D&D-A
Darkened Wish
I’ll sum this up in one word: gay.
Interpret that as you will. I’m sure the writer would say, “Why, thank
you.” Really, they should have warning
labels on comics, not for age, but rather sensibilities. Let us say, het-pale-male was not the target
audience for this comic. I love the
cover, but even though it’s by the same artist, the artwork inside isn’t
anywhere near as appealing. As for the
story, I got no idea what’s going on. It
didn’t make any sense, and I suspect reading issue #1 would not have
helped.
Check out all of these other (hopeful better) comics that IDW is publishing. I see G.I.
Joe, Star Wars, Star Trek, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Disney
characters, Batman, and Marvel characters. I’m guessing the Marvel comics are kids
versions of various superheroes.
Clearly, nobody working at Marvel would be capable of making a comic for
kids or even human beings at this point.
There was an ad in the back for a Godzilla
comic. IDW apparently wants as many
licensed properties as they can get. If
only there was a better, more accessible, venue than comic book stores for
these kind of comics. Not the one I
bought, of course. This comic should be
kept in the darkest corner of the most obscure shops.
Regardless, I only bought this comic as a throw-in
extra. The below comic was what I was
there for.
The
New Mutants-War Children
I thought this was a facsimile edition of an 80’s New Mutants comic that I didn’t
recognize. I certainly recognized the
names on it: writer Chris Claremont
and artist Bill Sienkiewicz (hereto after
referred to as just Bill). As soon as I
saw that combination of title and creators listed for this week’s releases, I
hopped right down to Zia Comics for
it. I, rather embarrassingly, didn’t
notice on my first flip through that it was, in fact, a new comic book. I had to look twice to figure that out. Suddenly, I was even more excited. This was a brand new adventure with the New
Mutants.
Why was I excited?
I didn’t have a good introduction to the junior team of X-Men.
This group has always suffered from the poor team name. Not to mention, they have a poor origin. This group was recruited by a Brood-infected Xavier for the purpose of being super-powered hosts for the alien
species. It was never an auspicious
start. I never read their first
appearance (though I think Karma
appeared in an earlier comic) in their graphic novel. (I saw it once in a used bookstore and passed
it over. Mistake. Just like getting rid of my Demon Bear trade paperback.)
The premise kept getting worse. I think their first crossover was with Team America, a bunch of guys riding
motorcycles who fight crime. (It was
also later revealed that they were mutants too, like everyone in Marvel Comics at the time.) They lost member Karma in that exchange with
only perfunctory tears shed by her teammates.
They then immediately picked up a new member, Magma, who was living in a lost Roman civilization hidden in the
middle of the Amazon jungle. Yeah. I collected nearly the first year of the
comic before I finally bailed.
Further irritating me, right after that, Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter must have agreed with my
opinion and ordered a shakeup. What
followed was a tremendous run with Bill and Claremont changing the comic for
good and for the better. New members
were added. Old ones were more sharply
defined. Conflicts included the creation
of their rivals, the Hellions, at
the Hellfire Club-run academy. The apex of this version of the team resulted
in my favorite comic book: New Mutants
Special Edition #1. With Arthur Adams’ finely detailed, but
playful and friendly, artwork, the kids had an incredible adventure in Asgard with lasting consequences.
All good things come to an end. Some other artists came along, but the strong
precedent produced some good work. But
when Claremont left, the comic took a sharp downturn. When you introduce a bird-man character
named, Birdbrain, you can’t
expect quality stories at that point.
Then Rob Liefield came on and
took the group in a totally different direction to become X-Force. It wasn’t to my
tastes, but that was easily the most popular incarnation of the group. Later, under another change of concept,
X-Force, somewhat at loose ends, took a road trip across the country. I picked up these issues in a $1 box later. It was one of the most refreshing comic book storylines
I’d ever read. It felt like a true
follow up to the New Mutants.
Bill’s art style might not be to everyone’s tastes. I’ve seen him compared unfavorably to Neal Adams. I’ve seen Bill on Moon Knight, Daredevil,
and Elektra: Assassin. All he does is make great comics. His work on the New Mutants was probably his
most complete expression, whether he’d see it that way or not. The bold characterization and visuals of the
New Mutants during his run became indelible in the minds of many of the
readers.
For this issue, the artwork was all-over-the-place
wild. The story was disjointed and a bit
hard to follow. (If you don’t know the
characters well, don’t even bother picking this up.) It was overpriced and had a bunch of ads that
disrupted the flow of the story even further.
Even for the extra price, it was printed on cheaper paper than the thicker
paper that the various facsimile editions were printed on.
I liked it.
It was great seeing the classic New Mutants team again in
a new adventure. The artwork was dramatic
and evocative and emotive. The story basically
examined the characters. With their
complexity, it worked well. It was an
all-too brief visit with old literary friends.
Some were way too brief. That’s
the problem with working with large ensemble casts. For a one-shot, some characters are going to
be slighted in favor of a couple of others.
The characters were all fully in their familiar voices. It was like slipping on a comfy old pair of
jeans for a long-time fan. If you’re one
of those people, you’ll like it too.
I was made aware that there were some persistent
complaints about the linguist character, Cypher,
who does play a prominent role in this issue.
Doug Ramsey was introduced as
a friend of Kitty Pride well before
becoming a member, or even knowing he was a mutant. I never questioned having the character on
the team, even without any offensive powers, since he’d usually prove useful in
some other aspect. Frankly, not every
mutant has great powers. This is way it
actually should be, though this did take it to an extreme. The New Mutants weren’t supposed to be a
combat team like the X-Men. (Of course,
conflict happened anyway.)
Apparently, some writers and the fans disliked his
helpless status (even though he was usually paired up with Warlock in combat) and wanted him killed off, which one writer did,
and then replaced him with Birdbrain (?).
Cypher was later brought back with some uber-version of his powers
imaginatively tricked out. It was sort
of like when Princess Projectra came
back as Sensor Girl in the Legion of Superheroes. (It was questionable both times.)
My favorite character, Magik, had a mutant teleportation power, which she had trouble
controlling (which led to a memorable time travel adventure into the future),
and had a sword that could disrupt magic, which the team usually never fought
against. Sunspot’s super strength power was initially almost useless at
night. My next favorite, Mirage’s power just made scary
illusions (much later upgraded to psychic arrows) and she was the team’s combat
leader. The New Mutants were a team of
kids still learning their powers. In
certain situations, all of them were “useless.”
That’s why they were a team.
If you have no familiarity with these characters, you’re
going to have to wait a bit. We might
finally see a heavily-edited version of their Fox movie next year that fits into the MCU. (Fox waited too late to
make this movie for their X-Men franchise.)
That girl playing Magik is a spot-on dead ringer for the comic book
character. I’m pretty sure Marvel wants
to develop the New Mutants for their movies.
A teen version of the X-Men seems like an irresistible concept. This movie could open up the superhero genre
to horror (as it’s been advertised), or it might be a messy betrayal for the
fans. The potential is still there
waiting to be exploited.
I noticed this ad in the comic. Last time I was at Zia Comics, I saw the Cloak & Dagger statue. It was so cool and not expensive at all, but
I had nowhere to put it. It was gone
when I looked this time. Oh well.
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