All-New Wolverine #2

By Tom Taylor, David Lopez, David Navarrot & Nathan Fairbairn

With Logan currently out of the picture, Laura Kinney (aka X-23) steps up to take the mantle of Wolverine with Injustice: Gods Among Us writer Tom Taylor at the helm, and along with artists David Lopez and David Navrrot, and colorist Nathan Fairbairn, All-New Wolverine has been a joy to read. It’s been incredibly fun and offers a slightly different location to most of the current brand of Marvel titles, taking place overseas in Paris.

So far, the book sees Laura focusing on handling her own “Clone Saga” situation, as she discovered an assassin that not only looked just like her, but could also not feel pain and is on a mission to avoid capture at all costs. Tom Taylor injects fresh life into the Wolverine series by giving Laura Kinney’s character the title role over Logan and it really shakes things up. Laura is fun and enjoyable to follow, and it’s clear that she’s evolved as a character since taking over the role. The book’s direction allows the audience to focus on her emotional journey as we are dragged down an interesting path when she tackles clones who are currently undergoing the same problems that she was, which presents an interesting dilemma on its own. When she learns how ruthless they are, it’s no longer about whether she can save them or not, it’s about whether she should save them or not. The character development makes things interesting and whilst her relationship with the time displaced Angel is present, it’s pushed back to the side in favor of giving Laura time on her own. It’s very much a solo book and that allows the creative team to explore Laura very well indeed.

David Lopez and David Navarrot handle the artwork very well. The detail between the clones in the panels makes them each distinctive and helps standout well when it could have easily just been simple lookalikes, even if we don’t spend much time with them on the panels themselves. Nathan Fairbairn’s colors also add a nice, moody, atmospheric and very Paris-y feel to the book, or at least in the first issue, which continues when the action switches to New York in the second. It’s a shame that the switch to Paris isn’t permanent as it would have made for a nice change of location for Laura, but as it stands, it proves that the action shouldn’t be limited to just New York like every other Marvel book out there and hopefully we’ll explore locations further afield in future chapters. However, as long as the book remains this good, the location really doesn’t matter at all.

The issue itself is an incredibly solid one and All-New Wolverine so far secures itself as one of the most reliable and entertaining series on stands, with the creative team managing to handle a likeable and interesting protagonist in the form of Laura Kinney very well and give her some great action scenes in her own part of the Marvel Universe. And on top of that, the cliffhanger makes for a superb, unpredictable ending and it’s going to be very interesting to see just where Taylor takes us next. All-New Wolverine proves that there’s life beyond Logan for the role of the Wolverine character, and this series is quickly shaping up to be well worth your time.  If for whatever reason you’ve missed out the first one, go back and catch up as soon as possible, it’s great.