The New Mutants Classic, Vol. 7

The New Mutants Classic

by Chris Claremont, Jackson Guice, Bret Blevins (Illustrator)

The New Mutants fast-forward to the world of tomorrow, and it ain't pretty! Join Cannonball, Cypher, Karma, Magik, and the rest of the best that young adult mutantkind has to offer as they face down evil future versions of themselves, mutant-hunting Sentinels, a rebellion in Limbo, the Hellfire Club and their teenage Hellions, and much more! Guest-Starring Professor X, the Starjammers, Emma Frost and the infuriating Impossible Man!

COLLECTING: New Mutants (1983) 48-54, Annual 3

Genres: Comics, Marvel, X Men, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Science Fiction

232 pages, Paperback

First published May 30, 2012

About the author

Chris Claremont is a writer of American comic books, best known for his 16-year (1975-1991) stint on Uncanny X-Men, during which the series became one of the comic book industry's most successful properties.

Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.

Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 2 out of 5]

Facing off against alternate future evil versions of themselves, dealing or not dealing with their 'mentor' Magneto, antagonising the Hellfire Club and more, but it still feels like that Chris Claremont has only a little attention on this book and all his attention on all the other books he's writing? It dawned on me as a reader that the best has already been, and that from here on in, the New Mutants went on to be a boom of mediocrity until the coming of Deadpool and Cable! 5 out of 12

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Warlock vs Impossible Man story by Alan Davis is brilliant. Great little story Annual there."

[Devero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Durante la rocambolesca fuga dal Magus, passando per il limbo che verrà contagiato dal tecnovirus, i Nuovi Mutanti si disperdono in futuri alternativi.
"Ceneri del Cuore" e "Ceneri dell'Anima" sono due storie strettamente collegate che Claremont usa per farci riflettere su diversi approcci all'immutabile. Una apparente distopia la prima, un'altrettanto apparente utopia la seconda, le due storie sono in realtà due futuri estremamente sgradevoli nelle loro implicazioni morali.
Il numero 50 rappresenta lo scontro finale tra Xavier, gli Starjammers ed i Nuovi Mutanti riuniti contro il Magus. Lontano dalla Terra, perché certe storie (vedi Dark Phoenix) riescono meglio devastando mondi alieni.
Segue il mitico annual con la gara tra Warlock e l'Uomo Impossibile, molto divertente la trovata finale.
Le ultime storie, con i Satiri ed il Club Infernale, sono buone anch'esse e rappresentano una specie di testamento spirituale di Claremont per la serie, marcando le differenze che ci devono essere tra i Nuovi Mutanti e gli altri X-teams.
Anticiperò che Luise Simonson, che proseguirà la serie, prenderà tutt'altra direzione nella narrazione, rendendo questa run di Claremont di 54 numeri, ossia 4 anni e mezzo, memorabile come non accadrà più in futuro.
4 stelle e mezzo.

[ShamNoop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing last issues to an amazing run.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

New Mutants #48-51. The two alternate futures that lead things off are unfortunately just OK. Claremont has done the idea better in the past. Here, the two futures are too carefully balanced and we don’t learn anything new. [6/10]. The big 50th issue that finishes things off is better, thanks to its great focus on Illyana and Warlock’s coming of age; we get some nice characterization rather than just fighting, though there’s that too [7/10]. The issue where everyone finally gets home is more interesting for the Professor’s decisions than the students [7/10].

Annual #3, “Anything You can Do.” A pretty dull story, built solely around the idea of Warlock and the Impossible Man fighting. [4/10].

New Mutants #52, “Grounded Forever”. This Day in the School Life story spends a bit too much time in the Danger Room, but it’s nonetheless got some nice characterization and some excitement [6/10].

New Mutants #53-54. The last two issues are a nice return to some of the elements that made Claremont’s New Mutants run great with terrific characterization of not just the Mutants, but also the Hellions [7/10].

Overall, Claremont’s work on the New Mutants was some of his best X-writing, but this final volume is unfortunately a bit of a let-down, that suggests why he might have been moved on.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection marks the end of Chris Claremont's run on the New Mutants. while this doesn't represent his best work on the title or with these characters there are some wonderful stories here. One of the weaknesses of these issues though is the constantly changing artists. Most of the contributors are fantastically talented, and their pages are fine. The problem though is that the shifting looks of the charaters is distracting when presented in this kind of format instead of as single issues a month apart. All-in-all a fun read, although not the best of the seven volumes is this series.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Woo! Done with Claremont's run on the New Mutants. 55 issues and some change, I can't say I'm a fan. There's so good stories, but nothing topped the Demon Bear issues with Bill Sienkiewicz. This volume is bittersweet because the last few issues are exactly what Claremont should have been doing with the book in the first place; young mutants being kids, maybe not getting along with other young mutants.
Looking forward to seeing what this series becomes under Louise Simonson.

[Amélie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like we're missing big chunks of the story, I wish some of the special issues and X-Men crossovers had been included. Also, I was not a big fan of the space part but that's just me. Other than that, cool volume.

