Wolverine Artist Appreciation Month

From: ComicMix.com
Written by: Glenn Hauman

Marvel's press release:

Marvel is proud to announce that in honor of Wolverine's 35th anniversary, numerous Marvel titles will feature Wolverine Art Appreciation Variant Covers in April, as part of Wolverine Art Appreciation Month. In the tradition of Marvel's previous variant cover programs, featuring everything from villains to zombies to monkeys, select Marvel titles will feature variant covers spotlighting the most popular X-Man through a unique lens! Inspired by some of the world's greatest artists, these variant covers depict Wolverine like you've never seen him before, in styles reminiscent of Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol and more!

"This is a huge year for Wolverine as he proves why he's arguably one of the most popular characters in the world," explained Joe Quesada, Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief. "He's not just popular with fans but also with artists, as evidenced by how many of today's top comic artists jockey for a chance to draw him. This got us thinking: what if Wolverine had been around for hundreds, if not thousands, of years? What great, classic artists would want a crack at drawing a Wolverine cover?"

We here at ComicMix are hereby starting Wolverine Artist Appreciation Month. This will pay tribute to the great, classic artists that have gone into creating Wolverine over the years, yet somehow are not getting their fair share from Marvel over the character to which they contributed so much, and who have been underappreciated in so many other ways.

So please, take a moment to thank:

• Len Wein
• Herb Trimpe
• John Romita Sr.
• Chris Claremont
• Dave Cockrum
• John Byrne
• Terry Austin

In particular, if you'd like to honor the late great Dave Cockrum, please consider purchasing some of his file copy comic books from his estate to help his widow Paty. The list of available books is here.

Stan Lee's Wolverine Cameo Confirmed by Hugh Jackman

From: ComicBookMovie.com

Hugh Jackman learned of Lee's cameo from the X-Men creator himself while both were attending the San Diego Comic-Con...

Jackman, who returns to his iconic role as the mutant super-soldier, Wolverine in the X-Men films, was amongst the first to hear the news directly from Lee, and soon spilled the beans to the attending press.

Jackman and Lee, who have known each other since 2000 from the first X-Men movie, hooked up Thursday at the con after Jackman made an unscheduled surprise appearance. Jackman later proceeded to make an unscheduled surprise announcement when he accidentally told the the Associated Press about Lee’s cameo appearance. “Don’t tell anyone,” he joked. “It's always a big shock when people see him."

Jackman went on to praise Lee; "Around here this guy is like a god," he said. “People see this guy, they faint. Their whole livelihood and everything they're interested in came out of his mind."

Lee joked with Jackman, promising that he would try not to overshadow him in the movie.

Side note: The character of Wolverine is one of the few characters not created by Stan Lee. He was created by writer Len Wein and Marvel art director John Romita Sr., who designed the character, and was first drawn for publication by Herb Trimpe in a cameo appearance on the last page of Incredible Hulk #180 (October 1974) and his first "full" appearance in Incredible Hulk #181 (November 1974). X-Men writer Chris Claremont played a significant role in the character's subsequent development as well as artist/writer John Byrne, who insisted on making the character older than the other X-Men. Frank Miller also helped to revise the character in the early 1980s with the eponymous limited series in which Wolverine's catch phrase, "I'm the best there is at what I do, but what I do isn't very nice", was first written.

A mutant, Wolverine possesses animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, retracting bone claws, and a healing factor that allows him to recover from virtually any wound. This healing ability enabled the supersoldier program Weapon X to bond the near indestructible metal alloy adamantium to his skeletal system. He is also a master of hand-to-hand combat and martial arts.

20th Century Fox’s new X-Men film, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, is due for release in May 2009.