X-23 Innocence Lost

The illustrations of this comic are sketchy, much like the Batman Year One comic. The faces of characters are usually detailed, except when the villains are standing in the shadows a lot. The artwork reflects the gloomy tone of the story. Light colors are usually used like grays and blues. The frames also overlap each other a lot, which was interesting because it played with the timeline of the story.

This story is told from a letter that Dr. Kinney has written to X-23, so there is a lot of inner dialogue. I don't think that would translate well in another form of entertainment, such as a movie or novel. Even though Dr. Kinney is telling the story from her letter we see the viewpoint of different characters. That would probably be confusing if it wasn't in a graphic novel where we can see the viewpoint switch by way of the photos while Dr. Kinney's inner voice can still be heard by the words.

I think the point that this comic is trying to make is that part of having ethics is going against your nature sometimes. A lot of the characters are very jaded and they have to fight against that aspect of themselves when making moral decisions. For instance, X-23 is raised as a weapon and crosses ethical boundaries a lot by killing people. However, she begins to develop her own morals and struggles with what she has done and whether someone like her can still be a good person. The fact that she could easily be a cruel person because of her past but a part of her fights against that shows a strong inner character that most superheroes have.

An important passage is after X-23 is sent on a secret mission to kill a certain family. She reveals the family to Dr. Kinney who becomes outraged and tells X-23 that she's going to get her out of there. X-23 responds by asking if it's a mission. This stood out to me because it portrays how X-23's life is nothing but "missions" and killing. In order to understand what Dr. Kinney is saying to her she has to relate it to a mission. I think that is significant to understand the overall story of how X-23 has to struggle to understand her humanity with her upbringing.