New Mutants Epic Collection, Vol. 6: Curse of the Valkyries

New Mutants Epic Collection

by Louise Simonson, Chris Claremont

From the horror of Limbo to the glory of Asgard! As the fires of Inferno burn, the New Mutants must escape Magik's dark domain - but that leaves the way open for S'ym and his demons to invade Earth! Luckily, X-Factor's former wards, the X-Terminators, are on the scene! Can Rusty, Skids, Boom-Boom, Rictor, Artie, Leech and Wiz Kid help the New Mutants repel an army of demons and save Magik's soul? Then, when Hela's evil spell corrupts Mirage's Valkyrie side, Doctor Strange lends a magical hand! But to cure Mirage completely, the New Mutants must travel to Asgard, home of the mighty Norse gods! The trouble is, Hela is scheming to murder Odin and conquer Asgard! Will a handful of mortal mutants be enough to defeat the Goddess of Death?

Collects X-Terminators #1-4, New Mutants (1983) #71-85.

Genres: Comics, X Men, Marvel, Comic Book, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Graphic Novels

496 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2018

About the author

Louise Simonson (born Mary Louise Alexander and formerly credited as Louise Jones, when married to artist Jeff Jones) is an American comic book writer and editor. She is best known for her work on comic book titles such as Power Pack, X-Factor, New Mutants, Superman, and Steel. She is sometimes referred to by the nickname "Weezie".

Since 1980 she is married to comic book writer and artist Walter Simonson

Reviews

[ShamNoop · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit rich but okay

[Lance Grabmiller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collects X-Terminators #1-4 (October 1988 - January 1989) and New Mutants #71-85 (January 1989 - January 1990). The X-Terminators issues and the first two New Mutants are part of the Inferno crossover event which I read in a collected edition a few months ago, so I skipped over those.

After that, Magneto turns bad, which is really stupid. All that patient, long work of many years that Claremont took on to reform Magneto, only to leave him mostly as a caricature in the New Mutants comic (for the most part), makes it all ring hollow. After that, about half this collection has to do with the Acts of Vengeance crossover event, which is all about Hela trying to kill Odin. Since I've never been much into Thor's whole Asgard mythology, it kind of bored me.

[Tomás Sendarrubias García · Rating 3 out of 5]

Supongo que no hace falta que diga más veces lo muchísimo que me gusta Inferno, y si bien como tal el peso de la historia a veces parece muy desbalanceado y cae hacia Patrulla-X y Factor-X, no se puede dejar de lado la importancia que tuvo la saga para los Nuevos Mutantes. Por un lado, se resolvía toda la trayectoria de Illyana, Magik, y su dominio sobre el Limbo y la magia oscura que poco a poco había ido oscureciendo al personaje. Y por otro lado, la propia alineación del grupo se iba a ver muy afectada por Inferno, ya que además de perder a Magik en la saga, la colaboración entre los Nuevos Mutantes y los pupilos de Factor-X, que habían tenido colección propia durante Inferno como los X-Terminadores, iba a llevar a la fusión de los dos grupos, en especial en el caso de Rictor y Bum-Bum, que formarían parte del equipo durante buena parte de esta última etapa del equipo.

Con Inferno recién terminado, los Nuevos Mutantes tenían algo que resolver, y es que durante la conflagración habían visto a Magneto y el resto del Club Fuego Infernal haciendo tratos con N'Astirh, pero les esperaba una sorpresa más: la destrucción de su hogar, ya que la Escuela había sido destruida durante el enfrentamiento entre Factor-X, la Patrulla y Míster Siniestro. Y sobre las ruinas de la escuela se enfrentarían al círculo interno del Club Fuego Infernal, incluido el propio Magneto, enfrentamiento que llevaría a resolver también el conflicto entre el Rey Blanco y el Rey Negro, y el primer paso en la vuelta al lado de los villanos por parte del señor del magnetismo, a quien John Byrne iba a utilizar en su etapa al frente de ambas colecciones de los Vengadores. Intentando buscar un lugar donde quedarse, los Nuevos Mutantes acudirían junto a los X-Terminadores a la Nave de Factor-X, justo a tiempo de ver como el grupo y la nave se marchan al espacio para afrontar la saga de los Celestiales. Y por si las cosas no terminaban de ir mal, los Nuevos Mutantes (y en especial Espejismo) se van a ver envueltos en las manipulaciones de Hela para hacerse con el dominio de Asgard, viéndose poseída, como el resto de las valkirias, por una entidad de fuego esclava de la diosa de la muerte, que llevará a los Nuevos Mutantes a Asgard, pero no antes de tener un enfrentamiento con la Fuerza de la Libertad en el que quedarían atrás Rusty Collins y Desliza, y descubríamos que los bebés mutantes de Inferno estaban bajo la custodia del gobierno de Estados Unidos.

