Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics, Review | Tagged: all-new wolverine, deadpool, gabby, honey badger, jonathan the actual wolverine, laura kinney, Marco Failla, nolan woodard, superheroes, Tom Taylor, wolverine, x-men

All-New Wolverine #31 Review: Ridiculous, Silly, and a Lot of Fun

Back home after the conflict with the Orphans of X, Gabby aka Honey Badger takes Jonathan the now-talking Actual Wolverine out for a walk. At least, that's what Laura thinks Gabby is doing. In reality, the Honey Badger and the Actual Wolverine are tracking down the people who were experimenting on Jonathan when Laura and Gabby rescued him. For this mission, the Honey Badger calls in the help of an old friend: Deadpool!

Damn this book for making me enjoy Deadpool.

In all honesty, I've enjoyed all Deadpool appearances in All-New Wolverine. He's usually joking around with Gabby, and there's a weird innocence and compassion that isn't usually present in Deadpool in other comics.

This entire book had me laughing despite myself. The plot is silly, the pacing is breakneck, and the tone begins to shift wildly towards the end. Despite this, I had a ton of fun, and I can't fault the book for that.

This is clearly intended to be a silly and more carefree issue, and it succeeds in accomplishing its goals. The interactions between Gabby and Deadpool are hilarious, especially when Wade begins instructing the Honey Badger on the importance of keeping chloroform handy in case you need to knock someone out.

Jonathan gets his voice modulator back, so he starts talking again in this issue. This is welcome, because Jonathan is awesome.

The tone goes wild after the zombie rabbits show up. It rushes towards a moment of attempted emotional resonance, and that may have been too ambitious an undertaking for an issue like this. To its benefit, the utter ludicrous fun of the remainder of the comic more than cover up any failings in its one serious moment.

Marco Failla's artwork brings the kind of fun, expressiveness, and kinetic energy a story like this needs. There's also a simplicity to the environments that compliment the straightforward and blunt tone of the weirdness of this book. Plus, Jonathan is given expression, and that's great. The zombie animals are also cartoony enough as to not throw any sudden gore or macabre overtones to this delightful read. Nolan Woodard brings an endlessly bright and eye-catching color palette, and that, needless to say, compliments the narrative tone too.

All-New Wolverine #31 is a ridiculous, fun, and hilarious one-off story full of Wolverines of all shapes and sizes, Deadpool, and zombie woodland creatures. It's a great read supported by solid artwork, and it earns a recommendation. Check it out.

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