Created by Roy Thomas, Len Wein, and John Romita Sr, Wolverine is a short Canadian mutant who possesses animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, a powerful regenerative ability known as a healing factor, and three retractable claws in each hand.
But I’m pretty sure you already knew that, as Wolvie is also one of the most popular X-Men out there, helped by Hugh Jackman’s performance in the X-Men movie franchise (and he also has his own solo movies). He’s also the only X-Men character to have his own comic title consistently since his debut in 1988. There are a lot of X-Men stories (see our massive reading order!) and a lot of Wolverine comics!
Today, we explore Jason Aaron’s run on the character, written before his epic run on Thor. It’s after all thanks to Wolverine that Aaron finds his way into Marvel, after winning a contest…
Wolverine by Jason Aaron Reading Order
Wolverine before Jason Aaron: Wolvie made his debut in 1974 and lived a lot of solo adventures trying to unpack his complicated past and much more. To discover more about him, see the Complete Wolverine reading order.
The first Wolverine stories by Jason Aaron
Aaron first wrote some limited series before writing an ongoing Wolverine series. This is where it all began…
- Wolverine Vol 2 #175 (A Good Man)
It was Jason Aaron’s first writing assignment for Marvel after he won a writing contest. - Wolverine: The Death of Wolverine
Collects Wolverine (2003 series) #56-61. Jason Aaron only wrote issue #56, The Man in the Pit. - Wolverine: Get Mystique
Collects Wolverine (2003 series) #62-65. Happens mostly in parallel to the Messiah Complex. - X-Men: Manifest Destiny
Collects: Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #1-4, X-Men Manifest Destiny: Nightcrawler #1, and X-Men: Manifest Destiny: Iceman, Nightcrawler, Boom-Boom & Avalanche.
All those stories are also available in:
- Wolverine by Jason Aaron, Vol. 1 Omnibus
Collects Wolverine Vol. 3 #56 and #62-65; Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #1-4; Wolverine: Weapon X #1-16; Dark Reign: The List – Wolverine; and material from Wolverine Vol. 3 #73-74, Dark X-Men: The Beginning #3, Wolverine Vol. 2 #175.
Wolverine: Weapon X (2009-2010)
To coincide with the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Marvel launched the ongoing series Wolverine: Weapon X, with Jason Aaron at the helm after having written several one-shots and limited series featuring the character. The series lasted 16 issues.
- Wolverine: Weapon X Volume 1: Adamantium Men
Collects Wolverine stories from Wolverine #73-75; Wolverine Weapon X #1-5. - Wolverine: Weapon X Volume 2: Insane in the Brain
Collects: Wolverine Weapon X #6-10. - Wolverine: Weapon X Volume 3: Tomorrow Dies Today
Collects: Wolverine Weapon X #11-16 and Dark Reign: The List – Wolverine.
All those stories are also available in:
- Wolverine by Jason Aaron, Vol. 1 Omnibus
Collects Wolverine Vol. 3 #56 and #62-65; Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #1-4; Wolverine: Weapon X #1-16; Dark Reign: The List – Wolverine; and material from Wolverine Vol. 3 #73-74, Dark X-Men: The Beginning #3, Wolverine Vol. 2 #175.
Wolverine Vol. 4 (2010-2012)
After 16 issues, Wolverine: Weapon X was relaunched as simply Wolverine. This volume has ties with Schism and the X-Men: Regenesis story arcs (see our X-Men Reading Order Part 4).
First, this period was entirely collected in one big omnibus. Take a look below for the detailed reading order.
- Wolverine Goes To Hell Omnibus
Collects Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine #1-6; Wolverine (2010) #1-20, 5.1, & 300-304; X-Men: Schism #1-5; and material from Wolverine: Road To Hell.
- Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine
Collects: Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine #1-6. - Wolverine: Wolverine Goes To Hell
Collects: Wolverine (2010 series) #1-5. - Wolverine: Wolverine vs. the X-Men
Collects: Wolverine (2010 series) #5.1 and #6-9. - Wolverine: Wolverine’s Revenge
Collects: Wolverine (2010 series) #10-16. - X-Men: Schism
Collects: X-Men: Schism #1-5. - Wolverine: Goodbye Chinatown
Collects: Wolverine (2010 series) #17-20. - Wolverine: Back In Japan
Collects: Wolverine #300-304.
