It’s an all new Wolverine title with an all new Wolverine! Well, not all new, it’s Laura Kinney aka X-23 a clone of the real Wolverine who is now under the yellow and blue mask. Can a clone be considered all new, and hasn’t X-23 technically been Wolverine before? Enough with semantics, let’s get to the review of All-New Wolverine #1!
ALL-NEW WOLVERINE #1
Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist: David Lopez, David Navarrot
Colorist: Nathan Fairbairn
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publisher: Marvel
Cover Price: $4.99
Previously in All-New Wolverine: It’s All-New! Nothing! (That I know of)
DID I MISS SOMETHING?
I haven’t read a Wolverine comic in a long, long time, not counting the Death of Wolverine mini or Secret Wars Old Man Logan. I dig X-23 and this is the All-New Marvel so why not? Well a few reasons actually. Reading All-New Wolverine #1 feels like catching the last action packed fifteen minutes of an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., while having never seen the show before. With no context of who or what is exactly taking place in this issue, I was completely frustrated and frankly angry by the end. In Paris, Laura saves a man from being shot by an assassin and, after having a nice flashback moment with Wolverine while healing her head wound, runs after the shooter. There’s a brief skirmish on the Eiffel Tower, the assassin commits suicide by jumping off the tower, a drone is called in and fellow X-Man Angel who is working with Laura helps her destroy it. The big reveal is that the assassin is a clone of Laura, which actually isn’t much of a reveal based on dialogue within the issue. Other than some sweet moments between Angel and Laura, there wasn’t much here that shined. Apparently that’s what a $4.99 Wolverine comic book is. Who is Laura saving at the beginning? Why is she chasing these assassin’s? When did Angel and her become partners and romantically involved? I couldn’t tell you. Once again I’m feeling left out of the loop and don’t know if it’s because of Tom Taylor’s writing or I haven’t read other X-Men and Wolverine titles. Regardless, for the price point I should get more context and more story than just one long action scene. I don’t mind a little mystery and intrigue, but this is poor and instead of leaving me wanting more, leaves me wanting my money back.
STRONGER SECOND HALF
David Lopez and David Navarrot are a team that work together, one handling pencils while the other designs tech and backgrounds etc. The two blend well and it’s clear they work great as a team. There were many times where some great and dynamic angles were used for shots, but unfortunately the characters would look disproportional or facial features would look off to downright bad. The second half of the issue, from the Eiffel Tower fight on, is much tighter and has more detail. Shots of Paris from above look nice and detailed, as well as brightly colored, and the flow of the action is solid. Again, there’s nothing much that stands out, though I will admit some of it is due to my personal dislike of the style. I would have also liked to have seen a bit more change in Wolverine’s costume considering this is all-new. A variation on the brown suit would better suit Laura I would think, but to each their own.
BOTTOM LINE: SKIP IT AND SAVE $5
All-New Wolverine #1 is not worth reading, let alone $4.99. If spending that much on thirty pages (I counted) of a fight scene with no context sounds like a good deal, then this would be a Wolverine book for you. Even if you somehow know what is going on, I would still argue this book isn’t worth the price point. The art is decent and picks up in the second half but still has problems. This was the first ongoing Wolverine title I’ve read in ages. It looks like it might be ages until I pick up another.
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2 Comments
Just wanted to give my two cents. Comic opinions are highly subjective and I wanted to give another opinion for All New Wolverine because I think this comic was worth picking up and the series will have a lot of potential. Yes, All New Wolverine #1 falls victim to the “8 months later” in all of Marvel comics right now, but as with every other Marvel comic, I feel like things will be explained eventually. The on-goings of this issue aren’t so unclear that the issue becomes unreadable and I think readers can pick up on enough to enjoy the story of the first issue. Is everything explained? No, but nothing has really been explained in any of the Marvel ANAD books, which isn’t a fault of the writing team here. Sure we were thrown into the middle of the action without any kind of explanation, and the twist at the end of the issue wasn’t very shocking and didn’t necessarily hook me as a reader, but I really enjoyed everything else that worked in this issue, including what in my opinion was solid art, writing and action. It was great to see X-23 take up the wolverine mantle and dawn the classic yellow and blue costume.
For anyone who wants an introduction into Laura (X-23) this issue gives readers enough to get a grasp on Laura and who she is and also provides some very enjoyable action with some good art throughout the issue. If you can look past the fact that this issue is set 8 months in the future (which you will have to do with most of the ANAD books), and the fact that the previous 8 months aren’t explained, I think you can really find some enjoyment in this issue.
To me this was actually one of the better ANAD titles I’ve read so far, which may not say a lot (let’s face it a lot of the titles have been let downs). 3.5 out of 5 for me, which I would classify as a “Good” comic.
Thanks for reading. I’m glad you liked the issue and appreciate your well written comment. I agree that the 8 months later has affected the books somewhat but I would argue that’s not the total case here. In Dr. Strange you don’t know why he’s back or how but you find out what he’s been doing (going to people’s houses as a sort of exorsist to badly explain it). If Dr. Strange were written the way Wolverine was, the reader would never know why he was going to different houses and he would already be in the middle of helping the girl at the end of issue 1. All-New Wolverine felt like the third issue of a story, not the first. But as Matthew likes to say, your mileage may vary.