Laura: X-23 Appreciation 2018

[Ambaryerno]

Ugh. I'm starting to wonder if Marvel really has any idea what to do with Laura.

While it's great that she's on a team again after getting shut out coming out of IvX, I wouldn't exactly say her role in Red has been vital. She's mostly been relegated to stabbing things and being the hook to get Gabby on on a team. This honestly goes back to at LEAST Bendis' use of her in ANXM, with the hamfisted Angel relationship just being used as something to justify her presence on the team. It may even go back further to Avengers Academy, where other than the AvX tie-ins she really didn't serve much purpose (and was even written out of one arc entirely, IIRC). There was her broken friendship with Finesse, but you could argue a number of other characters could have stood in, as well.

It's absurd that the only reason she ended up involved in Hunt For Wolverine is because she just happened to be independently investigating the same auction as Stark's team entirely by chance. She should have been one of the FIRST characters Kitty called when they discovered Logan's body was missing. Or at the very least it ought to have been handwaved that they tried reaching her but she'd gone dark to set up her arrival later. And now she's not even appearing with the rest of the X-Men in the Return of Wolverine miniseries, even though putting a stop to what people like Persephone are doing is her current mission profile. And ESPECIALLY since Marvel is trying to sell their father/daughter relationship (I can just see Kitty now: "Hey Laura. Yeah, your dad is alive again. Sorry we didn't tell you an evil mad scientist stole his corpse, reanimated him, then turned him into their personal killing machine against his will.")

There's so many more interesting things that can be done with her, but it really seems that Marvel's editorial and writers just can't think of anything better than just making her a stabby Logan fill-in (even though any number of us have thought up fun ideas for what directions they could go). They had an opportunity to give her a leadership role in ANXM after Secret Wars, but Hopeless decided he only wanted her to do "Wolverine Things" (which ended up translating to blindly charging into fights because she was pretending to be Warren's perfect girl and she decided that's what it meant). Hell, the most recent issue of Domino had Dom trying to talk Topaz down because killing her meant no one else knew what it was like to be raised in a lab and tortured by sadists. And I'm just thinking...Uh, HELLO? Remember that 16 year old kid who weirded you out in X-Force?

It's gotten to the point where it's almost comical.

[Gambit, King of Thieves]

Yeah, the way Marvel's been handling her lately is disappointing.

On an unrelated note, she hasn't seen Gwen again since the annual, has she?

[Jumpyshark]

I mean, she's going to have a part to play in Disassembled, and Soule has been way more miss than hit with his X-stuff so I'm cool with Return of Wolverine not featuring X-23 heavily. She has a quality solo title, got a big moment/plot hook out of Hunt for Wolverine, and has a role in Red, which is the best X-Men core team book in years. Yes, it's crowded, but being a character in a quality team story is better than not, because Red could end up being an excellent introduction to the X-Men for new (or lapsed) X-readers.

I'm not denying that she's had disappointing portrayals in the 201Xs, and I get the connection to her and Logan being weird to ignore as much as they have, but there's clearly a lot of interest in her as a character going forward, so we'll see what shakes out post Disassembled but I'm very positive for the future of Laura Kinney. She clearly has writers who are interested in writing her, and is getting more and more prominence among the X-Men.

[XCE]

Not sure who did this, but it's fan art.

It's not fanart, it's a retailer variant cover. The artist is Gerald Parel.

[Ambaryerno]

TBH I'm a bit skeptical about her role in Uncanny. We already know the "lead" X-kid will be Armor from the bits and pieces that have been dropped so far. I'm not saying she won't have a major supporting role, but I'll honestly be surprised if it's more than just julienneing Madrox Dupes.

[Ambaryerno]

It's not fanart, it's a retailer variant cover. The artist is Gerald Parel.

I saw it on Pinterest and it was uncredited.

[XCE]

Ugh. I'm starting to wonder if Marvel really has any idea what to do with Laura.

