The following originally ran in the Weekly Planet 7/11/18.
It’s not the claws you have, it’s how you use them.
In 2015, Laura Kinney was looking for some direction. Originally appearing on the cartoon X- Men Evolution, for years she was aimless. She drifted through the 616 as an outcast, a youth of the street. At times, she’d have her own series that would dive deep into the trauma of being a genetic experiment. She was apart of her dad/twin/cool uncle Logan’s X-Force. She traveled around for a while with the time-displaced O5 X-Men. But not until Tom Taylor and a cadre of winning artists got ahold of her in All-New Wolverine did Laura become a character for the ages and did All-New Wolverine become one of my favorite comics ever.
The pitch is fairly simple: take Laura Kinney and, while staying true to her history, revolutionize the her wholecloth. Not only did she gain a voice, but she uses it to speak for victims and the disenfranchised. She gained a conscience, a sense of justice and purpose. She gets rid of the one substance on Earth that can control her. For the first time in her history, Laura comes into her own.
All of this is masterminded with aplomb by Tom Taylor (X-Men Red, Injustice). With an ever- rotating by always strong cadre of sequential artists, he crafted a witty, hilarious, and heartfelt story that ran for an impressive thirty-five issues. The book never took itself too seriously, while still treating all of the characters and scenarios with respect. A storyline involving Marvel’s many trained killers with healing factors working together to save an island of innocents is one that moved me to tears. This book made me like Daken, for Pete’s sake!
Perhaps Taylor’s greatest advent of the run was the introduction of Gabby aka Honey Badger. Ostensibly Kinney’s little sister, she is a bright ball of effervescent joy. Like many who are suddenly entrusted with the care of a young person, Laura is motivated by Gabby to become the best person that she possibly can be. It’s Laura’s story, but we always see her through Gabby’s idolizing eyes. She thinks Laura is the greatest hero of them all, and we the readers are inclined to agree.
The series has been wrapped up for a minute now, but the final TPB collection the run arrives this week! All-New Wolverine Vol 6: “Old Woman Laura” is now on shelves and you owe it to yourself to check it out. Laura, Gabby, and Jonathan the Actual Wolverine are still written by Taylor in the phenomenal X-Men Red.
Also debuting this week is Laura and Gabby’s new solo series X-23, written by Mariko Tamaki with art by Juan Cabal. With a creative team like that, X-23 #1 also seems like a Can’t Miss!
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