[Tomás Sendarrubias García · Rating 4 out of 5]

Si bien la Masacre Mutante no fue un crossover al uso, es cierto que iba a dejar secuelas que iban a marcar las tres colecciones de mutantes que habían participado en ella durante muchos números, y evidentemente, lo más evidente iba a ser en los meses siguientes a este evento. Los Nuevos Mutantes se habían adentrado en los túneles Morlock desafiando la prohibición de Magneto para buscar a los hermanos perdidos de Karma, y mientras desafiaban a los asesinos Merodeadores, los chicos serían atacados por Magus, el padre extraterrestre de Warlock, lo que iba a obligar a Illyana a teleportarlos al Limbo para salvarse. Pero ni siquiera en el Limbo los Nuevos Mutantes iban a ester protegidos de Magus, de modo que el equipo comenzaría un viaje en el tiempo, primero al pasado, a la Escocia de los tiempos de Robert Bruce, y posteriormente, al futuro, viéndose separados sus caminos. Y es que mientras Karma, Mancha Solar, Loba Venenosa y Magma iban a encontrarse en el futuro de Días del Futuro Pasado (o similar) e iban a tener que hacer frente a los Centinelas con la ayuda de los Bala de Cañón y Espejismo de ese futuro; Bala de Cañón, Espejismo, Cifra y Warlock iban a terminar en otra línea temporal, una en la que la alianza entre la Patrulla-X y el Club Fuego Infernal había permitido a los mutantes hacerse con la hegemonía sobre los humanos; y en un tercer bando, Magik tendría que hacer frente en solitario a la conversión del Limbo en un entorno tecnorgánico, incluyendo a S'Ym, su demoníaco vasallo, convertido por el virus transmodo de Magus.

Finalmente, Magik conseguirá llegar hasta el mismísimo Profesor Xavier, en el Imperio Shi'ar, y con su ayuda y la de Lilandra y los Saqueadores Estelares, recuperarán a sus compañeros y tendrán que hacer frente de nuevo a Magus, en una épica batalla cósmica. De vuelva a la Tierra, aunque el Profesor Xavier se quedará en el espacio, tendrán que hacer frente a las consecuencias de sus acciones en los Túneles Morlocks, y tendrán un nuevo encuentro con los Infernales, pero esta vez algo más amistoso, ya que Magneto se ha convertido en el Rey Blanco, y comienzan a surgir nuevas relaciones entre los Nuevos Mutantes y los Infernales... aunque también se nos deja ver que, por accidente, Cifra puede estar contagiado por el virus tecnorgánico de la Tecnarquía...

En resumen, tenemos unos números muy interesantes de la colección, donde se sigue explotando el aire "alternativo" que Sienkiewicz le había dado, y donde vamos a tener propuestas de Jackson Guice, Kevin Nowlan o Rick Leonardi (al que vamos a ver completamente distinto con tintas de Dan Green y Terry Austin), aunque el último número de Claremont en la serie tendrá un toque mucho más clásico, con Sal Buscema y Terry Austin... aunque sea un clasicismo que no va a durar demasiado...

[Kris Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another brilliantly executed collection of stories by the definitive X-Men writer, Chris Claremont. This picks up where Volume 6 left off, with the team split up across the timestream due to Magik's teleportation disc going awry. They see two different futures: one where mutants have been nearly exterminated by the Sentinels, and the other where mutants have taken over the world, subjugating normal humans. In this future, we see an elderly Katie Power of Power Pack, who seems to have all four of her siblings' powers. I wonder if their powers reverted to her after they died, since Whitey split his powers amongst the four of them in the first place.

All of the artwork in this book is great, with the exception of issue 51 by Kevin Nowlan. His artwork is a notch or two below the rest of the artists in this book. We get treated to yet another Annual with artwork by Alan Davis, this one starring the Impossible Man. We also get to see the climax of the Magus/ Warlock battle and a spirited contest between The New Mutants and their rivals over at the Massachusetts Academy, the Hellions. These stories are all so great. Some folks bag on Claremont's “over-writing”, to which I say fie! Claremont crams a modern trade paperback's worth of story into each issue.

The greatest thing about this title is that the Claremont has fully developed all of the characters. They just all happen to be mutants, who just happen to go on adventures and fight villains. They are teenagers finding their place in the world, with the mutant backdrop serving as an amped up metaphor for adolescence.

This book marks the end of Chris Claremont's run on the title. Louise Simonson takes over the writing and there is still plenty of great artwork ahead. The next batch of issues are collected in the X-Men: Fall of the Mutants OHC and new printing TPB, but there is more goodness after that.

