Laura Kinney Wolverine #7
Ross Hutchinson
Recap
HAPPINESS IS AN ADAMANTIUM CLAW! LAURA has the love of her life in JULIAN KELLER. Can they put WOLVERINE and HELLION behind them, or is the perfect life always out of reach? What BETRAYAL will sever Laura's trust in LOGAN?
Review
What does a perfect life look like for a Wolverine? A home with her dad Logan and her sister Gabby Kinney, A proposal from the love of her life Julian Keller in perfect winter snowfall? The answers apparently yes. In the second part of this storyline Erica Schultz continues to gives Laura her perfect life but the longer she’s in it the more she realizes it can’t possibly be real, no matter how much she wants it to be, a perfect lie isn’t any substitute for the truth even a messy one. A snap back to reality turns into a violence unleashed as Wolverine confronts those responsible for her abduction, There’s a shout out to Kelly Thompson’s 2019 Captain Marvel run, a Morlock and some aliens and then a lot of green body parts as Laura escapes her captors with a little help from Beautiful Dreamer and frees some other prisoners at the same time.
It’s wrapped up quickly and neatly and to be honest the focus feels to really be on Laura’s inner journey through the deception and how she reconciles what she dreams of versus the truth she pursues in the real world. Schultz’s pulls Laura’s inner voice off well even if I can’t say I’m particularly fond of lumping Laura into the same “Wolverine’s are doomed to be lonely” trope that follows her father. It feels a touch regressive. Previous series have done an excellent job of positioning Laura as a much healthier version of her father. Yes she is a product of violence trained to do violence but she’s also not a slave to that violence like Logan is. Other than that criticism, I feel the series does continue to be entertaining in it’s short two issue story arcs and well worth sticking with.
This is definitely one of my favorite issues from Giada Belviso. The soft interpersonal opening focused on character interaction and monologue segues seamlessly into major violence. Soft moments between her family and the man she loves turns into hack and slash with green blood and Badoon body parts galore and it’s very good fun. I love watching a younger up and coming artist develop and blossom. Belviso, who has only been drawing for Marvel a relatively short time, is most definitely one of those. Her Laura is both soulful and full of expression but also extremely agile and dynamic and capable in combat. Rachelle Rosenberg’s colors pop on page. I also love the contrast between Laura’s near nakedness most of the issue versus Beautiful Dreamers 20s-style by comparison. Cory Petit doesn’t miss a beat on lettering and this combined with Elena Cassagrande’s fantastic cover rounds off a near flawless issue from the art team.
Final Thoughts
This issue rounds off an interesting exploration of what Laura Kinney's ideal dream life would be with a great balance between the inner journey of it's title character and not forgetting this is a Wolverine title and having the art team deliver on the requisite slice and dice portion of the storytelling. The series continues to be a good balance of action and personal journey.
Laura Kinney: Wolverine #7: Hey Now Don’t Dream, It’s Over…
- Writing - 8.5/108.5/10
- Storyline - 8.5/108.5/10
- Art - 9/109/10
- Color - 9/109/10
- Cover Art - 9/109/10
The argument I can make for Laura having a “Wolverines are alone” moment is to draw on her situation after the Vault.
One of Laura’s biggest buttons for much of her history was about her identity and sense of self. She agonized over the question of whether she had a soul, to the point she even wanted Ghost Rider to use his Penance Stare against her JUST TO SEE IF IT WOULD WORK. Her resurrection, only to learn that her original self was still alive and therefore she’s not supposed to exist, should have been a MASSIVELY triggering moment for her (especially once Talon died for real).
Through that lens, Laura withdrawing from her relationships and no longer being sure who she is and where she fits into the world actually makes a lot of sense. The aim of this series seems to be addressing that, and helping Laura find a way forward.
If there’s a problem with the story, is that I wish the illusion hadn’t been broken so quickly and that we’d gotten to have more time with Julian, Logan, and Gabby before it crumbled.
Also: In an illusion crafted from her desires, it’s JULIAN she sees proposing. I consider that a canon statement that Laura sees him as her true love. No backsies.