En fin, tenemos una nueva tanda de cómics eficaces, con alguna cosa interesante, pero que no terminan de brillar (quizá precisamente porque Inferno había sido MUY GRANDE), y una nueva saga en la que el equipo va a perder durante mucho tiempo (mucho tiempo) a mi personaje favorito de los Nuevos Mutantes, Dani Moonstar, que después de la saga de las Valkirias, iba a dejar en el equipo... aunque un nuevo y muy importante personaje aparecía ya en el horizonte... y es que llegaba el momento de Cable y de Rob Liefeld.

[Devero · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ecco, qui abbiamo altre storie tra le peggiori della testata.
La Simonson cerca di ricreare quelle atmosfere che hanno reso le Guerre Asgardiane un capolavoro mutante, degli X-Men ma anche e soprattutto dei New Mutants. Fallisce completamente. I disegni sono veramente brutti, mal fatti. Me li ricordavo brutti, ma in questa rilettura mi sembrano anche invecchiati molto male. Sembra che Blevins & Co. siano in peggioramento continuo.
L'azione è caotica e scoordinata, la storia un tentativo abortito di innovare rimaneggiando un classico del gruppo New Mutants Special Edition #1.
Inoltre, proprio per via del rifacimento di un classico, la lettura soffre tremendamente del paragone impietoso, e non potrebbe essere altrimenti.
Per fare un paragone filmico, qui non stiamo parlando, che so, di Blues Brothers vs Blues Brothers 2000. Il primo è un capolavoro, il secondo solo un buon film.
Qui stiamo parlando di Mad Max- Road Warrior (1981) vs Fuga dal Bronx (1983). Il primo è un capolavoro, il secondo è inguardabile.
1 stella

[Adam Stone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing puts me to sleep quite as fast as a Marvel story about Asgard. Apart from a few really solid stories, including the Jason Aaron run of the 2010s, Thor's family drama holds no interest for me. Verily doth it grate my interesth.

Since the first part of this volume was already covered in X-Men: Inferno, Vol. 1, and the second half is focused on a corner of the Marvel Universe that I don't care about, this is one I can easily recommend skipping. It even contains one of those dreaded cliffhangers where an issue ends on a dramatic note, but the next issue is filler-backstory with an apology from the creative team talking about how tough deadlines are. It's jarring, but not the kind of jarring that kept me awake for the rest of the volume.

If you like the Asgard/Midgard, Thor related shenanigans in Marvel, you might love this. Or you might think it's just okay. There's certainly a lot of Hela, and peril for Dani Moonstar. We also see the restored-to-childhood-Magik returned to her family before the aforementioned jarring interruption gives us a flashback story where she's a teenager.

[Justin Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are two main story arcs in this volume, and they are both pretty important to the New Mutants lore.
The first, was Inferno. I love the Inferno arc of X-men in general. The NM stuff is pretty powerful as Illyana's story reaches its conclusion and new status quo. So, those beats are strong. However, the X-Terminators mini-series tie-in...yikes! I know people love it and have fond nostalgic memories of it...but it was NOT for me. Bogdanove art is already rough for me to appreciate, but the writing and story were so painful.
After some fill-in we get the main arc: the return to Asgard "sequel" to the Asgardian Wars. I have seen in many places that a main criticism of this arc is that it goes on too long. I would agree. 2-3 issues could have been cut to make a tighter story that avoids some of the repetition that permeated this story. The rotating artists weren't too distracting, at least, as they have a similar style. It goes on too long, though, to the point that the emotional beats at the end get lost in just wanting to reach the end.
All in all, an uneven offering, but it is important NM lore and the Inferno stuff is always great.

