nicoga3000
Saint Nic
Oh boy, they haven't communicated this well. You can play any of the VC titles you bought on the Wii on your Wii U if you transfer them over to your Wii U, which will remove them from your Wii, but you can only play them while running the Wii U in Wii mode, which means no gamepad support, you'd still need a Wiimote+whatever attachment you prefer.
However, Nintendo has started re-releasing some Wii U VC titles, with one a month at 30 cents of your local currency that do support the gamepad and can be played from the Wii U's normal mode as opposed to having to go into the Wii compatibility mode. Nintendo says they plan to eventually bring back most of the Wii's VC catalog to the Wii U, and that at that time people who already own those VC titles will be entitled to rebuy them at a discounted price, around a dollar or some crap, for the privilege of playing them outside of the Wii compatibility mode, gamepad support and Miiverse functionality.
I am excited to get my Wii U, but lordy does it not surprise me that this system has been a messy launch.
E: And thank you for the clarification!