X-23, Vol. 1: The Killing Dream

X-23 (2010) (Collected Editions)

by Marjorie M. Liu, Will Conrad (Illustrator), Alina Urusov (Illustrator)

Government-controlled killing machine. Child of the streets. X-Man. X-23 has lived many lives, but none of them have ever felt right. She knows she's a killer, but she's not sure she can be anything else. The X-Men offer her a home and help facing her demons, but she's done being someone's project. She wants to be her own woman, and she'll do it on her own terms. Leaving the X-Men's island home of Utopia on a mission all her own, she's already found trouble. Even with the mutant thief Gambit at her side, her past haunts her. With new enemies rising, can X-23 trust herself not to succumb to her deadly ways? Or is it all just in her head? Free of her chains, can this killer finally taste true freedom?

COLLECTING: X-23 #1-6.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, X Men, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

166 pages, Hardcover

First published April 20, 2011

About the author

New York Times bestselling and award-winning writer Marjorie Liu is best known for her fiction and comic books. She teaches comic book writing at MIT, and she leads a class on Popular Fiction at the Voices of Our Nation (VONA) workshop.

Ms. Liu is a highly celebrated comic book writer. Her extensive work with Marvel includes the bestselling Dark Wolverine series, NYX: No Way Home, X-23, and Black Widow: The Name of the Rose. She received national media attention for Astonishing X-Men, which featured the gay wedding of X-Man Northstar and was subsequently nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for outstanding media images of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Ms. Liu also wrote the story for the animated film, Avengers Confidential: Black Widow and Punisher, which was produced by Marvel, Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan) Inc., and Madhouse Inc.

Her newest work is MONSTRESS, an original, creator-owned comic book series with Japanese artist (and X-23 collaborator) Sana Takeda. Published by Image in Fall 2015, MONSTRESS is set in an alternate, matriarchal 1920’s Asia and follows a girl’s struggle to survive the trauma of war. With a cast of girls and monsters and set against a richly imagined aesthetic of art deco-inflected steam punk, MONSTRESS #1 debuted to critical praise. The Hollywood Reporter remarked that the longer than typical first issue was “world-building on a scale rare in mainstream comics.”

Ms. Liu is also the author of more than 19 novels, most notably the urban fantasy series, Hunter Kiss, and the paranormal romance series, Dirk & Steele. Her novels have also been bestsellers on USA Today, which described Liu “as imaginative as she is prolific.” Her critically praised fiction has twice received the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, for THE MORTAL BONE (Hunter Kiss #6), and TIGER EYE (Dirk & Steele #1). TIGER EYE was the basis for a bestselling paranormal romance video game called Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box.

Liu has appeared on MSNBC, CNN, MTV, and been profiled in the Wall Street Journal.com, Hollywood Reporter, and USA Today. She is a frequent lecturer and guest speaker, appearing on panels at San Diego Comic Con, the Tokyo Literary Festival, the New York Times Public Lecture series, Geeks Out; and the Asian American Writers Workshop. Her work has been published internationally, including Germany, France, Japan, Poland, and the United Kingdom.

Ms. Liu was born in Philadelphia, and has lived in numerous cities in the Midwest and Beijing. Prior to writing full-time, she was a lawyer. She currently resides in Boston.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Marjorie Liu's take on X-23, and the first solo title I've read about the character.
I liked it!



Now, even though this is volume 1, this is by no means an origin story for Laura. In fact, there seems to be quite a bit of backstory to her that I'd love to find out more about. However, this does give you everything you need to get started with this story arc, so even if you've never heard of X-23, you'd be ok starting off here, I think.

It starts off with X-23 feeling isolated and ostracized among the X-men. Or at least the teenagers. Not everyone was ok with her participation in the X-Force, but she still has several loyal friends.
In an effort to work through some of her issues from the past, she takes off on her own.
Or so she thinks.
Gambit decides she needs a friend, and follows her.

Here the thing, I don't think I've ever really liked Gambit...until now. Liu really did a good job making Gambit seem more like a cool Cajun and less like a rednecky douchebag.

So.
I don't want to give the whole story away, but these two go on an adventure.
Pssst...Miss Sinister shows up!
Anyway, it's good stuff, and I'm all aflutter to read the next volume.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why does it seems like it’s always the powered up teen-aged girls that need to get put through the paces in these storylines?

This is the first X-23 collection that I’ve picked up. For those who don’t know, Laura (X-23) is Wolverine’s clone, who was bred to be an assassin. She was put through unspeakable hoops to do unspeakable things, eventually, even by the X-Men.

Is it too late to get the “normal teen-aged life” genie back in the bottle? Probably. This doesn’t stop Laura from trying to get in touch with her humanity, her soul, but it’s like the Wizard of Oz, it’s a search for something she already has, so the journey is more important than the ultimate end result.

Is it the real Wolverine or is it Memorex?



You have two stories in this volume:

1) Laura isn’t fitting in at the X-Men’s Utopia, plus she’s being haunted by a demon who has a thing for impersonating Wolverine, so it’s:

2) Road trip time with the least favorite X-Man of all time: Gambit!



Keep your deck in your pocket, Cajun!

They meet up with a Sinister Kardashian, who wants a healing factor so she can plague society for an eternity. Clones are involved. Phone app and cologne line pending.



Bottom line: I’m probably overrating this collection a bit, but Marjorie Liu serves the character well. There’s also a fairly comprehensive history of X-23 in the back of this book, so it would make a nice gateway for anyone interested in the character.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laura Kinney is X-23, so-called as she’s the 23rd DNA sample from Weapon X/Wolverine and survived the lab that was trying to make her into another Weapon X. She’s Wolverine’s clone/daughter with all of his powers from a healing factor to the snikting claws!

In The Killing Dream, Laura deals with mental scarring as she confronts her traumatic past as well as a shape-shifting demon(?!) and then later teams up with the ragin’ Cajun himself Gambit to take on Mister Sinister – who’s trapped in a woman’s body?!?!

Yeah… so this is a “Volume 1” but it feels like stepping into the middle of a long-running story. Her mutant teammates are upset at her for her actions (whatever they were) in some preceding story (whatever that was) that were apparently bad. Pfft, hard to care about that noise!

Then she’s being haunted by a demon who wants her to join the dark side or something?! No clue who the demon is, whether this is a new thing for this book or something that’s been going on for a while, but it’s just a confusing and bizarre storyline. Ditto the “Mistress” Sinister stuff – how, when, why, wha…?!

The stories aren’t so great and are mostly pure baffle-pants but Marjorie Liu writes Laura well as a conflicted, traumatised young woman struggling with inner turmoil to find peace with who she is and what she’s gone through. It’s a convincing portrayal and there are flashbacks to her time in the lab as a kid so new readers can catch up on her appalling history (that poor puppy!) and see where she’s coming from. I did wonder though how she has self-harm scarring on her arms when she has a healing factor…?

Will Conrad’s art is very good, particularly when it comes to the visions of Hell which are very striking and well-realised. The Mistress Sinister corset/hot pants outfit though is just plain ridiculous and definitely not the best way to broadening your female audience!

The Punisher-esque angle is an interesting one that I’d like to see more of – I think it’s a good fit for Laura as a way of exorcising her demons while also playing into her redemption story. And the biggest surprise was that Gambit came off quite well in this one! No idea what he’s doing following Laura though – I guess he’s feeling frisky, eh, chere?

Marjorie Liu’s X-23 gets off to a shaky start but, even if she’s not established a strong storyline yet, she seems to have a firm handle on the character and that’s something. The Killing Dream is an uneven book but not a bad one and worth checking out for anyone interested in the character.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kind of worked my way sideways into my interest in Laura. I'd heard of her, but wasn't inspired to look into her at all. Female clone of Wolverine? Meh. My first real exposure to her was in Kyle's X-Force. That's when she really started to grow on me. And honestly, I felt pretty bad for the kid. This ended up being a good place to pick up, set after that version of X-Force became public knowledge.

Liu does a really good job of communicating Laura's confused emotional state. She feels lonely, but doesn't entirely understand why or what she should do about it. Considering her background, as a manufactured person who wasn't really allowed to be human, much less a child, as a thoroughly programmed killer, her struggles to define and live with her emotions make sense. Her friction with Wolverine is interesting to watch, too. He is, in a sense, her father, but neither is really ready for him to take that role with her.

The biggest failing, for me, is in the art. For one, Laura and Miss Sinister (ugh) look basically identical, and they really shouldn't. For another, the wardrobe choices, especially for Miss Sinister, are severely lacking. Please explain to me why the female version of a male villain, born in the Victorian era and always fully clothed, should spend her time in a corset and hot pants. Any answer other than, "because the straight guys at the office thought it was hot and only straight guys read comics" will do. Nearly every female character wears something that wouldn't look out of place in a strip club. And considering that some of these characters are underage, that's kind of gross.

