MARVEL COMICS
Collectable Art Cover!
Mike Deodato, Jr.'s "X-23" and the Eye of The Beholder
WOLVERINE has been one of Marvel's most popular characters for decades. Like many Marvel characters, Wolverine's popularity grew even more considerably when live-action films came into the mix and brought an entirely new fanbase into comics. As one measure of a character's popularity is the number of "sequels" or "spin-off" characters they inspire, it's evident that Wolverine's first cinematic appearances in the early Fox X-Men films played a critical role in the First Appearance in comics of his first "spin-off" character, Laura Kinney a.k.a. X-23, in 2004. And while other, newer Wolverine "spin-offs" have been introduced since, including variant iterations of Wolverine himself, X-23 was also the first such character to follow the original into live-action in the 2017 film, Logan.
Production was in the early stages when X-23 began receiving bigger roles in Marvel's comics, among them the higher-profile Avengers spin-off series, Avengers: Arena (2013). One of the main characters of the book's large ensemble cast, she even earned herself an amazing solo cover for the series' fourteenth issue, illustrated by Mike Deodato, Jr.
Avengers Arena #14, for its X-23 cover, was immediately collectable because of X-23's appearance on it alone. And, as Logan's premiere inched ever closer, the book's value increased upward to perhaps its highest point. In the years since Logan, X-23 has played a bigger role within the X-Men franchise and Deodato's cover has remained a hot property. It's collectability, however, has moved on from X-23's presence on the cover to X-23's function on the cover, where she serves as "stand-in" for Wolverine in what is now more broadly recognized as an HOMAGE to Wolverine's first solo series cover as illustrated by Frank Miller in 1982.
The homage to Miller, of course, was always Deodato's intention; it just wasn't noticed to the degree it is today. Wolverine is back in the public eye, today more than ever, perhaps, and it's the Homage to Wolverine #1 that now fuels the fire of fan interest in Avengers Arena #14.
(We'll also note that what originally brought us to this book was Deodato's artwork. He's an outstanding creator and one of our longtime Marvel faves, and Issue #14 was a sweet addition to our collection of covers by the artist.)
No matter what's brought you to this book, it's clear that Deodato's X-23 solo cover is a "Must-Have" for a wide range of Wolverine fans and Marvel collectors. Give your collection what it deserves by adding a great copy of this outstanding Homage to your long-box today!
AVENGERS ARENA #14-A (OF 18)
(VOL 1, OCT 2013)
Mike Deodato, Jr. Regular Art Cover feat. X-23 (Laura Kinney) - an Homage to Wolverine #1 (1982) by Frank Miller
First Printing
DESCRIPTION _______________