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

[antiochene]

X23 innocence lost 1-6
X23 target x 1-6
New x-men by Chris yost and Craig kyle
X23 by Marjorie Liu

I would advise you to read Innocence Lost and then Target X. Innocence Lost is her origin story and just really well done. Target X shows what happened after the end of Innocence Lost.
After that comes New X-Men #20-43, then X-Force, then her own solo book with Marjorie Liu as the writer, then Avengers Academy and then Avengers Arena.

I personally find most of it good but that should be obvious lol.
But Innocence Lost, Target X and X-Force are the highlights for me personally. Her solo comes after that. New X-Men is solid but it couldn't capture me as much as the others.
Both Avenger books are pretty mediocre and not exactly must-reads until you really want to know the story.

Thanks guys, much appreciated. I've got some long commuting time coming up this week, and I've been intending to get a better grasp on her history for a while now.

[sungila]

Help a relative newbie to the character out - what are the must-reads? I've read her X-Force stint, but I'm not sure where to start with her own series (plural?). I've got Marvel Unlimited, which helps.

I was just there myself antiochene.
Galerion & beserkerclaw helped me get started...these reading lists are some of the best origin stories in X-books! Truly wonderful stuff. It adds a lot to read them in order. Happy reading!

X23 innocence lost 1-6
X23 target x 1-6
New x-men by Chris yost and Craig kyle
X23 by Marjorie Liu

I would advise you to read Innocence Lost and then Target X. Innocence Lost is her origin story and just really well done. Target X shows what happened after the end of Innocence Lost.
After that comes New X-Men #20-43, then X-Force, then her own solo book with Marjorie Liu as the writer, then Avengers Academy and then Avengers Arena.

I personally find most of it good but that should be obvious lol.
But Innocence Lost, Target X and X-Force are the highlights for me personally. Her solo comes after that. New X-Men is solid but it couldn't capture me as much as the others.
Both Avenger books are pretty mediocre and not exactly must-reads until you really want to know the story.

[Galerion]

Thanks guys, much appreciated. I've got some long commuting time coming up this week, and I've been intending to get a better grasp on her history for a while now.

Glad to be of help. Really read Innocence Lost first. You will be hooked after that, I promise.

[Galerion]

Really, I can't argue against anything you've said here at all. It's all true. Bendis doesn't write anything that doesn't take a lot of time and investment to really come to fruition. That's not something we've had with Laura in years. IMO, I was hoping that she would be a long-time legitimate +1 to ANXM. No, I really don't want to see her as a field commander, as a leader or a tactical agent - I don't want to see her being used as an weapon or pushed further into defining herself in limited ways. I don't really dig comic books heroes that are one-dimensional.

It makes no sense to me that Laura would come as far as she did through Liu's run just to be reverted or sidelined into going through the exact same cycles. Bendis is a great writer, he cares about the characters he has time to work with...I don't think he choose Laura to discredit or defame her - the way I saw her in ANXM was very believable and by not having her exploited or heavily used and forced into the central story - Bendis was giving her potential (as he has done with Illyana in UXM) to truly progress and do something other than be X-23...a name that she's already outgrown. She was Laura in ANXM not X-23. Anything that exaggerates the 'X' or 'X-23' stuff to me is freezing a character worth a lot more.

Ah I see. You want to have her human side explored more. Trying to live a normal life and all that. That's OK and understandable. That is probably the point which decides if you like the work of Bendis or not.

You see my interpretation of the characters is that she doesn't want to live a normal life, staying back and exploring the more normal aspects of life. She wants to get out there and do something good. Help other people. In the collision arc she could have confronted Daken way sooner but she noticed a kid getting kidnapped and rescued him. Just like she busted that prostitution ring when she was in the club with Jubilee.
She has constantly struggled with the weapon part of her until the final issue in which she realized that everything is a part of her including the weapon part. She will never lose it but she can use it to do something good. Stop bad people so other people don't have to suffer as much as she did.

[Ambaryerno]

Thanks guys, much appreciated. I've got some long commuting time coming up this week, and I've been intending to get a better grasp on her history for a while now.

She's a bit less of a focus, but still very important to the plot of NYX: Wannabee, as well (hell, she ultimately drives almost the entirety of the second half). It's a good all-around read focusing on more real-world issues (IE the issues faced with 21st century urban decay), so is actually a bit of a unique spin on the genre (seriously, this series was BADLY underrated) and is also her first appearance in the comics. These events get mentioned from time to time during her solo series.

It's also Laura at arguably her lowest point, and is basically where she ends up after Innocence Lost and (parts of -- The timeline is kind of unclear where it all fits in) Target: X.

[sungila]

Ah I see. You want to have her human side explored more. Trying to live a normal life and all that. That's OK and understandable. That is probably the point which decides if you like the work of Bendis or not.

