All-New Wolverine #12 Review

Self Fulfilling 

Written by: Tom Taylor
Art by: Ig Guara, Walden Wong, Michael Garland and Cory Petit
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 21, 2016

Since we started our Marvel Monday experiment, I've come to really enjoy a couple of titles and one
of those is this one, All-New Wolverine.  You can even say that Laura is my Wolverine since people usually say that about the first character they read who holds a mantle.  Yes, it's true...this is the first Wolverine book I've read, but seriously, you can't really have been breathing the past 20 years and not know a whole lot about the "other" Wolverine.  So, when I jumped on this book, I had my doubts if I would enjoy it, but I'm glad that Tom Taylor and crew have put them to rest and let me enjoy the ride. Of course, the ride took a wrong turn down tragedy street when Old Man Logan showed up to do a little slicey-slicey on Gabby and make Ulysses look right at least this one time.  Yes, this issue continues the old Civil War tie-in thingy, but I will try not to hold that against it.  Is it a good issue?  Let's find out...


The issue opens in the Wasteland where Old Man Logan is going to town on Gabby's grave, complete with a final spit.  That's pretty harsh, OML!  Of course, this kind of mirrors what's happening in the here and now as we see Gabby getting sliced by Logan in Central Park while Cap and Laura look on.

Before anyone can react, Logan vanishes into the sewers and while Cap wants to give chase, Laura wants Logan for herself.  It's a good thing too, I'm not sure Steve and his men would be any match for a feral OML!

After Laura yells at Cap for helping fulfill Ulysses prophecy, she goes into the sewers and immediately finds Logan.  She also immediately finds out he is not who she thinks he is.  That's when they start a fussin' and a fightin'.

While all this is going on, Gabby surprises everyone (except the reader), by springing to life and yelling for Laura.  When she finds out Wolverine is in the sewers, it's another no surprise that she runs to join her.

It's not like Laura needs any help since by now, she is pretty much kicking Logan's ass!  In fact, it's Logan who is in need of a helping hand as he comes to and yells for Laura to stop.  Lucky for both of them, Gabby does the stopping and we get some crazy information.  Gabby is one of them, she killed Laura in Logan's World and Laura and Gabby are kick ass characters who want nothing to do with this Logan form her on out.

The issue continues with Laura and Gabby meeting back up with Captain America and that's when we get the heavy handed Civil War II stuff.  It really is eye rolling bad and slammed the brakes on what was a pretty good issue up to this point.  It all ends with Laura and Gabby hopefully leaving this Civil War nonsense behind for good.

I can't say this issue was necessary as a regular Wolverine issue or as a Civil War II tie-in. Everything just resets itself by the end so we can continue on with business as usual next issue.  However, I still enjoyed the Old Man Logan stuff and I am a sucker for anything Gabby, so I did enjoy the parts with her.  All in all, though, this is just a filler issue quite like most of the Event tie-ins have been.

I liked Ig Guara's art even if I can't say that it wowed me one bit.  He does exactly what he was supposed to do to help Tom Taylor tell his story...nothing more, nothing less.

Bits and Pieces:

Tom Taylor and Ig Guara do their best to make this Civil War II tie-in issue important, but in the end, it's as unnecessary as most of the other tie-ins have been.  We get some good interaction between Laura and Old Man Logan, but by the end, everybody presses the big, old reset button and we move on from there.  I won't lie...there aren't many reason not to skip this issue.

6.5/10