Knowledge Waits is a feature where I just share some bit of comic book history that interests me.

Okay, everyone knows that in the early 1990s, Wolverine was so popular that Marvel often had him guest star in other comic books while also, of course, starring in his own monthly series, being part of the X-Men (and making frequent guest appearances in the other X-Men titles, especially since they had crossovers every other month) and being the lead feature in Marvel Comics Presents. I was wondering just HOW frequently he would do this. So I wanted to see how long of a streak I could find where Wolverine guest-starred in a non X-Men comic book.

The streak begins in books cover dated August 1990, as Fabian Nicieza and Michael Bair become the new creative team on Alpha Flight and they use Wolverine and some awesome Jim Lee covers to announce the change in direction for the series for four issues…

After that stint was over, Wolverine headed over to Fantastic Four for three issues where Walter Simonson and Art Adams had some fun with the idea of people always having Wolverine and Spider-Man and Ghost Rider guest star in other books by having them all become the temporary Fantastic Four for a few issues…

After that was done, Todd McFarlane then brought Wolverine into his Spider-Man series for a SIX-part storyline involving Spider-Man and Wolverine trying to hunt down the Wendigo…

There were other guest-star appearances in other books during that stint, but I like keeping runs consistent if I can.

Wolverine then guest-starred in an arc of Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., with great Jackson Guice covers (why Wolverine wasn’t on the first one is beyond me). D.G. Chichester wrote all the issue and Guice drew the first one and then Ernie Stiner and Don Hudson drew the last three, including the cover for the final part…

John Byrne then brought Wolverine to Namor the Sub-Mariner for a long stint, somehow only putting him on ONE cover in the process!!

Once that was done, Wolverine then showed up in an issue of Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme by Roy Thomas, Jean-Marc Lofficier and Geof Isherwood…

Wolverine then helped launch the Marvel UK title, Warheads, by Nick Vince, Gary Erskine and Jon Beeston….

Then Wolverine was all over the “Capwolf” storyline in Captain America that lasted three months (by Mark Gruenwald, Rik Levins and Danny Bulanadi)….

Wolverine headed to Avengers West Coast for a quick two-parter by Roy and Dann Thomas and artists Dave Ross and Tim Dzon…

Then he launched the “Superheroes fight” Marvel UK series, Battletide, by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Geoff Senior…

The next month, he launched another Marvel UK series (he guest-starred a LOT in Marvel UK stories) called Codename: Genetix by Andy Lanning, Graham Marks, Phil Gascoine and Robin Riggs…

Before heading back to Battletide….

He went back to the United States and helped launch Secret Defenders by Roy Thomas, Andre Coates and Don Hudson…

I SHOULD finish out the first Secret Defenders arc, but I can’t help but note this Terror, Inc #10 issue by D.G. Chichester, Richard Pace and Jason Temujin (Joe Kubert cover!!!)…

Okay, now back to Secret Defenders…

These two Dark Angel issues (by Bernie Jaye, Salvador Larroca and David Hine) technically have the X-Men and not just Wolverine, so I guess you could stop the streak now, but it seems weird to me to stop it when he’s still clearly guest-starring in the books, ya know?

Now here’s where you could really argue that the streak should end, as Wolverine only appears in Darkhawk #30 as part of the large group of heroes present for the Infinity Crusade crossover. He is not a huge part of this Danny Fingeroth, Anthony Williams and Ian Akin book…but he IS in there…

He definitely guest-stars in this Punisher War Zone issue by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Hugh Haynes and Rodney Ramos…

But then we close the streak out with three more iffy examples, as Wolverine shows up in Web of Spider-Man #105-106 (by Terry Kavanagh, Alex Saviuk and Don Hudson) and Alpha Flight #127 (by Simon Furman, Dario Carrasco Jr. and Bruce Patterson), both as part of the Infinity Crusade crossover…

So if you count all of them, that’s 40 months in a row with at least one non X-Men comic book featuring a guest appearance by Wolverine. Even if you stop at Dark Angel #11, that’s 33 months straight of him making at least one guest appearance a month in a non X-Men comic book!!

Wow!

If anyone else has an interesting piece of comic book history that they’d like for me to write about, just drop me a line at [email protected]!