Posted in: Comics | Tagged: marvel, x-23, x-men, X-ual Healing - The Weekly X-Men Recap Column

X-ual Healing: The Marvel Universe's Version of a Fitbit Revealed in X-23 #2

Published Sun, 29 Jul 2018 16:30:04 -0500

Sworn to sell comics for Marvel executives who feared and hated the fact that Fox owned their movie rights, The Uncanny X-Men suffered great indignities, but with a corporate merger on the way, the X-Men can finally get back to doing what they do best: being objectively the best franchise in all of comics.

Each week, armed with the joy, heartbreak, and frustration of 30+ years of reading X-Men comics, we crankily read every new X-book that comes out, recap the events, react to them, maybe provide some links to Marvel Unlimited for further reference. No smart, fancy words about the creative process. Go read a review for that, you… intellXual!

It's the way X-Men comics were meant to be read! It's the column that can only be known as…

For more about the column, check out the reboot issue here.

X-23 #2
MARIKO TAMAKI (W) • JUANN CABAL (A)
Covers by MIKE CHOI
Variant cover by Jen Bartel
Cloned from a warrior, raised as a killer, Laura Kinney has gone through hell and come out the other side a hero. After a stint as the All-New Wolverine, she returns to her roots as X-23 to make sure no one ever has to go through the horrors she did. With her sister Gabby and their pet Jonathan in tow, X-23 forges her own destiny in this new series by Mariko Tamaki (HULK, HUNT FOR WOLVERINE: CLAWS OF A KILLER) and Juann Cabal (ALL-NEW WOLVERINE, ELEKTRA).
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

What the Hell Happened?!

X-23 #2 starts with the Stepford Cuckoos — Mindee, Celeste, and Phoebe — waking up from a nightmare of a funeral for their sister. That's probably because in the real world, Esme, resurrected into a cloned but failing body, killed Sophie, who was in a similar situation but further along. At X-23's apartment, Laura and Gabbie rehash the birthday argument over a breakfast of pancakes.

Laura doesn't like birthdays and doesn't want to celebrate hers because of clone stuff. Gabby wants to have a birthday, inspired by the Cuckoos (also clones) celebrating their own. Laura heads out to investigate the missing clone expert Dr. Marks while Gabby stays home with Jonathan (the Marvel Universe's second-best Wolverine, behind Li'l Wolvie from Exiles).

The Cuckoos visit the X-Mansion and steal something as X-23 heads to the headquarters of Bowie-themed science company Gene Genie, where Dr. Marks worked before going missing. Gabby hacks Marks's laptop before discovering her Fitbit (which is called Fit Fat Foom in the Marvel Universe) and using the data to track Marks's steps to the old church where the Cuckoos were hiding Esme and Sophie last issue.

Inside the now empty Church, Gabby meets up with Laura, responding to a text. Laura didn't sent it though. That was the Cuckoos, who psychically ambush the sisters and kidnap Gabby. The issue ends with that.

The Bottom Line

Despite the reboot, the name change, and the creative team change, X-23 has thus far brought all the best parts of All-New Wolverine forward into a new series, and the Cuckoos story grounds the book even more in the X-Men universe, which is actually an improvement from the previous series. It's off to a great start and we're looking forward to more.