Laura Kinney (aka the sorta Wolverine clone/daughter) had been in a couple mini-series through the mid-2000s, focused primarily on her origins and how she got to the point of being where she was in the NYX mini-series which was her debut. This was her first ongoing series, running for 21 issues.
Marjorie Liu wrote the series, this being the same time when she was writing her Black Widow ongoing (see Sunday Splash Page #89). It's at an interesting moment for X-23. Her stint on Cyclops' Stabbity Kill Team had just wrapped up, as someone finally realized having the girl raised as a weapon treated as a weapon was maybe not the best strategy for her. Liu has Laura realize she doesn't really relate to the other kids on Utopia (since this was also during that stretch of X-Book stuff), and they're mostly afraid of her. The adults mostly treat her as something to either pity or monitor. A beaten dog that might bite anyone's hands.
A rough confrontation with a demon running around in Logan's body (as a result of some nonsense Jason Aaron cooked up to explain how Logan survives some of the crap he does) helped convince her it was time to go see who she was some place where people didn't know and immediately judge her.
Liu picks Gambit of all characters to act as Laura's travel buddy. Presumably because Gambit has done plenty of questionable things, and to a certain extent, he was raised that way, what with da T'ieves Guild (or however you would spell his accent phonetically) and all. Gambit does have some experience acting as a mentor to a teenage girl (teen Storm), but isn't necessarily going to do things the same way as Logan. He's a little more lighthearted, encouraging Laura to enjoy herself, trying to be playful.
A decent chunk of the series revolves around Laura dealing with the legacy of her existence, that she was created to be a weapon. She took a lot of lives (though not all the ones she was ordered to), and there are still people who want to profit from her one way or the other. So that's part of it, her trying to figure out how to move forward from that.
Liu also runs Laura into her, I guess half-brother, Daken. Gets a look at someone who is still a weapon, but tells himself it's solely on his terms. Logan eventually pops up, minus the demonic possession, but with Vampire Jubilee in tow. Which is its own opportunity for contrast. Not only between Laura and Jubilee (the former started as a weapon or creature of instinct and is trying to learn to be a person, the latter is reversed) but how Logan tends to act around Laura versus how he acts with Jubilee. There's a team-up involving Spider-Man and the Invisible Woman that had to do with the Enigma Force, and Liu draws a line under the relationship Laura had with Hellion at some point that I couldn't identify. Laura's growing and he doesn't fit, or he's still stuck in the past, or hasn't gotten over losing his hands somehow.
As with most Marvel comics at that point, the book goes through a bunch of artists. Will Conrad draws most of the first six issues, where Laura realizes she needs out of Utopia and runs afoul of Miss Sinister. Conrad's version looks the most underfed and haunted. Not exactly bags under the eyes, but she sees a lot, and she's exhausted inside.
Sana Takeda draws most of issues 7-12 (including the Paris jaunt with Jubilee), plus 3 out of 4 parts of Laura trying to babysit the Future Foundation kids, while Phil Noto draws 13-16 (which includes the first part of the babysitting story), plus issue 20 and 21. Takeda's work is very pretty, and manga-inspired, but Laura typically looks either bored or just out of it. Noto's art is, well, I know a lot of people like it, but I've never thought it was great for storytelling. Great for static images or reaction shots where you need emotion, but not so much if there's any action.
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