Wolverine Vol. 4 didn’t stop directly after the end of Jason Aaron’s tenure, and issues #305-317 were written by Cullen Bunn. The title comes to its end in the wake of the Marvel NOW! initiative.
Wolverine and The X-Men (2011-2014)
Following the recent events in X-Men: Schism, Wolverine’s philosophy changed and he became headmaster of the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, in Wolverine and the X-Men, written by Aaron.
During this period, Wolverine also starred in Savage Wolverine (written by Frank Cho), but also Wolverine Vol. 5 by Paul Cornell.
First, the Wolverine & The X-Men series is now available in one big omnibus – that doesn’t collect the issues from the Battle of the Atom crossover.
- Wolverine & The X-Men Omnibus
Collects Wolverine & The X-Men (2011) 1-35, 38-42; Wolverine & The X-Men Annual (2013).
- Wolverine and the X-Men Volume 1
Collects Wolverine and the X-Men #1-5. - Wolverine and the X-Men Volume 2
Collects Wolverine and the X-Men #5-8. - Wolverine and the X-Men Volume 3
Collects Wolverine and the X-Men #9-13. - Wolverine and the X-Men Volume 4
Collects Wolverine and the X-Men #14-18. - Wolverine and the X-Men Volume 5
Collects Wolverine and the X-Men #19-24.
- Wolverine and the X-Men Volume 6
Collects Wolverine and the X-Men #25-29. - Wolverine and the X-Men Volume 7
Collects Wolverine and the X-Men #30-35. - X-Men: Battle of the Atom
Collects X-Men: Battle Of The Atom #1-2, All-New X-Men #16-17, X-Men (2013) #5-6, Uncanny X-Men (2013) #12-13 And Wolverine & The X-Men #36-37. - Wolverine and the X-Men Volume 8
Collects Wolverine and the X-Men #38-42 and Wolverine and the X-Men Annual #1.
After Jason Aaron’s departure, a new volume of Wolverine and the X-Men was launched, written by Jason Latour.
The two Jason also collaborated on Wolverine: Japan’s Most Wanted, as part of Infinite Comics, an imprint featuring original stories made for digital.
- Wolverine: Japan’s Most Wanted Hardcover
Collects 13-issue web series by Jason Aaron.
Finally, Amazing X-Men by Jason Aaron is a continuation of a storyline in Wolverine and the X-Men and sees a team of X-Men searching for deceased member Nightcrawler in the afterlife. He only wrote the first 6-issues and was replaced by Kathryn Immonen (issue 7), then Chris Yost & Craig Kyle (issues 8-19).
- Amazing X-Men: The Quest for Nightcrawler
Collects Amazing X-Men (vol. 2) #1-6.
Other Collected Editions
Complete Collection
Complete Collections are large, full-color trade paperback collections of previously published Marvel comics, typically containing 300–500 pages.
- Wolverine by Jason Aaron Complete Collection Volume 1
Collects Wolverine (2003 series) #56, #62-65, material from #73-74, Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #1-4, and Wolverine: Weapon X #1-5 - Wolverine by Jason Aaron Complete Collection Volume 2
Collects Dark Reign: The List – Wolverine #1; Wolverine: Weapon X #6-16; Dark X-Men: The Beginning #3, and All-New Wolverine Saga - Wolverine by Jason Aaron Complete Collection Volume 3
Collects Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine #1-6, Wolverine #1-9, #5.1, and Wolverine: Road To Hell - Wolverine by Jason Aaron Complete Collection Volume 4
Collects Wolverine (2010 series) #10-20, #300-304
Omnibus
Not surprising, Marvel Comics also collected big parts of Aaron’s run on Wolverine in their Omnibus collection:
- Wolverine by Jason Aaron, Vol. 1 Omnibus
Collects Wolverine Vol. 3 #56 and #62-65; Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #1-4; Wolverine: Weapon X #1-16; Dark Reign: The List – Wolverine; and material from Wolverine Vol. 3 #73-74, Dark X-Men: The Beginning #3, Wolverine Vol. 2 #175. - Wolverine Goes To Hell Omnibus
Collects Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine #1-6; Wolverine (2010) #1-20, 5.1, & 300-304; X-Men: Schism #1-5; and material from Wolverine: Road To Hell. - Wolverine & The X-Men Omnibus
Collects Wolverine & The X-Men (2011) 1-35, 38-42; Wolverine & The X-Men Annual (2013). The omnibus doesn’t collect the issues from the Battle of the Atom crossover.