Dog Logan

Dog Logan
Art by Andy Kubert
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Origin #1 (November, 2001)
Created by	Bill Jemas, Paul Jenkins, Joe Quesada (story) and Andy Kubert (art)
In-story information
Full name	Dog Logan

Dog Logan is a fictional character from Marvel Comics that appeared in the limited series Origin (co-written by Bill Jemas, Paul Jenkins and Joe Quesada, drawn by Andy Kubert). The series explored the early years and background of Wolverine, and was published from November, 2001 to July, 2002.

Fictional character biography

Young Dog Logan. Art by Andy Kubert

Dog Logan is a servant on the Howlett estate in the late 19th century, located in Alberta, Canada. His father, Thomas Logan, also works as groundskeeper of the Howlett estate. As an adolescent, Dog is the playmate of James Howlett, a sickly boy and the family's youngest son, and Rose, an orphan brought to the estate to look after James. The three children are good friends, and at one point, Dog saves James from drowning in a river. However, Thomas, an abusive alcoholic, frequently beats Dog and berates him for spending time with members of the upper class. Eventually, Thomas' abusive treatment of Dog causes Dog to behave in abusive and sadistic ways.

As a young teenager, Dog is cruel, sadistic, and brash, going so far as to make unwanted sexual advances toward Rose. James, witnessing and foiling a later attempt by Dog to assault Rose sexually, reports the incident to his father. In retaliation, Dog kills James's dog, resulting in Dog and Thomas's expulsion from the estate. Enraged, Thomas returns to the Howlett estate later that night with Dog and forces his way into the room of Elizabeth—James's mother and a mentally disturbed recluse. Thomas tells Elizabeth that he was leaving and that he plans to take her with him. Thomas and Dog, however, are soon discovered by John Howlett, Jr. as he comes into the bedroom. The two men quickly engage in a heated verbal exchange that culminates with Thomas shooting John Howlett in the head with the shotgun he's carrying. Just when Thomas pulls the trigger, James walks into the room and witnesses his father's death. The trauma of the event triggers James's mutant powers, particularly his bone claws, and he uses them against Thomas and Dog, resulting in Thomas's death and Dog being slashed severely across his face, leaving three large scars. Elizabeth loses her fragile hold on her sanity and screams insults at James, who runs crying from the room and house with Rose pursuing him. Elizabeth kills herself in front of Dog moments later using Thomas's gun. As the only survivor left at the scene when the police arrived, Dog reports that Rose is responsible.

Years later, Dog is hired by James's dying grandfather, John Howlett, Sr. to track James. Dog accepted, but with the intention of killing James rather than return him to his grandfather. Now fully grown, Dog is large and powerfully built with lightly colored hair.

He eventually tracks James to the mining town where he and Rose have been staying since they ran from the Howlett estate. Dog spends some time in the town, learning James's habits and watches as James and Smitty, the foreman of the camp and James's close friend, in a cage fight. James, despite being enraged over Smitty's relationship with Rose, allows Smitty to win the fight. After the fight, Dog suddenly attacks James. During the fight, Dog claims that he is responsible for John Howlett's death, even though Dog's father Thomas is actually the one responsible. James manages to defeat Dog and extracts his bone claws, preparing to kill him. However, Rose suddenly arrives. As James prepares to strike, Rose runs into his claws and is fatally wounded. Grief stricken, James runs from the camp and into the forest, leaving Dog behind.

Later, in the Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine mini series, Dog encounters Spider-Man, who had been travelling through time. Dog enters a mine containing the glowing diamonds responsible for Spider-Man's time travel. The diamonds send him to the present day.

Sabretooth connection

In an interview with writer Paul Jenkins,^[1][2] the question of Dog being Sabretooth is brought up. Jenkins responded by saying "Who knows? In my mind, Dog is not intended to be Sabretooth, but he could be. It doesn’t matter. As long as the next writer respects the character and writes a simple story, anything could happen."

In April 2009, Marvel Comics released a one-shot specialty comic entitled X-Men Origins: Sabretooth which was part of a series of origin stories for a number of other X-Men characters. The comic chronicled some of Sabretooth's earliest childhood experiences. Within the comic, it's revealed that Sabretooth's childhood and early life, with the exception of being in an abusive family, differs distinctly from the life of Dog Logan as shown in the Origin mini-series.^[3]

Powers and abilities

Much about Dog remains unrevealed, due to so few appearances. Dog is tall and powerfully built and demonstrates impressive tracking abilities, though it remains unrevealed precisely how he locates James and Rose. Dog also shows himself to be a formidable combatant during his fight with James. Later in the series, Dog had leaf shaped ears, fangs, and his fingernails resembled claws.

Alternate versions

Marvel Noir

Dog Logan appears in Wolverine Noir as Logan's partner and his alleged brother.

What If

What if Wolverine was Public Enemy No. 1 posits that after the events of Wolverine: Origin, Dog moved to Chicago where he became a crime lord known as Scarface, and had Logan's wife and son killed, prompting him to become the Punisher in the 1920s.

Other media

In the feature film X-Men Origins: Wolverine, aspects of the "Dog Logan" character are attached to Sabretooth. These include him and Wolverine having the same father and the pair having been friends before the fraternal link was revealed.

In the video game X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a trivia caption on the loading screens says Sabretooth's nickname as a boy was "Dog".

References

1. ^ interview with Paul Jenkins - comicbooksetc.com
2. ^ "Second interview with Paul Jenkins - comicbooksetc.com". Web.archive.org. 2006-07-21. Archived from the original on 2006-07-21. http://web.archive.org/web/20060721163811/http://www.comicbooksetc.com/interviews/jenks.shtml. Retrieved 2011-01-20. 
3. ^ "X-Men Origins: Sabretooth (2009) #1 | X-Men | Comic Books | Comics". Marvel.com. http://marvel.com/catalog/?id=10993. Retrieved 2011-01-20. 

External links

• Dog bio from the Appendix to the Marvel Universe