All-New Wolverine #1-7

All-New Wolverine #1-7

Originally released in 2015

Written by Tom Taylor

Art by David Lopez (#1-6), David Navarrot (#1-2), Marcio Takara (#7)

The Wolverine is dead.  Long live the Wolverine.  In the aftermath of a story called the Death of Wolverine (which, surprisingly, actually stuck for a few years), Logan was encased in adamantium, killing him. (or at least taking him out of the picture for a while)  To honour his memory, his female clone Laura Kinney took on the mantle.

While guarding someone in Paris, Laura discovers that the would-be assassin looks identical to her.  Considering her history of being used as a weapon by unethical scientists who wanted their own version of Wolverine as a slave, this causes her to investigate further, discovering that the clones were created by a corporation called Alchemax.

Three of her clones managed to escape the Alchemax facility. (four including the one who died earlier) She's led to believe that they're dangerous and a threat to others, though she quickly discovers that they just want freedom, much like she did, and quickly joins forces with them to take down Alchemax. (and to save the clones from the nanomachines in their brain that are slowly killing them)

The three clones are known as Zelda (who has a scarred face and is the leader of the trio), Bellona (who has white hair and an itchy trigger finger), and Gabby (the youngest of the group, and extremely cheerful to the point where it can be unnerving).  Of the three, Gabby's easily the most entertaining, serving as a humorous wildcard within the main cast.

Unlike Laura, the other three don't have Wolverine's healing factor, so they're more vulnerable, though the nanomachines that are killing them also keep them from feeling pain.  To solve the problems of the nanomachines killing them, Laura takes them to visit Doctor Strange, leading to an entertaining romp through the Sanctum Sanctorum.

I like when characters get little glimpses of how strange the other spheres of the Marvel universe can be - for Doctor Strange, it's almost routine, but for most other characters, it's bizarre and nonsensical.  Predictably, even a decade ago, the internet had issues with a woman taking on the role of Wolverine (then again, parts of the internet have a problem with a woman or minority taking on any sort of role of prominence), which is mentioned in the comic.

Laura gets some good development here - she may be the best there is at what she does (and what she does isn't very nice), but that doesn't mean that she wants to keep doing it.  Despite the temptation (which is pretty strong, given how current events resemble her own backstory), she's trying to avoid killing unless absolutely necessary.

Issue 7 is a more relaxing story after the first six issues - earlier in the series, Wolverine had placed a tracker into a squirrel to keep Alchemax from following her, and now that squirrel has gone missing.  Naturally, this draws the attention of Squirrel Girl, and assuming that Wolverine can communicate with wolverines like how she can communicate with squirrels, she brings along a wolverine named Jonathan, who promises to be an entertaining addition to the group.

Wolverine, Gabby, and Squirrel Girl (and Jonathan, who none of them can communicate with despite Squirrel Girl's initial belief) track down the squirrel pretty quickly, but it's an entertaining team-up even if it's short-lived.

All-New Wolverine does a good job with balancing different tones, and Laura, the new characters, and the guest characters are all written well. (The Wasp makes a brief appearance when the team needs Pym Particles, and her annoyed phone call to Dr. Strange is great)  The art shift in issue 7 is a little jarring, but it works well for the tone of that story.  I like this take on the Wolverine legacy, and it does well with highlighting how Laura is different from Logan.