First of all, I want to commend the usage of X-23 in Black Widow issue 11. They really did their homework on the character and highlighted her strengths and other skills that often get overlooked by other writers. This includes the fact she is a highly trained interrogator to gather intelligence on missions. Something that even Black Widow was displayed as not aware of, but Laura waved her off with a simple gesture and an "I got this." It perfectly and subtly hinted at how capable X-23 is that others may not even be aware.
Then I got to Legacy of Logan issue 2. This issue is the whole reason I had to speak. It was going to bother me if I said nothing at all about this.
Let's start off with the opening page.
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| Legacy of Logan issue 2 |
Logan did not rescue Laura from the Facility. He admitted as such back in the second origin miniseries Target X. By the time he got there, Laura had already escaped thanks to her mother.
Let's take a look back at her origin tale in Target X for a second.
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| X-23: Target X issue 6 |
That's right. Logan didn't save Laura from 'the project.' A woman did. Laura's mother. Okay, so maybe this one was only a slip up. Small mistake. Let's keep reading the issue to see...
Then this page pops up in Legacy of Logan issue 2.
The last panel in particular is problematic for a number of reasons. She says Logan brought her to the X-Men. Which is technically true as he invited her at the end of Target X. She instead ends up in New York which led to NYX where she was discovered by a pimp who sold her as a prostitute. Something that Kiden and a female teacher saved her from. Not Logan. Another moment in her history where women saved her. Not Wolverine. In fact, later in her appearance in Uncanny X-Men where the X-Men became aware of her, Logan lies to them in claiming he has no idea who or what she is so the team brings her to the mansion. Not Logan. Logan got his nose cut off by her in that meeting. Which much later again in New X-Men issue 20, Logan admits to lying for her when trying to talk her into returning to the mansion.
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| Academy X: New X-Men issue 20 |
In the X-23v2 one shot. This point is brought up again where Kiden and X-23 run into each other. Kiden berates Logan. She thinks he's another pimp trying to use Laura. A tirade, I might add, that puts Kiden on Logan's good side as one of Laura's friends he likes because they look out for her.
This isn't to say that Logan wasn't looking out for Laura. One of the initial fights Cyclops and Wolverine had long before Schism was about X-23 herself and how Scott was using her. In many ways, you could say it was this history with X-23 that led Wolverine and Cyclops to duke it out altogether in Schism even prior to the straw that broke the camel's back.
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| X-Force v3 issue 1 pg 13 |
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| X-Force v3 issue 1 pg 17 |
He's referring to bringing her to the institute the third time by the way. The first time she came on her own and was captured by Captain America on orders from S.H.I.E.L.D. as shown in Target X, and the second time she was discovered in New York by the Uncanny X-Men which Logan lied about knowing who she was. The third time is when he called her cell phone in New X-Men issue 20.
Logan tried to help her in many ways, but a large chunk of their interactions weren't very positive until the X-23 v3 comic run. Most of their interactions prior to that had him yelling at her.
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| X-Force v3 issue 4 |
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| X-Force v3 issue 4 |
A lesson though, she does take to heart even at her own expense sadly. A lesson that Logan didn't quite articulate in a manner needed. The way he went off on her made Laura put her life at risk and feel worthless. Something that carried over in that issue itself, and the story arc that came after.
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| X-Force v3 issue 4 |
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| X-Force v3 issue 4 |
Most of their interactions through the X-Force v3 series are like this. Logan is very gruff and stern with her. His advice both helps shape her moral code, but also accidentally hinders her self-worth and makes her reckless and emotional. More often in the comic run, she's berating him for poor strategic implementations and overestimating the emotional resilience of team members. Points she's often proven right about with him telling her not to say "I toldja so." In the X-Force miniseries Sex and Violence, they even mock this about their relationship where at the end he's berating her for saving him, and the others are laughing about it because they all know she was right to and he's only frustrated that he needed the help at all.
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| X-Force v3 issue 8 |
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| X-Force v3 issue 8 |
There are some nicer moments in some of their interactions still. In New X-Men there's the moment where he lets X-23 handle Lady Deathstrike so Laura can take out her frustrations on how Deathstrike harmed a friend of hers. Then later in the X-23 v3 run, Logan and Laura effectively patch up their relationship with the help of Gambit and Jubilee.
Wolverine has indeed been a pivotal point of helping direct Laura, but more often, it's been the women in Laura's life that have truly helped her. The kindred spirit she found in Psylocke during her brief stint with the Uncanny X-Men. The kindness Storm had shown her during the beginning of the X-23 v3 run when Logan was possessed by a demon. Kiden and the teacher showing Laura a different path and helping her escape from being pimped out and giving her a new family to look after during NYX. Mercury, Dust, and Surge with helping Laura adjust to being at the Xavier Institute and dealing with new emotions. Jubilee and her life advice during the v3 comic run's romp in repairing the Logan Laura relationship. Megan and Debra Kinney with giving Laura a home and helping her learn about friends and family after she escaped the Facility. Even her own mother who risked and sacrificed her life to save Laura from the Facility itself.
It's been mostly women that have directed and impacted Laura's life in the positive ways, and it feels odd to have that not recognized and seemingly overlooked by Marvel themselves. It feels like an attempt to rewrite Laura's history so that a man is the one who saved her at these pivotal points when it wasn't.
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