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New Mutants (2019)
New Mutants, Vol. 1
On the edge of Krakoan society, the New Mutants let loose in the Wild Hunt! Going big, blowing things up, and combining powers to see who can be crowned king of the mountain. But something lurks in the trees. Something old…and hungry. And its favorite prey is young mutants! As Karma and Dani delve deeper into their nightmares, a spider sets his eyes on the most vulnerable among the team. And as the Wild Hunt goes on, someone vanishes without a trace, plans long in motion begin to unfurl — and children who play at being adults must now prepare for the fight of their lives.
COLLECTING: New Mutants (2019) 14-18
COLLECTING: New Mutants (2019) 14-18
136 pages, Paperback
First published August 4, 2021
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153 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
August 7, 2023
The original generation of New Mutants mentors the latest, who live almost wild-like on the the edge of Krakoan society without any adults in or near their living quarters. The latest generation is an eclectic bunch from the clone Gabby through to new-for-the-series debutants.
A confusing serie sin the N=Hickman X-universe this being the third successive 'volume one' with yet another different writer in Vita Ayala taking the helm. A volume that might be worth reading alone for the more appropriate portrayal of the first generation and a wonderful is-he-evil is-he-not focus of one of the X-Men's greatest villains of the past manipulations of some of the latest generation behind the scenes. This volume just about scrapes a 6 out of 12, Three Stars from me.
2023 read
A confusing serie sin the N=Hickman X-universe this being the third successive 'volume one' with yet another different writer in Vita Ayala taking the helm. A volume that might be worth reading alone for the more appropriate portrayal of the first generation and a wonderful is-he-evil is-he-not focus of one of the X-Men's greatest villains of the past manipulations of some of the latest generation behind the scenes. This volume just about scrapes a 6 out of 12, Three Stars from me.
2023 read
May 26, 2022
Vita Ayala comes onboard as the 3rd writer in 14 issues and the book is instantly boring. She changes the focus of the book, making the OG New Mutants teachers for bored children on Krakoa. God, it's so boring that just thinking about it puts me to sleZZZZZZZ...... Sorry dozed off there.
It's pretty clear that Rod Reis is trying to evoke Bill Sienkiewicz. The art just looks sketchy and unfinished with zero backgrounds. Everyone is just floating in space. There's a lack of attention to the story too. Karma is reborn. On the same page she crawls out of her egg with two legs. Then the next panel shows her with her prosthetic leg poking out of her robe. Being reborn in a new body would have regenerated her leg. It wasn't a birth defect. It was cutoff by Cameron Hodge during Second Coming.
It's pretty clear that Rod Reis is trying to evoke Bill Sienkiewicz. The art just looks sketchy and unfinished with zero backgrounds. Everyone is just floating in space. There's a lack of attention to the story too. Karma is reborn. On the same page she crawls out of her egg with two legs. Then the next panel shows her with her prosthetic leg poking out of her robe. Being reborn in a new body would have regenerated her leg. It wasn't a birth defect. It was cutoff by Cameron Hodge during Second Coming.
July 21, 2024
Ratings and links to previous reviews under the spoiler:
A lot of old thematic ground is being tread here, making for a boring and eye roll-inducing volume. Bizarre character choices, too. In what world would Rahne ever listen to the Shadow King, even as grief stricken as she is about her child?
And of course the tried and true “mutants who can pass for human don’t understand what it’s like for us so we’ll be manipulated into horrible choices now” storyline is in play with the younger kids. I thought Anole was cool with himself??
Plus, a whole lot of time in this volume was spent in the Otherworld and goddamnit I hate it there.
At least Magick was delightfully herself and we got Warpath in short shorts.
July 30, 2021
Another volume, another new writer for New Mutants. In comes Vita Ayala to shake things up a little by shifting the core cast, and the status quo, away from what it was before.
New Mutants is suddenly a tale of two halves. There's the actual New Mutants like Moonster and Wolfsbane, who have problems of their own, and then there's the new mutants lowercase, like Scout, Cosima, and Anole, who are running afoul of the Shadow King. The problem is that that both stories don't really seem to be going anywhere, and when they intersect, it's so the characters can all yell at each other for ~not understanding what I'm going through~.
I like all of the characters involved in this book, and the Shadow King is always a villain to watch out for, but it definitely feels like there's a disconnect behind this new direction. Because there are two seemingly disparate plotlines going on, neither of them advance very much as the book goes on, so the pacing's all over the place. That, and the suddenly huge cast of characters means that sometimes you'll go two or three issues without seeing certain people. It's bizarre, to say the least.
The art's pretty good though, mostly because Rod Reis has stuck around for these issues for the most part. It doesn't help save the story, but at least it's pretty to look at.
New Mutants reinvents itself for the third time in twelve issues, to varying degrees of success. It's pulled in too many directions at once, and manages to not be particularly successful at any of them. There are sparks of good ideas for certain, but it's taking a long time to get to the payoffs.