[Crazed8J8 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection has a strong start as Inferno rages. An epic undertaking, but if you are reading this collection and not the full event, you are only getting a part of the action, albeit a very crucial part.
As Inferno burns out, we lose our beloved Magik, as we have grown to love her, and the team feels her absence as they flounder a little. Then some changes start taking place in Dani, which spans the rest of this collection. Curse of the Valkyries runs a bit too long, but has some epic storytelling in Asgard and the surrounding realms. A neat tale for sure.
The artists rotate through the comics, but all of the art is good.
Some loose ends (what will happen to Rusty and Skids? Gosymer just left? Where is X-Factor? Will Dani ever come back?), some of which will be addressed in future books or other X-titles.
All in all, a very good collection and an enjoyable read.

[Adam Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's some fun stuff in here. The intersecting X-Terminators and New Mutants Inferno storylines serve to bring all the kids together, although I find all of the Inferno-babies-kidnapping stuff pretty weak. That said, the double-size final New Mutants issue of Inferno is probably my favorite single issue of Louise Simonson's New Mutants run. Beyond that, the Freedom Force stuff is a lot of fun, as is the curse of the Valkyries storyline, although that one really drags on a while. All-in-all some good stuff, some mediocre stuff.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recommended highly only if you have nostalgia for the old New Mutants series. These issues are kind of sad. They are basically the end of the original team. By the end of the book, half of the original team is gone and new characters have been introduced to the team from other books. Since their introduction, these "new" characters have since become classics, but they definitely change the mood of the stories. And just a few issues later, the book basically became X-Force.

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Inferno issues are OK, but there are better, more complete collections of those. The second half seems to be leading to, and tieing into Acts of Vengeance, and lean into the Asgard connection to Dani Moonstar.
I've never been a fan of that and it seems to go on forever.

[Tuni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ll save Inferno comments for the Inferno omnibus. The second New Mutants Asgard plot is everything I want in a fantasy story. It was just so much fun and I was interested in what everyone in the whole huge cast of characters was up to.

[Yuuto · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s sure been a long time since I read these back in my high school comic-reading days, and there were a few issues I hadn’t read back then, so this was a neat little blast from the past with two pretty important storylines for the New Mutants.

[Jack · Rating 2 out of 5]

The New Mutants part of the Inferno crossover isn’t particularly satisfying after all the buildup and the arc where they go to Asgard sucks because I have zero interest in Marvel’s Thor series. I can’t wait for Cable to show up.

[ribbonknight · Rating 3 out of 5]

So glad this exists, to bridge the gap between the end of Claremont’s run and the arrival of Cable. I’m grateful to be able to catch all of it!

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gems include the X-Terminators mini, a 3part Inferno tie-in, Magneto v. Sebastian Shaw, a Silver Agey Namor guest appearance, Magma meeting one of her gods, & the eponymous 8part Asgardian epic

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Four stars for the Inferno stuff, two stars to everything else. While I enjoyed bits and pieces of the New Mutants, I never became of a fan of the series.

[Ferzem Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inferno (#71-73): 10/10
Fallout from Inferno (#74-76): 6/10
Hercules and Magma (#81): 6/10
Curse of the Valkyries (#77-80, #82-85): 7/10

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are a few great characters in the New Mutants. My favorites are Dani Moonstar (Mirage) and Illyana Rasputin (Magik). These stories center on those two characters, and the general storyline about their internal struggle with good vs. evil seems like it would make for at least OK stories. Unfortunately, in Louse Simonson’s hands she brings in too many side characters, subplots, and rather silly villains to make this all that good. It is a shame. She really shines with the Inferno story but the best bits of that storyline were in X-Men by Chris Claremont and X-Factor by Simonson. The art here is also pretty bad. I am just happy that after this volume Rob Liefield took over the art and he is so much better.