[Crazed8J8 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Rounded down
The first half of this collection is off the wall weird, the kids are in two separate futures, and we flounder along trying to figure out what's happening to them and why. Great artwork, but very lackluster story. It was 2099 before 2099 was a thing, and not nearly as well thought our nor planned.
All the while, Magus was tracking them and takes over Limbo by infecting S'ym. Ultimately the kids prevail and move on to their next adventure (the Annual involving Impossible Man). That was at least a fun, if irrelevant storyline.
Finally, we join the kids on a soiree thrown at the Hellfire Club where they once again square off against the Hellions. This was the best part of the story, and one that showed some actual growth.
All said, the artwork throughout was great, Illyana (my favorite), Wolfsbane, and even Magma got some time to shine, and overall, we got to see the next step in the team's evolution. Randomly, Bobby and Warlock left (no explanation, just gone), so I'm off to read Fallen Angels to see what's happening there. Also, the huge plot of Illyana leaving and never wanting to return, and then being back the next issue without remorse, reflection, or tying up that loose end was very awkward.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Claremont's stint on the X-Books is among the best runs on the titles of all time. And his New Mutants is no exception. The end of his run is bizarre. In a rarity, a lot of plots are ACTUALLY wrapped up. Of course, this being Claremont not all of them. There isn't a single bad story in this book. The Time travel stories present too intriguing futures I wish we got to spend more time in. We get a three parter features the return of Xavier and two stories in a row that focus on my favorite New Mutant... Warlock. One being a serious arc and the other being a madcap battle of wits with the Impossible Man. A fun slice of life issue and two top in off, a revival of the rivalry between The New Mutants and the Hellions.

I sorta think Claremont's departure seems a tad abrupt. Not quite midstory thread, but close enough. Still better to go out on a really high note than go on with no ideas when you're overworked.

[Trevor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is New Mutants at its best. The first half is an adventure through space and time culminating in a massive battle in space with Charles Xavier against a massive technological alien.

The second half concerns Magneto's decision to join the Hellfire Club amidst his uphill battle to successfully mentor the New Mutants.

Both stories are excellent and close off Chris Claremont's run on a high point.

[Russio · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a great edition where Prof X catches up with the news from ack home - the mutant massacre, the fate of the X Men and the Morlocks, the public face of X Factor, which reveals what an amazing set of titles these were, but the rest of this seventh set of hokum is a bit more routine. Nice to see Cypher down a major villain though.

[Lance Grabmiller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collects The New Mutants #48-54 (February - August, 1987) and The New Mutants Annual #3 (September 1987). The kids just keep running off to get in trouble and it's getting pretty old at this point. The lack of a consistent art direction begins to wear on the eyes.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gems include the New Mutants split between Days of Future Past & a mutant supremacist future, their reunion w/ & departure from Xavier & the Starjammers, Magneto & Magik reconciling, & Claremont’s swansong on the series w/ a 2part contest between them & the Hellions

[Lulu (the library leopard)]

Magneto and IIllyana…Magneto and Xi'an…I have Headmaster Magneto emotions…
Also I enjoyed the Hellfire party stuff.

[Derek Moreland · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know it’s about 30 years too late, but…thanks, Chris. You’re the master.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wraps up Claremont's run on the New Mutants. After this, Louise Simonson takes over and the Fall of the Mutants crossover gets started. I'm not going to say Claremont goes out with a bang, but this is mostly a step up in quality from the previous few collections. It's certainly not a the level of quality of the Sienkiewicz issues or the Asgardian War, though. The constantly shifting artists in this set holds back the quality, too.

Issue 48 sees half the team thrown into another callback to Days of Future Past (although this is a different Sentinel ruled post-apocalyptic world) that is pretty good. Issue 49 sees the other half of the team in a Mutant-supremacist post-apocalyptic world that has a bit of a Judge Dredd style to it. This one was particularly great. Issue 50 brings back the always great Starjammers and actually comes up with a good way to (briefly) re-integrate Professor X with the team. It also a wonderful final battle with Magus. Issue 51 basically wraps things up and is mostly notable for everybody really fucking over Illana. Issue 52 is mostly a huge fakeout, but it does have some good Magneto/Illana character moments. Issue 53 is the real standout. It's just the New Mutants at a party with the Hellions, but the character interactions are really great. Issue 54 wraps up the previous issue's plot, but isn't quite as fun.

There's also an annual with the Impossible Man, one of my least favorite characters. It's a comedy issue that isn't funny, but it does have a clever final move where Warlock defeats the Impossible Man by changing color (one thing Impy can't do). The team wears their "graduation" uniforms throughout the issue which are so god-awful they make a bad issue worse.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

New Mutants Classic #7 collects Chris Claremont's final issues of his Junior X-Men series, New Mutants #48-54 and Annual #3.

This includes homages to Days of Future Past with time travel and alternate timelines. That is just the first couple of issues. After that, we get space adventure with Professor Xavier and the Starjammers, demonic battles in Limbo, and the showdown between Warlock and his father, Magus.

This collection slowly trims the huge team down from 9 members due to several characters leaving to pursue other life paths. As it is also leading into the Fall of the Mutants event, I think it is fitting to have things already unravelling a bit.

The most interesting parts come late with the interactions between the New Mutants and the Hellions after their headmaster, Magneto, joins the Hellfire Club.

This was not really Claremont's best time on this title. I can tell he had already shifted his focus into making Uncanny X-Men his primary work. Even so, the stories were fun and continued to shape things in new and interesting plots.

X-Men fans should read this, and X-Force fans will love seeing the early days of their favorite characters.

[Kerri · Rating 4 out of 5]

#48-50 4 stars.
#51 3 stars.
Annual #3, #52 2 stars.
#53 3 stars.
#54 4 stars.