A review by trike
All-New Wolverine, Vol. 2: Civil War II by Tom Taylor, IG Guara

5.0

When I saw “Civil War II” in the title I was apprehensive, because these event crossovers suck and I haven’t read much of this one on purpose. I needn’t have worried, because Taylor sums up the entire thing in literally three panels (a kid can see the future, so the Avengers are taking him at his word and imprisoning people before they commit crimes) and brings all the nuance of the idea down to a single page during the climax. (Turns out the bloody murder the mutant kid foresaw wouldn’t have happened if the Avengers and SHIELD hadn’t pushed the issue and set the entire chain of events in motion. That’s the whole idea in a nutshell. I’m guessing the multi-issue event didn’t even come close to such a succinct summation.) If they’d just let him write the event, it’d be a single 22-page book. Which it should be. Crossover events suck ass.

As to this story itself, it is fun, funny, touching, dramatic and off-the-wall bonkers at times. Which is exactly what superhero comics should be like. Talking squirrels (courtesy of Squirrel Girl), SHIELD surveillance state shenanigans, giant monsters, Captain America being a douche, giant monsters, take-out noodles... the book has it all.

Humor is subjective, but I genuinely laughed out loud a couple of times, and a few of the action scenes were awesome. It is also constantly inventive, using established Marvel lore in new ways. (Who can survive being swallowed by the Marvel universe version of Godzilla, Fin Fang Foom? Old Man Logan and X-23, with their mutant healing power. So why not?)

Here are a couple pages from the book just to show off the kind of fun it is: