Romulus

[EmperorVamp]

For those that may not know here is a little history on the name Romulus. I'm not sure if this is considered source material for the new Wolverine Super Villian...

The Story of Romulus and Remus

The twin brothers Romulus and Remus were the sons of the God Mars. When they were very young they were abandoned by the banks of the River Tiber and left to fend for themselves. Luckily for them they were found by a she-wolf who took pity on them fed them with her milk.

Later a shepherd found the boys and took them home to look after them. He ended up raising the boys as his own children. The boys grew up to be very strong and clever and they decided to build a town on the spot where the Shepherd had found them.
Shortly after building the town the twins had a big argument about who should be in charge. Romulus overpowered his brother Remus who died in the fight. Romulus then became the first king of this town which he named Rome, after himself.

[Megalictis]

In this case, Way or Loeb (it's unclear who invented 'Romulus') use the name for a character who is a member of the "lupine race" (which, for the sake of not undoing 30+ years of continuity I'm considering a mutant "sub-species") who may have survived since the Roman Empire (perhaps where he aquired the name). Like the mythic Romulus he is fated to fight his counterpart for dominance ("Since the beginning there have always been two who have energed from the pack. For whatever reason one blonde one black. He knows only one can or will survive.")

[Epitaph]

kinda neat i suppose with this Romulus dude. Loeb's series is really good but Way still has yet to even impress me. The guy just isn't doing justice, Annual was the best of origins yet.

[EmperorVamp]

I second that! I enjoied Wolverin Origins annual. Much better than Loeb's run on the main title.

...I really can't stand Dillon's art in origins!

[Mark Caringer]

who created Romulus?

seeing how Way started the whole mystery man thing controlling wolvies life since birth, I'd say him, unless you were talking about who came up with the name in that case I'm not sure, it is Loeb that is borrowing from Way to create and tie into Way's story, and way and Loeb enjoyed the tie in so much they plan to do another, per Way in SDCC, I wish I knew what question you guys wanted asked, i had Way and Loeb right in front of me.

Way did say that Wolvie had the Muramesa blade back and plans to use it again.

Way said that he shut down his forum, because of certain bad critics and it was a pain with his busy schedule.

Loeb said that he has no plans for the return of Sabretooth and Sabretooth is DEAD!

[Megalictis]

I wish I knew what question you guys wanted asked, i had Way and Loeb right in front of me.

I was just curious as to whether Loed's story forced Way to reveal Romulus' identity sooner than he had originally intended (i.e. W:O Annual) or if he had planned the revelation for this point from the beginnng.

Way said that he shut down his forum, because of certain bad critics and it was a pain with his busy schedule.

Pssssst! Hey Jesse, think he means us?

[Jesse M. Huertas]

One could argue he means us man!!!

I try to be truthful, if I was a writer and my sh*t sucked I'd like to know so I can make necessary changes. He PM'ed me really good asking if I meant what I said about the reviews that if his books really were that bad. I had to be truthful you know or I'm without integrity. He labels me a ''fag'' and then shuts down his site AFTER the incident made it's way to Joe Q. Quite a ride. I wouldn't mind seeing him again and talking to him since it's not like I don't like the dude, he talks a good game in the interview, just fails in the actual book and maybe it's Steve Dillon who doesn't bring his scripts to life? Way has said he likes the art to tell the story and Dillon to me just doesn't cut it anymore as a storyteller. Annual hit all the spots for me and I don't think it was anything different in regards to the script

[Epitaph]

i have no secrets is explaining on how Way's origins is a let down...Origins Annual was the best Origins story so far and its still not as good as it should be.

[Mark Caringer]

megalictis said:

Way said that he shut down his forum, because of certain bad critics and it was a pain with his busy schedule.

Pssssst! Hey Jesse, think he means us?

i wasn't going to name anyone, but you and Jesse may have played a role ;D in all seriousness if you cant take critics, don't do public work, everyone is allowed there opinion.

[Mark Caringer]

epitaph said:

i have no secrets is explaining on how Way's origins is a let down...Origins Annual was the best Origins story so far and its still not as good as it should be.

oh, I did tell Way that some of his hardest critics, really liked the Annual and he got a good chuckle out of that and smiled, I also asked Way when we would see Dillon at a convention since he has not been to even one as i recall, Way replied that he would have to get Dillon out of the bar first and then i remembered he had told me in the past that Dillon does his art work in the bar, its like his office. All i can say is at least its on time.

[horhey]

jmhuertas said:

One could argue he means us man!!!

I try to be truthful, if I was a writer and my sh*t sucked I'd like to know so I can make necessary changes. He PM'ed me really good asking if I meant what I said about the reviews that if his books really were that bad. I had to be truthful you know or I'm without integrity. He labels me a ''f*g'' and then shuts down his site AFTER the incident made it's way to Joe Q. Quite a ride. I wouldn't mind seeing him again and talking to him since it's not like I don't like the dude, he talks a good game in the interview, just fails in the actual book and maybe it's Steve Dillon who doesn't bring his scripts to life? Way has said he likes the art to tell the story and Dillon to me just doesn't cut it anymore as a storyteller. Annual hit all the spots for me and I don't think it was anything different in regards to the script

Daniel Way always acts like a punk whenever his writing is critisized. In a Q&A I asked why it only takes me 2 minutes at the most to read an issue of Origins, and he responded by giving me advice on how to read and enjoy a comic book.

