‘All-New Wolverine’ Survives ResurrXion With New Costume From New Artist Leonard Kirk

Those of us who were getting panicky about the absence of Wolverine from the ResurrXion announcements can all calm down a bit now. Marvel announced today that All-New Wolverine will continue with its current numbering while the rest of the X-line relaunches.

Tom Taylor is staying on as writer, with Leonard Kirk joining as series artist with issue #19, which also brings a cover redesign to match the branding of the ResurrXion books, as well as cover art by Adam Kubert and the beginning of a new story arc, "Immune." It's still weird that none of the X-Men team books feature Wolverine, but at least we know she's still going to be a part of the Marvel Universe.

Kirk brings with him a new look for Laura Kinney; a gray and black costume that's reminiscent of the uniforms she and Logan wore in Uncanny X-Force. It provides protection from injury, something we don't usually think Wolverine would be concerned about, but over at Gamespot, Tom Taylor explains how it all makes sense:

A lot of what we’ve been doing in this series comes down to moving Laura to the next logical step. She’s growing on the page. This suit is part of that growth. It all comes down to the amount of times Laura is hurt, or taken out of action. Just because she has a healing factor, doesn’t mean she enjoys pain, or bullets ripping through her internal organs. She has had her issues with pain before, and she’s moving through this. This suit is designed to be bulletproof and generally more protective. In designing the suit, Mark Paniccia, Christina Harrington, and I went through a lot of versions with artist, Leonard Kirk. The colors of the suit are a nod to her X-Force days. What she wore then was certainly a fan-favorite. It’s also about stealth. It’s a bit easier to hunt prey when you’re not wearing bright yellow.

The new story arc is a science fiction story about an alien contagion spreading throughout a US city, which is connected to Wolverine in some way that she doesn't understand.

Also at Gamespot, Taylor offered a more detailed synopsis:

When an alien child crashes into a major city in an escape pod, it speaks one name before dying, "Laura Kinney." The child has succumbed to a virus. And now, an entire city is fast becoming infected.

With thousands falling sick from the alien contagion, the city is quarantined by SHIELD, working with other world governments and the superhero community. Only Wolverine can enter the contamination zone. But, if she enters, she can't walk out again.

The clock is ticking and the stakes have never been higher. Can Laura uncover her own connection and importance to the alien child? Can she save a city? Will she make the ultimate sacrifice to do so? Hundreds of thousands of lives are in Wolverine's clawed hands.