Sibling Differences

We talked a bit about volume 2 of Mariko Tamaki's X-23 series back in Sunday Splash Page #21. Where the first six issues larger focused on Laura and Gabby's connection in terms of them working together and looking out for each, this volume (which consists of the remaining 6 issues) concentrates on their differences.

Tamaki brings back Robert Chandler, the villain of the first six issues of Tom Taylor's All-New Wolverine, and the one responsible for cloning Gabby and her sisters from Laura's genetic material. Since that went poorly, Chandler is taking the approach of making cyborg Laura clones from damaged genetic material. No healing factor and seemingly no natural claws, but I assume they have her other natural athletic abilities, as well as being more docile, loaded with weaponry and armor. Best of all, the lack of healing factor means people will have to keep buying them!

This whole scenario does not end well for Chandler, which, is fine. It also doesn't end well for the first of the "X-Assassins" Laura and Gabby encountered, who Gabby had grown fond of and wanted to help make a life for herself, as Laura had for her. Laura dismisses X-Assassin as just a weapon, which is a harsh assessment coming from her. While Gabby spends most of a night singing to the X-Assassin and telling "her" stories, Laura keeps insisting X-Assassin is an "it".

Of course, Logan never shied away from acting like he was better than Deadpool or any number of other victims of government experimentation, so Laura comes by that hypocrisy naturally.

The X-Assassin never speaks, other than with simply gestures, but Diego Orlotegui's art would seem to lean towards Gabby's point of view. The X-Assassin never shows any hostility, spending most panels with either a vacant look, or one of vague sadness and resignation. But there are a few panels where Gabby does or says something, and it's followed by a silent reaction panel from the X-Assassin. her watching the young girl thoughtfully. It's enough I understand Gabby being sad over how things end.

That covers the first four issues, with the remaining two trying to deal with the fallout. Gabby is processing her grief and shutting Laura out in the process. Laura, as her internal narration notes, doesn't know how to deal with this delicately. So it turns into a shouting match where Gabby accuses Laura of just making the decision on her own that no one else gets the chance the two of them got. Which leads to Gabby storming out (and taking Jonathan the Wolverine with her), and trying to rescue a bunch of turkeys that have been spliced with X-23's DNA as well.

Yeah, I know. It's kind of hilarious in its absurdity, and maybe Tamaki means it as a sign of Gabby's general youth and way of looking at things, but I'm not sure it lands. Turkeys might be a bridge too far of a connection to insist on. Although the idea of trying to use the healing factor as a method for organ replacement, and trying it on turkeys to start, actually makes some sense. It's essentially what Butler was doing with Deadpool in Duggan and Posehn's run. Either way, it does highlight both some similarities and differences in the sisters. Laura is focused on finding the people who do these experiments and stopping them, while Gabby seems more concerned with helping their victims.

But both of them demonstrate very black-and-white views for most of the volume. Gabby says she wants to help all of them (though she had no problem fighting the other X-Assassins swarming Laura), while Laura seemingly is fine not worrying about any of them after Gabby. 

Orlotegui's art is well-suited for the story. His lines aren't overly busy, but he can be detailed when he needs it, and it's the little details that help highlight the differences in Gabby and Laura. Gabby wears a hairband with some little monster face on it all the time, and favors pajamas and baggy hoodies with X-logos, while Laura, when not in her mission outfit, goes for very plain tank tops and the like. Gabby carries nunchaku with her on missions. Why does she need them? I assume because it's fun to hit people with them. Especially if you have a healing factor, so there's no permanent damage when you accidentally smack yourself in the face. 

That helps add some levity to the story, keeps it from being too depressing. It also helps to demonstrate why these two live together. Tamaki mentions things in passing about how they argue and fight like sisters, with it being cranked up to 11 because they're both Wolverines. But there's still affection, and this version of Laura's apartment looks much more lived-in than it did at the beginning of All-New Wolverine.

