The Pope’s Comics: Examining The Hero Pattern: All-New Wolverine

By Bethany W Pope

 on December 3, 2021

Welcome to “The Pope’s Comics,” our regular column by award-winning novelist, poet, and Comic Watch contributor Bethany Pope! Bethany brings a wealth of knowledge on literature, LGBTQIA+ issues history, gender, comics, and so much more. We sincerely hope you enjoy!

This week I’m examining Laura Kinney, aka the best Wolverine. She’s a fascinating character, one who has received a tremendous amount of development in a relatively short period of time, and it was very interesting to apply Lord Raglan’s Hero Pattern to her story.

This essay is based upon The Hero: A study in Tradition, Myth and Dreams by Lord Raglan. It’s designed to explore the ways that mythological patterns surface within modern culture and since comics are our modern mythology, it’s a great deal of fun to examine them through this lens.

As always, I’ll say that the language of the pattern is sexist, so I’ve altered it a bit to make it both more palatable and a little more accurate. The whole pattern is posted below, because I will only be examining the points which directly apply to Laura Kinney.

Incidents which occur with regularity in hero-myths of all cultures:

1. Hero’s mother is a royal virgin;
2. His father is a king, and
3. Often a near relative of his mother, but
4. The circumstances of his conception are unusual, and
5. He is also reputed to be the son of a god.
6. At birth an attempt is made, usually by his father or his maternal grandfather to kill him, but
7. he is spirited away, and
8. Reared by foster -parents in a far country.
9. We are told nothing of his childhood, but
10. On reaching manhood he returns or goes to his future Kingdom.
11. After a victory over the king and/or a giant, dragon, or wild beast,
12. He marries a princess, often the daughter of his predecessor and
13. And becomes king.
14. For a time he reigns uneventfully and
15. Prescribes laws, but
16. Later he loses favor with the gods and/or his subjects, and
17. Is driven from the throne and city, after which
18. He meets with a mysterious death,
19. Often at the top of a hill,
20. His children, if any do not succeed him.
21. His body is not buried, but nevertheless
22. He has one or more holy sepulchres.

Here’s how it applies to Laura Kinney:

1. Hero’s mother is a royal virgin;

Laura’s mother, Sarah Kinney, was originally believed to have been a surrogate host for a cloned embryo, but she’s since been revealed to have been Laura’s biological mother. Since Laura is the product of lab-grown genetic material rather than the traditional meeting of a sperm and an egg, and since Sarah was never depicted as being in a romantic relationship with anyone, this counts as a ‘virgin birth’. 

2. His father is a king, and

Laura’s father is Wolverine, a man who frequently states that ‘I’m the best there is at what I do’. That’s kingship, of a kind. Certainly Logan is the king of the X-Books, since he’s constantly appearing in them. 

4. The circumstances of his conception are unusual, and

I would say that being the product of cloned DNA and an unwilling egg donation would definitely count as ‘unusual’, yes. 

5. He is also reputed to be the son of a god.

Logan is often depicted within the comics as an avatar of a ‘wolf spirit’, so this counts. It’s astonishing to me how many writers mix up wolves and wolverines. Technically, Logan should be ‘ferret spirit’, right?

6. At birth an attempt is made, usually by his father or his maternal grandfather to kill him, but

Dr. Martin Stutter, head of the Weapon X program, initially wanted to destroy the embryo which would become Laura. He had the fetus implanted within Dr. Kinney’s uterus as a form of revenge for her standing up to him. It’s amazing how many (male) writers turn to varieties of rape and instances of forced pregnancy when they are writing female characters. There’s something nasty and voyeuristic about that technique. But I’ll analyze that in another essay.

8. Reared by foster-parents in a far country.

After her escape from the Weapon X program, Laura was taken in by her aunt and cousin. When her past came back to haunt her, she fell into the care of Emma Frost. The White Queen acted as a reluctant (but very protective) foster parent, even going so far as torturing Laura’s abusive former handler by removing her memories of ‘the only person who ever loved you.’

10. On reaching manhood he returns or goes to his future Kingdom.

Once Laura reached adulthood, she moved back to NYC and took up residence within one of her father’s former apartments. 

11. After a victory over the king and/or a giant, dragon, or wild beast,

In Tom Taylor’s masterful All-New Wolverine series, Laura first tracks down then defeats the successors to the Weapon X program who were using her clones as hired assassins. It was only when she freed her ‘sisters’ and destroyed the company that was victimizing them that she could step out of her father’s shadow, bury her past, and fully become herself. This was a fantastic example of the Jungian psychological process known as individuation. This encounter allowed the character to embrace every aspect of herself and emerge, for the first time, as a complete person. That’s a major victory — one which many ‘real’ people never achieve. 

13. And becomes king.

Once Laura’s individuation was complete, Laura was able to be accepted (within the text) as Wolverine. 

14. For a time he reigns uneventfully and

For 35 remarkable issues, Laura saved the city (and the universe) as the only Wolverine. 

16. Later he loses favor with the gods and/or his subjects, and

In the real world, writers and readers were clamoring for a return of the original Wolverine. It was only a matter of time before he returned.

17. Is driven from the throne and city, after which

When Logan was resurrected, Laura suffered a swift return to her (problematic) X-23 persona. She lost the blue and yellow uniform, alongside most of her vocabulary.

18. He meets with a mysterious death,

Recently, Laura was banished to an alternate reality known as The Vault, where she spent several (subjective) centuries before being slaughtered by the inhabitants. She’s since been resurrected, but without her memories. 

19. Often at the top of a hill,

Her death was literally on the top of a hill, with her enemies running up towards her. 

20. His children, if any, do not succeed him.

 This is sort of a cheat, since her sister is still a teenager, but although Gabby has been shown to be the Wolverine of several alternate futures, and is currently an active participant in the New Mutants book, she’s not taken over the role yet. 

Laura scores a total of 15 points, putting her at the higher end of this scale. This achievement is doubly impressive when you consider how relatively new this character is. She was created in 2003 and she’s already received more development than some characters who are twice her age. She’s the result of some interesting, intelligent (occasionally unfortunate) writing choices — and she’s also, without question, the best Wolverine. 

Poet, novelist, fencer, pirate, Za-Za, and Comic Watch regular contributor Bethany Pope lives in China. They also hold an MA and PhD in creative writing. Their latest novel, The Hungry and the Lost, was released December 1, 2021 from Parthian Books. You can follow them on Twitter at @theMasqueWriter.