auction wins and purchases on Comiclink, Pedigree, MyComicShop and eBay. I'm not really sure why I decided to fill out the set. It all started off innocently enough with the desire to just collect issue 1 and then I bought a couple more and was gonna stop at issues 1 thru 10....then it was 1-20....then 1-50....then I went all in. Can't believe how obsessive this hobby has become! I'm trying to fill this set with only non-signature, blue label universals. I have achieved a personal milestone and reached my goal of making it into the top 5 sets for this series in the world. I have remained true to my original goal of only collecting non-signature copies and currently this set is almost a perfect 9.8 set! And finally, the best things come in pairs! (Doombringer Foils and Wolverine Special 102.5s!)