4. The second common criticism of this book is that the story moves slowly while the book itself reads very fast, leaving some fans empty. Reader Horhey expressed it this way, “Why does it only take me 2 minutes at most to read an issue of Origins?” Does Marvel’s current trend of avoiding thought balloons and internal dialogue/description boxes have an effect on your writing, and have you considered packing more into each individual issue regardless?

DW: Perhaps it’s because Horhey is a fast reader or, perhaps, he is only reading part of the story. A comic book is more than the sum of its parts—if all you’re doing is reading the words, you’re missing out on a great deal. I’d say that about 85% of the word count of my scripts is art direction—not just nuts-and-bolts stuff like where characters are standing or what they’re doing, but descriptions of story elements that are to be presented via the artwork. Maybe take your time and look a little closer, next time?

forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=183933

I really do think the series would be alot better with another artist. I was shocked the Origins Annual was actually pretty good. By far, the best issue of the series. Ive never known Wolverine to be naive though. Kind of odd for him to be going around killing people just to make some chick happy.

[horhey]

emperorvamp said:

For those that may not know here is a little history on the name Romulus. I'm not sure if this is considered source material for the new Wolverine Super Villian...

The Story of Romulus and Remus

The twin brothers Romulus and Remus were the sons of the God Mars.

Heres some info on the God Mars.

Mars was the Roman god of war, the son of Juno and either Jupiter or a magical flower. As the word Mars has no Indo-European derivation, it is most likely the Latinized form of the agricultural Etruscan god Maris. Initially the Roman god of fertility and vegetation and a protector of cattle, fields and boundaries, Mars later became associated with battle as the growing Roman Empire began to expand, and he was identified with the Greek god Ares. He was also a tutelary god of Rome, and as the legendary father of its founder, Romulus, it was believed that all Romans were descendents of Mars.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_(god)

Ok, so could this mean Wolverine is somehow connected to the Roman Gods, kind of like Hercules is to the Greek Gods?

[Jesse M. Huertas]

yeah def a cheap answer....that Way guy sure is something

[Rose]

Ok, so I haven't read a lot of comic books, so I might sound really stupid for asking: what suggests that this Romulus has control Logan's life since he was born? and why? (Stalker much?)

[Megalictis]

You don't sound stupid, just unfortunate (that you missed-out on so many good Wolverine stories over the years).

The short answer to your question is "nothing!"

The looooooong answer gets more complicated. Daniel Way (and Loeb too in his latest arc) seems to be re-organizing the order of some of the events from Logan's past, sometimes in contradiction to established continuity. At this point I can no longer say with confidence which event comes first. Apparently the earliest example of Romulus directly intervening in Logan's life is either 1) the murder of his wife, Itzu, at Jasmine falls or 2) the murder of Silver Fox by Victor Creed (who was revealed to have targetted her on Romulus' orders), or 3) Logan having been tracked-down in the wilderness by Cyber and Sabretooth and trained for the Devil's Brigade prior to his involvement in WWI (including the murder of "Janet").

Here are the issues that confuse the matter:
1) Way's account of Logan's life places Logan's life at Jasmine Falls (and the death of Itzu) after Logan's training by Ogun, andf these events were previously assumed to occur after WWII, since Logan first met Ogun in China where the latter was stationed as an officer of the invading Japanese army (prior to WWII). However, Way then reveals that after Jasmine Falls Logan is trained in espionage by Taras Romanov in the USSR, where he encounters Natasha (Black Widow) Romanov. At the time of that revelation it was believed to be their second meeting, since they met when she was a young child in Madripoor prior to US involvement in the war. But Way then retconned this into being their second meeting, which would place Jasmine Falls (and thus before WWII. The contradiction is that Logan met Ogun prior to WWII, but turned down his offer of training at that time.

2) The murder of Silver Fox was long-assumed to have taken place very early in Logan's life. Claremont explicitly places the event at Mt. Logan in Canada a century ago in Wolverine #125, and long ago referred to it as the first encounter between Logan and Creed. Loeb retconned this, saying Logan first fought Creed in Japan (an event he somehow forgot) prior to Creed killing Silver Fox. This means that Logan's brief, idylic life with Silver Fox takes place after Logan's first trip to Japan, which must come after WWI but before WWII. Just how long after WWI this evfent takes place is still unknown, and this could help explain how Silver Fox might not have aged much when they were both part Team X (potential Weapon X candidates) - but it still doesn't explain how she was alive after being killed by Creed.

There is no evidence (revealed so far) to indicate that Romulus played any role in the events of Origin. As as far as we know the death of James Howlett's parents; his exile from his home; and the death of Rose, had nothing to do with Romulus, though they do fit the pattern that Romulus has exploited to control Logan since then.

The problem for a "radical fundamentalist canonist" like me is that Way's version of Logan's past - with all it's unexplained contradictions to Wolverine's "canon" continuity - will ultimately stand as the definitive story of Logan's past, if only because it's one continuous story that can be collected and reprinted as one giant 60-issue volume (or a 10 volume boxed set).