New Mutants is suddenly a tale of two halves. There's the actual New Mutants like Moonster and Wolfsbane, who have problems of their own, and then there's the new mutants lowercase, like Scout, Cosima, and Anole, who are running afoul of the Shadow King. The problem is that that both stories don't really seem to be going anywhere, and when they intersect, it's so the characters can all yell at each other for ~not understanding what I'm going through~.
I like all of the characters involved in this book, and the Shadow King is always a villain to watch out for, but it definitely feels like there's a disconnect behind this new direction. Because there are two seemingly disparate plotlines going on, neither of them advance very much as the book goes on, so the pacing's all over the place. That, and the suddenly huge cast of characters means that sometimes you'll go two or three issues without seeing certain people. It's bizarre, to say the least.
The art's pretty good though, mostly because Rod Reis has stuck around for these issues for the most part. It doesn't help save the story, but at least it's pretty to look at.
New Mutants reinvents itself for the third time in twelve issues, to varying degrees of success. It's pulled in too many directions at once, and manages to not be particularly successful at any of them. There are sparks of good ideas for certain, but it's taking a long time to get to the payoffs.
April 11, 2022
Nueva escritora para la serie de New Mutants. El volumen me pareció bastante regular.
Los New Mutants luego de solicitar al Consejo Silente atención para los nuevos jóvenes mutantes que no tienen instrucción por parte de los mayores (que están muy ocupados por asuntos políticos) reciben la misión de encargarse de ello. Pero estos jóvenes parecen muy rebeldes. Eso da lugar a algunas historias.
Por un lado tenemos una pequeña aventura de Dani y X'ian quienen van Otromundo en busca de unos mutantes que fugaron hacia allá por diversión. Terminan cruzándose con lady Roma.
Por otro lado Anole, No Girl y otros son atraídos por Shadow King. Este personaje malévolo psíquico no lo conocía y ha sido una buena oportunidad. Ellos caen debido a que están inconformes con su aspecto físico. Gaby (Scout) trata de ayudarlos.
La interacción entre los personajes es regular y los múltiples conflictos internos a veces pueden saturar un poco.
Los New Mutants luego de solicitar al Consejo Silente atención para los nuevos jóvenes mutantes que no tienen instrucción por parte de los mayores (que están muy ocupados por asuntos políticos) reciben la misión de encargarse de ello. Pero estos jóvenes parecen muy rebeldes. Eso da lugar a algunas historias.
Por un lado tenemos una pequeña aventura de Dani y X'ian quienen van Otromundo en busca de unos mutantes que fugaron hacia allá por diversión. Terminan cruzándose con lady Roma.
Por otro lado Anole, No Girl y otros son atraídos por Shadow King. Este personaje malévolo psíquico no lo conocía y ha sido una buena oportunidad. Ellos caen debido a que están inconformes con su aspecto físico. Gaby (Scout) trata de ayudarlos.
La interacción entre los personajes es regular y los múltiples conflictos internos a veces pueden saturar un poco.
September 28, 2021
Vita Ayala's New Mutants run is scatterbrained until the finally two issues when the pieces finally click into the place. The idea that certain monstrous-looking mutants might not have as much mutant pride is a solid one, but it took too long to materialize. Side-plots run rampant and, in a recurring New Mutants theme, none of the characters receive introductions (or re-introductions?).
Half the mutants I met in Ed Brisson and Jonathan Hickman's runs don't appear. And yet the book is still overstuffed with characters. It doesn't help that Rod Reis's artwork is basically incoherent. The colors: great. The character designs, action, and finished look: lacking.
Half the mutants I met in Ed Brisson and Jonathan Hickman's runs don't appear. And yet the book is still overstuffed with characters. It doesn't help that Rod Reis's artwork is basically incoherent. The colors: great. The character designs, action, and finished look: lacking.
December 25, 2021
Like most recent X-Men titles, this is overstuffed, yet somehow the pacing is frustratingly slow. Ayala does a great job writing the original New Mutants, especially Dani and Xi'an, but it's harder to connect with the teenagers, aside from always delightful Gabby - their struggle is unoriginal (see the Morlocks and others), and there isn't enough time dedicated to investment in each one. I'm always down for a Dani + Xi'an side quest but I was disappointed that the later issues focused on them instead of Magik + Jimmy's struggle to redirect younger mutants, who have an alarming amount of unstructured time, little to no purpose on Krakoa (along with basically being immortal), and are basically only spending that time on combat.
It's a recipe for disaster (along with the Shadow King taking advantage of all this) that could have allowed for urgency, humor, and maybe even a return to the classic teenager feel of X-Men, particularly with the original New Mutants as the teachers - but this arc delivers none of that. Maybe things will come together better in the next volume - I love Ayala's writing so I'm more than willing to give their second volume a shot. Reis' art is gorgeous to look at, at least.
It's a recipe for disaster (along with the Shadow King taking advantage of all this) that could have allowed for urgency, humor, and maybe even a return to the classic teenager feel of X-Men, particularly with the original New Mutants as the teachers - but this arc delivers none of that. Maybe things will come together better in the next volume - I love Ayala's writing so I'm more than willing to give their second volume a shot. Reis' art is gorgeous to look at, at least.
