Monday, May 12, 2008

X-23 | Comics

Unlike any children, she was born as a clone in an attempt of a top-secret facility to re-create Weapon X program that gave birth to Wolverine. Doctor Sarah Kinney proposed for a female clone when the other twenty two died in the Adamantium bonding process and then act as her surrogate mother to preserve even a small fraction of humanity in her but all her efforts go in vein by the intervention of Doctor Zander Rice.

x-23 marvel
X-23 | Comics

He set up Kinney to be killed by X-23 with a "trigger scent" and in her dying breath she named the clone “Laura”. She became a weapon, killed many folks, escaped The Facility and then goes to seek out Wolverine. Then Captain America and Matt Murdock comes to take her in but eventually sets her free to avoid S.H.I.E.L.D.'s exploitation of her.

She ended up on streets living as a prostitute but then welcomed by the X-Men in Xavier Institute. When New X-Men was formed, she joined the team with Elixr, Hellion, Mercury, Prodigy, Rockslide and Surge. She teamed-up with Spider-Man, became Captain Universe for a while, helped destroy cyborg Nimrod, bested her handler Kimura several times, defeated Lady Deathstrike during Messiah CompleX.

Then she enrolled to the X-Force team, fought the Hulk, made an uneasy alliance with Daken against Mr. Sinister, aided the Future Foundation and finally became a part of Avengers Academy. She also formed the “Circle of Four” with Ghost Rider, Red Hulk and Venom against Blackheart. Following the “Death of Wolverine” she took the mantle of her mentor to honor his memory.

For more information on X-23 comics series, you can check out these links below.

X-23 (Comics) Wikipedia

X-23 (Comics) Marvel Wikia

laura kinney marvel
The Perfect Killing Machine

Here is your links to buy "X-23" comics from Marvel Comics on Amazon.

X-23 – Innocence Lost

X-23 – The Complete Collection Vol 01

NYX – Wannabe (Softcover)

NYX – Wannabe (Hardcover)

NYX/X-23 – Innocence Lost

New X-Men – Childhood’s End Vol 01 – Childhood’s End

Marvel Team-Up Vol 03 – League of Losers

New X-Men – Childhood’s End Vol 02 – Crusade

New X-Men – Childhood’s End Vol 03 – Nimrod

New X-Men – Childhood’s End Vol 04 – Mercury Falling

X-23 – Target X

World War Hulk – X-Men

New X-Men – Childhood’s End Vol 05 – The Quest for Magik

X-Men – Messiah CompleX (Softcover)

X-Men – Messiah CompleX (Hardcover)

X-Force Vol 01 – Angels and Demons

NYX – No Way Home (Softcover)

NYX – No Way Home (Hardcover)

X-Force/Cable – Messiah War

Hulk Vol 04 – Hulk Vs. X-Force

X-23 Vol 01 – The Killing Dream

Daken/X-23 – Collision

X-23 Vol 02 – Chaos Theory

X-23 Vol 03 – Don't Look Back (Softcover)

X-23 Vol 03 – Don't Look Back (Hardcover)

X-23 – The Complete Collection Vol 02

Venom – Circle of Four

All-New X-Men – All-Different

Guardians of the Galaxy/All-New X-Men – The Trial of Jean Grey

All-New X-Men – One Down

Death of Wolverine – The Logan Legacy

All-New Wolverine Vol 01 – The Four Sisters

Originally created by Craig Kyle and Chris Yost for a TV series, prior to her debut in comics in 2004, X-23 is a fictional Marvel Comics character who is a clone of another popular protagonist; Wolverine. X-23 was a part of many X-Men based crossover and stories like Innocence Lost, Target X, The Killing Dream, NYX, Decimation, Mercury Falling, World War HulkQuest for Magik, League of Losers, Messiah War and Second Coming.

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Her Father's Legacy

She was one of the Wolverines just like Daken, Lady Deathstrike, Mystique and Sabretooth. Although she is a clone of Wolverine, it is shown in the 2005 limited series X-Men – Age of Apocalypse while further exploring the alternate reality of Age of Apocalypse that she is actually the daughter of Wolverine and Jean Grey of that timeline.

Aside from her many notable comic-book appearance, X-23 also appeared on two animated series X-Men – Evolution and Wolverine and the X-Men on TV. The character would also appear in the upcoming 2017 film Logan in her very first live-action appearance, portrayed by Dafne Keen. But since her role is only titled “Laura” and not “X-23”, it is still unclear what part she will end up playing.
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Friday, April 25, 2008

New Avengers – Breakout | Comics

In wake of a major prison break at Raft, Captain America assembles an unlikely band of heroes to form New Avengers.

When Scarlet Witch lost control over her reality-altering power, it caused a series of events that took the lives of Ant-Man, Hawkeye and Vision. With a few many broken members of The Avengers left but no funding to keep them running, their team has finally been disbanded and everyone went their separate ways from then on.

