New Mutants #1-7
Originally released in 2019
Written by Jonathan Hickman (#1-2, 5, 7), Ed Brisson (#3-4, 6)
Art by Rod Reis (#1-2, 5, 7), Flaviano Armentaro (#3, 6), Marco Falla (#4)
I've read a bit of the modern Krakoa era of X-Men (long story short, mutantkind finds a home on the living island of Krakoa, where any mutant can live regardless of their previous morality, and the community combines the power of five mutants so that any mutant that dies will be resurrected), but I haven't read any of the spin-offs from the main X-Men series. As I'm at least a little familiar with the New Mutants, I chose to read their Krakoa-era series.
Within the first few issues, it's clear that this book is handling things a bit differently. Every few issues, the perspective changes depending on who's writing it. The series starts off with Jonathan Hickman writing about the classic New Mutants. The name is something of a misnomer, as they aren't new any more - they've been around for roughly forty years by this point. (which works out to about ten years in-universe? Keeping track of how much time has passed in Marvel's Earth is something of a nightmare)
One of their number, Cannonball, is living in Shi'ar space with his wife Izzy/Smasher, who I last saw in Hickman's Avengers run. The New Mutants travel to Shi'ar space to visit him, get caught up in the heavily biased Shi'ar court system (among other things, they expect everyone to know the laws of the Shi'ar because they consider every single part of the universe to either be Shi'ar space or soon-to-be Shi'ar space), and wind up in jail.
Cannonball and Smasher bail them out, but they're forced into a top secret mission - rescue Deathbird (Empress Lilandra's villainous sister) so she can mentor Xandra (who I'm guessing is Lilandra's daughter with Charles Xavier) to be the new empress. Roberto/Sunspot falls in love with Deathbird at first sight.
Meanwhile, on Earth, another group of mutants are investigating why some mutants haven't gone to Krakoa, planning to do whatever they can to help. Armor, a Japanese woman who can create translucent armour around herself, is the main focus, with Glob Herman (whose entire body is blobby and transparent) helping out.
Twins named Maxime and Manon also come along, eager to help, but it's quickly made clear that their grasp on morals and ethics are virtually non-existent.
While helping out a pair of mutants (Beak, a bird-man, and Angel Salvadore, who vomits acid) by using a mutant cure to undo the effects of a rare form of dementia that Beak's father was suffering from, Armor's group is caught up in the plans of a drug cartel who want mutant cures so they can make money off of them, and are holding Beak, Angel, and their kids hostage to get it.
The scenes with Beak's father, and his family's reaction to him being cured, are touching; it shows how much of a positive impact mutants have on the world, as cures like these are being given out for free to any country that recognizes Krakoa as a nation. (the problem is that bigotry rears its ugly head and not every country chooses to recognize it)
I'm not sure why the writers change every few issues, or why they chose to have two different plotlines where each one was handled by different writers. It makes the series feel a little unstable, as it's never clear which plot the next issue will focus on. Still, I'm assuming that the availability of writers and artists is a factor, and setting it up like this allows the X-Men side of the Marvel universe to be fleshed out in a variety of different directions.
The series does call this out in a fourth-wall breaking moment during issue 7's recap, though.
Out of the space-bound team, Roberto and Magik are the most fun here. Almost as soon as he meets Deathbird, Roberto tries to flirt with her despite her being homicidal and so far out of his league that it's almost not funny. (he tries to brag about he's rich enough to buy countries, only for her to point out that her empire can buy entire planets; he claims that it's a relief that she's interested in his looks rather than his money despite her not caring about either)
Meanwhile, Magik is a chaotic gremlin who wants to kick butts and drink coffee, and she's all out of coffee. When a black ops Shi'ar squad attacks their ship (and she confirms if her opponents want to fight, flee, or fornicate, and that they aren't human since Krakoa has laws against killing humans), she's downright enthusiastic.
Things aren't nearly as fun on Earth; Beak, Angel Salvadore, and their kids make it to Krakoa, but Beak's parents are killed by the cartel in the process. Beak was suffering from a gunshot wound and unaware of what happened to them, but upon being told, he doesn't seem too broken up about it.
Despite Glob's efforts to improve their morality, Maxime and Manon altered Beak's memories. This time, it was arguably for a better cause (to spare him the grief), but it's clear that they have a lot to learn. Armor and Glob ultimately decide that what's done is done, but it's implied that something is going to go wrong as a result.
I'm curious if these two teams are going to remain separate or intersect; the original New Mutants return to Earth at the end of issue seven, so maybe there will be some overlap in the line-ups. None of these mutants are ones that I was overly familiar with, so it was interesting to see how they developed and how quickly their personalities were established, even if the sheer number of them meant that some didn't get as much focus as others.
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