Laura was (probably) invented as a gimmick, a way of stretching out those Wolverine dollars, but this book shows that there's room for some interesting work to be done with her. But better designs would be nice.

[Ivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sadly not as good as Craig Kyle's comics.Laura herself is still interesting but Innocence lost and Target X where self contained stories while in The killing dream story takes place includes more of the marvels world and character and that is where is my problem.I usually avoid Marvel comics because Earth 616 (universe where most of marvel characters exist) has become one overdeveloped mess and it takes a lot to pull off really good story there.It's still ok comic and I am continuing this story arc because Laura and Gambit are in it.

[Subham · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. This was something for sure and yeah confusing and felt psychedelic reading it.

So a new reader coming into it will be confused as to the events of this comic. So it starts after her X-force days and we pick up with her being haunted by some demon in the form of her father Logan and later we see her Academy X friends pick up with her and ask her regarding the stuff she did and well she leaves Utopia and Scott her to some other place where some demon assaults her and she is knocked out. She comes back to Utopia and other X-Men try to comfort her and so does Logan alone but she finds that its the same demon from her dreams and the fire and when she goes to attack him she can't.. because yep confusing stuff there. And then we pick up with her in hell and how she escapes from that demon and its a turmoil in her mind and what not... like i said confusing stuff.

Meanwhile in the present she leaves Utopia and meets a girl Alice and fails to save her and meets Gambit only to find that Alice is alive and her benefactor Ms Siniser is there and we pick up with her and well learn of her origins and plans and the usual double crossing that happens and again body hopping and all, something with Mr Sinister and how Laura and Gambit fight them off and well on their way to something and also something with the ending?

Idk man this was confusing but Liu does well to tie it with the main wolverine title at the time in the story of "Wolverine goes to hell" by Aaron but yeah the whole thing is confusing and second part with Ms Sinister could have been a simple mystery and battle but she makes it so complicated such that a new reader coming into it will leave it before reading future stuff. So yeah not a good place for begineers and yeah the art is meh, not the best but it does the work. Maybe future volumes will get better.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume apparently is relatively late in the history of X-23, but it has a helpful summary of her history in the back, narrated by Wolverine, so now I know more or less what her story is.

The summary reminded me why I stopped reading X-Men way back when - every other issue introduces some new global conspiracy and a new recurring villain, and since villains never, ever die permanently in comics, 50 years later you have like a bazillion nemeses each of which is "The X-Men's greatest enemy!"

Anyway, basically this volume tells about X-23, the kill-happy little Wolverine clone in skin-tight low-rider leather pants, deciding she doesn't fit in with the X-Men and their New Mutant proteges, so she decides to strike out on her own to find herself or some such happy Kerouac bullshit.

Naturally, she stumbles into a secret underground desert laboratory which is actually controlled by one of the X-Men's "greatest enemies." You know, one of those greatest enemies who's supposedly dead but isn't.

Gambit is along for the ride, and there is lots of angst and bloodshed and a tiny bit of soul-searching as X-23, the born assassin raised to feel no empathy or morals walks around like a robotic killing machine with occasional flashes of conscience.

The story was typical late-series continuity sprawl, but you didn't really have to recognize all the players to follow it. X-23 is sometimes drawn as an ordinary teenage girl (with claws) but usually in skin-tight stripperware.

It's the skintight rubber corsets and shit that annoyed me the most about this volume. Every. Single. Female. Character. Yes, yes, I know, it's not like this is new. Chicks have always been scantily clad, pneumatic, and immune to gravity in comic books. But it was so over-the-top here. Why would a female clone of a super-macho supervillain mastermind walk around in short-shorts, half-corset, high-heeled boots and a cowboy hat? I mean, really? Has the entire Marvel Universe become Stripperworld?



Even the fourteen-year-old boys who are being pandered to here should be able to tell that they're being pandered to.