Six months later, lawyer Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson takes Luke Cage as their bodyguard to maximum-security prison Raft at Ryker's Island to see a client. They are greeted by S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jessica Drew AKA Spider-Woman, who escorted them to inner levels underwater, all full of super-powered murdering maniacs and psychopaths.

Meanwhile, Maxwell Dillon is contacted by a guy in shadows at his cell to stage a prison break. Wearing his Electro costume, he unleashes his power that killed all generators on Raft, which frees almost every captive super-villain from their captivity and even caused a massive blackout that engulfed the nearby city of New York.

Back at his apartment, Peter Parker planned on having some free time with his wife Mary Jane Watson but his plan is cut short when everything goes dark and he sees a lightning bolt striking on Raft. So, he quickly dresses up as Spider-Man and latches onto a helicopter to get a fast ride there, which got suddenly got hit and he falls into water.

new avengers breakout marvel comics brian michael bendis david finch
New Avengers – Breakout | Comics

He swam through freezing cold water only to be greeted by Captain America on board, who also landed on that S.H.I.E.L.D. chopper. A second explosion goes off suddenly and they see Electro fleeing with someone. Surrounded by enemies, Spidey is thrown into a gauntlet of adversaries, lost his mask and got his arm broken by Jigsaw.

Murdock asks Jessica to take him to his client and they see a scruffy-looking loner inside that cell, whom he reveals to be The Sentry, most powerful super hero on Earth and are voluntary serving a sentence for allegedly killing his wife. As they try to convince him to help them escape right now, Carnage showed up out of nowhere.

To secure his friend Foggy, Murdock throws him into cell and he eventually managed to get Sentry back in action. Breaking out of his cell door, Robert Reynolds grabs Carnage and then rips him apart after taking him straight to space. Cage and Drew managed to take down Mr. Hyde before Hydro-Man slowly starts drowning them.

They still got out joining an ensuing fight alongside Cap and Spidey, which doesn't look good at all. Iron Man drops by to catch Cap mid-air when he was thrown away by Ironclad and join the party. Luke Cage comes across his arch-nemesis Purple Man, who orders him to first kill all his hero-buddies present there and then kill himself.

He was badly beaten down by Cage in response because he was sedated and his mind-power didn't work on him until he was stopped by Cap. Things wrapped up pretty fast when Sentry returns from his short trip and next day, Steve Rogers proposes to Tony Stark about forming an Avengers team with these newly assembled heroes.

One by one, he approached Cage, Jessica and Peter Parker to help him recapture 42 escaped prisoners. With an exception of Daredevil, everyone else gladly agrees to be part of his new team and meets at Stark Tower. They took Electro into custody and found clues that lead them to Savage Land, looking for Karl Lykos AKA Sauron.

Unable to access his S.H.I.E.L.D. file, New Avengers heads to the land of dinosaurs in a Quinjet that is stomped by a Tyranasaurus moments after their arrival. As they all got split up after that, Cage and Drew encounter X-Men member, Wolverine.

new avengers breakout marvel comics captain america spider-man luke cage brian michael bendis david finch
Raft Prison Break

Here is your links to buy "New Avengers – Breakout" from Marvel Comics in issues on Amazon.

New Avengers 01

New Avengers 02

New Avengers 03

New Avengers 04

New Avengers 05

New Avengers 06

Here is your links to buy "New Avengers – Breakout" from Marvel Comics on Amazon.

New Avengers – Breakout (Softcover)

New Avengers – Breakout (Hardcover)

Following events of "Avengers Disassembled", writer Brian Michael Bendis (House of M, Secret War) and artist David Finch (Moon Knight – Midnight Sun, Moon Knight – The Bottom) was hired by Marvel Comics to work on a spin-off series titled, New Avengers and "Breakout" is its first storyline that forms the foundation of their team.

With Fantastic Four out of scene and X-Men preoccupied, there is literally no one to stop any global threat and so, the assembled heroes formed a new team that aims to be a better version of Avengers. In the mean time, capturing escaped super-villains from Raft prison break keeps them busy until they come across some real threat.

new avengers breakout captain america spider-man iron man spider-woman luke cage wolverine sentry marvel comics brian michael bendis david finch
New Order of Avengers

Bendis successfully orchestrated a setting where some unlikely allies will assemble together for a single cause and bringing in 87 maniacal persona of Marvel Universe into that mix was a recipe that perfectly worked out for his plan. He also kept Spider-Woman's behavior somewhat mysterious to explore further in a later occasion.

Considering first story to debut a new series, "Breakout" spawns more secrets from friends and enemies than it actually resolves. Collecting first six issues of New Avengers monthly ongoing comic-book run, it is followed by "Sentry" up next that sees a long-awaited return of a classic superhero with a side order of a menacing terror.
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Thursday, April 24, 2008

Batman – Under the Hood | Comics

A buried past from many years ago comes back to haunt The Dark Knight as a brutal vigilante named Red Hood.

