Commenting that the sequel to this summer's X-Men Origins: Wolverine will be closer to Chris Claremont and Frank Miller's 1982 mini-series than the original movie was to comic continuity - In part because, according to the producer,

there was a lot of different source material, a lot of different legends in Victor Creed's relationship to Logan and Logan's background. There were some choices we had to make

- Donner talked about the potential longevity of the movie series:

There's enough comic book material to support [a long-running series]. If we were to make up our own story, which we've never talked about, personally I would do it with Chris Claremont. I would stick with the creator... Chris is writing an amazing series right now where Wolverine's killed, Storm is the villain. Sure, one day I'd love to [do] that.

Donner's referring to the alternate world series X-Men Forever, in which Wolverine dies in the second issue - just like Claremont always wanted:

I always planned to kill him [during Claremont's original 16-year run on the X-Men series], but The Powers That Be wouldn't allow me to walk down that story path. I am so glad that I can take the characters on this particular journey now. It allows for real growth and change, and exciting possibilities. Doors that were locked can now be opened. Unfortunately, the general consensus in comics is that a character's death means The End. It's my strong belief that through such an emotionally fraught event as one character's death, the characters, the storyline, and the concept find new regenerative power and can grow stronger, for the future.

But would Fox really kill off Hugh Jackman to refresh the X-Men movie franchise?

Gavin Hood and Lauren Schuler Donner Talk Wolverine Blu-ray and Sequel [Latino Review]

Dipping our collective toes into the cross-media area of the pool for awhile, Doctor Who: Autopia is a new one-off story to keep you in the Who mood while you're waiting for The Waters of Mars. Also, Joss Whedon's Runaways run gets a cheap ($9.99 for six issues!) collection as Runaways: Dead End Kids Digest.

If you're looking for a new take on old science fiction tropes, the second series of Warren Ellis' Anna Mercury launches with a different look at the multiverse. And Marc Guggenheim's Resurrection also launches a second series, letting you return to an Earth post-alien invasion, where no-one is quite sure what kind of world they're living in any more.

For those needing their superhero fix, DC's Red Robin takes Tim Drake - the former Robin - off around the world as he tries to prove that Bruce Wayne isn't as dead as many people think he is. (Go, Tim! But you may need a time machine before you're finished!) And you can find out Bruce's true fate in the hardcover collection of Final Crisis (and pick up some other stories from the same era in the Final Crisis Companion coming out the same day).

Marvel, meanwhile, are indulging a Chris Claremont jones, with the X-Men: The End Trilogy collection of Claremont's 18-issue finale to the franchise. (Be warned: He spun another series out of it, so it's not a final finale.) There's also the first issue of X-Men Forever, a new series that lets Claremont pretend that he never stopped writing the characters in 1991, by ignoring every story that came afterwards. If you'd like something less wordy and more bloody, Christos Gage's Absolution offers up another take on the "When a superhero crosses the moral line and decides that doing so was kind of fun" story.

But let's face it; everything else this week may pale beside the release of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan #1, a movie adaptation 27 years in the making (Yes, the movie was that long ago); IDW, realizing that STII was the one movie that had never been made into a comic, have finally fulfilled someone's dreams and offered a chance to see Spock die again.

But if you'd rather watch something come back to life, Dynamite's Buck Rogers #1 brings back the classic pulp hero for an all-new audience, offering space thrills and even some spills along the way. But sadly, no Twiki.

All of these books - and many more, as evidenced in this week's shipping list - can be found at your local comic store, which can be found using the Comic Shop Locator. Just do us a favor and spend a quiet moment when ringing up your week's purchases for the loss of Buck's annoying metallic friend. Bidi bidi bye, old buddy.

The Essential History:
Essential Hulk Vol. 5
Ignore the title - and, for that matter, most of this book (Although there are some great examples of 1970s Marvel water-treading here, and the "Counter-Earth" trilogy has to be read to be believed); all you need to know is that this collection includes Incredible Hulk #180 and 181, AKA the first appearances of Wolverine. Looking back at it now, it's interesting to see what's changed about the character (He's no longer as quippy, and the whiskers on his mask have thankfully gone), and what was already in place (He was called Weapon X all the way back then), but either way, you'll never look at the character in the same way ever again.

Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Vol. 1
From fighting the Hulk, Wolverine underwent a personality change as well as a costume change when he joined the X-Men. This great hardcover collection of the first thirty-or-so issues of the "All-New, All-Different" X-Men (ie, the ones that you know: Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Cyclops, etc.) takes you back to the days when the X-Men was part Star Trek homage, part Legion of Super-Heroes rip-off and rewriting the superhero rulebook with abandon. At the heart of it all, Wolverine starts to gain the personality that we know and love today, even if his age seems to shift around a lot in the process. And the less said about his off-duty cowboy look, the better.

Wolverine By Claremont and Miller
Just reissued in time for the movie, Wolvie's first solo series brought X-Men writer Chris Claremont together with soon-to-be superstar Frank Miller in a story that played to Miller's interests, and forever changed the character. By building on Wolverine's already-established mysterious Japanese history, Miller and Claremont cemented the image of the character as a tragic hero fighting against animal urges to become a noble warrior... Plus, you know, ninjas. The new edition of the book also contains the follow-up to the story, the X-Men storyline that brought Wolverine back to Japan, and introduced Rogue to the team.

Wolverine: Weapon X
Weirdly enough, the most important piece of Wolverine's backstory didn't come from Claremont, the writer who essentially owned the character for his 17-year tenure as X-Men writer. Instead, artist-and-writer Barry Windsor-Smith was the one who explained what happened to Logan in the eponymous Weapon X program to turn him into the adamantium-boned former Canadian agent in this weird and wonderful story that kind of makes you wonder just what mainstream superhero comics could get away with back then.

Wolverine: Origin
By the start of the 21st Century, Marvel had decided that fans had waited long enough to find out about Wolverine's backstory (Plus, it'd be sure to sell a lot of copies), and so came up with this... and immediately crushed a million fanboy dreams. Were fans appalled to see their badass hero as a whiny kid crying when he first popped his claws, or was it just that no story could live up to the one in their heads? It's probably both; this particular origin was slow and more dull than the character deserved, but the fact is, fans really never wanted to know the full story after all.

The Inessential Good Ones
It may be somewhat blasphemous to say, but for such a great character, Wolverine has appeared in an incredible number of shitty stories. Yes, he may be popular enough to appear in several titles each month, alongside any number of special editions and guest-spots in other people's books, but when it comes to truly great stories about the character...? They're not exactly piling up out there. But here're some worth checking out.

Essential Wolverine Vol. 1
The first couple of years of Wolverine's solo monthly series saw various creators try and work out what to do with the character, and this black and white collection is the best way to watch them do it. From Chris Claremont's Casablanca riff to Archie Goodwin and John Byrne's more feral take, different sides of the character are showcased throughout, but my favorite is Peter David and John Buscema's storyline, which pretty much pretends that he's Indiana Jones with claws and makes fun of him all the way through.

Essential X-Men Vol. 7
Again, feel free to ignore a lot of this book (Although it's right in my nostalgic sweetspot, as the X-Men try and rebuild themselves after the mutant massacre and end up saving the world and dying); the story you really want to check out is Uncanny X-Men Annual #11, where Wolverine goes up against the ultimate enemy and ends up with godlike powers. Maybe it's my inner 12 year old speaking, but this still seems like the ultimate "Wolverine As More Than Just A Killing Machine" story to me, even more than 20 years later.

Wolverine: Not Dead Yet
Warren Ellis takes on Wolverine and basically turns him into the star of the greatest John Woo action movie never made. Thrill to the incredible stunts and impressive action set pieces, ably illustrated by a young Lenil Yu (who'd go on to make his name on last year's Secret Invasion series), try to work out just who the bad guy is, and more importantly, enjoy the fast moving plot that ignores all of the cliches that the character had accumulated by this point in his history.

