Wolverine Goes Manga

Now, Wolverine gets reworked as a teenager and thrust into the expansive world of manga with Wolverine Prodigal Son Volume 1. Long time fans might be skeptical of this experiment, but an interesting story and a heavy palette of black ink might change even the most skeptical Marvel Zombie.

Artist Wilson Tortosa and writer Antony Johnston  take some time to talk about the project and give some insight into Wolverines new adventures.

How did you feel when you were first approached to work on Wolverine: Prodigal Son? 

Wilson Tortosa: Like I was hit by a truck. I’ve always thought: “I wonder how it’s like to draw Wolverine as a manga character?” I guess I answered my own question...

How familiar were you with Wolverine and his history before joining the project? What kind of research did you have to do for the piece? Were there any titles that helped inspire your layout and style? 

Wilson Tortosa: I first got introduced to the hairy guy when my brother started collecting X-Men by Jim Lee back in the 90’s. I’ve read about most of his exploits, like training in Japan, running around as his alias Patch in Madripoor, the love triangle with Jean how he lost his adamantium, etc. He was also my favorite character in the X-Men animated series. 

Tsutomu Nihel’s take on Logan was a good starting point for me visually. The biggest challenge was how to maintain his brooding personality AND make him look like a believable 14 year old kid at the same time. As a shonen manga I tried to look back at the titles that I really loved reading, particularly Battle Angel Mite and Blade of the immorti, to help me get the right look and feel for the book.

Wolverine: Prodigal Son is meant to be an original English language manga, global manga or a manga-inspired graphic novel.  How would you describe your personal style and how it fits into that particular medium? 

Wilson Tortosa: My style is a fusion of Japanese and American styles focused on line art and detail while heavy on expressions and body language. I think that helps me provide any reader with a good read, even to those who are unfamiliar with the medium or the character. I also don’t ink and draw in tight pencils so that also helps me deal with the bigger volume of pages that the medium requires.

How did working on Wolverine: Prodigal Son differ from working on your other titles? 

Antony Johnston: I take influences both large and small from manga in all my work, but in other books it’s much more of a fusion. Wolverine is very different, because the idea was to create a full-on shonen manga that wouldn’t look out of place next to Naruto or Lone Wolf and Cub. It’s been challenging at times, but it’s a good challenge. I like to do different things, and push different parts of my brain.

What kind of research did you have to do? How much did you depend on the origin stories presented by Marvel comics? 

Antony Johnston: Some of the original character’s background is homaged in Prodigal Son, for sure. There are a few little easter eggs in there for people who know a bit about Logan. But most of it is entirely new—it was important to me that people with no knowledge of the character or his history could read and enjoy the series without needing to consult a manual every other page. Most of my research was manga-based and stylistic, keeping up with the popular shonen series and that sort of thing.

What elements of the Wolverine character did you want to keep intact? 

Antony Johnston: There are three obvious things we’ve retained for Logan that are, I think, the core of the character. He’s still surly and antisocial. He still has the claws and healing factor. And we kept his crazy hair, because really, that ‘do was made for manga. But everything else is different, or at least different enough that readers won’t feel they’ve seen it all before. This is about taking Logan, the man, and building him into a manga hero. Not shoehoming Wolverine, the superhero, into a story where he doesn’t fit.

What was about Wolverine as a character that got you interested in this project? 

Antony Johnston: I like anti-heroes -who doesn’t! - but I also like characters who express themselves through their actions. Talk is cheap, and I think the concept of Wolverine conveys that very well. I was also attracted to the freedom I had in interpreting the character, though. There’s a lot about this Logan that’s different, but he’s still essentially the same character, and it takes a strong character to stand up to that.

What makes Wolverine: Prodigal Son an original English-language manga, or global Inspired manga? 

Antony Johnston: Everything about this book is global. Del Rey is American, I’m British, Wilson is Filipino, and the shanen genre is Japanese. You can’t get much more global than that! And what makes it a manga is that both Wilson and myself know the territory well enough to be authentic. To my mind, there’s no other way to describe this book.

You introduce a few new characters into the mix. How did you develop them? 

Antony Johnston: Tamara, Mr. Elliott, Vincent and the others came out of the direction we chose for the story. They’re all entirely new characters, so it was a question of making sure they balanced Logan out and fit the direction in which we wanted to take the series. Pius, all of the other students except Tamara are at the school because they’re tearaways, so it wasn’t hard to come up with a good variety.

What do you want readers to take away from the experience of reading Wolverine: Prodigal Son? 

Antony Johnston: I just want people to enjoy it It’s an adventure story, a full-on fight manga with no pretensions. I want people to be out of breath by the time they turn the last page — and then immediately reach for the next volume. What more could any author want?