Good Afternoon Everybody! This isn't going to be like
my other comic book posts, at least not entirely. I'm not really going to be giving a breakdown and price check on the books I am about to show off. BUT I am about to show off some really sweet covers of my girl, Laura Kinney, AKA X-23!
She has probably become my favorite Marvel character and done so in a short amount of time, even supplanting her not-father Wolverine. I was intending on using these first few covers for #colorchallenge #wednesdayyellow, but actually had some lovely flowers to post instead. I still might cheat and reuse the hashtags on the backend as the covers are indeed that nice and really have an artistic flair to them.
And Here They Are!
These are issues 4, 5 & 3 respectively of All-New Wolverine
All three are also variant covers by three very talented artists. Issue 4 was done by artist Ryan Sook. Issue 5 was done by artist Michael Cho, who did a ton of this style across many Marvel titles, some better than others but I love the feel of them. Issue 3 was done by artist David Lopez. Honestly, here the Cho and Lopez are pretty much a tie with the Sook coming in last. What I really like about the trio though is when comic art, especially of a popular publisher becomes new feeling again, when it rises above traditional comic art and becomes something you could hang in a Penthouse.
These next two covers represent a much younger Laura than we see in the All-New book.......
X-23 issue 2 and X-Force issue 18
The black and white sketch cover is the second issue of Laura's first mini-series. I think it really highlights her youth and vulnerability. It's kind of sad. It's good when things make you feel things. I don't know who the cover artist is honestly, I apologize. When it comes to the X-Force issue I have never really been a fan of borders and that still stands here. What I am a fan of though is Laura's face and the blood from popping her claws. Again, this is torment. She might heal but she still feels. The artist here is Jason Levesque.
We take a more recent look with the next selection, although one is nostalgia.
All-New Wolverine issue 16 and X-Men Red issue 1
First off we have a classic look at Laura Kinney AKA X-23, in the classic Weapon X get up. This is just awesome to me. I think this also might be the only cover featured today that is not a variant or limited in some way. The artist is David Lopez. The second cover is of a more recent book and just the latest X-Men team to hit the town.....seriously consolidate. The artist here is Pep Larraz. I feel that it isn't as polished as it could be but like the overall conveyance and feel of it.
Our last selections illustrate a darker side to our girl, one of them for obvious reasons........
All-New Wolverine issue 18 and X-Force issue 17
Marvel really beat us to death with Venom over the last 12 months. Two relaunches, a new Venom, a death, whatever's going on now with the symbiote god. They also had several months featuring these Venomized covers. I didn't really care for the whole thing but had to pick up the one with X! I think it's cool, I'm sure you think the cover with your favorite character is cool as well. Still not sure about that movie though...........The artist here is heavy hitter Francesco Mattina, absolutely killing it over at DC. The cover to X-Force issue 17 really embodies X-Force and Laura in general to me, at least at this stage of her career, she was kind of rebelling at the time. Also, I was mistaken before, this is also a standard edition cover. There is a "bloody" variant to it using the same art just changed up to be more gruesome. I thought it distracted from the star of the show so I skipped. Again, here I am without an artist. I really do like this piece though and if you know drop me a line in the comments.
That wraps up this comic showcase. I have some parting thoughts though. Clearly, If it is a character I like or a particularly good piece of art (hopefully both!), I have no qualms with paying for the variants but more and more I see sub-par art and unimportant #1 relaunches with 20 different variants and it all seems, I don't know, just a tad bit much. Again, buy what you like and skip what you don't. You'll be much happier in the long run and won't be looking at a stack of covers 3 years from now that do nothing for you.
Oh and if you didn't see it there is a great Laura cover in my Serious Seconds article!
