NYX #3

History

The NYX series originated from a concept writer Brian Wood developed in 2001 for Marvel's MAX imprint alongside artist David Choe, but Marvel shelved the project as unsuitable for their audience; Wood later recycled elements of the concept into his creator-owned series Demo. Marvel then handed the property to then-Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada, who rebuilt it from scratch — his inspiration drawn from a personal encounter seeing teenage squatters in Manhattan's Alphabet City — pairing himself with rising cover artist Joshua Middleton for the first four issues. The series was initially planned as an ongoing, but was shortened to a seven-issue miniseries; chronic script delays from Quesada meant the run stretched from late 2003 all the way to September 2005. X-23 herself had been created by Craig Kyle for the X-Men: Evolution animated series in 2003, and the character's positive reception there prompted Marvel to insert her into the NYX storyline — a creative handoff that introduced her to comics readers while her full origin backstory would not be told until the separate Kyle-and-Yost miniseries X-23: Innocence Lost (2005).

Trivia · 9 facts

• First comic-book appearance of Laura Kinney (X-23), a female clone of Wolverine created through the Weapon X program — her physical appearance, adamantium claws, and regenerative abilities are showcased, but her name and backstory are withheld entirely in this issue.
• X-23 is not named in this issue; the name 'X-23' is first spoken in NYX #4 (July 2004 cover date), making #3 and #4 companion keys for collectors tracing the character's introduction.
• Written by Joe Quesada (then Marvel's Editor-in-Chief) with interior art and coloring by Joshua Middleton; colors also by Jean-François Beaulieu; letters by Chris Eliopoulos; edited by C.B. Cebulski and MacKenzie Cadenhead.
• The issue was released in December 2003 (cover-dated February 2004) as part three of the 'Wannabe' story arc; the seven-issue series ran under the Marvel PSR+ (ages 13 and up) rating.
• X-23 had debuted months earlier in animation — Season 3, Episode 10 of X-Men: Evolution (August 2003), created by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost — making her one of the rare Marvel characters whose canonical first appearance predates her comics debut.
• Joshua Middleton was nominated for the 2004 Eisner Award for Best Cover Artist in recognition of his work on NYX alongside other Marvel titles.
• The issue was reprinted in the Marvel Must Haves #22 (a digest-format reprint series) alongside NYX #1–2; that reprint, with a reported print run of approximately 10,000 copies, came out before NYX #4 reached stores.
• The full NYX run (#1–7) plus the follow-up miniseries NYX: No Way Home (#1–6) were collected together in the NYX: The Complete Collection trade paperback (2016); NYX #3 and the X-23 origin miniseries were also collected in the NYX/X-23 hardcover (2005) and in X-23: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 (2016).
• Dafne Keen portrayed Laura Kinney in Logan (2017), directed by James Mangold — a film whose story draws heavily on the X-23 comics framework — and reprised the role in Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), cementing the character's status in live-action Fox/Marvel film continuity.

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