April 12, 2022
Drags on a bit too long and the various subplots don’t seem to converge but I somehow feel it might actually go somewhere and the issues raised by the misfits of the bunch are pertinent.
And Rod Reis still illustrates the whole book so that’s a bonus.
And Rod Reis still illustrates the whole book so that’s a bonus.
August 31, 2021
Another volume of New Mutants and yet another creative team. I don't know why what should be the #2 book for the Krakoa X-a-verse can't keep its writers and artists. But this time around we have both an author who is very respectful of the New Mutants' history and an artist who has a Sienkiewicz vibe without being entirely derivative, so I guess that's god.
The downside of this volume is that it's slow and meandering. It doesn't feel like there's a lot of plot here, especially with an anticlimatic fetch-quest taking up the core of the story. But simultaneously with that we're getting great looks at the characters of these classic New Mutants, plus a few of the younger school. And a great question of what's up with the Shadow King. Plus, continuity from the recent Sword of X crossover.
So, despite its slowness, this is a fine new New Mutants: I'll look forward to the next volume, hopefully by this same author and artist.
The downside of this volume is that it's slow and meandering. It doesn't feel like there's a lot of plot here, especially with an anticlimatic fetch-quest taking up the core of the story. But simultaneously with that we're getting great looks at the characters of these classic New Mutants, plus a few of the younger school. And a great question of what's up with the Shadow King. Plus, continuity from the recent Sword of X crossover.
So, despite its slowness, this is a fine new New Mutants: I'll look forward to the next volume, hopefully by this same author and artist.
January 8, 2022
Guess I'm one of the few who really liked this. The storyline, which is continuous and non-episodic (unlike in Hickman's X-Men) might be a bit slow, but it does develop some characters (both old and new) and their concerns (though I was a bit surprised by the end, which didn't really tell us if Karma's trip to The Crucible actually worked). And the artwork from Rod Reis has a very Bill Sienkiewiczian-vibe about it. The numbering of these volumes is getting to be a real mess, though--Vol. 1 of Vita Ayala's run covers issues #14-18? Talk about confusing for the person who just wants to read the New Mutants title, period...
September 25, 2021
Cool to see Honeybadge--I mean Scott get some love but the rest of the cast weren't all that interesting. This book didn't do much for me, got bored pretty quickly through. I guess new Mutants comics don't do much for me.
May 13, 2022
This book, now on its third writer in just 14 short issues, has been incredibly inconsistent so far, but Vita Ayala seems to be steering the ship in an actual direction and setting up some interesting plot threads. Rather than telling disconnected stories about the original New Mutants and some of the newer mutant youths, Ayala weaves plotlines featuring the old and new characters together. A group of the original New Mutants sends a letter to the Quiet Council bemoaning the fact that many of the young mutants on Krakoa seem to be listless and troubled without any structure in their lives. Xavier, the sly old devil, delivers a snarky response thanking them for generously volunteering to teach these new kids and offer them the guidance they so desperately need.
Ayala is clearly knowledgeable about the older characters and treats them with respect, getting their voices and personalities down very well. The newer characters (who I'm less familiar with) Scout, Anole, No-Girl, Rain Boy, and Cosmar are interesting and engaging as they get tangled up with an older X-Men villain who seems to be manipulating them for his own ends.
The original characters are dealing with their own drama while trying to help the kids, and I enjoyed the way their stories related to each other. Cosmar, unable to cope with the way her appearance changed when her reality-warping powers manifested, asks Dani Moonstar to face her in the Crucible so that she might be reborn in a new body, and hopefully retain her original appearance now that she has some measure of control over her powers. Moonstar refuses, telling Cosmar that she's beautiful just the way she is. A short time later, Moonstar fights Karma in Crucible combat to help her deal with some ongoing trauma involving her lost twin brother, and Cosmar reacts to this hypocrisy in a very understandable way. I enjoy how Ayala is writing these classic mutants with love but isn't afraid to reveal serious flaws in their character. I'm actually quite interested to see how these stories move forward.
And the art by Rod Reis is absolutely STUNNING. I saw another reviewer mention that he manages to remind of Sienkiewicz while not outright copying his style, and I think that's a perfect way to put it. His art is at times sketchy and chaotic, beautifully detailed, and always incredibly thoughtful in its style and arrangement. When two of the characters travel to Otherworld to search for a missing mutant, he depicts their journey in absolutely gorgeous watercolors. Everything from his panel layouts, borders, backgrounds and colors feels so deliberately and carefully chosen for the scene that I was incredibly impressed. It would be all too easy to dismiss the first few pages as "sloppy and sketchy" (and a younger me might have), but to do so would be a disservice to the amount of care he has clearly committed to this book. I very much want to see more of his work.
I'm actually excited about this book again and where it's going.
3.5 STARS
Ayala is clearly knowledgeable about the older characters and treats them with respect, getting their voices and personalities down very well. The newer characters (who I'm less familiar with) Scout, Anole, No-Girl, Rain Boy, and Cosmar are interesting and engaging as they get tangled up with an older X-Men villain who seems to be manipulating them for his own ends.
