The All-New Wolverine proves her mettle.
If any Marvel franchise needed a post-Secret Wars change in direction, it’s Wolverine (and yes, he qualifies as a franchise unto himself these days). Last year’s Death of Wolverine mini-series was good, but much of the build-up to that story and the resulting fallout was not. Luckily, All-New Wolverine is just what Marvel needed. As much as this series is new in the sense that a completely different character is calling herself Wolverine, the book also reads like a return to basics. This issue is a solid start to a promising new series.
Wolverine comics can often be heavy-handed in the way they delve into the character’s troubled psychology and lean on his familiar monologues – “I’m the best there is at what I do,” and so forth. Often it’s the writers who avoid digging too deep into the character’s head (like Joss Whedon and Charles Soule) that find the most storytelling success. That’s the approach writer Tom Taylor opts for in this first issue. There’s no lengthy setup or ponderous monologue to slog through. Taylor starts the story right in the middle of the action and delivers a lean, mean adventure as Laura pursues a deadly assassin through the streets of Paris.
The issue is easily accessible regardless of your familiarity with Laura’s past as X-23, yet it clearly establishes her connection to Wolverine and her trouble adjusting to life as a legitimate superhero. There are moments of poignancy in this script, and also a few welcome dashes of humor. If Taylor’s work on DC’s Injustice: Gods Among Us prequel comic is any indication, we can expect a healthy blend of both elements moving forward. And while the plot is pretty straightforward, the final pages promise a compelling conspiracy that builds on Laura’s troubled past.
Artist David Lopez brings a welcome sense of darkness to the book while also delivering plenty of kinetic energy in Wolverine’s tense Parisian chase. Lopez also shows some welcome range during a flashback sequence focused on Laura’s bond with Logan. Nathan Fairbairn’s colors are crucial to contrasting the two approaches, as he relies on cold hues for the present-day sequence and warm, sentimental colors for the flashback. I’m not enamored with the redesigned Wolverine costume. If anything, it’s not different enough from Wolverine’s now iconic Astonishing costume.
The Wolverine franchise has finally found its bearing, and all it took was a completely new character underneath that distinctive mask. This first issue is lean and fast-paced, tossing readers right into the heat of battle and proving the former X-23 worthy of inheriting the mantle of Wolverine.