So, the other thing I found a little bit dismaying was the buckets of blood. Now, I'm not one of those nannies who is a fan of the 50s era Comics Code Authority. But for the longest time, it was an ironclad rule in comics that Superheroes Do Not Kill. When a hero did actually kill someone, it was a Very Big Deal. That loosened up a bit starting in the 80s, but I think it was appropriate that you had this very clear moral line, with consequences. Wolverine was massively popular in part because he actually broke that code, regularly, and yet, you rarely saw him actually killing someone (and usually Marvel would punt and say that those mooks he carved up weren't really dead after all).

In contrast, X-23 goes through this book cutting down bad guys right and left. Blood and guts everywhere. And she has a few conversations with Gambit about it, but ultimately they're both kind of "Meh, some folks need killing."

This is a stark contrast with X-Men comics of old. Given that even the mainstream X-Men seem to have less qualms about deadly force, I guess I'm just a bit unsettled that the comics kids are reading today show superheroes who are basically okay with bloodbaths.

That's it, you can punch my Old Fogey card, I am officially complaining about Kids Today and the Decline of the Media.

But while I'm grinding this axe, apparently X-23's origin includes a "cutting" phase ('cause she was angsty) and some time being pimped out on the street. Okay, that's just gratuitous angst-porn.

So, X-23 seems like a character who could be interesting, if not terribly original (she is a clone, after all), this lost kid who was created to be an unfeeling assassin and has to figure out how to hold onto her humanity. But at least as executed in this volume, it's mostly sulk, brood, and slash. Very meh 2.5 stars.

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laura was created to be a weapon.

Ever since she escaped other people have been trying to use her. Even the X-Men have utilized X-23's assassin training with X-Factor. Right now Laura is just trying to find herself.

The Killing Dream felt fairly disjointed to me. I assume I just didn't read the necessary issues prior to reading this, but I'm not certain. It seems a demon wants Laura to kill for him. It appears Laura is the hottest commodity since the Weapon X program was looking for a candidate to bond with adamantium.

I hope Laura can get some other storylines than people wanting to use her. That will get old. On a positive note Gambit showed up to help Laura out.


The Killing Dream just wasn't the X-23 story I was hoping for.

[Meagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. It wasn't what I was expecting. Plus the story seemed a little disjointed. I may pick up the next one

[Damon · Rating 1 out of 5]

boring rubbish

[Nancy O'Toole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having recently enjoyed Chris Kyle's take on X-23's origin story, I decided to seek out some more X-23 comics. The one problem with that is Marjorie M. Liu's run begins significantly further down Laura's timeline, and the results are not always friendly to new readers. While reading The Killing Dream, I often found myself confused, and suspect I would have enjoyed the graphic novel more had I been more experienced with the series that directly preceded it (X-Force).

At the same time, even with this confusion, I found a lot to like about The Killing Dream. Laura remains a truly memorable member of the X-men, and her quest to prove herself as being more than just a weapon is really interesting to read. There are some really strong character moments in The Killing Dream, especially those between Gambit and Laura. Interestingly, there is also some religious symbolism as well, although I'm not sure how far one should read into it. Still, Laura is tempted by the devil (or, at least, a demon) in the the first story arc, runs into a door stamped with the twelve stations of the cross in the second arc, and seems quite concerned with the idea of possessing a soul, so it's not too far off base to assume that some of the symbolism is intentional.

The artwork in The Killing Dream is pretty strong, the only exception being the artist that takes over for the last few pages of issue five until the end of the collection. Also, can we stop it with these ridiculous outfits for female characters? I get that you're going to have female characters (Emma Frost, for example) that are all about the sexy, but I have a hard time taking a villain seriously when she spends her entire time on screen looking like an underwear model.

I would consider Innocence Lost and Target X to be must reads for fans of the X-men, or comics in general. The Killing Dream, on the other hand, while enjoyable and worth picking up from your library, isn't on the same level. Still, I will continue to read Liu's run on X-23 and look forward to seeing where things go next.

[Sana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Commencing the much needed 2021 Laura Kinney buddy reread with Ellis. Can't believe it's been half a decade of knowing the best (at what she is) Marvel character

I was so engrossed in my reread that all I put down was the dream sequences, so good. X-Men treating Laura like they do in this? Naaah. My original review and feels still stand, though

-----------------------------

'Death is a moment. Fill yourself with too many moments of death and you cease to exist.'

Ugh, this was good. Probably the best introduction to a comic I've ever read with amazing inner monologues by Laura throughout.

There are two arcs and I think I liked the first one more as it's basically about Laura's inner struggles of being used by everyone around her always and not being able to choose herself for most of her life (which is why it kind of reminded me of Monstress). GIVE HER A BREAK, PLEASE.

