Daken, Dark Wolverine Vol. 1: Empire

Daken is an intriguing character in that he is like a younger version of Logan but with an ambitious drive that Logan doesn't have do to his age & experience.  Whereas Wolverine is trying to atone for his past, everything he does is to in some way make up for something he regrets.  Daken is still young & willing to do anything to get what he feels is his in this world.  Laura on the other hand is trying to find her place in the world since leaving X-Force.  She knows that her life experiences have made her an outcast in the eyes of many of the X-Men similar to the way Wolverine probably felt when he first joined Alpha Flight.  However she wants to be in control of her future instead of having someone make her decisions for her like when she was an assassin.  Unlike X-23 Daken is not a clone of Wolverine but his actual son this makes her the closest thing he has to a sibling.  Daken is filled with rage & vengeance which makes for a great read but this first volume like that of X-23 is all set up in the Heroic Age & tying into the Wolverine Goes to Hell story arc.  I actually liked this better than the first volume of X-23 because there was more characterization with Daken than with Laura.  He is a character that you know is up to no good yet you still want to read it because he draws you in similar to the pheromone part of his mutation it can be used to manipulate people.  Just seeing how he interacted with Mystique was proof that there is more to him than he lets on.  This volume did a great job setting up the Collision story arc unlike X-23's first volume; bring on Collision.

  

X-23 Vol. 1: The Killing Dream

This is the first volume of the X-23 series that started with the Heroic Age alongside Jason Aaron's Wolverine series.  The first story-arc in this book ties in with the Wolverine goes to Hell arc.  X-23 is one of my favorite mutants in the X-Men ever since she was introduced in X-Men: Evolution.  I really liked how this book started out but the second story-arc was only OK.  I don't know if it is just me or did the artist Will Conrad model his interpretation of Laura Kinney off of writer Marjorie Liu.  This series is a perfect jumping on point for fans of the character it takes place after X-Men: Second Coming which puts an end-cap on her X-Force activities.  One of the redeeming things about the second story in this is origin of the relationship between Laura & Gambit but also the return of Mr. Sinister who supposedly died back in X-Men: Messiah Complex.  Marjorie Liu is kinda like Marvel's answer to Gail Simone over at DC, however that title may soon be given to Kelly Sue DeConnick for her Captain Marvel series.  I know this is a short series since it only lasted for a little of twenty issues,  but I'll enjoy every bit of it.

  

Thief of Thieves Vol. 3: Venice

This is it the Venice job Conrad has been planning for three years; the plan he has been working on when he up & quit.  Conrad has played almost everybody in this book so far & this is only the third volume.  Andy Diggle jumps on for this arc which is awesome because this kind of heist is right up is alley.  There is definitely going to be some major fallout from this volume especially where Arno is concerned.  I really want to see Agent Cohen shine at some point, it seems they keep building to her big moment & then she gets played for such a fool.  I mean she seems to be smarter than the rest of the agents in her division & she even knows she got played at the end of this book.  The Venice job is similar to something from Oceans 11 mixed with the Italian Job.  Its simplistic on paper but the attention to detail makes it seem so complicated.  Again this is were the art & the layout shine, it perfectly complements the story were the writing leaves off.  By the end of this volume the look on Conrad's face says it all.  I still don't know as a reader if everything went the way he planned, but it seems that it did.  I really want to know what is going to happen next.