While it's great that she's on a team again after getting shut out coming out of IvX, I wouldn't exactly say her role in Red has been vital. She's mostly been relegated to stabbing things and being the hook to get Gabby on on a team. This honestly goes back to at LEAST Bendis' use of her in ANXM, with the hamfisted Angel relationship just being used as something to justify her presence on the team. It may even go back further to Avengers Academy, where other than the AvX tie-ins she really didn't serve much purpose (and was even written out of one arc entirely, IIRC). There was her broken friendship with Finesse, but you could argue a number of other characters could have stood in, as well.

It's absurd that the only reason she ended up involved in Hunt For Wolverine is because she just happened to be independently investigating the same auction as Stark's team entirely by chance. She should have been one of the FIRST characters Kitty called when they discovered Logan's body was missing. Or at the very least it ought to have been handwaved that they tried reaching her but she'd gone dark to set up her arrival later. And now she's not even appearing with the rest of the X-Men in the Return of Wolverine miniseries, even though putting a stop to what people like Persephone are doing is her current mission profile. And ESPECIALLY since Marvel is trying to sell their father/daughter relationship (I can just see Kitty now: "Hey Laura. Yeah, your dad is alive again. Sorry we didn't tell you an evil mad scientist stole his corpse, reanimated him, then turned him into their personal killing machine against his will.")

There's so many more interesting things that can be done with her, but it really seems that Marvel's editorial and writers just can't think of anything better than just making her a stabby Logan fill-in (even though any number of us have thought up fun ideas for what directions they could go). They had an opportunity to give her a leadership role in ANXM after Secret Wars, but Hopeless decided he only wanted her to do "Wolverine Things" (which ended up translating to blindly charging into fights because she was pretending to be Warren's perfect girl and she decided that's what it meant). Hell, the most recent issue of Domino had Dom trying to talk Topaz down because killing her meant no one else knew what it was like to be raised in a lab and tortured by sadists. And I'm just thinking...Uh, HELLO? Remember that 16 year old kid who weirded you out in X-Force?

It's gotten to the point where it's almost comical.

You have to look at the big picture. Sure, Laura being more involved in Logan's return makes sense on some level (although they were never particularly close if you ignore Taylor's "retcons"), but that sort of intimate and personal story doesn't really fit the "big, exciting event" that they want to do. And throwing it in there as a D-plot just for continuity's sake probably makes the story worse, rather than better, from a storytelling perspective.

As much as we enjoy these characters and their rich histories, the fact is there's just SO much of it these days after decades of stories that I think Marvel has just gone "focus on writing good stories, don't get bogged down in continuity" and I can understand why.

As for how they're using or not using Laura, the fact that she's had a solo series for 40+ issues now sort of trumps any argument that she's being pushed to the background. Personally speaking, outside of X-Force I've never really enjoyed her as a team member anyway, I think she's much stronger as a solo character. Don't forget that she was a solo character before she was ever on an X-Men team and all her best stories have been solos.

[Pandarifically Delusional]

Yeah, couldn't agree more. This opening arc feels dangerous, even knowing the solicit for #6. I enjoy a lot of current Marvel comics, but I do think that the air of wonder and concern for what's coming next in X-23 is rare, even among quality books.

If people are enjoying this arc, the opening arc of Tamaki's She-Hulk run is quite similar in terms of atmosphere and mystery. I love how Tamaki really focuses on the actual person within the character, and how they're feeling, plus the art in X-23 continues to be superlative.

Thanks for tip! I may have to seek that out next She-Hulk/Marvel sale on Comixology.

Yeah, I, too, tend to agree with y'all. I was greatly saddened to hear of the ending of ANW, but I waited until the 3rd issue, grabbed it plus 1-2 on a Comixology sale. Everything about the series is, and I am sorry to say this, what was missing from ANW.

I like that Tamiko gives us Laura's inner thoughts, allowing for the character to become so much more well-rounded and defined as she continues to grow. It also has the humor of Gabby (def. needed if you are gonna go all dark with your first story arc), both interacting with Laura as well as on her own. Plus, you have a story arc befitting a character such as Laura.

