X-23 #11 Review *Spoilers*

[The Big G]

I've been fairly critical of Mariko's run on X-23. It started off good with an interesting idea of putting her and Gabby against the Cuckoos. But the whole Cyborg arc was dull and just felt like a rehash of the 4 Sisters arc. BUT i'm willing to forgive it because this issue was great. Dialogue is rich and on point. Diego right now is second to Choi IMO of the best Laura artists. To me this by far is Mariko's best issue on her run. It's just a shame we had to slog through a lot of meh to get here.

Just look at these beauties:



Yes Laura is usually a fairly stoic character. She can be cold and calculating. But I gotta admit its fun and great too see her emote like this. Both of the girls needed this to grow.

Bravo Mariko. Barvo.

[Tycon]

I just know Old Dusted Crusted and Busted Logan is dancing on Gabby's grave rn

[Ambaryerno]

I like that it starts to kinda-sorta roundaboutly address the fact that Laura has frankly been pretty crappy to her friends, but IMO it's still something that needs to be addressed much more on-point.

[healed1337]

This is slightly off-topic, but I just realized how pointless the previous arc kind of felt. If you don't want your cyborg soldiers to have a healing factor - if you want them to be disposable assassins, then why bother cloning anyone at all? It just sounds like a complete waste of resources, not to mention it never seems to end well for people experimenting on Wolverine and or his family members.

Anyway, this issue is pretty good, but I can't help but feel the pathway to this issue could have been better. That and Laura's actions in this issue felt off. If her main goal is to stop people from cloning her, and she smells more clones, why didn't she go after them? You'd think she'd at least quickly check it out before evacuating.

[MarvelMaster616]

This was a great issue. Love the inner conflict Tamaki has been building here. It feels like, after the last arc, Laura and Gabby are heading down different paths. And this issue just set the stage for a heartbreaking moment that we all know is coming. I think this series, while not on the same level as All-New Wolverine, has been solid. It has captured the drama and angst that often follows Laura and I hope it sets up another series down the line.

[Ambaryerno]

This is slightly off-topic, but I just realized how pointless the previous arc kind of felt. If you don't want your cyborg soldiers to have a healing factor - if you want them to be disposable assassins, then why bother cloning anyone at all? It just sounds like a complete waste of resources, not to mention it never seems to end well for people experimenting on Wolverine and or his family members.

Anyway, this issue is pretty good, but I can't help but feel the pathway to this issue could have been better. That and Laura's actions in this issue felt off. If her main goal is to stop people from cloning her, and she smells more clones, why didn't she go after them? You'd think she'd at least quickly check it out before evacuating.

Yeah, I think they've kind of played out the whole "Lets' recreate Weapon X" thing. I mean, you can argue that Laura was actually a success, and she STILL proves just how uncontrollable and impractical it is. It's getting ridiculous at this point that they haven't decided to just cut their losses on the program already.

Also, the situation between Laura and Gabby felt a little off, too. Gabby's behavior in this issue is a bit of a jump from where she was at the end of issue 10. While there's an indication that some time has passed and this is something that's developed in the interim after several missions, it's a bit of a jarring transition.

[The Big G]

This was a great issue. Love the inner conflict Tamaki has been building here. It feels like, after the last arc, Laura and Gabby are heading down different paths. And this issue just set the stage for a heartbreaking moment that we all know is coming. I think this series, while not on the same level as All-New Wolverine, has been solid. It has captured the drama and angst that often follows Laura and I hope it sets up another series down the line.

I think its Tamaki's strongest issue by far. I just wish they found a way to expedite the previous arc.

[Gunther]

I really liked the issue! It sucks that we have to wait until the end of next month to see how it plays out. Side note, how tall is Laura? I thought she was 5.1. If she is that makes Gabs pretty damn short.

[Mia]

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday! That was just bad. Awful.

Laura's become unrecognizable. Tomaki should just ask to write Sailor Moon or Frozen, it seems to be more reflective of her writing. . She's unsuited for a complex character like X-23. I'd go ahead and cancel the book, but I am sure that barring a new writer the book will be canned at the end of the next arc.

[Dthirds3]

I really liked the issue! It sucks that we have to wait until the end of next month to see how it plays out. Side note, how tall is Laura? I thought she was 5.1. If she is that makes Gabs pretty damn short.

The latest marvel encyclopedia has Laura a 5'6 and gabby 4'6

[XCE]

The latest marvel encyclopedia has Laura a 5'6 and gabby 4'6

Nice to see her back at that height, if that's true. She was canonically listed as 5'6 for years, but then All-New Wolverine came along and decided that she should look more like Logan because the legacy aspect of the character was so important to the title. And since Logan is listed as only being 5'3, they made Laura 5'1 and gave her a much stockier build reminiscent of Logan.

If only they would revert all the ill-advised changes they did to her personality, then we'd really be talking.

[ermac]

I'm loving Diego Ortolegui's art

[Digifiend]

I really liked the issue! It sucks that we have to wait until the end of next month to see how it plays out. Side note, how tall is Laura? I thought she was 5.1. If she is that makes Gabs pretty damn short.

Which makes sense considering Gabby is a child. She's only meant to be what, 12 or 13? Not full grown.

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday! That was just bad. Awful.

Laura's become unrecognizable. Tomaki should just ask to write Sailor Moon or Frozen, it seems to be more reflective of her writing. . She's unsuited for a complex character like X-23. I'd go ahead and cancel the book, but I am sure that barring a new writer the book will be canned at the end of the next arc.

The book's already cancelled. Wasn't solicited for June.

[Mia]

Which makes sense considering Gabby is a child. She's only meant to be what, 12 or 13? Not full grown.


The book's already cancelled. Wasn't solicited for June.

Well there you go....saves me making a phone call.

By the way...for those of you who are looking for some old X-23 type stories. I discovered on another thread an anime called 'Princess Principal'. It's a story that takes place in an alternate England (called Albion) at the beginning of the 20th century. It involves 5 students at prestigious school but who are actually spy's. One of the characters, Ange, is very Laura like. I've watched the first 3 episodes and am really enjoying it very much. It's pretty sophisticated. You can watch it on Amazon. Or catch it on HiDive.

[Uncanny X-Man]

This latest volume of X-23 has been mostly inane and directionless I must say. Not necessarily bad, just wandering aimlessly and killing time waiting for the millionth relaunch. It couldn't be more apparent, frankly.

Which is a shame because so far Laura had a pretty strong record of high quality minis, membership in New X-Men and X-Force during excellent runs by her co-creators, the underrated gem that's her first ongoing series by Marjorie Liu and the very good All-New Wolverine by Tom Taylor. But this time around, I'm just not feeling it. Plus I just don't think she can sustain a solo book not named Wolverine. I'd be very happy though with her being part of a team going forward and an annual mini with a finite story.