Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics, Review | Tagged: all-new wolverine, djibril morissette-phan, laura kinney, Marvel Comics, nolan woodard, orphans of x, superheroes, Tom Taylor, wolverine, x-men

All-New Wolverine #32 Review: Nazi-Stomping Group Therapy

Still wanting to help the Orphans of X, Wolverine has been hunting for the man who hired Laura out to kill the father of Amber, the woman who heads the Orphans. Laura is willing to go out and handle it alone, but Amber wants to come with her. This leads them to a beach resort where, before long, they find the trouble they seek.

This issue also opens with a compelling parallel showing the young Laura and Amber on which the former killed the latter's father. It's gut-wrenching and evocative.

What's also impressive is how Tom Taylor and Djibril Morissette-Phan manage to keep the tone steadily from that hard opening to an ending that involves Wolverine and Amber joyously stomping a Nazi with boots specifically designated for the purpose. Mainstream comics often have trouble with tonal whiplash, but All-New Wolverine #32 manages to avoid that.

Also interesting is Tom Taylor's ability to shoot the moon and back with some bad jokes. This is hard to explain. The jokes are bad, they're intended to be bad — but they're so corny in intentionally being bad that they shouldn't be funny, but then they manage to loop back around to being funny again. I think this comic invented a new level of irony, and I'm not sure world is ready for it. You'll know what I'm talking about once they get to the Hawaiian shirts and again with the literal Nazi-stomping boots.

New depths to irony aside, the plot flows well. It was smart to have Laura, the more compassionate Wolverine, choose to help the Orphans. Having the bad guy be a backer to a Neo-Nazi organization just makes it more fun to see him taken down. The pacing is solid. There's some good action. This is just a really good comic.

Morissette-Phan's artwork can play to both the darker moments and the more fun ones. There is a shadowy grimness in the first part that can play up the intentional ridiculousness in the final portion. Like the writing, the comic knows when to go from grim, to funny, back to grim, and back to funny again. Nolan Woodard's color work coincides with it all by playing with the palette.

All-New Wolverine #32 is another great one-off story of forgiveness, justice, and stomping Nazis. What more could you ask for in a comic? The humor is (weirdly) good, the pacing is done well, it manages its tone, and the art is great. This one gets a strong recommendation. Check it out.

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