The original characters are dealing with their own drama while trying to help the kids, and I enjoyed the way their stories related to each other. Cosmar, unable to cope with the way her appearance changed when her reality-warping powers manifested, asks Dani Moonstar to face her in the Crucible so that she might be reborn in a new body, and hopefully retain her original appearance now that she has some measure of control over her powers. Moonstar refuses, telling Cosmar that she's beautiful just the way she is. A short time later, Moonstar fights Karma in Crucible combat to help her deal with some ongoing trauma involving her lost twin brother, and Cosmar reacts to this hypocrisy in a very understandable way. I enjoy how Ayala is writing these classic mutants with love but isn't afraid to reveal serious flaws in their character. I'm actually quite interested to see how these stories move forward.
And the art by Rod Reis is absolutely STUNNING. I saw another reviewer mention that he manages to remind of Sienkiewicz while not outright copying his style, and I think that's a perfect way to put it. His art is at times sketchy and chaotic, beautifully detailed, and always incredibly thoughtful in its style and arrangement. When two of the characters travel to Otherworld to search for a missing mutant, he depicts their journey in absolutely gorgeous watercolors. Everything from his panel layouts, borders, backgrounds and colors feels so deliberately and carefully chosen for the scene that I was incredibly impressed. It would be all too easy to dismiss the first few pages as "sloppy and sketchy" (and a younger me might have), but to do so would be a disservice to the amount of care he has clearly committed to this book. I very much want to see more of his work.
I'm actually excited about this book again and where it's going.
3.5 STARS
August 23, 2023
This one focuses on a new team. And the emphasis on some of the Children in Krakoa seems to be a big part of this volume. While that aspect of Krakoan life is interesting, it didn’t really seem like it mattered a ton or was too important to the overall story as other books have been. Definitely didn’t enjoy Ayala’s run so far as much as I did the previous New Mutants writers.
Read
November 8, 2021Mostly, the Dawn Of X books which weren't taken out back and shot after one arc have had reasonably consistent writers, at least. New Mutants being the exception, with three Volume 1s in a row, which even by modern Marvel standards is taking the piss (though I can think of plenty of titles which had two...). In fairness, it was at least a different writer each time, not just some pointless rebadging drawn by a marketing mirage. And there are lots of different things a New Mutants book can be by this point. Hickman took some of the original eighties New Mutants – now allegedly grown-ups – off for a sitcom in space; I don't really know what Ed Brisson did, because for some reason his Volume 1 remains oddly expensive even in Comixology sales. And now Ayala splits the difference, with original New Mutants like Magik and Dani Moonstar trying to play mentor to a younger and even stranger generation who are struggling to adjust to life on the weird alleged paradise that is Krakoa. Frankly, when it comes to the junior mob, several of them – Fauna? Cosmar? – are well beyond my level of X-geekery, and I have no idea why adorable tiny Wolverine clone Honey Badger now appears to be going by Scout instead. There is a plot of sorts, hinged on the Shadow King*, who at once seems to be up to his usual bullshit while being given a sympathetic backstory, a circle which, thank goodness, is ultimately more or less squared. Also there was what looked like some more bullshit with fucking Otherworld, which I was at least hoping might confine itself to appearing in the worst ongoing X-book and the one I've dropped, Excalibur, now that X Of Swords is out of the way. To be fair, though, at least here it did end up feeling more fairytale, less bad fantasy trilogy than in other recent appearances. And anyway, this is hardly the only current X-book which is consistently more enjoyable the further it veers into plotless social/superhuman comedy-drama. It's not perfect even then – Magik in particular is being played a bit too human and relatable for my liking, and one use of 'boar' when 'boor' would fit much better suggests that editorial could have paid closer attention. But these are minor quibbles; for the most part it's a weird, charming coming-of-age yarn, with Reis' gorgeous art conferring something of the same luminous yet unsettling quality which Billy the Sink brought to the original New Mutants series.
*I still find it hard to process that he's now a character the wider world can be expected to know, what with having been the chief antagonist in the Legion TV series, which itself still seems like a thing I dreamed. What a world, eh?
*I still find it hard to process that he's now a character the wider world can be expected to know, what with having been the chief antagonist in the Legion TV series, which itself still seems like a thing I dreamed. What a world, eh?
March 4, 2022
You can't tell a solid story when you keep changing creative teams. Seriously.
Also, there's no advancement towards a over arcing theme. New Mutants is a book about a group watching over another group...but both groups keep shifting around and not really advancing the narrative. I'm guessing they're leading up to a Shadow King exorcism. Isn't he the darkness that Legion felt? They mention that they were supposed to 'teach the children' and this just seems like filler until they actually do something that looks like that.
Cypher is back from his honeymoon. What does he do around here??
Karma has a white rabbit manifestation of something from her past
Rahne wants her half wolf demon son to be resurrected. (thought he was EVIL evil)
Warpath provides advice for everyone (only helpful one out of the group)
Dani runs around hugging sad people and not quite 'being there' when needed..
then we have the NEW 'New Mutants'
a bunch of kids that are upset because their powers have either done something to them physically or spiritually...