The second arc is more on the adventure side which is usually up my alley but here, it kind of halted her personal journey so I was a bit eh about it and then the villainess won me over even if her clothing was too ridiculous (re: male gaze things). It hasn't ended and the next issue apparently has pirates (!) and Sana Takeda's art again so not ruling it out as yet.

SPEAKING OF, I WAS SO NOT EXPECTING TO SEE HER ART IN VOLUME 1 ALREADY AND WHAT GOOD STUFF. Issue #3 totally rocked and is my favorite because of that. It'd have been mind-blowing if she was the only artist for this series, to be honest but I'll take this, too.

Favorite quote: I have been told it is important to offer mercy. But I have my limits.'

[The Sapphic Nerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art is the worst part of this book. It does match the tone of the writing, but it isn't what I'd call pretty to look at most of the time. There are different artists who worked on this so it isn't the same all throughout. Some are better than others, but generally it isn't a nice looking book. And is it just me, or is Ororo so light-skinned it's hard to tell it's her? I didn't know until Logan said her name...

But it does have good writing. There are, admittedly, some moments that are on the bland side, but there are also moments that make me breathe a little harder and really feel for Laura. She's this angry, lost, conflicted girl who doesn't know who she is and has been used and abused horribly her entire life. She was cloned from Wolverine to be a killing machine and now that she's free from those people, she doesn't know if she has a soul or a sense of morality.

If you're interested in X-23 I'd encourage you to read this. I just wish the art looked better.

[Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd already read Vol 2. So this seemed like a logical step...in reverse order. I really enjoyed this book. Looking at the psychological consequences of being a mindless assassin for so many years and everything it did to her, along with giving Gambit some of the best stuff he's had in years, along with a whole different dimension to Wolverine. I also like a female X-Man who's not all Tits and Ass too. Also no ridiculous love triangles and crap like that. Just good old fashioned stuff. Reminds me of some of the better X-Men animated Series episodes that followed one character on their own adventures. Well worth reading.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent Laura story. The first half is meh, but second half with Gambit was pretty interesting. I love seeing different dynamics with a character like Laura, and can be pretty brutal which is always a plus. Sinister was okay here, he's much more fun written now days. A 3 out of 5.

[G · Rating 1 out of 5]

Usually having mixed art in a single comics volume bother me; however, I found Conrad's art style so distasteful that turning the page and seeing the scene done by another artist became a relief. The art was so unpleasant that I’m not even that mad at Liu’s below average story, It only added a bunch of badly planned twists to an already horrible X-men series.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

X-23, Laura Kinney, ist eine junge Frau, fast noch ein Mädchen, deren Probleme weit über die üblichen eines Teenagers hinausreichen. Sie ist das Produkt von Klonforschungen eines Waffenkonzerns, des Weapon X-Programms, und ab Kleinstkindalter zum Töten konditioniert worden. Später stieß sie zu den X-Men und wurde Teil der X-Force, eben jener Einheit, die entgegen den moralischen Standards anderer Superhelden-Teams auch die Tötung des Gegners als taktisches Mittel in Kauf nimmt, um ihr Ziel zu erreichen.
Laura fühlt sich ausgebeutet, wie eine Sache (genauer: eine Tötungsmaschine) benutzt und stellt sich die Frage, ob sie überhaupt eine Seele hat.
Da diese Hintergründe für THE KILLING DREAM eine wichtige Rolle spielen, ist es gar nicht schlecht, dass als Anhang eine mehrseitige Geschichte über die Vergangenheit von X-23 abgedruckt wurde; besser wäre es vielleicht sogar gewesen, diese Historie voranzustellen, da sie das Lesen erleichtert.
Laura entschließt sich zu Beginn von THE KILLING DREAM, die X-Men-Gemeinschaft zu verlassen, um sich alleine mehr Klarheit darüber zu verschaffen, wer (oder was) sie ist. Sie ist noch gar nicht ganz von der Insel der X-Men herunter, als sie in ein Abenteuer verwickelt wird, dass in direkter Verbindung mit ihrer Vergangenheit steht und Laura mit ihrer Herkunft konfrontiert.

