X-23 #2 Review

Writer: Mariko Tamaki / Artist: Juann Cabal / Marvel Comics X-23 holds this weird space between a continuation of another series and something new. A lot of this series is spent expecting us to already know the characters and what their deal is. So, it’s not all that surprising that we are only into the second issue and it feels like it’s the slowest one yet. Not much happens in this issue except for Laura’s investigation finally leading to the Cuckoos. Thankfully, even though X-23 feels like one big lull moment, there are a few highlights to keep us going. The first is Gabby, a character who is one of the most likable and funny characters Marvel has introduced this year. You are at least guaranteed one hilarious and quotable moment from her every issue. The second is Laura’s soul-searching of sorts. Tamaki continues the thread of Laura ruminating over her existence as a clone. What I like about this is that we shed more light on how Laura thinks about her past. While she continually tries to ignore it, at the same time it’s affected a lot of how she lives her life. Gabby is also great for forcing Laura to think about this.

My biggest problem is that this thread would have more of an impact if we had any explanation why she changed her name from Wolverine to X-23. In fact, at one point in the issue, a scientist who works on genetics and cloning calls her X-23 and she doesn’t even blink. X-23 is not just a codename, it’s the experimental number she was given while forced to k…