He is a sickly child who suffers from allergies, so his loving father, John Howlett, Jr., brings an orphaned girl named Rose up from the town to be his companion.

The children's friendship is spoiled by the tension between the boys' fathers centering on James' mother, Elizabeth, who went mad after her first son, John, died under mysterious circumstances years earlier.

Rose later stumbles upon Elizabeth changing, and sees that she has three parallel scars along her ribs, hinting that John Howlett III had claws.

The horror of his father's death causes James' powers to manifest for the first time, and he uses his claws to kill Thomas and injure Dog, before lapsing into shock.

Rose claims that her male companion is her cousin and, since they are on the run, calls him Logan to conceal his identity; though why she should choose the name of their enemy remains unexplained.

He courts her with books, including poetry by William Blake and a history of the samurai (warriors whom Wolverine of the X-Men would later model himself after).

He also develops a feud the with camp's obese cook, "Cookie" Malone, who goes out of his way to cause trouble for Logan from the time he and Rose arrive.

After years of enduring Malone's abuses, Logan eventually gives him a beating after the cook provokes an explosion in the quarry and kills many workers in the process.

Logan goes mad with grief (his healing factor throwing up another mental block due to accidentally killing his first love) and runs into the woods, where he stays for an as yet unknown amount of time, living like a wild animal.

Psychologist Suzana E. Flores argues that the narrative depicts complex childhood trauma and its effects, including dissociative amnesia and hypervigilance.

Smitty was supposed to look somewhat like Cyclops, and his relationship with Jean Grey lookalike Rose to be what sparks Wolverine's jealousy in his fictional future.

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