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Wolverine Reading Order

Created by Roy Thomas, Len Wein, and John Romita Sr. in 1974 (in The Incredible Hulk #180-181) but first drawn for publication by Herb Trimpe, Wolverine quickly became the most popular X-Man.

Described as a Canadian of small stature and with a wolverine’s fierce temper, Wolverine has a complicated past, multiple origin stories, and a lot of deaths and resurrections. In fact, he already had a long life before joining the X-Men, as we discovered over the years. He was born during the late 19th century, and his youth was marked by family secrets and tragedies. He already had claws, but they were not made of adamantium. He also already had his animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, and a powerful healing factor. That made him the perfect candidate for the mysterious Weapon X program that kidnapped him before having adamantium forcibly fused onto his bones.

Obviously, he escaped and found his way toward Professor Charles Xavier who recruited him into his new X-Men with Jean Grey and Cyclops (go to our X-Men Reading Order). With the team, he fought against many foes. He lost his claws, his adamantium, his memories, his loves, his family, and his friends, but he also got most of them back, joined other teams, and discovered even more about himself, his friends, his place in this world, and his powers.

Wolverine is so popular that he appeared in a lot of series. Too many in fact to the point that his story doesn’t always make sense. As a consequence, writing an exhaustive reading order is almost an impossible task to complete, but we can still try to write one that is usable. This is what we are trying to do here, with a focus on his solo career.

Wolverine Comics Reading Order

This is not a reading order about Wolverine in The X-Men. X-Men titles will be included when necessary. It’s about Wolverine’s solo adventures. You can go to our X-Men Reading Order for more information about the X series, events, and crossovers.

Wolverine: The Omnibus Collection

With this reading order, you’ll find a list of trade paperbacks, but before with go into details in that format, here is a list of the omnibuses dedicated to Wolverine:

  • Wolverine Omnibus Vol. 1
    Collects Wolverine vol.1 #1–4; Wolverine vol. 2, #1–10; Marvel Comics Presents #1–10, 72–84; The Incredible Hulk #180–182, 340; Marvel Treasury Edition #26; Best of Marvel Comics (HC); Kitty Pryde and Wolverine #1–6; Spider-Man vs. Wolverine #1; Marvel Age Annual #4; Punisher War Journal #6–7; Uncanny X-Men #172–173.
  • Wolverine Omnibus Vol. 2
    Collects Wolverine (1988) #11–30, Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown (1988) #1–4, Wolverine/Nick Fury: The Scorpio Connection (1989) #1, Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure (1990) #1, Wolverine: Bloodlust (1990) #1, material from Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #38-71.
  • Wolverine Omnibus Vol. 3
    Collects Wolverine (1988) #31–59, Wolverine: Bloody Choices, Wolverine: Rahne of Terra, Ghost Rider/Wolverine/Punisher: Hearts of Darkness, X-Men (1991) #4-7, material from Marvel Fanfare (1982) #54-55, and Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #85-108.
  • Wolverine Omnibus Vol. 4
    Collects Wolverine (1988) #60-75, Wolverine: Inner Fury (1992) #1, Wolverine: Killing (1993) #1, Wolverine: Global Jeopardy (1993) #1, Wolverine and the Punisher: Damaging Evidence (1993) #1-3, Sabretooth (1993) #1-4, Spider-Man/Punisher/Sabretooth: Designer Genes (1993) #1, X-Men (1991) #25; material from Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #109-142, Marvel Holiday Special (1991) #2.
  • Wolverine Omnibus Vol. 5
    Collects Wolverine (1988) #76-101 And Annual ’95, Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #150-151, Cable (1993) #16, Wolverine: Evilution, Wolverine/Nick Fury: Scorpio Rising, Ghost Rider/Wolverine/Punisher: The Dark Design, Wolverine: Knight Of Terra, Wolverine/Gambit: Victims #1-4, Uncanny X-Men (1981) #332, Logan: Path Of The Warlord And Material From Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #152-155.

  • Weapon X: The Return Omnibus
    Collects Wolverine (1988) #162-166, 173-174, 176; Deadpool (1997) #57-60; Weapon X (2002) #1/2, #1-28; Weapon X: The Draft – Sauron, Wild Child, Kane, Marrow, Agent Zero; Weapon X: Days Of Future Now #1-5; Material From Wolverine (1988) #175, Deadpool (2012) #27.
  • Wolverine by Millar Omnibus
    Collects Wolverine #20-32, Wolverine #66-72, Wolverine Giant-Size Old Man Logan.
  • Wolverine by Jason Aaron Omnibus
    Collects Wolverine (2003) #56 and #62-65; Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #1-4; Wolverine: Weapon X #1-16; Dark Reign: The List – Wolverine; and material from Wolverine (2003) #73-74, Dark X-Men: The Beginning #3 and Wolverine (1988) #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; Material From Wolverine: Road To Hell.
  • Uncanny X-Force by Rick Remender Omnibus
    Collects Uncanny X-Force (2010) #1-35, 5.1, 19.1; Material From Wolverine: The Road To Hell (2010) #1, All-New Wolverine Saga (2010), X-Men Spotlight (2011).
  • Wolverine & the X-Men by Jason Aaron Omnibus
    Collects Wolverine & The X-Men (2011) #1-35, 38-42; Wolverine & The X-Men Annual (2013) #1.
  • Death Of Wolverine Omnibus
    Collects Wolverine (2013) #1-13, Wolverine (2014) #1-12, Wolverine Annual (2014) #1, Death Of Wolverine #1-4, Death Of Wolverine: The Weapon X Program #1-5, Death Of Wolverine: The Logan Legacy #1-7, Death Of Wolverine: Deadpool & Captain America, Death Of Wolverine: Life After Logan, Nightcrawler (2014) #7, Wolverine & The X-Men (2014) #10-11, Storm (2014) #4-5 And Material From Marvel 75th Anniversary Celebration.

Wolverine: Before The X-Men

Published from November 2001 to July 2002, written by Bill Jemas, Joe Quesada, and Paul Jenkins, and illustrated by Andy Kubert (pencils) and Richard Isanove (color), Wolverine: Origin does what the title suggests. It’s taking us back to his birth, revealing that he is James Howlett, the son of rich plantation owners in late-19th-century Canada. After that, we follow young James as he discovers his powers and becomes Logan. The success of the miniseries led to a sequel.

  • Wolverine: Origin – The Complete Collection
    Collects Origin #1-6 & Origin II #1-5.
  • Wolverine: Prehistory
    Collects Marvel Comics Presents #93–98; Wolverine (vol. 3) #32; Logan: Path of the Warlord, Shadow Society; Wolverine: Agent of Atlas #1–3; First X-Men #1–5; Wolverine: Hunger; Wolverine (vol. 2) #-1; Before The Fantastic Four: Ben Grimm & Logan #1–3; Wolverine/Cable; Wolverine: The Amazing Immortal Man & Other Bloody Tales; Wolverine #1000.

The classic masterpiece written, illustrated, and colored by Barry Windsor-Smith, Wolverine: Weapon X is the definitive story about Wolverine’s time in the Weapon X Program. After being taken hostage by an experimental Canadian military science outfit, Logan is transformed into Weapon X, an unstoppable killing machine with an indestructible Adamantium skeleton and razor-sharp claws. But Weapon X cannot be contained by his captors — and trapped in their lab with the monster they have made, they will face his feral wrath!

  • Wolverine: Weapon X
    Collects Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #72-84, Uncanny X-Men (1981) #205, material from Wolverine (1988) #166.