Wolverine: Enemy Of The State
Yet more Wolverine as action movie star, as Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. spend twelve issues pitting the character against... well, almost everyone else in the entire Marvel Universe, thanks to some brainwashing, some undead magic McGuffins and, of course, ninjas. It's like "Wolverine's Greatest Hits," only stupid, and yet that somehow completely works for the character. After reading this, X-Men Origins: Wolverine will seem like a letdown, because there aren't enough explosions sending characters flying into the air to match the levels of dumb excitement contained herein.

Talking about the new series, Claremont explained the lure of writing a comic outside of usual continuity:

The advantage of a book like GeNext or Exiles is that I can pretty much define the realities we are playing in... my approach is not a solo-title it is a potential foundation for new line and perhaps if we are successful we can bring back GeNext for a second arc or try it out on a one-year basis or even as a potential ongoing—or even create a spin-off. It's almost like having the potential for a second line of "Ultimate-style" books.

Chris Claremont on GeNext [Newsarama]

The origins of GeNext are somewhat unusual; waaaay back in 2005, Marvel Comics held an online poll giving fans four possibilities for Claremont's next project for the publisher. Each of the four (The others were a continuation of his 1980s dystopian Days of Future Past storyline, a "What If the X-Men Had Been Formed by Professor Xavier and Magneto" series or a story asking whether the X-Men should have lived in Asgard, mythical home of the mighty Thor. Yes, that last one was really an option) was related to the X-Men, the franchise that Claremont made into the multi-media juggernaut it became during his initial 16-year run on the title (He rejoined the franchise in 2000, and has remained on the fringes of it ever since), and the idea that caught fans' imagination was something that, back then, was just called Next:

Witness today's generation of X-Men if the Marvel Universe aged in real-time. Both the first and second teams of X-Men are approaching 50 and the New Mutants are now in their thirties. This series will follow this new generation of X-Men and the new reality they find themselves in.

Who are the children of the X-Men? And what happened to the original team, Professor X, and Magneto after over 30 years of conflict, victories, and tragedies? Now, at last, the answers arrive as beloved X-Men scribe Chris Claremont reveals an all-new generation of mutant teens!

The first issue of the series is due in stores May 14th.

First Look: GeNext #1 [Marvel.com]

Famous names: Chris Claremont took the X-Men from a bi-monthly, low-selling comic book of questionable quality and made it into a multi-million-dollar multimedia franchise. Artist John Byrne went on to recreate Superman in the mid-80s, in time for the character's 50th birthday.

Crunchy goodness: 4

Spinoffs/Sequels/Copycats: Twenty-six years after this story first saw print, almost every major superhero comic has done a version of this storyline at some point or another (Some of them are even worth reading) - the meme has even crossed media, with NBC's Heroes creating an entire episode around the concept (Season one's "Five Years Gone").

Elevator pitch: It's The Terminator for people who really really hate the X-Men and want to see them all die horrific deaths in surprising detail.

Sights you'll never unsee: Is it future Wolverine getting torched and having all the skin, muscle and everything else burned off his indestructible skeleton? Or maybe future Storm getting harpooned through the chest? No, it's what passed for contemporary fashion in Byrne's sideburn- and large-shirt-collar-friendly art during the early 80s.

Earth 811

Famous names: Marvel's Chris Claremont took advantage of the then-new creative freedoms afforded by the graphic novel format to indulge his self-righteousness, with Astro City's Brent Anderson doing his best to illustrate it.

Crunchy goodness: 3

Spinoffs/Sequels/Copycats: The basis of the second X-Movie - along with the second volume of Ultimate X-Men and the Wolverine solo story "Weapon X" - this story was given a truly unfortunate sequel around the release of the film version wherein the plot of the original was rehashed with more violence and even less point.

Life lesson: If God loves and Man kills... Shouldn't we all try and be a bit more like God, and a bit less like Man...? Think about it for a second.

Most painfully dated moment: Watch out for the moment where the Village People apparently have fallen on times so hard that they've been reduced to street thugs trying to mug poor Kitty Pryde.

The Reverend William Stryker