Laura Kinney: Wolverine #8 // Review
Laura is restless. She's looking for action. She’s looking for trouble. And she is going to find it in a street at night in New York City. Four people are beating the hell out of fourth one. Naturally she’s going to like those odds. She’s not expecting the guy they’re stomping into the ground to be someone she knows, though. It turns out to be an old friend in need of help in Laura Kinney: Wolverine #8. Writer Erica Schultz continues an enjoyable jog with a Wolverine in an issue brought to page and panel by artist Giada Belviso and colorist Rachelle Rosenberg.
The victim in question can usually handle a fight. The name is Jordan Gastin--an MMA fighter also known as Haymaker. Not exactly the type of person to need help, but the attackers are a group of normal people with super powers. There’s little question that they’re using mutant growth hormone to attack mutants. Turns out Haymaker’s intimate friends with Polly--another colleague of Laura’s. Haymaker has been waging a war on crime and taking the criminals’ money in order to open a safe haven for mutants. Naturally, Haymaker and Polly have made enemies that Laura is going to need to help out with.
Schultz has done a rather brilliant job of managing to make a very concise one shot story out of something that could have gone on uncomfortably for a couple of issues. The story is just big enough to fit into a single issue given the right pacing. And Schultz does a really good job of making sure that it's going to be perfectly paced. It's a very emotionally expressive story that gets into a lot of the sorts of things that Marvel mutant books have been covering for a long time. Schultz manages to do it in a way that feels distinctly unique to Laura, which is very cool.
Belviso hammers home the action with deft precision. Action explodes across the page quite efficiently. The more nuanced drama hits the page with a vivid realism that brings the fantastic reality of it all down to earth quite well. Through it all, Laura looks slick, lean, and beautiful. She always seems to be in control of the situations as they pass over the page. However, she still manages to feel vulnerable enough to maintain a sense of peril through throughout the issue that keeps the action moving.
Schultz has managed more than one premise in stories like this, that would work perfectly well I've spin-off series. Polly and Haymaker’s story feels more than interesting enough to carry its own series. Of course, there's only so much room on the rack for these things. And they're isn't quite enough momentum to add too many more titles to the mix. Schultz is a really impressive and entertaining writer, though. And it's just nice to see her continuing to develop Laura's story as the series progresses. With any luck, she'll be able to maintain this for quite some time.
