X-23: Deadly Regenesis

X-23: Deadly Regenesis #1-5

by Erica Schultz, Edgar Salazar (Artist), Carlos López (Colorist)

Assassin or X-Man? Revisit the deadly days of X-23! Laura Kinney was cloned from Logan and trained by the Facility to be a deadly killer. But even as she attempts to put that life behind her, forces will try to drag her back - and she must fight them tooth and claw! X-23 is beset by enemies both new and old in this tale set during her days as a member of the X-Men and X-Force, when she walked away from the island of Utopia to find where she truly belongs. Kimura once commanded X-23 for the Facility, and now she's back to pull the strings once again! But what is her master plan, and how far will X-23 have to go to save the innocent people caught in her sadistic nemesis' scheme? Collecting DEADLY REGENESIS #1-5.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, X Men, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

128 pages, Paperback

Published October 3, 2023

About the author

Erica Schultz is an American comic book writer, letterer, and editor. She is the first woman to write a Spawn comic, and is best known for her writing work at Marvel on titles like Daredevil, X-23, and Hallows' Eve.

Reviews

[Oscar · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was ok.

[johnny ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

it's good to see laura start to heal. i love her.

[FrontalNerdaty · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very safe story that doesn’t really impact anything in/ around Laura’s world. Attempted to show us Laura’s growth since her murderous childhood but is so predictable it negates it’s need to be a series.
Art is solid.

2/5.

[Nate Deprey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feels like a pocket adventure that never really settles in. My main objection is with Haymaker, it seemed big that there was a character who identified with they/them pronouns, especially an aspiring MMA fighter. That's a story! And one I'd be delighted to read. Instead, Haymaker is a bad guy of convenience for the early part of the story with a quick redemptive resolution at the end. While this collection is worlds better than Patch and Gambit, both recent failed miniseries that cover similar back stories for Wolverine and Gambit, it never really resolves anything for the main character. Laura Kinney starts off as a survivor, deeply regretful of her past and angry at the monsters who turned her into a killing machine and was honestly just handled a lot better in Tom Taylor's All New Wolverine.

[Khurram · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ok X-23 story. Nothing really new where. When Wolverine made the decision to remove X-23 from X-Force do she could have a chance at a normal life, getting thrown back into her old life probobly was not his plan, I mean it only happened to him a thousand times right?

Laura is trying to find her way in the world. The trouble is that people from her past want her back. Laura is physically and emotionally manipulated/forced to once again become the assassin she once was.

My problem with this book is that it has been fond before with both Laura and Logan. I would like to see Laura take a different direction from Logan or have him be more of a mentor/father figure to her than just sending her off on her own. The book finishes with a varient cover gallery.

[TJ, the Librarian. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved being back in the older days of Laura. This felt like a redo of her original ongoing, and I appreciate that. Overall, this was strong, but I feel like the last issue could have been expanded into two. The ending felt a bit rushed. 4.5/5 stars

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overcoming conditioning. Nasty methods of control. Learning from the past.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well this was painfully derivative. A retread of plot beats done better by Laura's original creators, it's more of Laura being forced to take the abuse of Kimarua. There's a new villain introduced here, Haymaker, but I retained so little of their story and exact power set that I doubt we ever see them again. Seems weird and kinda pointless to put this out during the Krakoa era but it's set during her Utopia days. It didn't exactly enhance who Laura is as a character and hero.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feels like it tries to hard to be what Laura's stories used to be. But at the same time has entertaining parts. I felt the art held it back from having the more gritty, grounded feel that we got in the early X-23 days. I miss that grit and blood filled pages but overall decent.

[Sana · Rating 3 out of 5]

'With all I have been, I wonder... ..what will I be now?'

I'm missing some of the context here since I haven't yet read the X-Force series featuring Laura but yeah, this is pretty much like any other X-23 comic where people from her past plot to use her against her will and to their advantage by forcing her into it. Still, it was an interesting glimpse of Laura in her X-23 days.

The best part about this was easily that we have a canonically (transmasc) non-binary character re: Jordan Gastin/Haymaker who's an MMA fighter and damn good at it. That's cool as fuck! Plus, a Laura/Jordan team-up for the win

[salomé · Rating 4 out of 5]

une très bonne lecture, un plaisir de voir laura essayer de trouver sa voie
j’ai beaucoup aimé son duo avec haymaker

après j’ai trouvé l’histoire un peu basique: un méchant de son passé vient la hanter et elle doit prendre sa revanche. C’est cool mais c’est des ressorts narratifs qu’on voit souvent dans les comics…

[Tyler Jenkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. Not bad, not necessarily worth a read. As far as these past obsessed X-Men comics go it’s a decent one. The one that just started today is really good actually. But this just didn’t catch my interest but I always gotta know how it ends.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25
Good story. Good art. X-23 is a super interesting character when done well. The end wrapped up a little too neatly.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bland rehashing of X-23's past catching up with her, her facing her demons and healing. Annoying use of politically charged pronouns for unknown characters.

[marwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

nice to see Laura healing 💘💘

[Fazun · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

[Emmett Spain · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating and absorbing story that fits well into X-23’s continuity. I really enjoyed it.

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars

That it’s not the worst thing written during this era is a damning indication of how bad some of the other books were.

Empty headed, weightless writing with function but uninspiring art.

For those looking to do a complete read of the Krakoan era, this can be skipped as it has very little link to anything going on in the x books and is far from necessary reading in the cannon of X-23 herself.

[J B]

Good characterization and decent introduction to Laura Kinney (Wolverine). Art is great, and the plot works well, although it feels a bit transitory. I’d say give it a read if you like the main character.

[Poison Ivy 🌵 · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’re a fan of X-23, this book is fine. She’s left Utopia to try and work on her mental health, past trauma, and atoning for her actions as an assassin.
I feel like the concept of “healing” is not new to Laura Kinney though, and so this book didn’t feel unique. Still, it wasn’t bad.

There were a couple things in issue 4 that made me ask myself some questions, mainly: where are her friends? Laura has a lot of people who look after her, not just Logan but her gal pals Rachel Summers and Kitty (Kate) Pryde. I highly doubt, even if she was being stubborn and refused to ask for help, that NOONE would question “what’s going on with Laura, we should check on her…” I think a story about healing would’ve been more competent by telling readers “it’s okay to have help, you don’t have to do everything alone” instead of portraying characters who need some heavy duty therapy as complete loners.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story about a more feral version of X-23 from the time of the X-Men on Utopia. She gets recaptured by Kimura, who tortured and used her when she was younger, and does her bidding for a bit, but turns the tables on her. Overall, this was a decent read, only made not so great because I thought, as a new X-Title, it was currently continuity, but it wasn't. As a standalone? Just fine.

[Aurelie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting and sweet side story for Laura aka X-23. To dive back into her past, dive back to Kimura and all that went on, at first felt a bit repetitive but the conclusion was nice and I enjoyed it. The art was great with many callbacks from NYX. A good addition to the X-23 collection.

[Matthew Randell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice but unnecessary

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a filler arc, and meh, not that bad, not that good either.

Its set in the past during X-Force/Utopian X-Men era so just to clarify that and sees Laura back under the control of Kimura as she is working for someone else, not shocking who it is, and first she fights off that but then realizing she has to play the game else other peoples lives are in danger and she tries to be heroic but well that doesn't work, and we see her trying to doo Kimura's bidding and also being heroic, this is not new, I feel like I have already read that story before, albeit this is done in a different way, so yeah there's that. There is also a new enemy called "Haymaker" and idk should have built him up, as the threat they were, like making him hero all of a sudden was wild.. also explain why he will work for Kimura when she killed his brother lol.

So many plot holes but yeah it could have been better exploring Haymaker as a villain and by the end building up to him being a hero so yeah missed opportunities but Kimura is feral here and the writer wrote her well, the kingpin stuff was un-necessary and doesn't really move the plot forward.

So yeah a quick one time read, pretty forgettable, if you wanna read something light and forget about it, pick this one, or else just skip this. Its nothing you haven't read already.

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marvel spends a LOT of time looking back at its past.

Here's a prime example of it. This takes place back in the era of X-Men living in their San Francisco safezone, Utopia. It's technically before issue #4 of X-23's original series from back in 2010. Filling in a gap isn't always necessary (or fun). This is one of those times. The character has grown so much in the last decade. It's all been organic and with well crafted stories.

This? This is a hole in continuity that they spackled a story into. Characters are not as fleshed out as they are now. It all feels slapped together.

It doesn't make it a BAD story, but it's just unnecessary.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rounding up here as this was an incredibly generic, by the book story. Author Erica Schultz pulls all the X-23 classics (Kimura, healing factor nullified, missions against her will, etc) but there are some nice flashbacks, good inner monologue from Laura, and solid Edgar Salazar art. The story itself was beyond basic and a much too fast read. Haymaker is a goofy character with little interest and could have easily been a 90s annual character. Overall, Laura is a great character but writers need to tell more than one story with her.

[Jourdy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was…not good. Why is Laura talking like that??? She knows how to speak like a normal person. I also didn’t like the art at all. The ending was good but it was…just weird in all honesty like I understand what they were going for but I feel like you needed to know much more about her background to get it or this writer just wasn’t very good at making characters relatable or…seem like themselves.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

These flashback Marvel stories don't interest me a whole lot but I'm a completionist so there you go. It's set in the Utopian era of X-Men. Laura has just left X-Force (one of the best iterations of that team IMO.) She heads to Minnesota and of course Kimora goes after her. That seems to be the only villain she'd go up against in this era. It's fine, but nothing special since they can't really do much.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the Legacy-X comics during the Krakoa era were garbage, to the point where I have no idea why I bought this one. But, it turns out this one was pretty good! Great characterization for Laura, some nice continuity tying to her past appearances, and a nice story. It was worth reading & keeping, possibly unlike any of the other legacy comics in this era.

[Ray Andrus · Rating 1 out of 5]

The ending ruined this story.