This is a singularly unheroic cover image (even if it is by Barry Windsor-Smith). I question the use of this image to sell this trade. In story context, it is what it looks like: the New Mutants are bullying Empath from the Hellions. What’s worse is that Empath is wearing that terrible Hellion uniform. Put a pair of legwarmers on it and you could do an episode of the :20 Minute Workout. (One of my favorite shows from the 80’s.)
Unlike the previous review of X-Force, which features slightly older versions of some of the same characters in a meandering series of adventures, this volume is all over the place with no unified storyline. The issues here start with the fallout of Secret Wars II and end with the Mutant Massacre crossover event.
SWII was bad, really bad, though the first issue was actually good. The Beyonder came to earth and an ad hoc group of superheroes confronted him, but the rest of the series didn’t even come close to that level of excitement. I vaguely remember that during that series the Beyonder straight up killed all of the New Mutants. He brought them back later, but they were severely shaken by the experience.
(I went back and read that issue on an “archive” site. Magik offers herself as a sacrifice to the Beyonder to save her friends. He kills her and then proceeds to brutally murder the rest of them in anger and then completely erases all memory of them from existence. It was like a horror comic. I’d forgotten how chilling it was and I wonder how this got published.)
The Massacre may have been the first big crossover event. Most of the crossovers of the time were limited series of varying length. This one weaved a storyline between the X-Men, New Mutants, X-Factor, and Power Pack. (Power Pack? The little kids superhero group? That must have been a directive from the Marketing department.) Mr. Sinister sent a group of killer mutants, the Marauders, into the New York City sewers to kill all of the mutants there, the Morlocks (the non-pretty mutants), for some reason. The New Mutants got involved at the end of it. There were some lasting repercussions from this event, in particular, it indirectly created a spinoff group, Excalibur, with Kitty Pryde.
As a consequence of being between events, this volume is a bunch of filler stories, along with a couple of annuals and disconnected parts of a couple of crossovers. It’s a mixed bag, but it has a couple of things going for it. It’s all written by Chris Claremont, who takes this opportunity to really flesh out some of the characters. Most of the artwork is done by Jackson Guice. His art ebbs and flows a bit depending on who’s inking it, but it’s mostly great. One of the annuals is drawn by Arthur Adams which is also great (except for the story, we’ll get to that).
This volume picks up with the aftereffects from Secret Wars II. The resurrected New Mutants were so despondent that headmaster Magneto turned the group over to the Massachusetts Academy run by the Hellfire Club. (Magneto had reformed at this point, briefly, and Xavier left him in charge of the school.) Rather than join the Hellions, Danielle Moonstar (Mirage) left the group to return home. (A cross-country flight on the back of a Pegasus doesn’t seem like a good idea. Dani also questions this.)
Once there, she is harassed by a childhood friend who is prejudiced against her Indian heritage. He ends up in a wreck and she has to save him. An uncontrolled use of her mental powers reveals that he’s actually in love with her. As a Valkyrie, Dani tries to keep death from taking him, but he’s too far gone and has to let him go without ever really reconciling with him.
Dani is one of my favorite mutants. This issue spotlighting her might have helped my favorable feelings towards her. She’s beautiful, brave, moral, empathetic, and also has some emotional vulnerability, which occasionally overwhelms her. In the X-Force trade that I read recently, she was emotionally detached and aloof and not as interesting. The writer there didn’t entirely seem to know how to handle her, so he left her enigmatic.
Dani also has a seething hatred for “the White Man’s society,” as a proud Cheyenne. While she reminds the people around her of her heritage, her prejudice doesn’t seem to adversely affect how she treats everyone, which is a bit odd. Contrast this with James Proudstar (Thunderbird and later, Warpath) of the Hellions and an Apache, who is a lot more sure of himself and his background and not bearing pointless grudges.
Dani’s attitude is actually Chris Claremont, and to some extent his editor Ann Nocenti, using a mask to speak their own beliefs. Irrational, violent prejudice fits into the overall theme of the X-Men and mutants being discriminated against, but with Claremont this is personal and part of a larger Agenda. This isn’t the forum for a more detailed discussion on this, but always keep it in mind when reading Claremont’s X-Men.
While the end of the issue teases the next story being called, “Getting Even,” it’s actually another spotlight story, this one with Sam Guthrie, the New Mutant’s other co-leader. I’ve never quite understood Sam and Dani being “co-leaders.” That term is an oxymoron. The younger kids would defer to them, and Sam usually defers to Dani (and they end up in a disastrous adventure, but that’s how we get adventures).
Sam is awkward-looking and sounding, but more mature beyond his years. This issue basically features Sam having a fight with his rock star girlfriend, who’s a mutant that teleports to other planets and is also a notorious thief of valuable artifacts. Frankly, Sam having a girlfriend to begin with is the hard part to believe. (Thankfully, he’s more handsomely drawn when he’s older.)
The next issue, we “get even” and get a fill-in artist. The New Mutants go get revenge on Empath of the Hellions for messing with Magneto and a couple of people who work for the school. (Those two had previously got turned into Native Americans during the “Demon Bear” story. Talk about taking collateral damage.) Empath is an almost irredeemable character, but during the hazing, the Mutants start having second thoughts. That’s when Thunderbird and the Hellions show up to rescue him with without incident. James Proudstar comes off as a very honorable bad ass.
