Fav X-23 artists!!
In celebration of Laura’s new mini (🍾🥂), here’s a countdown of some of my FAVORITE Laura Kinney art!
Mike Choi
Let’s be honest- Choi is pretty much *THE X-23* artist! From “Target X” to “X-Force vol. 3”, there’s just something about his art that always manages to capture Laura’s essence perfectly!
2) Joshua Middleton
I KNOW Middleton is a controversial choice…but there’s just something sad and tragic about his rendition of Laura that I really love. He’s one of the X-23 artists that I really wish would return on another X-23 book!
3) Will Conrad
It might be because of the Hellion and Laura “Killing Dream” scene, but Conrad is one of my favorite X-23 artists! While definitely not the strongest X-23 artist listed…I just really like his rendition of Laura!
(I think part of it is that I just like Laura with pouty lips!) 😂🤣
4) Billy Tan
Tan probably SHOULD be higher, simply because he did such a wonderful job with conveying a wide variety of emotions despite Laura being completely silent!!… Tan really makes “Innocence Lost” the power house book that it is and if it wasn’t for Choi and Middleton, I would probably say he is the most iconic X-23 artist!
5) Skottie Young
While I do weirdly enjoy Mark Brooks 90’s style chibi art…Young is definitely *THE New X-Men artist!* While I wasn’t much of a fan of his version of Julian…I deeply LOVE his Laura, Surge, Pixie, and Anole and appreciate how much Young IS the Bill Sienkiewicz of NXM!
6) Sana Takeda
Takeda is kind of a “hit or miss” for me…if I am being honest, I like Takeda’s rendition of Hellion better than I like her Laura.
Some of Takeda’s panels are really gorgeous and really fit the scene perfectly (like the panel of her with Jubilee!), and some just feel kind of out of place in an X-23 book; I would kind of compare it to “Batman: Gotham Knight” with bishie Bruce Wayne… sometimes it’s just a little bit jarring and it kind of takes me out of the moment.
7) Kalman Andrasofszky
While Andrasofszky has ONLY done covers…I tend to think they have all been pretty memorable! I especially LOVE his Hellion and Laura cover and I wish Andrasofszky was doing the main art for the new Schultz book!
8) Marcio Takara
I really enjoy Takara and how fun his art is; my only wish is that he had drawn Laura during her X-23 days, because I think his commission work of her is a bit better than his work on ANW. That being said- his Gabby is positively ADORABLE, as is his Jonathan!
9) Sara Pichelli
I REALLY love Pichelli’s art despite it being a Bendis book, focusing on Laura and O5 Angel, and Laura’s eye color being totally wrong!
Pichelli’s “goth Laura” is just absolutely beautiful! She’s another artist that I would love to see return to X-23, because her art is just Joelle Jones levels of beauty!
The nightclub ANXM issue is hands down some of the best Laura art out there and if it wasn’t for the coloring mistake, she’d probably be higher on the list for me!
10) Juann Cabal
While I don’t always love how Cabal does faces, he is definitely one of the most creative comic artists out there! The detail he puts in and how he stylizes the onomatopoeia is just really engaging! I especially LOVED his work in the “OWL” arc!
11) David Finch
While I am not always a big Finch fan, nor do I always think his art suits every character, I do really like his rendition of Laura. The excess of lines and grittiness just work really nicely with Laura and remind me of Jim Lee or Andy Kubert’s 90’s X-Men, but with a more modern color palette.
12) David Lopez
I really loved Lopez’s art when it first came out but have kind of cooled on it a bit since then. I think part of it is it just doesn’t really “look” like Laura to me. Compared to all the other artists, I just don’t feel like Lopez captures Laura’s “essence” as well as the others.
That being said, Lopez did a great job on “Four Sisters” and the panels in Paris are especially beautiful!
13) Phil Noto
Noto is that artist a LOT of people dislike because all his faces look more or less the same.
I will give Noto this- I think his “face” works well for Laura in this instance; there’s just something kind of innocent about it that I like. I also like how Laura is a little more “plain” and “awkward” in his work; she looks like a genuine teenager here. She blends in to the background more.
I know Laura is SUPPOSED to be very attractive, but in some ways I enjoy Noto’s plainer rendition and I often think Noto’s work is in general, better suited for teen books than drawing characters like Emma or Black Widow.
14) Clayton Crain
While I like Crain’s work and think it was a good choice for X-Force…it does sometimes bug me how “CGI”- lite it looks…it definitely hasn’t aged well.
Some panels are absolutely amazing…others…not so much!
While I do think Crain had improved over time, his old work is, for lack of a better word, sometimes kind of clunky!
Those are some of my personal favorites- Let me know if you agree…? Or disagree…?
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