Also, there's no advancement towards a over arcing theme. New Mutants is a book about a group watching over another group...but both groups keep shifting around and not really advancing the narrative. I'm guessing they're leading up to a Shadow King exorcism. Isn't he the darkness that Legion felt? They mention that they were supposed to 'teach the children' and this just seems like filler until they actually do something that looks like that.
Cypher is back from his honeymoon. What does he do around here??
Karma has a white rabbit manifestation of something from her past
Rahne wants her half wolf demon son to be resurrected. (thought he was EVIL evil)
Warpath provides advice for everyone (only helpful one out of the group)
Dani runs around hugging sad people and not quite 'being there' when needed..
then we have the NEW 'New Mutants'
a bunch of kids that are upset because their powers have either done something to them physically or spiritually...
October 3, 2021
This volume feels very interstitial in its narrative arch. I actually don’t think I’ve read all the content so far about Otherworld which is making jumping around from series to series a bit more confusing than it should be. Cosma remains a character I can see clearly being manipulated by external evils and I wasn’t completely sold on Karma’s arc here since it ended so abruptly and without some sort of reunification with her brother. I think there’s just a lot of character bloat at this point and while that sounds fun on paper, it means a lot of treading water when there just no really space for any exposition.
November 16, 2021
This is another mixed bag for me, with another creative team taking over New Mutants. I give it big points for the art, Rod Reis might be my favorite artist in the X office right now aside from Pepe Larraz. The story -- I like the way Vita Ayala writes all of the old school New Mutants, and Karma and Dani's adventures in particular are a highlight. But then the whole kids plot is a little too after-school-special for my taste, and what's worse, they're not particularly interesting characters to focus on. I'm very intrigued by the Shadow King story, but I don't know who Rain Boy is and I do not care.
February 21, 2024
So, this is the third "volume 1" of the new Krakoan age New Mutants and I really didn't like it. Vita Ayala takes us back to Otherworld right after X Of Swords. Not the route the story should have taken. There is some good intrigue involving Shadow King and what he might be up to but it moves so slow you're not sure. Xi'an and Dani's adventure and then trip to the Crucible were painfully boring to read and mostly nonsensical. I appreciated Reis's art as it gave me flashbacks to Bill Sienkiewicz vibes but with so many cast members he needed to differentiate characters more. Overall, this was a disappointing volume to say the least.
November 1, 2021
This felt like it could’ve been a little more solid but also staged things in their voice for the next installment. Love the characters no matter what
December 27, 2021
Vita Ayala and Rod Reis I owe you my life…
June 21, 2022
2.5 rounded down. Very flip and skip if you didn't read a lot of older New Mutants stuff...which I never did.
October 22, 2021
I have come to prefer the New Mutant storylines over the original X-Men. They just seem more relevant and interesting to me. The art was nice in this volume.
April 13, 2024
X-Men is so dense now. This book is twice what it needs to be, but I get why.
July 10, 2025
X-Titles are gonna X-Title, lmfao
Rod Reis’ art is stunning here. I love the sort of haziness to every panel, and the sketching that occurs while they are in Avalon. The use of shades of red during action scenes adds to the intensifying combat.
However, the story, for me, was pretty inconsistent. When I say that an X-Title is gonna X-title, I mean that oftentimes there are complications or confusing moments because these characters have been around for so long and their histories are oftentimes jumbled. It doesn’t help that this came out during Krakoa, an era where so much of the characters and stories were already intertwined and interacted with one another. I mostly say this because Wolfsbane’s lost child is a thread that is opened up and then dropped, and then Karma’s weird soul bond with her brother who is trapped in Otherworld has a whole issue dedicated to it, but it ends dropping the ball in terms of expectations. It feels like the Aura of the book is clouded by editorial getting involved and messing with it. Like “yeah you can mention this but don’t go into it because we may have plans elsewhere.” It’s like 6 issues where you get characters interacting and there’s not a lot that happens lmfao. Maybe next volume remedies this
There is a pretty major subplot (so much so that I may say it’s the main plot of the entire book) that focuses on these child mutants, consisting of a clone of Laura Kinney, Anole, Water boy (?), No-Girl, and Cosmar. I love how Cosmar is drawn. However, so much of it is these people wanting to appear normal (I think it’s manipulation of the shadow king?) and every time that they try to talk To a human-passing mutant, they get dismissed. The Laura Kinney clone (I’m thinking her name is Badger but she’s great) doesn’t learn their sort of plight. It becomes this back and forth of trauma comparison. “I am disfigured” Cosmar says, “well I don’t have most of my memories” Badger responds. “I want to go back to how I looked before all this” “I don’t even have a birthday.” And the whole time I’m reading it I was like “what is going on here”
There’s something to be said that in a ton of x-men runs they’re a bunch of really handsome heroes that don’t have any real discernible differences. Yet, when these books try to touch on the mutant non-human passing plight, it doesn’t go all the way like I (and so many other X-men readers) wish they would. Knowing the future of Cosmar, I find it wild what the messaging was trying to be here in this book.
