X-23 vol. 1: Family Album

Just to reiterate, I was disappointed when I found out that “All-New Wolverine” would be ending and that Laura Kinney would be assuming the name of X-23 again.  Though that was an inevitable backwards step for the character, what with Logan making his [insert adjective of choice here] awaited return, this new “X-23” series feels very much like a continuation of what was being done in that previous title.  Laura’s still going after those who would seek to use mutants as weapons and using non-lethal means to do so. Best of all is that Gabby is still around to provide a light-hearted, irreverent counterpart to her big sister’s seriousness. Gabby actually plays a significant role in the main story of this volume, which initially seems like it’s going to involve Laura tracking down a missing geneticist who was involved in some expectedly shady work with Alchemax.  Things quickly take a turn for the weird when the Stepford Cuckoos get involved and we find out that their current three-in-one incarnation wants to become the five-in-one once more.

There’s some admittedly ropey plotting regarding the Cuckoos’ involvement; specifically, with how their two “dead” personalities are back.  If you can get past that, then the storyline works well enough on its own terms. Writer Mariko Tamaki has a great grasp on Laura and (especially) Gabby’s personalities and the interplay between them is a lot of fun to see.  Even better is that Juann Cabal provides most of the art for this volume and it is fantastic! While he’s good with the overall level of detail and character work, Cabal has an impressive sense of composition to his layouts that are always eye-catching.  His overall work is reminiscent of Frank Quitely’s, only with smoother linework. Cabal’s work is so good that it’s immediately noticeable when Marcio Fiorito shows up to draw part of issue five, and Georges Duarte’s otherwise serviceable work in the fun school infiltration story in issue six looks stiff by comparison.  This may not be the absolute best start to Laura’s latest series, but it’s a lot better than I was expecting when I heard she was going to be X-23 again.