All-New Wolverine #12 - A Review

The Inhuman Ulysses foresaw Old Man Logan killing his young clone, Gabby Linney. Somehow, he did not foresee it going badly when SHIELD and Captain America went to take Logan into custody regarding something he hadn't done yet. Now, with Gabby seemingly dead and a berserk Old Man Logan rampaging through New York City, it falls to The All-New Wolverine, Laura Kinney, to clean-up SHIELD's mess.

Alas, not even Tom Taylor's brilliant writing can make the stupidity of Civil War II entertaining. Captain America is horribly out of character here - apparently a major complaint about the crossover. (I, wisely it seems, have been avoiding the special apart from the tie-in issues in the Marvel books I regularly read.) Still, Taylor's script makes the most of a bad situation and Laura's speeches to both Cap and Old Man Logan are pretty damn awesome.

The artwork issues from the past few months continue to be a problem. Ig Guara draws a good fight scene, but his takes on Laura and Gabby appear to be the same age! However, the inking by Walden Wong is consistent and colorist Michael Garland manages a few neat touches, such as using single colors to punctuate key close-ups.

All-New Wolverine #11 - A Review

Laura, Gabby and Old Man Logan are settling into their new digs fairly well, despite having to deal with the most unlucky burglars ever. Unfortunately, SHIELD is concerned about a recent vision by their pet precog Ulysses - one which has predicted Logan killing Gabby in the immediate future!


Tom Taylor weathers the forced tie-in to Civil War II as best he can.  Unfortunately, not even the cutest Gabby scenes can mask the stupidity of the mini-series base concept or the contrivances this issue's plot requires. There is no circumstance in which sending a SHIELD SWAT team to take down a PTSD-suffering Logan makes a lick of sense. It makes even less sense that Captain America would allow that team to accompany him, even if his plan were to try and talk everyone into going along with what the secret spy organization wants. The action scenes are decent enough if you can get past the fact that everyone is fighting for the sake of the issue needing an action sequence.

Ig Guara's artwork continues to be uneven, despite only having one inker to work with this month. There is very little consistency to the characters appearances, with Wolverine herself shifting between looking like a middle-aged woman or like a adolescent girl depending on the panel. The final art looks very strained, thanks to Wong's thin inks and Michael Garlands muted colors.

All-New Wolverine #10 - A Review

Laura and Gabby have taken Old Man Logan (i.e. an version of the original Wolverine from the bad future of an alternate universe) home for a bit of rest after their stressful encounter with Fin Fang Foom's stomach. Their afternoon will be made more interesting by the most unlucky burglars in the world. And somewhere else, the precognitive Inhuman called Ulysses has a vision of the future that concerns them all...



Thankfully, the Civil War II tie-in sections of this comic are mercifully brief and have no real impact on the action of this issue. This allows Tom Taylor to do what he does best with the rest of the issue - play with expectations, make the audience laugh and provide the occasional moment of charm. And how can you not be charmed by the idea of a Wolverine family that has a pet wolverine named Jonathan The Unstoppable? (They will write songs of his legend!)



Sadly, the artwork for this issue is a little uneven. I think the fault for this may lie with the two inkers, whose differing styles add moments of visual discord to the flow of the issue. The artwork doesn't look bad as such - the character designs and coloring are quite good - but there's just something off about some of the finished panels.

All-New Wolverine #9 - A Review

Laura Kinney doesn't work for SHIELD but she is willing to lend a hand when Maria Hill asks nicely and pays for her take-out. It seems they lost an agent investigating some new bio-weapon, which turned out to be pheromones meant to attract Fin Fang Foom. And the missing agent turns out to be an alternate universe version of the original Wolverine, from the future. And those facts are the least strange thing about the day the all-new Wolverine is about to have.


The cover may say this is a Civil War II tie-in but Tom Taylor keeps the script mercifully free of any reference to that event, save for gratuitous (and hilarious) cameos by Iron Man and Captain Marvel. This issue is high on laughs and short on drama, which is as it should be.

Marcio Takara's artwork is most enjoyable. The lack of backgrounds and pixelated skies in some panels threw me off a little bit but his character designs are good and the action of the issue flows well. And Matheus Lopes continues to impress with his color work.