As a whole; great art, weird, weird, disconnected and convoluted story. Listen to Escape the Mojoverse whereever you get podcasts (I’m not affiliated I just love them)
Rod Reis’ art is stunning here. I love the sort of haziness to every panel, and the sketching that occurs while they are in Avalon. The use of shades of red during action scenes adds to the intensifying combat.
However, the story, for me, was pretty inconsistent. When I say that an X-Title is gonna X-title, I mean that oftentimes there are complications or confusing moments because these characters have been around for so long and their histories are oftentimes jumbled. It doesn’t help that this came out during Krakoa, an era where so much of the characters and stories were already intertwined and interacted with one another. I mostly say this because Wolfsbane’s lost child is a thread that is opened up and then dropped, and then Karma’s weird soul bond with her brother who is trapped in Otherworld has a whole issue dedicated to it, but it ends dropping the ball in terms of expectations. It feels like the Aura of the book is clouded by editorial getting involved and messing with it. Like “yeah you can mention this but don’t go into it because we may have plans elsewhere.” It’s like 6 issues where you get characters interacting and there’s not a lot that happens lmfao. Maybe next volume remedies this
There is a pretty major subplot (so much so that I may say it’s the main plot of the entire book) that focuses on these child mutants, consisting of a clone of Laura Kinney, Anole, Water boy (?), No-Girl, and Cosmar. I love how Cosmar is drawn. However, so much of it is these people wanting to appear normal (I think it’s manipulation of the shadow king?) and every time that they try to talk To a human-passing mutant, they get dismissed. The Laura Kinney clone (I’m thinking her name is Badger but she’s great) doesn’t learn their sort of plight. It becomes this back and forth of trauma comparison. “I am disfigured” Cosmar says, “well I don’t have most of my memories” Badger responds. “I want to go back to how I looked before all this” “I don’t even have a birthday.” And the whole time I’m reading it I was like “what is going on here”
There’s something to be said that in a ton of x-men runs they’re a bunch of really handsome heroes that don’t have any real discernible differences. Yet, when these books try to touch on the mutant non-human passing plight, it doesn’t go all the way like I (and so many other X-men readers) wish they would. Knowing the future of Cosmar, I find it wild what the messaging was trying to be here in this book.
As a whole; great art, weird, weird, disconnected and convoluted story. Listen to Escape the Mojoverse whereever you get podcasts (I’m not affiliated I just love them)
October 14, 2021
3.5 Stars.
With Vita Ayala's writing reins firmly in hand, this book now takes on a much needed emotional depth, diving into what makes the kids tick and giving us the feeling of "new" mutants again, as the "New Mutants" we've come to know and love have now become the teachers and guardians of this new team. I wish that the art would be better, but with some of the more obscure aspects (Cosmar's reality warping, Mirage's dreaming, and all the weird things Warlock does) it works well enough.
Highlights:
- With Magik, Warpath, and the rest of the original "New Mutants" in charge, they take it upon themselves to begin to train the new generation to work together via what they call "Sinergy Training", which is a fancier way of saying combo moves. The newbies need to know each other's strengths and weaknesses so they can work better as a team.
- ALL Mutants are welcome on Krakoa, but that doesn't mean that all the 'used-to-be-villains' should be, at least in my opinion. Shadow King is one of these, and we see the trouble he causes the new kids by influencing their young minds in the wrong direction. Not that he's making them out to be villainous, but he is playing on their self-appearance insecurities to make them more reliant on him.
- Appearance is a huge topic covered in this Volume, specifically with Cosmar, Anole, and Scout. Cosmar seeks resurrection because the initialization of her powers caused her body to morph to something not human looking at all. Anole has always struggled with his more lizard-like appearance, and Scout, having come to terms with her looks long ago, is the one standing up to Shadow King and his machinations for her two friends. Lots of "You Don't Understand!" talk from our insecure teens.
- Josh, a mutant with huge horns (yet his powers are unknown to me) who originally came about in "Age of X-Man", has found a place in Otherworld where he feels comfortable and more normal. Karma and Mirage go to rescue him, but get themselves in trouble with King Jamie and Lady Roma (Merlyn's daughter), owing a favor to her to be paid back in the future.
- Lastly, Karma wants to endure the Trial of the Crucible, hoping to be able to separate her brother, whose consciousness she absorbed. Dani Moonstar helps her through it, and she is restored in the end. Wonder when we are going to get the brother back... and how that will affect the team dynamic.
Overall, the story is getting really good, but the art is just really unappealing to me. Let's see how the team shakes out post-Gala.
Recommend.
With Vita Ayala's writing reins firmly in hand, this book now takes on a much needed emotional depth, diving into what makes the kids tick and giving us the feeling of "new" mutants again, as the "New Mutants" we've come to know and love have now become the teachers and guardians of this new team. I wish that the art would be better, but with some of the more obscure aspects (Cosmar's reality warping, Mirage's dreaming, and all the weird things Warlock does) it works well enough.
Highlights:
- With Magik, Warpath, and the rest of the original "New Mutants" in charge, they take it upon themselves to begin to train the new generation to work together via what they call "Sinergy Training", which is a fancier way of saying combo moves. The newbies need to know each other's strengths and weaknesses so they can work better as a team.
