Rise and Fall of the New Mutants

First appearance of the New Mutants:
Marvel Graphic Novel #4 (1982)

 

 

 

When Marvel Comics' New Mutants debuted in 1982, I was elated.  These were young X-Men dealing with their mutant powers, but they were also prone to making mistakes and having problems that normal youth have.  They were Marvel's answer to DC Comics' 1980s mega-successful New Teen Titans.  The original team of Cannonball, Karma, Sunspot, Mirage, and Wolfsbane were fantastic.  Each character was distinct, came from a different background, and had individual challenges with which to work out.  They were the United Nations of young mutants.  With the addition of Magma (one of my all-time favorite New Mutants) in issue #8 and Cypher in #13, I was enjoying their adventures more and more.  

New Mutants #20, featuring cover art
by Bill Sienkiewicz

Then came issue #18.  The New Mutants stories took a turn toward the dark, mystical, and weird side.   Their adventures became something reminiscent of Grant Morrison's wacky Doom Patrol.  During this time period, Warlock appeared (issue #18), as did Legion (#25), and Magik/Darkchylde/Lightchylde (Illyana Rasputin) sent the team to Limbo, leaving its readers there, too.  Issue after issue of this "new" New Mutants series, I thought, "Huh?"  Simultaneously, Bill Sienkiewicz took over drawing the series, and it was literally the worst comic book "art" I have ever seen.  To this day, I think Warlock looks like he looks only because Sienkiewicz is such an awful artist and that's the only way he could draw him.  Subsequent artists just thought that's how he was supposed to look.  Needless to say, I discontinued reading New Mutants because they weren't as much fun anymore, I wasn't crazy about the newest characters and weird storylines, and don't even get me started again on the art.  Since when did mutants become responsible for taking on demons and creatures from the netherworld in every issue?  Blah! 

New Mutants #1 (2009)

Cut to 2009.  Marvel Comics comes out with a new New Mutants title (volume 3) featuring the original cast of characters.  Yea!  Imagine my excitement?  Naturally, I added the series to my pull list.  I was disappointed to find Magik on the team, but I was happy to see the rest of the original team there (minus Wolfsbane because she's in the brilliantly written by Peter David X-Factor title).  

The new stories were so-so, but I wasn't giving up on them just yet.  Then came the "Fall of the New Mutants" and "Rise of the New Mutants" back-to-back storylines.  Here we go into Limbo again and I find myself saying "Huh?" after every issue.  Seriously--can we just remove Magik and her cast of demons from this team book?  That goes double for any character created during Sienkiewicz' run on the original title.  

Can we just have some quality stories with the original team (plus Magma and Cypher)?  Wasn't that the whole point of the revival of this series?  What happened to the so-called dawning of Marvel's "Heroic Age?"  I'll give New Mutants a little longer to redeem itself, but if it doesn't shape up soon, it's being pulled from my pull list. 

Avengers Discombobulated

When I heard that the Avengers were going to have a fresh start with the Heroic Age after the dreaded Dark Reign cloud that hovered over the Marvel Universe, I was elated.  I have fond memories of the Avengers from the 80s and wanted to recapture that excitement.  I've picked up the first three issues of The Avengers, the first two issues of The New Avengers and the Avengers Academy, and the first issue of The Secret Avengers.  Color me unimpressed.  The only one that has interested me so far is the Avengers Academy.


The Avengers Academy takes a group of relatively unknown teenagers and allows them to interact, working out their personality differences, learning how to use their powers together, and coming to terms with why they were chosen for the group.  This is great storytelling.   

What isn't great storytelling?  Avengers, New Avengers, and Secret Avengers.  The stories have been pretty bland and generic and aren't a very good starting place for newcomers.  The characters aren't given enough time to interact before they're thrust into battle with some other worldly villain.  We never get to really know them and, frankly, at this point, I don't even want to.

My main pet peeve: why are Spider-Man and Wolverine on both the Avengers and the New Avengers teams?  Furthermore, they each have their own comic book series (Spider-Man's is published thrice monthly), and Wolverine is in the Uncanny X-Men, X-Force, Astonishing X-Men, and the new plain ol' X-Men comic. Talk about overkill.  I wish I had that much free time.  No wonder they created clones of Spider-Man.  Then there's the addition of the Thing who is and will always be a member of the Fantastic Four.  I think there are plenty other Avengers out there with good tales to tell that could use a wee bit o' screen time.

Unfortunately, Marvel missed the boat on this "revamp" of a classic series and team(s).   2010 isn't so much the "Year of the Heroic Age" or even the "Year of the Avengers."  It'll be remembered by me as the year I wasted $3.99 a comic on some crappy Avengers wannabe series.  

Check out: Avengers Academy: Permanent Record