All in all, I am all kinds of impressed! Pretty good for the guy who was all mopey prior to its release!

[Dthirds3]

IMG_20180915_062447.jpg
X23 5 connecting variant

[TheCape]

Respoting from Wolverine's thread because this is hilarious.

Wolfball-X.jpg

[jhack53]

Ugh. I'm starting to wonder if Marvel really has any idea what to do with Laura.

While it's great that she's on a team again after getting shut out coming out of IvX, I wouldn't exactly say her role in Red has been vital. She's mostly been relegated to stabbing things and being the hook to get Gabby on on a team. This honestly goes back to at LEAST Bendis' use of her in ANXM, with the hamfisted Angel relationship just being used as something to justify her presence on the team. It may even go back further to Avengers Academy, where other than the AvX tie-ins she really didn't serve much purpose (and was even written out of one arc entirely, IIRC). There was her broken friendship with Finesse, but you could argue a number of other characters could have stood in, as well.

It's absurd that the only reason she ended up involved in Hunt For Wolverine is because she just happened to be independently investigating the same auction as Stark's team entirely by chance. She should have been one of the FIRST characters Kitty called when they discovered Logan's body was missing. Or at the very least it ought to have been handwaved that they tried reaching her but she'd gone dark to set up her arrival later. And now she's not even appearing with the rest of the X-Men in the Return of Wolverine miniseries, even though putting a stop to what people like Persephone are doing is her current mission profile. And ESPECIALLY since Marvel is trying to sell their father/daughter relationship (I can just see Kitty now: "Hey Laura. Yeah, your dad is alive again. Sorry we didn't tell you an evil mad scientist stole his corpse, reanimated him, then turned him into their personal killing machine against his will.")

There's so many more interesting things that can be done with her, but it really seems that Marvel's editorial and writers just can't think of anything better than just making her a stabby Logan fill-in (even though any number of us have thought up fun ideas for what directions they could go). They had an opportunity to give her a leadership role in ANXM after Secret Wars, but Hopeless decided he only wanted her to do "Wolverine Things" (which ended up translating to blindly charging into fights because she was pretending to be Warren's perfect girl and she decided that's what it meant). Hell, the most recent issue of Domino had Dom trying to talk Topaz down because killing her meant no one else knew what it was like to be raised in a lab and tortured by sadists. And I'm just thinking...Uh, HELLO? Remember that 16 year old kid who weirded you out in X-Force?

It's gotten to the point where it's almost comical.

i have been reading all of the x-men books and quite frankly Laura isn't the only one. we have like 4-5 generations of mutants and they always use the first two generations, i know they're the most popular but come on. from Laura's "class" only herself and elixir have been used the most in main story. overall what is the true state of the mutants now are they an actual school with students and staff, if so then who, the Red team seem to be the only one that is trying to bring harmony between humans and mutants while blue and gold were all over the place. i just hope after this whole x-men event marvel gets there act together and actually plot out something with the x-men.

[Darzefader]

Am I the only one who hopes Laura keeps the one Blue Eye? I think Heterochromia would look striking on Laura's character.

[Gambit, King of Thieves]

Am I the only one who hopes Laura keeps the one Blue Eye? I think Heterochromia would look striking on Laura's character.

When did she get a blue eye? Did that happen in 4? I didn’t notice.

[Gambit, King of Thieves]

Okay, I went back, and we can see that the right eye is blue, but the left is covered. I believe that both eyes are blue, like in the Rogue & Gambit mini when they were absorbing each others memories. Gambit ended up with green eyes, and Rogue with black & red.

[Dthirds3]

Am I the only one who hopes Laura keeps the one Blue Eye? I think Heterochromia would look striking on Laura's character.

That would be nice, but I'm wondering if Laura and gabby keep the psych powers. I feel like gabby would have fun with that