Saturday Splash Page #21

 

"The (Metaphorical) Claws Come Out," in X-23 (vol. 2) #11, by Mariko Tamaki (writer), Diego Orlotegui (penciler), Walden Wong (inker), Chris O'Halloran (colorist), Cory Petit (letterer)

After her first ongoing series ended, Laura Kinney had to wait five years to get another, by which time she had a different codename. All New Wolverine ran for 35 issues, and we'll get to it (someday). Almost as soon as it ended, though, she got shunted back to her old codename, and another ongoing series to go with.

This series still focused on Laura trying to deal with her history as a designed weapon. But where previously that had been through either trying to bring her under their control, or focused on the trigger scent that made her go berserk, this series looked at those who were trying to make more weapons like her, minus that inconvenient free will.

But Tamaki seems more interested in the differences in opinion between Laura and Gabby, who is a younger clone version of her. Despite that, differences in age and experience mean they see things differently (which is always something I find interesting to play with about clones.) Not just that Gabby is more versed in pop culture references and phrases (I feel like Tamaki downgrades Laura's knowledge there, as she doesn't even know "K.O." stands for "knockout.") Gabby talks about their birthdays, and Laura dismisses it, acts as though they don't even have birthdays because they're just clones.

More critically, especially in the second half of the book, they see things differently when it comes to who counts as family. When they encounter a clone of Laura with cybernetics but no healing factor, Gabby treats her as another potential sister. Someone to befriend and help the way Laura did for her. Laura sees the "X-Assassin" as just a machine, a damaged weapon. She's not family, she's not even a person. The end of that story would seem to argue in Gabby's favor, although it's undercut somewhat by the fact the X-Assassins were being mass produced and neither she nor Laura hesitated to kill the hell out of all the others.

Juann Cabal drew the first five issues, which involve another group of clones, the Stepford Cuckoos. There's a one-shot drawn by Georges Duarte about Gabby and Laura going undercover at an elementary school. Then Diego Orlotegui took over as artist for the remaining six issues. Cabal's art is a bit closer to photorealistic, his version of Laura is bit bulkier. As I noted in a review of one of All New Wolverine's tpbs, you can see a little more of Logan's genetics in her build when Cabal draws her compared to most artists. Orlotegui exaggerates expressions a bit more, there's more comic effect in his work, when it's warranted. The last two issues have a bit of humor in them, even as they're a continuation of the argument between Gabby and Laura.

OK, we are done with the Xs! Whoo!

What I Bought 8/9/2017 - Part 1

Bought a couple of comics this week I had not bought previously, and it turned into the ol' "Good Idea, Bad Idea" situation. Good Idea: Buying Giant Days #29. Bad Idea: Buying Hulk #9 because you think Hellcat's going to be in it a lot. If you care to know anything further about what I thought about either book, please continue reading. If not, um, there'll be more comics on Monday?

Hulk #9, by Mariko Tamaki (writer), Julian Lopez and Francesco Gaston (artists), Matt Milla (colorist), Cory Petit (letterer) - The scowly face drawn over Jennifer's picture is a pretty solid representation of me after I finished this comic.

Jennifer is looking for her favorite cooking show host, who has been turned into a big green monster by two guys because. . . I don't know. They were the producers of his show, did they think it would boost ratings? The cook is roaming the town, badly scared, and the medication he found that is supposed to reverse what happened, doesn't work, so he's losing it. Jen and the cook's boyfriend are trying to find him before it's too late. Hellcat shows up on two pages, they chat on the phone a bit, that's it. At least they're still friends.

I was really only buying it expecting a little more Patsy and Jennifer interaction, silly me. This bit where Jennifer is reluctant to change, because maybe she isn't sure she can trust herself. Or it? Is she thinking of this hulk form as something different from her? I'm not clear on that. It's kind of interesting in theory, but in practice, I don't care.

