Not as sharp as desired...
So who is this X-23 lady? I must admit I truly knew next to nothing about Logan's little girl leading up to this, her own on-going season. Personally, since her inception, I've always thought of X-23 as a bit of a cash-in attempt. "Everybody likes Wolverine, so let's make a girl version of him!" Yes, I know she was originally created to be on X-Men: Evolution (much like Harley Quinn was created for Batman: The Animated Series), but I still was a little leery about actually accepting the character as anything other than milking a popular superhero into a brand new character to be marketed.
Nevertheless, I picked up X-23's one-shot from a few months back in preparation for reading this, the first issue of her on-going. I have to say I greatly enjoyed the art, story-telling style, and overall tone of that one-shot. I'd recommend if anybody were to desire to get into the character, that'd be a great place to start. This comic, however... well it just feels a little light, a little stiff, and just a little pointless. It's only the first issue, and obviously the story needs to be lain out in front of the reader before anything of consequence can happen, but I also feel a first issue should make the audience excited for more. After X-23 #1... I am not.
Things happened... I think...
Written by Marjorie Liu (who also wrote that one-shot I mentioned earlier), this X-23 story seems to follow soon after the conclusion of X's role in X-Force. Attempting to assimilate back into the young ranks of academy, a restless X-23 soon finds herself without anyone to turn to. Her team mistrusts her, she is having cryptic visions of her "father" Logan as the demonic lead of hell, and she cannot communicate with Storm, Cyclops, or any of the other senior X-Men. When X is sent to a volunteer house for mutants who have lost their power, she wakes up in a nightmare that is far too real.At least that's what I gather from the story thus far. The problem here is simply that there isn't much to get into. X-23 is having visions. Her teammates hate her. She's sent away. The dreams persist. That's IT. Obviously, Liu does a good enough job with her writing, portraying each character as multi-faceted and emotionally involved, but what is the point of this story? Perhaps I'm simply annoyed because the last half of the comic is literally a montage of panels from other X-23 books with a narration (presumably by Wolverine) basically running through her entire life. While I appreciate the info. being someone who doesn't know X-23 that well, couldn't this have been weaved into the story or at least made a tad bit shorter so we actually get something of substance in this issue?
I'm awkward
My problems extend into the art. I'm not familiar with Will Conrad's art, but what I saw here was not very impressive. All the characters look stiff and rigid, their facial features are oddly proportioned, and everything looks just a little awkward. Maybe I'm just not a fan of his art style, but I maintain that it's more than a little awkward-looking. On the other hand, the colors by John Rauch are nice, and manage to portray a dark foreboding without seeming drab.Better luck next time
When all is said and done, I don't believe this issue is necessarily indicative of what the quality of this series will be. The art will continue to be something of a struggle, but there are the beginnings of what can be a darkly compelling story. However, at $3.99, this comic amounts to nothing more than an over-priced preview. If you're a fan of X-23, I'd assume you're going to pick this up regardless, but if you're on the fence, I'd say pick up a back-issue of Marjorie Liu's X-23 one-shot if you want a story worth reading.2.5 stars out of 5 with hope that the next issue brings some substance to this series.
