X-23 Reading Order: The Laura Kinney Comics Guide for 2026

X-23 is one of the great modern Marvel success stories: a character created for a cartoon who grew into one of the most compelling figures in the X-Men corner of the universe. Laura Kinney was engineered as a living weapon, a female clone of Wolverine, and her comics have spent nearly twenty years asking whether a person built to kill can choose to be something more. She has since inherited Logan’s very name, becoming the Wolverine. That is a remarkable journey, and it is very readable if you take it in the right order.

This guide lays out a complete X-23 reading order, from Laura’s brutal origin through her time on X-Force, her solo series, and her run as the All-New Wolverine. Content note: her earliest stories deal frankly with child exploitation, self-harm, and trauma, and are written for mature readers. Handled well, that darkness is exactly what makes her eventual growth so moving.

Two ways to start: origin-first or mantle-first

There are two sensible entry points to X-23, and both are valid. You can start at the very beginning with her origin miniseries, which is powerful but dark, or you can start with the lighter, more accessible All-New Wolverine run and circle back to the origin once you are invested. If you want the smoothest introduction, begin with All-New Wolverine. If you want the full emotional arc in order, begin with Innocence Lost. This guide runs in chronological order so you can slot in wherever you like.

New to mutants in general? Our X-Men reading order and Marvel reading order for beginners are gentler on-ramps to the wider universe, and our Wolverine reading order covers the man whose legacy Laura carries.

Stage 1: The origin — Innocence Lost (2005)

Start Laura’s story with X-23: Innocence Lost (2005) by co-creators Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost, with art by Billy Tan, collecting the six-issue miniseries. It tells how the Facility, unable to recreate Wolverine, instead cloned him and raised the resulting girl as a weapon, subjecting her to conditioning, forced missions, and abuse. Laura first appeared in NYX #3 (2004), but this is the story that gives her a full, devastating origin.

It is a hard read by design, and it establishes the trauma Laura spends the rest of her career overcoming. Kyle and Yost, who created the character for the X-Men: Evolution animated series, treat her with real seriousness here.

Stage 2: On the run — Target X (2007)

Continue with X-23: Target X (2007) by Kyle and Yost with art by Mike Choi, collecting the six-issue sequel. Having escaped the Facility, Laura tries to find a life and a family in the outside world while assassins hunt her. Choi’s art is a big step up in polish, and the story bridges her origin and her arrival in the wider X-Men world. Together, Innocence Lost and Target X form the complete origin saga, and they are collected in the X-23: The Complete Collection as well.

Read as a pair, these two books tell you everything about where Laura comes from and why she struggles to see herself as more than a weapon.

Stage 3: The X-Force years (2008-2010)

Laura joins the black-ops mutant team in the X-Force relaunch that began in 2008, written by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost with striking painted art by Clayton Crain. This is Wolverine’s brutal covert squad, and Laura fits its violent world uneasily, which is the point. Start with the opening arc, Angels and Demons, and continue through Old Ghosts and the crossover events Messiah War and Second Coming.

This era pushes Laura to her darkest and sets up the internal conflict her solo series resolves. If the covert-team angle appeals, our X-Force reading order maps the whole squad in detail.

Stage 4: The first solo series (2010-2012)

Marjorie Liu’s X-23 ongoing, running 2010-2012 with artists including Will Conrad and Sana Takeda, is the emotional heart of the character. Freed from the team, Laura sets out to discover who she is when no one is giving her orders, crossing paths with Gambit, Wolverine, and even the wider Marvel universe along the way. Liu writes her with enormous empathy, and the run is where Laura truly begins to choose her own humanity.

It is collected as X-23 by Marjorie Liu: The Complete Collection, and it is the run many fans point to as the definitive solo X-23. It reads beautifully as a standalone.

Stage 5: The time-displaced era (2013-2015)

Laura next became a key member of the time-displaced team in Brian Michael Bendis’s All-New X-Men, where the original teenage X-Men are pulled into the present. She joins the group, forms a close bond with the young Warren Worthington, and grows a great deal as a person. This era is collected in All-New X-Men trades and is a lighter, more hopeful phase after the darkness of X-Force.

It also sets up her next huge step, because it puts Laura front and center just as the adult Wolverine, Logan, is written out of the picture, leaving the mantle open.

