We Caught Up With Paul Cornell About Wolverine SNIKT! [Interview]

Posted on January 22, 2014 in Interviews

Cover to Wolverine #1 (Vol.6)
Click to enlarge.

Recently we were lucky enough to track down Wolverine writer Paul Cornell in regards to wrapping up the current volume of Wolverine and proceeding with Marvel Now!’s volume 6 of the title, which he will again write.

It has been hinted we will see Logan take on a new darker role but is there any truth in this?, There are also other questions left dangling post-“Killable”.

So with that in mind we tried to gather what we could about Weapon X’s new ongoing series from Paul, and here is what the British writer revealed;

So by the time this goes live, the conclusion to volume 5 of Wolverine will be reached. The stakes are high as he has been seemingly physically and mentally broken. Where does he go from here?

In a new direction, reacting to what just happened to him. The first four issues flashback between where Logan is now, in a criminal gang, and what finally made him decide to leave his old life behind and respond to the challenge of Sabretooth in a new way.

What challenges did you face in writing the “Killable” storyline given that Wolverine is primarily known for his invulnerability?

Well, that’s an advantage in writing it rather than a problem. If one change can make everything about a character new, then all the possibilities for character development open up.

Wolverine is one of the titles getting a Marvel Now! rebrand again. Was it always your intention to do it in volumes or was it a ‘roll of the dice’ on the publisher’s part?

I did suggest doing it in seasons when I first joined up, so I think this is one occasion where a new number one is really merited, given that it’s a new start with a new regular artist. Indeed, I think it’d look a bit odd as #14.

Looking back at your time on volume 5, what have been your personal highlights of writing the character?

I enjoyed getting to grips with his speech patterns, and altering them a little, so now that he remembers his origins he’s got the inflections from that time back.

Going forward into volume 6 which you will again write, it has been hinted in the solicitations that we may see the “beginning of a Wolverine who’s gone to the dark side?” What, if anything, can you tell us about this?

He’s joined a gang of small time super villains, working for an aspiring big bad. He’s still got a lot of his principles, and there are good reasons for him ending up there, as we’ll see across the first arc.

We can also see that Wolverine will be tangling with the Superior Spider-man in issue two. There is a hero who hasn’t been themselves lately… Friend or Foe?

A bit of both. I think that’s a very interesting conversation to be had, and one that I sought out as quickly as I could.

Are there any Marvel characters you would like to bring in for upcoming issues besides Spider-Man?

There are some plans, but that’d be telling.

Speaking of other characters, in the last volume Logan had support from the likes of S.H.I.E.L.D., Kitty and Storm. So who will be beside him this time?

His new friends in the gang, and we’ll see a lot of folk from the last volume in the flashbacks. We connect the dots between the two situations.

Between writing Volume 5 and 6, you have also had to contend with the fact Wolverine is an active Avenger and an X-Men leader. There have also been his tales in Savage Wolverine and lately Kieron Gillen has also delved back into Logan’s past in Origins II. That’s a lot of shelf space, to say the least. How do you keep him fresh and is there ever a back-and-forth with writers who are using him at any given point?

There was actually still a lot to do. His stoicism and his use mainly as a cool character in groups, plus the regained memories, mean that he’s actually fresher than a lot of other characters.

Similarly, as a writer do you worry at all how fans of the character may react if they pick up any discontinuities between the titles, or do you prefer to just let the story speak for itself?

If I worried about that, I’d go mad. I think it’s often a power game on the part of the audience: remembering and critiquing continuity is an easy option compared to critiquing story.

When was the last time anyone on the CBR forum talked about structure or plot twists? I’m actually a writer who tries to adhere to established continuity, who likes it, but it’s the cherry on top, not the cake.

Now that we have been pretty thorough with where Wolverine is at, you podcast, write novels, in the past have written screenplays and that’s beside your comic book writing duties. So what can your fans expect from you next that you would like to mention?