- ALL Mutants are welcome on Krakoa, but that doesn't mean that all the 'used-to-be-villains' should be, at least in my opinion. Shadow King is one of these, and we see the trouble he causes the new kids by influencing their young minds in the wrong direction. Not that he's making them out to be villainous, but he is playing on their self-appearance insecurities to make them more reliant on him.
- Appearance is a huge topic covered in this Volume, specifically with Cosmar, Anole, and Scout. Cosmar seeks resurrection because the initialization of her powers caused her body to morph to something not human looking at all. Anole has always struggled with his more lizard-like appearance, and Scout, having come to terms with her looks long ago, is the one standing up to Shadow King and his machinations for her two friends. Lots of "You Don't Understand!" talk from our insecure teens.
- Josh, a mutant with huge horns (yet his powers are unknown to me) who originally came about in "Age of X-Man", has found a place in Otherworld where he feels comfortable and more normal. Karma and Mirage go to rescue him, but get themselves in trouble with King Jamie and Lady Roma (Merlyn's daughter), owing a favor to her to be paid back in the future.
- Lastly, Karma wants to endure the Trial of the Crucible, hoping to be able to separate her brother, whose consciousness she absorbed. Dani Moonstar helps her through it, and she is restored in the end. Wonder when we are going to get the brother back... and how that will affect the team dynamic.
Overall, the story is getting really good, but the art is just really unappealing to me. Let's see how the team shakes out post-Gala.
Recommend.
September 2, 2023
First off, the color palette of this one is absolutely gorgeous. It conveys a really distinctive energy that allows for darkness without things getting too muddy. Some of the panels are really sharp and vibrant, while others are almost dreamlike. Overall just really nice to look at. As far as story goes, it’s exploring some really interesting dynamics – how should the power to return the dead be used? And how does the privilege experienced by different mutants fit into that? The privilege dynamic was actually the part I found most interesting. One of the several plots in this collection is a storyline about the conflict between some young mutants with Krakoan society. Some young mutants with more visible traits don’t embrace them the way that they’re sometimes expected to in Krakoa, and adults are unreceptive to their requests for help changing their appearance. There are some explicit conversations about how embracing one’s power is much easier when it doesn’t change the person you see in the mirror. Marvel conversations about mutants have often mapped really well onto conversations about privilege in the real world, and this was definitely reminiscent of concepts of colorism and visible queerness. So I really enjoyed that element. Unfortunately, it was a really small part because there were just so many things crammed into this volume. I had a difficult time keeping track of everything that was happening and who was where and doing what and who got along with who and who was keeping secrets and so on. So that was my biggest frustration, and it made it take a while to get through. Not bad at all, but not great, either.
October 4, 2021
4.5 stars
I’ve enjoyed New Mutants despite its turbulent direction so far, but I think these new issues from Vita Ayala are the best yet, and I’m looking forward to where Ayala’s taking the series. Beyond the great writing, Reis’s art is gorgeous. Nearly every page is amazing and fun to spend time taking in on its own. It reminds me of Christian Ward’s similarly colorful and sloppy digital painting style (Ward even does a few covers here), but Reis’s work feels polished and finished in a way that I haven’t seen from Ward.
The story is fantastic; it feels fittingly youthful without being juvenile or annoying. I love seeing the young adult leads of New Mutants try to watch over and train Krakoa’s unruly teen and adolescent mutants. The emotional exchanges are interesting, and on a more popcorn action level there’s a ton of neat synergy power combos from teachers and students that get shown off. The heavy focus on teen mutants also means there’s a few concurrent threads of identity issues being worked through that I thought were thoughtfully explored. Separately, a core team member deals with trauma and abandonment issues in a compelling way that actually gets pages devoted to fleshing it out instead of X-Factor’s flimsy aesthetic obsession with similar issues. The venture into Otherworld does cool things with that reality’s unique possibilities that the latest Excalibur series never quite has for me. At times, it reminded me of Die’s similarly imaginative fantasy mashup adventure.
I’ve enjoyed New Mutants despite its turbulent direction so far, but I think these new issues from Vita Ayala are the best yet, and I’m looking forward to where Ayala’s taking the series. Beyond the great writing, Reis’s art is gorgeous. Nearly every page is amazing and fun to spend time taking in on its own. It reminds me of Christian Ward’s similarly colorful and sloppy digital painting style (Ward even does a few covers here), but Reis’s work feels polished and finished in a way that I haven’t seen from Ward.
The story is fantastic; it feels fittingly youthful without being juvenile or annoying. I love seeing the young adult leads of New Mutants try to watch over and train Krakoa’s unruly teen and adolescent mutants. The emotional exchanges are interesting, and on a more popcorn action level there’s a ton of neat synergy power combos from teachers and students that get shown off. The heavy focus on teen mutants also means there’s a few concurrent threads of identity issues being worked through that I thought were thoughtfully explored. Separately, a core team member deals with trauma and abandonment issues in a compelling way that actually gets pages devoted to fleshing it out instead of X-Factor’s flimsy aesthetic obsession with similar issues. The venture into Otherworld does cool things with that reality’s unique possibilities that the latest Excalibur series never quite has for me. At times, it reminded me of Die’s similarly imaginative fantasy mashup adventure.