Stage 6: Becoming Wolverine — All-New Wolverine (2015-2018)

This is the run that made Laura a star. Tom Taylor’s All-New Wolverine (2015-2018), with art by David Lopez and others, has Laura take up the Wolverine name after Logan’s death. Start with Vol. 1: The Four Sisters, collecting issues #1-6, which introduces her young clone and comic foil, Gabby, better known as Honey Badger. Taylor balances real stakes with genuine warmth and humor, and the result is one of the most beloved X-books of its era.

Continue through the rest of Taylor’s run, including Enemy of the State II and Immune, for a complete, satisfying arc about a former weapon choosing to be a hero. It is the ideal jumping-on point if you want the accessible version of Laura first.

Stage 7: Back to X-23 (2018)

When the adult Logan returned, Laura went back to the X-23 name in a 2018 solo series by Mariko Tamaki with art by Juann Cabal, teaming her permanently with Gabby. Start with Vol. 1: Family Album and continue with Vol. 2: X-Assassin. Tamaki leans into the found-family dynamic between the two sisters while confronting the lingering shadows of Laura’s origin, making it a warm, character-driven capstone to this phase of her story.

It is a shorter run but a rewarding one, and it cements Gabby as one of the best additions to Laura’s world.

Stage 8: The Krakoa era and beyond (2019- )

In the Krakoa era, Laura appears throughout the X-line, including a prominent role in Benjamin Percy’s X-Force (2019) alongside Logan. More recent highlights worth chasing include the miniseries X-23: Deadly Regenesis (2023), which revisits her origins, and the 2024 relaunch of NYX, which reunites several street-level young mutants. You do not need all of it, but these are strong stops once you are invested.

By this point Laura has evolved from a lab-made weapon into one of Marvel’s most fully realized heroes, and her later appearances reward everything you have read before.

Reading order at a glance

Step	Title	Collects / era	Best for
1	X-23: Innocence Lost	Miniseries (2005)	The origin
2	X-23: Target X	Miniseries (2007)	Escape and aftermath
3	X-Force (Kyle and Yost)	2008-2010	The dark covert years
4	X-23 (Marjorie Liu)	2010-2012	The definitive solo run
5	All-New X-Men	2013-2015	The lighter team era
6	All-New Wolverine	2015-2018	Most beginner-friendly on-ramp
7	X-23 (Mariko Tamaki)	2018	The found-family capstone
8	Krakoa era and beyond	2019-	Where she is now

Start at step 1 for the full arc, or jump to step 6 for the friendliest entry, then circle back. Both routes lead to the same rich character.

Where to buy and how to collect

Laura’s early stories are gathered in X-23: The Complete Collection volumes, while the modern runs are easy to find in standard trade paperbacks, typically around US$15-20 each. All-New Wolverine is also collected in larger deluxe editions. Marvel’s digital subscription service carries essentially all of it, which is a low-risk way to sample eras before buying print.

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Where to go after X-23

Laura is one thread in the huge mutant tapestry. To broaden out, our X-Men reading order covers the wider franchise and our best X-Men comics guide ranks the highlights. Go deeper on the man whose name she carries with our Wolverine reading order, and if you are newer to the publisher, our Marvel reading order for beginners is the place to start. Want another modern Marvel legacy hero? Try our Spider-Man 2099 reading order.

Frequently asked questions

Where should a beginner start with X-23?

For the friendliest entry, start with All-New Wolverine, Vol. 1: The Four Sisters (2015) by Tom Taylor, which is funny, accessible, and introduces her sidekick Gabby. For the full emotional arc in order, begin with her origin, X-23: Innocence Lost (2005), keeping in mind that it is a dark, mature story.

Is X-23 the same character as Wolverine?

Laura Kinney is a clone of Wolverine (Logan), created as a living weapon, and she is very much her own person. After Logan died in the comics, Laura took up the Wolverine name and costume in the All-New Wolverine series (2015), before later returning to the X-23 identity.

Do I need to read Wolverine comics first?

No. Laura’s stories stand on their own, and her origin miniseries assumes no prior reading. A general familiarity with Wolverine and the X-Men adds context, but every run on this list can be enjoyed without homework.

What is the best X-23 solo run?

Two are essential. Marjorie Liu’s X-23 (2010-2012) is the definitive emotional solo run, while Tom Taylor’s All-New Wolverine (2015-2018) is the most beloved and accessible. Read Liu for depth and Taylor for heart and humor.

Keep exploring with our X-Men reading order and best X-Men comics guide.