Die Story stammt aus der Feder von Marjorie Liu, ist spannend geschrieben, nimmt nach einem etwas ruhigeren emotionalen Anfang bald Fahrt auf und mündet in einem actiongeladenen Finale. Wer nur sehr oberflächlich mit den X-Men, der X-Force und X-23 vertraut ist, wird einiges ziemlich verwirrend finden, zumal Liu die Grenze zwischen (Comic)Realität und Illusion lange verwischt. Was findet in Lauras Kopf statt, was ist Realität? Hier ist Geduld gefragt.

Absolut großartig ist das Artwork von Will Conrad. Realistische, stimmungsvolle Zeichnungen mit vielen Details, vor allem die Gesichter überzeugen mich.

In den Heften 3-6 hat er künstlerische Unterstützung durch drei andere Zeichner erhalten, wodurch die Zeichnungen nicht von Anfang bis Ende homogen aussehen. Mir persönlich haben die beiden ersten Hefte, die Conrad alleine gestaltet hat, am besten gefallen. Aber auch die vier weiteren Hefte lassen sich sehen. Durchgängig trägt die Colorierung von John Rauch viel zum Gesamteindruck bei, die Bezeichnung Color Art ist hier verdient.

Vom Manga-Style der Cover sollte man sich übrigens nicht täuschen lassen, die Artwort hat mit Mangas nichts zu tun.

[C. Varn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is X-23 comic of 2010-2012 so don't confuse it with the mid-aughts origin story runs (those can now be found in the X-23 Complete Collection as can one of the two arcs in this volume). While I found the first arc of the demonic possession of Laura and the question of her soul a bit tiresome, Marjorie M. Liu's second arc with Miss Sinister and a more sympathetic and less pervy than normal Gambit was particularly good. The comprehensive backstory of X-23 is in the back and also helps, although again, her origin story is now available again in the complete collection run. Liu's writing does a lot with the character--a character that can be over sexualized and brutalized for a young teenager in the hands of other authors.

[Rosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been hearing tons of great stuff about X-23 so when I saw the graphic novel at work I grabbed it. This volume is the beginning of X-23's standalone series but it is the beginning of her story. Right of the bat I want to say that I thought they did a great job integrating information about X-23's past into the story so that I could still follow along even though I have been out of the loop for a little while. The also provided a great summary in the back to make things even easier.

I find X-23 interesting and I want to know more about her and watch her change and grow (hopefully.) Loved Gambit in this, he was always one of my favorite X-Men. The overarching dream story is definitely interesting and I can't wait to find out what happens there. The Sinister storyline was fun too. I like the artwork although I can't articulate why and I absolutely adore the comic book covers in this.

[Marina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me feel so strongly for Laura. It’s heartbreaking how she’s so convinced that she’s doomed to be a bad guy just because of what was done to her to turn her into a killing machine. Someone get this girl a therapist and a safe place where she can be a normal human and not have to fight for her life constantly, please and thank you.

[salomé · Rating 5 out of 5]

Après les événements de la saga de Messie, Laura est contrainte a quitté la x-force. On la retrouve tourmentée par tout ce qu’il s’est passé et on voit pas mal de personnages remettre en question les décisions prises par Scott et Logan durant cet arc.
J’ai mis 5 étoiles car j’ai particulièrement aimé les premiers chapitres qui se concentrent sur l’écriture des personnages et des conséquences des actions précédentes sur Laura. Mention spéciale à Ororo qui prend sa défense et confronte Logan à ce sujet. Pareil pour Emma qui ouvre les yeux de Scott.
Le départ de Laura fait sens, j’aime bien la symbolique : peut importe où elle est, elle est un problème. Dans son labo, elle était une machine à tuer dangereuse dont il fallait se méfier et chez les x-men elle était pas assez stable pour être une x-men et elle restait un problème à résoudre
Gambit l’a bien compris et j’ai hâte de voir leur aventure ensemble même si je suis honnêtement pas convaincue par Sinister en tant que méchant

Peut on aussi parler du flashback de Logan et Laura à la fête foraine où il lui dit qu’il veut l’adopter officiellement ???? Je vais crier

[Kellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tried to savor this but it was too compelling and I had to finish in one sitting. X-23 is such a fascinating and complex character. Really wish they would stop canceling all her series, Laura Kinney's story should be told!

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A re-read. A little bit later in the X-23 saga and not quite as compelling. And it has Gambit in it, which though better than typically, doesn't add much. And the weapons x program. And Sinister. And even with all this, Laura is still written well and is interesting. With good enough art. And good enough use of side characters.

