Scan barcode
A review by captwinghead
X-23: The Complete Collection, Vol. 1 by Felipe Andrade, Craig Kyle, Jay Faerber, Marjorie Liu, Mike Choi, Francis Portela, Christopher Yost, Billy Tan
4.0
4 stars.
This started out so great! I didn't want to put it down as heartbreaking as it was. Then it went downhill about 70% in.
The first half is Laura's origin story. We know the story: she was cloned from Wolverine to be the perfect weapon. I'd only read about her after she'd been away from the Weapon X program for a while so this was all new to me. I didn't know that they wanted her to be a male clone but it would've taken about a decade longer to do that. I didn't know about her mother who tried to distance herself but eventually did the right thing and tried to free her. I didn't know there was a scientist that resented her and although I thought they'd give him too much background initially, the book balances it very well.
Laura has been through so much! She reminds me of Cassandra Cain because they were never treated like children and they carry their guilt with them for the rest of their lives even though they were made to hurt others. Both of them decided to be heroes in the end and that's so admirable.
The last scene Laura has with her mother made me cry. As did the scene where her mother figured out she was self mutilating. I loved seeing her with Megan and her aunt but I knew that would end soon. Unfortunately.
One complaint I have is that Laura is meant to be in her early teens and sometimes she's drawn in a way that's a little too mature for her. The Women in Marvel issue had terrible art, as well. Overly sexualized and infantile at times.
Honestly, it's a wonder if there are any female x-men that didn't have their sexuality used against them. Laura spent a portion of her life as a prostitute and most of her story centers around her not having agency. Odd because, while Wolverine had the same issue with being used as a weapon, there's no implication (as far as I know) that he was also used sexually by others. I'd say it's a testament to how different women are treated compared to men but I don't know how much planning went into it.
I wish they'd done more with her relationship with Logan. There's a lot of references to it but not a lot of it in this collection.
Anyway, the first half makes it a recommend but it goes downhill from there.
This started out so great! I didn't want to put it down as heartbreaking as it was. Then it went downhill about 70% in.
The first half is Laura's origin story. We know the story: she was cloned from Wolverine to be the perfect weapon. I'd only read about her after she'd been away from the Weapon X program for a while so this was all new to me. I didn't know that they wanted her to be a male clone but it would've taken about a decade longer to do that. I didn't know about her mother who tried to distance herself but eventually did the right thing and tried to free her. I didn't know there was a scientist that resented her and although I thought they'd give him too much background initially, the book balances it very well.
Laura has been through so much! She reminds me of Cassandra Cain because they were never treated like children and they carry their guilt with them for the rest of their lives even though they were made to hurt others. Both of them decided to be heroes in the end and that's so admirable.
The last scene Laura has with her mother made me cry. As did the scene where her mother figured out she was self mutilating. I loved seeing her with Megan and her aunt but I knew that would end soon. Unfortunately.
One complaint I have is that Laura is meant to be in her early teens and sometimes she's drawn in a way that's a little too mature for her. The Women in Marvel issue had terrible art, as well. Overly sexualized and infantile at times.
Honestly, it's a wonder if there are any female x-men that didn't have their sexuality used against them. Laura spent a portion of her life as a prostitute and most of her story centers around her not having agency. Odd because, while Wolverine had the same issue with being used as a weapon, there's no implication (as far as I know) that he was also used sexually by others. I'd say it's a testament to how different women are treated compared to men but I don't know how much planning went into it.
I wish they'd done more with her relationship with Logan. There's a lot of references to it but not a lot of it in this collection.
Anyway, the first half makes it a recommend but it goes downhill from there.