Years ago, when his first Robin, Dick Grayson was fired from duty for disobedience to his master (Nightwing – Year One), The Dark Knight started working alone again for some time. Even before when Tim Drake was drafted into this holy war against crime as The Boy Wonder, a brave, young boy from harsh streets of Crime Alley was recruited to a life-long crusade against crime.

That young boy, Jason Todd has eventually become the second Robin because of his unique potential after Batman apprehends him while trying to steal tire of Batmobile and soon Jason have learnt many feats of combat from his new mentor.

Though he was always overseen by Batman whenever they were on patrol, Jason was quite capable of defending himself on his own. However, the boy had a very bad-temper which would always get the best of him. Batman was afraid of this ever-so reckless attitude and often argued with him to rectify his mind-set.

Eventually, Jason got tricked and captured by The Joker in one instance and has nearly beaten him to death with a crowbar before leaving him for dead, rigged with explosives. Jason dies in an explosion before Batman could have ever reached out to rescue him in time (A Death in The Family).

batman red hood
Batman – Under the Hood | Comics

Years after, a mysterious figure suddenly starts terrorizing Gotham City criminal underworld that is currently dominated by a new crime-lord known as Black Mask, aided by right-hand man Li. This mysterious identity proclaims himself to be Red Hood and not only his actions have changed the tide of criminal underworld, it also drew Batman's attention.

He has been taking money from underworld goons and killing many of the drug-dealers in Gotham on occasion. To stop him for good, Black Mask starts assembling his men from everywhere and even enlists help from reputed super-villain Mister Freeze.

Meanwhile, Nightwing visits Gotham to accompany his mentor and they ended up following Red Hood, who led them to one of Black Mask’s secret shipment that turns out to be Amazo, an android that was originally designed to defeat every members of Justice League and now it has turned against The Dynamic Duo.

Although, this killer-robot is a pretty tough opponent and a force to be reckoned with, by working together, The Knight and his square managed to successfully take down Professor Ivo's amazing android and in the middle of this chaos, Red Hood managed to slip a crate full of Kryptonite to blackmail Black Mask.

Hiring Mister Freeze against Gotham's new vigilante menace proved less than effective. Plus, a timely intervention from The Bat and his second-in command has calmed the situation pretty quick. As Red Hood continues to hinder crime businesses all over the city, his true intentions and alignment still remains unclear to everyone.

In the mean time, the Clown Prince of Crime was sitting in the Fun House of an abandoned carnival, where Red Hood enters and savagely beats him down with a crowbar. When the latter finally removed his mask, it was revealed to be long presumed-dead Jason Todd.

For more information on Batman – Under the Hood storyline, you can check out these links below.

Batman – Under the Hood (Comics) Wikipedia


Batman – Under the Hood (Comics) DC Wikia


batman vs red hood
Red Hood's First Strike

Here is your links to buy "Batman – Under the Hood" from DC Comics in issues on Amazon.

Batman 635


Batman 636


Batman 637


Batman 638


Batman 639


Batman 640


Batman 641


Batman 645


Batman 646


Batman 647


Batman 648


Batman 649


Batman 650


Batman Annual 25


Here is your links to buy "Batman – Under the Hood" from DC Comics on Amazon.

Batman – Under the Hood Vol 01

Batman – Under the Hood Vol 02

Batman – Under the Hood

Released on 2005 from DC Comics, "Under the Hood" is a thirteen part storyline by renowned comic-book writer Judd Winick (Green Arrow, Green Lantern) and artists Doug Mahnke (Final Crisis, Justice League Elite), Eric Battle and Shane Davis, which ran into first monthly ongoing Batman comic series along with an Annual issue.

 Following the release of controversial "A Death in the Family" storyline in 1988, Jason Todd dies in action and after more than a decade in the wake of “Infinite Crisis” crossover event, he is brought to life in "Under the Hood" storyline as a new anti-hero of Gotham. Bringing Jason back in a new avatar really did wonders for his character as people really liked him as Red Hood more than his time as Robin.

red hood vs joker
The Joker Gets Payback

Events of this storyline was slightly hinted in previously released “Batman – Hush” and “Batman – As the Crow Flies” story arcs from the same publisher. Those tragic panels from "A Death in the Family" storyline is re-created again in an homage with the characters in reverse roles, serving The Joker as a victim to Jason Todd's vicious torture this time.

Script of this book was later adapted into a DC Universe Animated Original Movie titled, Batman – Under the Red Hood, releasing in 2010 and it was a nice adaptation. Actor Jensen Ackles portrayed Jason Todd's role through his voice-over work and it was impressive.
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