X-23 Appreciation Post: My skin has turned to porcelain, to ivory, to steel

[Beaubier]

I don't know about that. After all she served in X-Force with Elixir and considering how she has lightened up a lot since then I could see her interactions with some of her old friends, including Elixir, being a lot more friendly now.

I too would like to see something among those lines soon be it Cessily, Dust, Elixir or... well maybe not Hellion since that would have a chance to become awkward.

I also think she would have become closer to Elixir after those events. Her interactions with Josh generally fit the pattern of what attracted her to most of her friendships (Kiden, Julian, Remy), in that he was someone who wanted to help her and didn't give up on her. Had we seen more interactions with her and Josh after that and post X-Force, (ignoring the bullcrap which was his appearance in Wolverines), I think we would have seen them as close friends.

[Matternativ]

I think Laura stayed with Armor and Pixie when the X men were in San Francisco, so they had to have some interactions, and will probably see Julian during during Inhumans vs X men. Also it's possible but not very likely that some of the members of New X-men migh show up during enemy of state to help her clear her name. But I doubt we will see them any time soon. Especially when the X-book editors stated that they really don't care about them Which is a shame a team book staring them would have been great, and definitely better then all new X men.

I agree, I liked those characters and stories a lot. At least after DeFilippis got replaced.

I also think she would have become closer to Elixir after those events. Her interactions with Josh generally fit the pattern of what attracted her to most of her friendships (Kiden, Julian, Remy), in that he was someone who wanted to help her and didn't give up on her. Had we seen more interactions with her and Josh after that and post X-Force, (ignoring the bullcrap which was his appearance in Wolverines), I think we would have seen them as close friends.

Yeah my thoughts exactly.

[Pandarifically Delusional]

I don't have much input on that period of the X-books, as I had dropped it around the time of "Utopia". I miss reading the X-Men titles, back when everyone didn't seem to have an issue with everyone on the team. Ah well, that's a topic for another thread.

So, I play HeroClix. For those unfamiliar with the game, it is a tabletop strategy game using heroes (and villains) from both Marvel's and DC's universes. A recent expansion set, "Uncanny X-Men", offered not one, but two, solid versions of X-23. I had a friend that I play with at one of the local venues mod mine in their ANW. He finished the work this weekend, and I hope you will find his work to be as amazing as I did:





** Sorry about the size. I tried resizing, but I must have done something wrong as the image wouldn't show up. :/

[Ambaryerno]

ANW Annual is out.

It was enjoyable, but pretty light on story. A few things felt kind of rushed at the beginning, and the end was kind of anticlimactic and without a lot of context — you'd need to be familiar with the original Enemy of the State (appropriate, considering what's coming after Civil War) to understand the antagonist's (I can't really call them a villain) motivation. Most of the focus was simply on watching Laura and Gwen struggle with each others' powers, so there wasn't a lot of character development here. Which is unfortunate, because that's been one of the real strengths of the main series. There's no backup story in the annual, either, so the whole thing is the Spider-Gwen crossover. Gabby and Jonathan were a bit underused, and with Jonathan getting a costume it makes me wonder what Taylor's plans were for the second story he mentioned not having room for.

[a0040pc]

My hometown was mentioned so I'm happy.

[healed1337]

ANW Annual is out.

It was enjoyable, but pretty light on story. A few things felt kind of rushed at the beginning, and the end was kind of anticlimactic and without a lot of context — you'd need to be familiar with the original Enemy of the State (appropriate, considering what's coming after Civil War) to understand the antagonist's (I can't really call them a villain) motivation. Most of the focus was simply on watching Laura and Gwen struggle with each others' powers, so there wasn't a lot of character development here. Which is unfortunate, because that's been one of the real strengths of the main series. There's no backup story in the annual, either, so the whole thing is the Spider-Gwen crossover. Gabby and Jonathan were a bit underused, and with Jonathan getting a costume it makes me wonder what Taylor's plans were for the second story he mentioned not having room for.

I didn't expect too much drama once the preview pages came out. I just wanted a fun read, and that's exactly what I got. No real reason to complain.

[Ambaryerno]

I didn't expect too much drama once the preview pages came out. I just wanted a fun read, and that's exactly what I got. No real reason to complain.

Oh, I don't mean there needed to be more drama, per se, there's just a few things that were a bit rushed and not as well set up as they ought to have been. In particular, I wish there had been more panel time of Earth-65 Reed figuring out what was going on. IE rather than just showing up with all the answers, actually have him there when the body swap occurred, realizing something was up, and show him running some tests. I mean he even knew off the bat WHO Gwen swapped with, that could have used some explanation, as it left the exposition feeling sort of rushed. I also think more could have been done with Laura's reaction to George Stacy and how much he supports Gwen, considering that SHOULD have hit very close to home for her given Logan's failures as a father figure.

[Matternativ]

It felt a lot like a 60Ies or 70ies Comic in my opinion. Just a short story with really fast pacing and a complete lack of depth.
As I feared Gwen just annoyed the hell out of me although I liked how she took herself out. That was hilarious.

[BrocketyBrock]

Twas a fun annual for me. I really like body swapping stories and this did it for me. I do agree that Taylor should have explored the father dynamic a little more. All in all would read again.

[Beaubier]

Really looking forward to Enemy of the State. The Civil War arc hasn't been that interesting to me and the annual didn't feel very substantial.

[THE KZA]

I liked it. It needs more Jonathan though. Kinda reminds me of the Ultimate Spider-Man episode when Wolverine and Spider-Man switched bodies.

[Ambaryerno]

I'm wondering how long before Spider-Gwen fans start frothing at the mouth over how "bad" Gwen looked in the book. Even though it's perfectly logical:

Laura was raised from birth as a living weapon, and had it drilled into her from a young age to be able to react to unexpected situations, and use anything at hand to accomplish her mission. She was also BORN a metahuman, with her mutation activated at a very young age. Gwen, by contrast, was a normal girl until she was bitten by the spider. She's learned to control her powers, but never underwent any sort of formal training. Even in her own series, characters of equivalent power but superior training get the upper hand against her, (her universe's Captain America could knock her cold with one punch) and Spider-Women demonstrated that she's pretty helpless without her powers.

It just makes sense that Laura would be better able to adjust to these circumstances.

[Beaubier]

I didn't think Gwen looked particularly bad in the book.

But honestly I thought the best part of the book was Takara's artwork. Nothing else about it was particularly memorable.

[Matternativ]

Well Gwen did look bad imo but as someone who isn't fond of her in the slightest I didn't exactly mind that and as Ambaryerno pointed out: It makes sense.
Also: It's Lauras book not Gwens so her Fans might as well deal with it.

[TheCollector]

I'm a fan of both Laura and Gwen so I loved the Annual. And I gotta say, my favorite part was when Gwen Snikted herself in the end, that was just perfect and hillarious. :3

Y'know I see some people from time to time since the book started complain about how different Laura is now and that's its out of character or something. But if you just look at the first issue you should know that's wrong, as in the X-Force time flashback she was pretty much written how she was then. She's just come along way since then. I mean hell, look at then compared to NYX. Just as big a change.

But apparently some people aren't happy and scream out of character unless a character stays the same for their entire existence.