I think Lopez is drawing the first half of the book, and Gaston takes over about the time Jen has hulked out and surprises the two producers. Assuming I'm right, Lopez goes a lot heavier on inks, and his style seems going in a more photo-realistic direction than Gaston, who by comparison has a more simplified style. It works, but it does produce a different feel between the two halves. The first half, with all these shadows and people looking concerned and sad is morose, things are dire. The second half, the shadows decrease noticeably, the coloring seems brighter, which would imply things are on the upswing. Even though Jen has forced herself to change, is scaring the crap out of people, and Oliver is losing control of himself. Sounds like the situation is getting worse, but not really how the art paints it. Neither style is bad in a vacuum, but they're at cross-purposes here.

Let's chalk this up as me making a mistake, one I've made before and will undoubtedly make again.

Giant Days #29, by John Allison (writer), Max Sarin (penciler), Liz Fleming (inker), Whitney Cogar (colorist), Jim Campbell (letterer) - The university theater productions, skimping on the backgrounds for their fancy practical effects, like simulating flying, and arrows.

So, I am still about 12 issues behind, but Esther had been excelling in romantic literature courses, but is being surpassed by a student named Emilia, who seems great and wonderful and charming, and who Esther already hated because she's dating the guy Susan likes. I entirely sympathize with, "You hurt my friend, so I must kill you." Esther's attempts to out-do Emilia result in her giving her professor entirely bad ideas about trying to take advantage of her at some mixer (I doubt this is intentional, but the way Sarin draws Professor Lord, he looks like Jack Kirby, which was a strange coincidence). Emilia whisks her away, and they seem to have become best friends by the end of the issue, to the point Esther has adopted Emilia's style entirely, which is concerning.

And there's another plot with Daisy trying to get Ed to date a bit, and Ed being too hung up on that fiction trope of true love being some massive, perfect thing that hits you like a truck immediately. Again, I sympathize, or perhaps empathize.

One thing I've appreciated about this book reading through the trades is Allison keeps stuff moving. Situations progress rather than stagnate, new issues crop up constantly. Which may not sound like much, but if you've read some of the decompressed shit Marvel and DC put out - and I, unfortunately, have - it's sometimes novel to get back to something that gets the hell on with things.

The Esther vs. Emilia thing was already in full swing, but has pushed forward and into a different direction. Although at this point, I'm extremely suspicious of Emilia. She seems too perfect and uninterested in how many people imitate her and fawn over her, which makes me suspect she's reveling in it and hiding it extremely well.

And I like having those kinds of conflicted feelings. Should I be suspicious? Should Daisy be pushing Ed to pursue this relationship he isn't sure about, even though he's probably waiting for the absolutely perfect situation that will never occur? Yeah, probably, but as a person comfortable by himself, who nonetheless has to deal with both subtle and unsubtle pressure from family and occasionally friends about finding someone, I'm kind of inclined to side with Ed's right to live his life how he wants. But I don't think Ed is as naturally solitary as me, so he should listen to Esther and call Cathy back.

Sarin's able to exaggerate his art extremely well for comedic impact, or the dramatics of these college kids, freaking out over all sort of things. Esther's appearance in the "beasting the bones of my enemies" panel was outstanding. In other circumstances it would be scary, but here, when she's basically vowing to destroy someone who is (seemingly) unwittingly stealing her spotlight, it's a ridiculous response, and so it fits the scene perfectly. Also, I love the font Campbell used for that voice balloon. Likewise, Daisy's three-panel increasing freakout at Ed over not calling Cathy back, where Cogar keeps increasing the use of red, and making it a deeper red as well), as Daisy fills more and more of each successive panel, screaming at him about how perfect Cathy was for him. And then fourth panel below them, where she puts frozen yogurt to her forehead and there's steam the same shade of red rising from that one spot on her head.

So far, I feel very good about my decision to start buying this book regularly. I have to get one right sometimes.