You see my interpretation of the characters is that she doesn't want to live a normal life, staying back and exploring the more normal aspects of life. She wants to get out there and do something good. Help other people. In the collision arc she could have confronted Daken way sooner but she noticed a kid getting kidnapped and rescued him. Just like she busted that prostitution ring when she was in the club with Jubilee.
She has constantly struggled with the weapon part of her until the final issue in which she realized that everything is a part of her including the weapon part. She will never lose it but she can use it to do something good. Stop bad people so other people don't have to suffer as much as she did.

I didn't say I thought Laura should or could live a 'normal' life...I don't even know myself what that means

Your explanation about what motivates Laura as person and a hero is fantastic and I couldn't agree more. (You're gonna hate me for this) In fact, I think that is what makes her the +1 in ANXM so potentially rewarding. Laura isn't as innocent as the O5 and yet, she is - her sense of personal responsibility is in adolescent overdrive. You can't kill the problems she's facing. What drives the 05 is just as idealistic as what drives Laura. The middle ground between the 'Xavier's dream' ideology of the 05 and the 'no mercy' extreme of Laura's sense of justice is incredibly important to the current state of the X-Men.

Sooner or later somebody has to take the foot off the gas. Laura is just a teenager! That's something Bendis was almost shouting at everybody to remember.
I even think the Warren/Laura sex scene was an attempt by Bendis to show that intimacy can be innocent. It's artistically pretty poignant stuff...it calls out the industry and her characterization...and says PAY ATTENTION. There is a very real concern that Laura shouldn't always be dressed in such exploitive ways and dishing out such gratuitous violence - if she is truly a young girl...a real girl...not a clone. Isn't there some responsibility in defining her as somebody capable of healing and not being abusive or abused? THAT is exactly the sort of evil that she experienced and to have an industry exploit this and keep pushing this is wrong.

[XCE]

it calls out the industry and her characterization...and says PAY ATTENTION. There is a very real concern that Laura shouldn't always be dressed in such exploitive ways and dishing out such gratuitous violence - if she is truly a young girl...a real girl...not a clone. Isn't there some responsibility in defining her as somebody capable of healing and not being abusive or abused? THAT is exactly the sort of evil that she experienced and to have an industry exploit this and keep pushing this is wrong.

That's a bit over the top. I'm stating the obvious here, but she's a fictional character. There's not a real person being abused here, she's just another comic book superhero fighting comic book villains. And you're giving Bendis way too much credit. I could argue that he's abused the character as much as any writer. How? By turning her into a sexy plot device. What's the first thing he did with X-23 after she joined ANXM? Put her on the cover kissing Cyclops, intentionally making her the punchline of an internet full of Wolverine/Cyclops sex jokes. Her panel time after that was almost exclusively used to build up a potential relationship with Cyclops, and when he left the book, she decided to run away because there was nothing holding her there anymore. Angel tried to stop her and sure enough, the next day she's driving off on his bike for a wild night together, complete with another kissing cover and preview pages hinting at a sex scene to drum up controversy and sales of his book. Bendis has reduced her to a character whose motivations are suddenly exclusively revolving around male characters and after a full year still hasn't passed the Bechdel test. All to serve him and his soap opera.

You mention that you hate seeing Laura going through cycles and after experiencing growth being reverted back to start all over again. I would guess that there's a pretty good reason for this. Her past and her struggle to overcome it is probably the thing that makes her an interesting character. Let's hypothetically say one writer progresses her to the point that she's a normal, well-adjusted person. Well, that's kind of boring. What's the next writer going to do? Write about her baking cookies and going on dates? Again, these are superhero comics, so no. They are going to create conflicts and explore what makes the character interesting.

I'm also a little confused about your stated wish of seeing her "not being abusive or abused", are you talking about emotionally? Because let's face facts; she's a melee fighter whose weapons are claws and a healing factor. When she gets into a fight she is always going to inflict and/or receive physical damage.

Don't get me wrong, it's great that you love the character and want the best for her. I dare say every fan in this thread does. But keep in mind that it's the journey that's interesting, not the destination. Have you seen "The Truman Show"? I'm reminded of the ending of that movie. Like the TV audience, we're all rooting and cheering for Laura. But if she were to completely overcome her struggles and no longer have any kind of pain or trouble in her life, all that would be left is going "so what else is on?"

[XCE]

I feel like most of my posts in this thread are complaining about one thing or another due to the fact that I'm very unhappy with how X-23 is being written in ANXM, so I figured I'd bring some positivity by posting some of my art commissions!

Gabriele Dell'otto:


J.G. Jones:


Gerald Parel:

[XCE]

Chris Stevens:


Adi Granov:


Stanley "Artgerm" Lau:

[XCE]

Jay Anacleto:


Robert Atkins:


Dijana Granov:

[XCE]

Stephanie Hans:


Humberto Ramos:


Mark Sparacio:

[XCE]

Leinil Yu:


Natali Sanders:


Michael Dooney:

[XCE]

Team shots.

Clay Mann:


Ryan Pasibe:


Daniel Govar:

[XCE]

Kris Anka:


NEN:


NEN:

[XCE]

Jimbo Salgado:


Harvey Tolibao:


Darryl Banks: