10 Best Wolverine Covers That Changed Comic History

Wolverine is the best there is at what he does and usually I put some pithy joke here. The joke is that the ol’Canucklehead isn’t just the best at one thing and I name different ones every time. However, there is something that he is almost certainly the best at – appearing on the cover of comics. His meteoric rise to fame in the ’80s meant that putting him on the cover of a book meant that it would sell more, so Marvel learned the most obvious lesson from that. Logan has appeared on thousands of covers by some of the best artists in the business, many of which have been made into t-shirts, posters, bandanas, and basically everything else you can think of.

However, some cover have gone beyond becoming something as simple as merch. These covers captured moments in time that changed the comic industry forever, images that every Marvel fan will recognize. These ten Wolverine covers changed comic history, showing just how important the ol’Canucklehead has become.

10) New Avengers (Vol. 1) #5

New Avengers changed Marvel history and a big part of that was just the fact that Wolverine was an Avenger. He appeared on the cover of the first issue in shadow, but it would take four more issues before he got his first solo cover on New Avengers (Vol. 1) #5, by David Finch, Danny Miki, and Frank D’Armata. In fact, he was the first character to get a solo main cover in the series’ history and one of the few to consistently get them. That might not seem important, but you have to remember – he was in a book with the most popular characters in the Marvel Universe, that was the bestselling, and he was the first one to get his own cover (not counting variants; main covers are the ones everyone sees, so they’re more important). It’s a huge moment in Marvel lore no one talks about.

9) Wolverine (Vol. 2) #145

Wolverine’s life has been defined by loss and the ’90s were all about one in particular – Logan’s adamantium skeleton. Magneto tore the fabled ore from his bones in 1993 and fans were clamoring for it to come back almost the word go. However, it would take six years before it came back in Wolverine (Vol. 2) #145, announced by this cover from Leinil Yu. It was one of the last foil covers of the ’90s, in silver or the more limited gold, and it announced the moment that fans had waited years for. It was a perfect moment and this cover has become iconic.

8) Wolverine (Vol. 2) #125

Wolverine has had amazing creative runs, but there’s one creator who was easily the most important, if not the best to many fans – Chris Claremont. Claremont made the X-Men into the sales titans they were in the ’80s, making Logan the superstar and centerpiece of the book, and the ideas he created kept the team on the top throughout the ’90s. He was forced out of his position, replaced by artists Jim Lee, Whilce Potracio, John Byrne, and scripter Scott Lobdell, in 1991 and was gone from Marvel for years, working at DC and Image Comics. However, he would return to the House of Ideas and the ol’Canucklehead with Wolverine (Vol. 2) #125 with this amazing Leinil Yu cover. We hoped that the return of Claremont meant the adamantium was coming back (that wasn’t the case), but even though that didn’t happen, it’s still a spectacular, important cover, announcing Claremont’s return.

7) Wolverine (Vol. 2) #75

Wolverine lost his adamantium in X-Men (Vol. 2) #25 and the main reason it’s not on this list is because it’s a group shot of the whole team as Magneto attacks the feral mutant and he’s all the way at the bottom. So, not really a Wolverine cover. However, Wolverine (Vol. 2) #75 was a Wolverine cover and it is amazing. The first cover from Adam Kubert, with inker Mark Farmer, it was a tantalizing image, with a ’90s-eriffic hologram on the cover, and sold loads of copies on the newsstands on shock value alone. This is the issue that reveals the bone claws’ existence and this cover sold it beautifully.

6) Marvel Comics Presents (Vol. 1) #79

“Weapon X” is one of the best Wolverine stories of all time. Barry Windsor-Smith’s classic 12-part story told the tale of Logan’s time at the Weapon X facility as they bonded the adamantium to his skeleton and the terrible things he did after. There are some outstanding covers from this run of issues – if I’m being honest, it’s because Windsor-Smith is one of the greatest creators to ever work in the comic industry – but the one that stands out the most, the one that most fans know by heart came from Marvel Comics Presents (Vol. 10 #79. This image of a blood-covered Logan brandishing his claws with the Weapon X helmet on is one of the most striking images in the character’s long, bloody history.

5) Wolverine (Vol. 2) #1

If there’s one artist who is a more iconic cover artist than Barry Windsor-Smith, it’s John Buscema. He was one of the all-time greats, his work on books like Avengers and Conan the Barbarian (the book Windsor-Smith got his big break on) some of the greatest in comic history. That’s why it’s such a big deal that when the ol’Canucklehead got his first ongoing series that the House of Ideas put Buscema on the book as artist and readers got this amazing cover, with legendary inker Al Williamson. Wolverine (Vol. 2) #1 is one of the best Wolverine first issues and this cover is a perfect primer on what you’re going to see in it – Logan killing a lot of people, something readers really didn’t get to see back then in other books. This is an amazing cover for one of the biggest events in Marvel history.

4) Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #251

Marc Silvestri and Dan Green were an amazing artistic team and they had big shoes to fill on Uncanny X-Men. That book had been the home to some of the best artists of all time and had some sensational Wolverine covers over the years. However, few of them would prove to be as iconic as the cover to Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #251. Wolverine crucified in the rain on a giant X is such a striking image, one that made its way into the MCU. This image made a million kids Wolverine fans, one of the coolest covers in X-Men history.

3) Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #213

Wolverine and Sabretooth’s brutal rivalry is one of Marvel’s most legendary, with readers getting some of the coolest battles ever from them. Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #213 is the first time the time of them locked claws on the cover of a comic book and this image by Alan Davis and Paul Neary was worth a million words. It captures the rage and the ferocity of the two combatants perfectly and is easily one of Davis’s best Marvel covers, which is saying something. It’s a masterpiece.

2) Wolverine (Vol. 1) #1

Wolverine first burst onto the scene in 1974 and spent eight years becoming the most popular X-Man. Eventually, the character was ready for his own solo adventure and Marvel got Chris Claremont and Frank Miller for the book. 1982’s Wolverine (Vol. 1) #1 shipped with this brilliant cover from Miller and Josef Rubenstein. The image has it all – a cruelly smiling Logan with his mask off and wild eyes, brandishing his claws and inviting you to step up. It was a call to action, daring you to go on this journey with the ol’Canucklehead. It’s sensational and has been homaged to death over the years by the best artists ever.

1) The Incredible Hulk #181

It was obviously going to be this one. The Incredible Hulk #181 was the first appearance of Wolverine on the cover of a comic book and what a cover it was. Herb Trimpe, John Romita Sr., and Gaspar Saladino gave readers a cover that perfectly captured the excitement within the issue, as Logan goes for a punching Hulk with a jumping slash and Wendigo howls and threatens in the background. It’s an all-timer cover, the best way to introduce a character like Wolverine that you can imagine. It did everything that it needed to do and then some, heralding the arrival of a legend flawlessly.

What’s your favorite Wolverine cover? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

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