May 1, 2022
Here I thought Way of X was supposed to be the spiritual book diving into the deep philosophical questions of the new Krakoan era. I love the character work being done here. There are questions and responses that really fit into what I think makes a lot of sense given the status quo right now. What’s more, it doesn’t yet answer them fully. There’s so much room to explore what this all means and how it can take shape. I’m glad the series is still ongoing because, aside from how massive the cast is, there is so much for Vita Ayala to keep digging into with these questions.
Honestly, the art took some getting used to. Rod Reid does fantastic work, but some of it was (I think intentionally) disorienting to a degree that I didn’t know what was happening at times. It feels very evocative of Bill Sienkiewicz.
I’ve never been a huge fan of Dani or Karma, but they’ve got a lot of great moments in this. I’ve also been influenced by listening to the Cerebro podcast recently to root for them as a couple, but that’s beside the point. All the leads, including John Proudstar, Magik, Rhayne, Gabby, and others, are given something to do, unique issues and different ways to approach them. It’s a fascinating ensemble book, and that’s saying almost nothing of the secondary characters like Anole and Cosmar.
This was already a really strong title, and giving it a single creative team to tackle such interesting themes and stories is only going to make it better.
Honestly, the art took some getting used to. Rod Reid does fantastic work, but some of it was (I think intentionally) disorienting to a degree that I didn’t know what was happening at times. It feels very evocative of Bill Sienkiewicz.
I’ve never been a huge fan of Dani or Karma, but they’ve got a lot of great moments in this. I’ve also been influenced by listening to the Cerebro podcast recently to root for them as a couple, but that’s beside the point. All the leads, including John Proudstar, Magik, Rhayne, Gabby, and others, are given something to do, unique issues and different ways to approach them. It’s a fascinating ensemble book, and that’s saying almost nothing of the secondary characters like Anole and Cosmar.
This was already a really strong title, and giving it a single creative team to tackle such interesting themes and stories is only going to make it better.
March 6, 2022
trying to catch up on x-men comics and there's legit 50+ issues i need to read across idk 12+ different titles before i can get to the big hellfire gala crossover event. i try to read by trades which means there's like 1 issue at the end of several of them that i can't get to yet so i can't mark it off here until i finish all the other ones which is stressing me out lol. the interconnectedness of these books is both the best and worst thing about them
i enjoy how painted the artwork in this series looks and how that gives it flexibility to randomly pull off a diff vibe like that double page spread with dani and xi'an in otherworld. i haven't read much of the original new mutants so idk their past but i really liked their friendship here.
once again the issue of some mutants passing as regular humans who just happen to have extremely cool magic powers vs those whose bodies have completely warped is raised and i don't know that there'll ever be a good solution to that. i can't believe that krakoa just has all these former supervillains running wild and all the children running wild too like why didn't they set up a school when they set up the nation pls so many of you have experience as teachers ?? bless gabby though please let an adult actually give her some real help
i enjoy how painted the artwork in this series looks and how that gives it flexibility to randomly pull off a diff vibe like that double page spread with dani and xi'an in otherworld. i haven't read much of the original new mutants so idk their past but i really liked their friendship here.
once again the issue of some mutants passing as regular humans who just happen to have extremely cool magic powers vs those whose bodies have completely warped is raised and i don't know that there'll ever be a good solution to that. i can't believe that krakoa just has all these former supervillains running wild and all the children running wild too like why didn't they set up a school when they set up the nation pls so many of you have experience as teachers ?? bless gabby though please let an adult actually give her some real help
March 8, 2023
Was optimistic about the change in writer at first, but Ayala quickly proves to be the third best writer of New Mutants since the launch of the Krakoa-era X-titles. This book was an utter bore, with scattered plot points never really coming together. The Shadow King is just endlessly teased and none of the new New Mutants feel like compelling additions. I was initially excited to see characters like Warpath getting more time, but I began to regret that desire quickly when I saw how little it ended up mattering.
Rod Reis' artwork is probably the reason this is a 2 star review instead of a 1, but I also kind of feel bad to see him deliver some gorgeous artwork for a highly unambitious script. At times it felt like Reis had to add flair to some truly mundane plot beats to spice it up, and it like unnecessary excess. I would almost have preferred a more standard artist to take on the art duties for this book, since it really felt like the script and art were on different wavelengths.
I'm wary of continuing on with future volumes of Ayala's run, but I probably will anyways since I think there are kernels of ideas here that could be interesting down the line.
Rod Reis' artwork is probably the reason this is a 2 star review instead of a 1, but I also kind of feel bad to see him deliver some gorgeous artwork for a highly unambitious script. At times it felt like Reis had to add flair to some truly mundane plot beats to spice it up, and it like unnecessary excess. I would almost have preferred a more standard artist to take on the art duties for this book, since it really felt like the script and art were on different wavelengths.
I'm wary of continuing on with future volumes of Ayala's run, but I probably will anyways since I think there are kernels of ideas here that could be interesting down the line.
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