I wonder if Claremont was auditioning the Hellions as a spinoff series in their various appearances. Apart from the cartoonishly evil Empath, the rest of the group was pretty interesting, especially Thunderbird. With a little nuance, Empath could have been worthwhile, too. (Their malevolent headmistress, Emma Frost, was eventually rehabilitated, to some degree, and joined the X-Men.) Maybe management thought one junior team of X-Men was plenty, especially one run by the elitist Hellfire Club. Maybe some of the group was being groomed as replacements. Warpath would eventually join X-Force.
Next is another pointless fight with Legion. Legion goes crazy; the New Mutants have to deal with him . . . again. This is a villain that needs to be retired. As part of this story, Rahne’s old reverend nemesis shows up to call her “a creature from the pit.” This senseless encounter in a pointless story was the main reason for it. It’s more of Claremont’s Agenda, though it fits in with the X-Men’s general theme.
The next two issues are the New Mutants and the X-Men (featuring the New Mutants) annuals. Mojo is the villain in both, unfortunately. The whole Mojoverse/Spiral thing is some sort of social commentary, but comes off so obtuse as to be nearly incomprehensible. Mojo was introduced in the Longshot miniseries, which these annuals assume you’ve read. I don’t remember any of it, except for the great Arthur Adams artwork.
Basically, Mojo is an extra-dimensional TV producer always looking for new action/adventure content. In the NM annual, he kidnaps Psylocke (Betsy) and uses her to seduce kids into becoming superheroes under Mojo’s control? (I’m not sure what’s going on here.) The main reason for this is to introduce Betsy to the X-Men to join the group (and later become Olivia Munn as a hot Asian ninja with psychic powers). There seems to something between her and Doug (Cypher), though I think she’s several years older than him.
In the X-Men annual, we have what has to be a low-point in the X-Men’s career. Mojo turns the X-Men into the X-Babies. Art Adams’ incredible artwork is the only thing that keeps this from being total trash. The main point of this story is to introduce Longshot into the X-Men.
The New Mutants have to save the X-Men. They even wear their graduation costumes afraid that they’ll have to take over for them permanently. When Adams draws the New Mutants, he makes a slight change to their regular costumes. The girls have a “V-neck” cut on their uniforms. Unfortunately, the group’s regular artists didn’t pick up on this.
“We were only foolin’” is another Claremont Agenda story fighting the X-Men’s main enemy: prejudice (usually in the form of a discriminating White guy, who has no motivation to be so). This issue features Kitty, who was officially an X-Man, but hung out with the New Mutants, who were closer to her age. She drops an N-bomb in her speech at the end. (Did this ever happen in any other 80’s comic?) Given that she’s Jewish, I’m surprised there weren’t a couple other epithets added to her list of forbidden words. Still, it’s a well done story.
The next issue has the New Mutants peripherally involved in the Mutant Massacre event and none of them have a good reaction to it.
While trying to find Karma’s little brother and sister, suddenly Warlock’s father, Magnus, attacks them. He’s way overpowered for them. Magik attempts to spirit the group away to her sorcerous realm, Limbo, but Magnus follows them (with dire consequences in later issues), which forces them to blindly teleport away. This takes them to ancient Scotland to meet Robert the Bruce (?). At least Rahne is happy to meet one of her heroes. And this is where the volume ends.
Magik gets some spotlight in these final issues. She’s another of my favorites. Though she has what can only be termed as a tortured backstory, Illyana’s character is very clear. She’s almost the group’s analogue of Wolverine in attitude. Magik has an evil nature but with a noble soul, as noted with her sacrifice with the Beyonder. (She’s cool and good-looking. Why wouldn’t I like her?)
In the large cast of the New Mutants, everyone gets some time, but not everybody gets a spotlight in this volume. I’d say Karma in particular gets sidelined pretty badly. Her character never seems to really get developed in the series. Magma, meanwhile, has such a silly origin, she’s hard to take seriously, even with her regal bearing. These two are usually just relegated to a supporting role, in spite of their impressive powers.
Then you have Cypher. Doug really shouldn’t be adventuring with the group given he doesn’t have powers that would be useful in a fight. (It’s telling that he’s throwing a punch on the cover, but only after Empath isn’t able to use his powers.) This is constantly acknowledged, but he often comes to the fore in various stories. Is he supposed to be an “everyman” character that readers can relate to in the midst of superpowered beings? Somewhere in the future, he becomes overpowered, which completes the mistake of his creation. Doug should have been a cautionary tale about sending helpless characters into combat. After being tragically permanently injured, he should have been barred from leaving the mansion for missions.
So did I like this? This isn’t the best group of New Mutants stories. It’s all over the place and those places aren’t interesting. (Medieval Scotland in a superhero comic?) For me, at least, it’s seeing the characters, many of whom I really like. I’d have to pick the first issue with the spotlight on Dani as my favorite, just because I like her. The X-Men annual with the Arthur Adams artwork is certainly the best to just look at. The earlier Bill Siekiewicz issues are likely the series creative high point, along with the Rick Leonardi issues. (Legion and Warlock are clearly Bill’s characters with his unique artistic design. They should have been retired when he left the comic.) You can pass on this volume without really missing anything.
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