While flipping through Previews 303 I came across this image

While this is purely speculation on my part, his claws do seem to be coming out of his gauntlets rather than from his hands. Maybe that's why he's now using a gun?

They're definitely not coming out of his fists as usual. Guess his lack of healing factor is sticking around for a while, which would explain the additional armor and gauntlet claws as opposed to his natural ones.

Interesting.

I've never actually read a comic with Wolverine as a major player, thus I haven't been keeping track of him.

What's happened to his healing factor?

He doesn't have it anymore

He lost his healing factor to some invasive alien nanites that evaded his body.

I would say that he's probably not losing them but those are given to him to avoid using his natural claws while he doesn't have his healing factor

Oh yeah, f%ck this series.

Lol is it that bad? I'm tempted to buy it just for Stegman.

Some alien's who doubled as a virus got f***ed over by Wolverine, so they decided to return the favor by neutralizing his healing factor. Permanently. They altered his biochemistry so he wouldn't die of adamantium poisoning without it. So now Wolverine's dealing with a lot of stuff: His healing factor is what's always kept him from bleeding to death whenever he popped his claws, so he has to be more judicious in their use and wear bandages at all times. He hasn't had to dodge in decades, he could just take the hits and keep on slugging, so he has to relearn his fighting style.

And without his healing factor, he'll age like anyone else. He gets drunk like anyone else. He gets sick like anyone else. Oh, and then some acupuncture dude was hired to f*** with him. Dude basically reset Wolverine's pain tolerance: Over the years, Wolverine's gotten pretty used to pain. Hence why you could flay him alive and he'll just grunt and bear it til he heals. Now, however, it's like he's never felt pain before, like every new agony is fresh, not just another scar.

So not only is he now vulnerable, he knows it more than ever.

It's just gratuitous amounts of drama in an attempt to create a story along with inconsistent characterization and showing of Wolverine's fighting skill. You can try it, but I ain't spending a dime on it. Paul Cornell really just doesn't seem to know how to write Wolverine.

Wolverine really doest have a defensive style in his fighting so he has to change that.

He did so when his healing factor got shorted out after Magneto ripped out his adamantium skeleton. He didn't become a coward when that incident happened at that.

Well in most of wolverine fights he almost every time takes lethal hits. Also he regained his healing factor not much after.

@jonsmith: They just turned off his HF, not alter his physiology. Beast is the one that came up with a drug to neutralize the effects of the adamantium poisoning.

And I'm surprised no one has mentioned knuckle sliders. They aren't always as depicted of just coming straight out of his hands.

I'm guessing that those are just temporary claws since he doesn't have his healing factor. (He probably still has his claws).

Yeah I really hate this.

Give him back his healing factor already.

This is why I'm not reading this freaking series -.-

Shame really, since Wolverine's my favorite Marvel hero. I stopped liking the Savage Wolverine series too

See, as someone who isnt a Wolverine fan, what could get me interested is him losing his his healing factor. Claws and metal bones? Thats cool. Healing from any amount of damage? Boring.

Cornell still isn't done torturing Wolverine fans yet. He wants to hear us scream in agony before he gives Logan his healing factor back :D

@god_spawn said:

And I'm surprised no one has mentioned knuckle sliders. They aren't always as depicted of just coming straight out of his hands.

Indeed, it was the uniform, standard way of portraying his claws before the X-Men movies...........

Wow. At first I thought it was just a stylistic choice on the part of the artist, but after reading this thread...I don't know what to think.

Maybe the claws are just Gauntlets he decided to wear? I dunno.

He's never been able to heal through any amount of damage. There have been numerous moments were his healing factor has been pushed to the limit like in Fatal Attractions and there is certain damage he can't heal through like drowning.

How could you get rid of Wolverines claws :O

See, one of my favourite portrayals was in Secret Wars where he was hit by the Wrecking Crew or Cyclops (I forget) and his team was afraid for his life.

There are times where he can heal from anything though, such as during Civil War, when he is napalmed.

Ok.

He could have his claws. It could be because of the pain he endures every time he uses them.

Wolverine just got interesting. Those are some mean as gauntlets.

I always thought that Wolvie's healing factor was practically plot (right next to Superman's strength and Batman's prep work). Taking that away could be interesting.

I think it could be a good opportunity for some character development.

I'm not feeling the gauntlets and lack of HF and the way Logan seems to have forgot how to fight, but I'm gonna check it out for a little while, they say it is a darker Wolvie so I'd like to see what that is about.

Geez, how much further can they nerf Wolverine?!?! He'll still find a way...

@dondave: i think its just the artist

Since Wolverine already lost his healing power, if he loses his claws, what would convince the casual reader that this is actually Wolverine and not just some imposter?

Wow. Thanks for the run down. This whole line of story sounds incredibly stupid to me....

@deaditegonzo That's pretty much the same nonsense argument you hear from Superman haters all the time. There's nothing boring about Wolverine's standard power set. There are only boring writers who don't know how to work with it.

Yeah and we had to suffer the Wolverine film where he got his claws chopped off!

Ouch...

Is it to entice new readers? Because as a non-Wolverine fan this sounds pretty damn interesting,making me want to pick it up.

I guess I might be right

Seriously, get....Cornell...off...this character. The guy has 180'd Wolverine's character and it seems like he's just rehashed old situations Logan has been in plenty of times but turned him into a shell of his former self. It's like he's given a throwback version of the character that just sucks. Logan's healing... gone. His skill level...severely diminished for no reason. And I guess with this relaunch, Wolverine still won't have his healing factor? And he gets man made claws because of it? I understand the logic of the complete asinine version of the character we have right now, he gets these man made claws to stop cutting himself. But that's back tracking again from the coated bone claws to a variation of the original Wolverine concept of them being implanted.

I guess they are trying something new, not really for me seeing as I found it rather difficult to accept him running a mutant school let alone running around with replicas of his own claws

really quickly i just want to say that this thread gives this blog credibility

@wolverine08: look on the bright side. it could be Lobdell could be butchering your favorite character like he is mine

I can't take it anymore.

SOMEONE SAVE ME!

Looks like we've found our new Superior Spidey.....

@sog7dc: We'll tough it out! *Gives manly hug*

the Superior Wolverine, maybe??? Instead of the Savage Wolverine.

@hopesummersforthefuture:

the Superior Wolverine, maybe??? Instead of the Savage Wolverine.

@wolverine08 said:

@hopesummersforthefuture:

the Superior Wolverine, maybe??? Instead of the Savage Wolverine.

Aww. Sorry i take it back

With out his healing factor wouldn't he be immensely tired all the time carrying around all the extra weight of his adamantine skeleton. I thought his healing factor increased his strength and stamina.