Wolverine: The X-Man

Wolverine joined The X-Men in the famous Giant-Size X-Men #1 and stayed for a very long time. In fact, he was there all along during the Chris Claremont era, but also in Volume 2 of X-Men (launched in 1991), then in New X-Men (#113-156), X-Treme X-Men (volume 1 in 2001), Astonishing X-Men (in 2004), and more after that of course. Once again, you can go to our X-Men Reading Order for more information, but for context, read the next book:

  • X-Men Epic Collection: Second Genesis
    Collects Giant Size X-Men #1; Uncanny X-Men #94-110; Iron Fist #14-15; Marvel Team-Up #53, #69-70, Annual #1; material from FOOM #10. You’ll find The Phoenix Saga in UXM 101 to 108.

Wolverine got his first solo miniseries in 1982. Coming from Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, this story of love and honor took Wolverine to Japan. Then, in another miniseries, he teamed up with Kitty Pride and with Nick Fury, before finally getting his own solo title in 1988.

Wolverine By Claremont & Miller Deluxe Edition (Trade Paperback)

Wolverine: X-Man, Avengers, Teacher…

 At that point, Wolverine joins the New Avengers. You can find more about that series in our Avengers by Bendis Reading Order.

The World of the X-Men is about to change forever. It’s time for House of M, a big Avengers/X-Men Event (for more information see our Reading order). For the essentials:

Next, Jason Aaron took over Wolverine, and, if you want to focus on that run, here is a dedicated reading order.

After the event of Messiah Complex, a new X-Force strike team was validated by Cyclops with Wolverine as the leader. The other members are Archangel, X-23, but also Warpath, Wolfsbane, Elixir, Domino, and Vanisher.

Alert Event! It’s time for Siege: Beginning with the ravaging effects of Avengers Disassembled and following the aftermath of House of M, Civil War, and Secret Invasion, culminating with the evil Reign of Norman Osborn, the Marvel Universe has been left with its greatest villains holding more power and control than ever before. You can find our full reading order for Siege here.

Event Alert! It’s time for Fear Itself… Because even Marvel’s greatest heroes know fear. And the X-Men play a part in this event. You can find our full reading order for Fear Itself here.

 Alert Event! Cyclops asked the United Nations to put an end to the Sentinel programs. Things don’t turn out the way he expected. The result:

Wolverine and the X-Men

Wolverine and The X-Men starts here. During the crossover X-Men: Regenesis, Wolverine left Utopia with a group of X-Men and students. They moved back to Westchester, New York, where they founded the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. Now Wolverine is the headmaster!

Event Alert! With the return of the Phoenix Force, everybody thinks it’s in Hope Summers. As a result, it’s Avengers Vs. X-Men. After that, we will jump to Marvel Now. To find the full reading order of the event, follow the link. The simpler version follows:

Event Alert! Age of Ultron: For years, the Marvel Universe has lived in fear that the artificial intelligence known as Ultron would one day evolve to fulfill its greatest desire: to wipe out all organic life and take over the Earth. That day has arrived! The reading order is here.

The Death of Wolverine

Death of Wolverine! The man called Logan is no stranger to death. Now, at the end of a long and violent life, he faces his own date with the reaper – but you can be sure Wolverine will go out fighting! The impact of his demise will be felt far and wide – as X-23, Daken, Sabretooth, Mystique, and Lady Deathstrike continue to shape Logan’s legacy. But who are the latest subjects of the revamped Weapon X program? For more information, go to our Death of Wolverine Reading Order.

As All-New, All-Different Marvel started, Wolverine was no more. X-23 became Wolverine and got a solo series, as Old Man Logan did. So we jump to the Marvel Fresh Start era. Then, Wolverine made his return with the storyline Hunt For Wolverine. See Hunt for Wolverine Reading Order for more information.

Wolverine: The Krakoa Era

At that point, The X-Men Universe ended up in the hands of Jonathan Hickman who orchestrated the most ambitious reboot. You can read more about it in our dedicated reading order for that era.

More to come… forever!

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