[Baroness · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would be lying 🤥 if I said I read comic books for the story 😂
I like to look at the hot chicks 😏

[João Pedro Vale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um pouquinho arrastado no começo, mas, quando começa o paralelo entre a natureza dos clones entre a Laura e a Ms. Sinister, fica legal.

[Emmett Spain · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good start to Liu’s run, this is let down a bit by some average art and the weird Miss Sinister plot, which I didn’t enjoy.

[nova ౨ৎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

remy and laura are so dear to me 🥹💞

[Norman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Something about Marjorie Liu's writing feels so "written" to me.. like I feel no real emotion for the characters or dialogue because I am aware of the act of reading. I liked the characters introduced here - Alice, the lady Sinister, the mutant kid with no hands, etc - but they all seemed a bit one dimensional. Even Laura. At the start we feel her unease with herself, but as it moves forward we get absorbed in some convoluted plot.

By far my favorite X-23 story is her introduction, and coming out of the Logan movie, I find myself putting more faith in the cinematic version than these comics.

[Wing Kee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed bag.

So, how does this X-23 series read? What places will be go? Will it have the emotional punch the first 2 mini series had?

World: The art is fine, very mid 2000s and nothing awfully spectacular. The world building is also fine, it does have pieces here and there that are of note, but most of the first two tales are not heavily reliant on world building and therefore the world building is only used to set the stage. The letter written by Logan which pretty much is a summary of Laura's life so far is the most substantial pieces of world building so far. Sure, there are bits and pieces of Utopia, and also the stuff with Claudine, but most of it is just for the story.

Story: Mixed bag. The first story is very good, it's very dark, it's very broody and emo but that's fine. After 2 mini series, we've not really dug deep into the psych of Laura and this 3 issue tale does that. Sure, it used the Wolverine demon to tell this tale, but the main factor and takeaway from this tale is the personal voice of Laura as she battles her inner demons. It's a fairly standard overcoming your demons story but Laura has not had this yet and it's fitting that this is the first tale for her own series. The second story cannot be said to be of the same quality. Sure it does get the world moving along and give Laura a destination to move towards in this series, but it seems more like a sidetrack story more than anything with characters that were inconsequential and you did not care about. As I said, mixed bag. Oh great, a crossover event, just when the story was getting a direction.

Characters: Laura has always been a tortured and complex character. However, so far we've only had her story told through her mother and also narrated to Cap and Matt, we've never really went into her brain and really felt what she feels and feel those emotions for ourselves as readers. The first arc does a good job at using a literal demon for Laura to battle so that we can get a deeper insight on her as a character. She's so tragic and sad I just want to give her a hug. The rest of the cast here is all there to serve the story, not a lot of character development for everyone else. Though I did love Storm and Gambit in their roles so far.

A good start to the new series. It's pretty dark and emo and I'm guessing it's going to keep getting dark and emo. I hope that there is some levity coming soon and also some little glimmer of happiness for Laura, this is a heavy book and sometimes levity is what's needed for the book to be not just a sad read.

Onward to the next book!

[Michael (Mai) · Rating 2 out of 5]

What I knew about X-23 before this? Uh…? She has claws like Wolverine. Lives in the X-Men universe. The end.

What I thought? I saw Laura (that’s her name, lol, I know now) in a Guardians of the Galaxy comic and I thought she seemed stoic, yet interesting. This brought me to grab X-23: The Killing Dream. I was expecting to find a complex girl with a cool character design. I got that…but…not how I wanted it.

Laura was complex. I translate that to complex shit happened to her but I don’t know what it was about. There were demons, Mr. Sinister, and Claudine all trying to get her and I kind of know why with Claudine but where did that demon come from!? There were so many events in this book that I didn’t understand. I thought with a book one I might get origin story or at least a little back story but noooo. They just throw you in and expect you to swim not sink.

As for her character design, along with all the other females of this book, they were just too sexy. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for sexy girls, but because their character is written that way. That’s their personality. Not in this book, nope. It’s midriff shirts all the way baby and legs for days!

The overall art was wonderful (not counting the super-sexy ladies) and I did enjoy it.

I wanted a character I could look up to and maybe find a little piece of myself in (like so many other current female characters) but I didn’t. Even though this is a story about a girl it’s not really written for girls despite the author being a woman.

Too bad.