New Mutants #2
The Adventure Continues. New Mutants #2 was among the batch of comics that I found on the spinner rack during my second trip to buy comics at my local Store 24. My appetite for comics in general and the New Mutants and the X-Men in particular had been whetted by Uncanny X-Men #167, so I was excited to find both New Mutants #2 and Uncanny X-Men #168 - among other gems - on my next trip to the store. It hadn’t been a full month since my last purchase, so I imagine that issue Uncanny X-Men #167 must have been sitting on the rack for a while when I came across it. Uncanny X-Men #168 is a great issue that I’ll cover in another entry. For this entry, I’ll focus on the New Mutants.
The Story. The story in New Mutants #2 actually takes place before the events in Uncanny X-Men #167, so I’m certain that it took me a little while to figure out how this issue tied to the issue I had just read. The story starts out with Dani Moonstar (Psyche) in a Danger Room session gone awry, revealing the presence of the evil Brood Queen and foreshadowing the storyline that would culminate with the showdown between the two X-Teams and the Brood Queen-infested Prof. Xavier. As an 11-year old, I probably thought to myself, “Wait, didn’t the X-Men take care of the Brood Queen already? Is there another one hiding in the X-Mansion? What the hell is going on here?” But, I figured it all out in due course.
While Psyche is fighting for her life in the Danger Room, the rest of the team is at the Salem Center Mall catching a showing of the movie E.T. They meet a group of kids from the local high school and are having a good time until Federal Agents, working for Henry Peter Gyrich under the auspices of Project Wide-Awake, show up and take them into custody. The kids are rescued by Air Force Intelligence Agent Michael Rossi and the X-Men’s dance instructor Stevie Hunter just as a fleet of rogue Sentinels, deployed by duplicitous industrialist and Hellfire Club Black King Sebastian Shaw, show up and attack the team. A great battle ensues in which the New Mutants destroy the Sentinels and much of the Salem Center Mall in the process. It’s a fun story, ending in victory for the young heroes and setting the stage for action, intrigue and conflict in future issues.
Kids Being Kids. I have always liked the social, interpersonal and romantic aspects of comic book plots as much as the pulse-pounding, senses-shattering action promised on the cover of nearly every issue. Those aspects of the stories clearly do the most in terms of character development and are instrumental in endearing the heroes to the reader. Some of my favorite and most memorable scenes from comics are the X-Men’s team baseball games, Storm and Cyclops fixing dinner after playing racket ball sans rackets, Wolverine and Nightcrawler drinking beer and playing “tag,” Bobby Drake's 18th birthday at the Coffee A Go-Go, and, of course, the New Mutants hanging out at the mall, having a slumber party, sneaking out, etc.
As a kid, I thought it was very cool to see these young superheroes out at a mall that happened to look a lot like my mall – and probably a lot of other people’s malls as well. I could relate to seeing E.T., eating ice cream, meeting new people, making friends, battling giant robots…..ok, check that last one. In any case, seeing these young heroes in age-appropriate activities in the "real world" resonated with me, made me feel that I could relate to the characters, and helped make the jump to the surreal superhero adventures that much more credible and compelling. The “kids being kids” dynamic essentially disappeared when the Rob Liefeld took over the New Mutants and turned the team into X-Force, but it was fun while it lasted.
Project Wide-Awake. New Mutants #2 was my first introduction to the “feared and hated by the world they have sworn to protect” concept. Up until this point, my limited knowledge of the X-Men had me thinking that they were international and intergalactic superstars. In fact, most of the comics that I had seen in the past showcased superheroes that were widely loved by the general public. So I was both perplexed and intrigued by the notion of this government conspiracy against the X-Men intertwined with involvement by members of the villainous Hellfire Club. This storyline would play out on a variety of levels over the coming years and I would eventually learn all about Project Wide-Awake, Henry Peter Gyrich, Sebastian Shaw, and the Hellfire Club as the saga continued and as I started to discover the X-Men back issues.
The Sentinels. As agents of Project Wide-Awake and as cool creations in their own right, the Sentinels left quite an impression on me. I had no previous exposure to giant robots, although I soon would in cartoons such as Voltron, Transformers and some of the dubbed Japanese Mecha cartoons that they ran on Boston’s Channel 25 back in the 80s. But I digress…Yes, I love the Sentinels. It’s hard to say exactly why, but they are my all-time favorite X-Villains. I suppose it’s some combination of their great design, fighting prowess and the fact that fighting giant robots makes for a great opportunity to showcase teamwork and superpowered combat in big, bold scenes. On a slightly more cerebral level, I think a fight against the Sentinels is really a fight against the embodiment of intolerance and oppression, which certainly gets the reader invested in the story and rooting for the good guys.
Bob McLeod’s Art. I read recently that Bob McLeod is known today as a fine penciler and a better inker. I’m not an art critic, but I’m inclined to give him high marks on both counts. Admittedly, it’s hard for me to be objective because of my nostalgic fondness for the New Mutants, but I loved Bob McLeod’s art in the New Mutants when I was a kid and I love it today. Clean lines, expressive faces, distinctive characterization, rich detail, great action…..what’s not to like?
Since I started collecting original comic art a few years ago, I’ve focused on trying to find pages from comics that I read and loved as a kid. So, although my love for Paul Smith’s work on the X-Men goes unrequited, I’ve been very fortunate to find a few Bob McLeod New Mutants pages and to have the man himself do a few commissions for me. Aside from being a great artist, I have to say that Bob McLeod is a consummate professional and a pleasure to deal with. I recommend taking a look at the commission galleries on his web site www.bobmcleod.com. The site showcases commissions that he’s done of a wide variety of characters, including an amazing color commission of the New Mutants battling a Sentinel. All of this reminds me that I have to remember to ask Bob why the Sentinels were blue and gray in New Mutants #2 instead of their traditional pink and purple….
Bob McLeod was kind enough to do a cover recreation of New Mutants #2 for me in December of 2004. It was my first original comic art commission and is a treasured part of my collection.
Bob McLeod did this pencil and ink sketch of the original New Mutants team on the interior cover and splash page of a volume containing issues 1-25 that I had bound by Capitol Bindery.
I bought these two original art pages from New Mutants #2 from Bob McLeod after finding them listed on his web site.
Comments
Hey, graymalkin, I thought I'd let you know you have at least one reader out here. I've enjoyed both your entries so far (probably because these were two issues I appreciated from my youth). I look forward to seeing more from you! --j.d. from Gormuu's Masterworks forums
Posted by: J.D. | March 20, 2006 10:43 PM
Thanks, J.D. I appreciate the kind words. It's definitely been a lot of fun re-reading these great comics and thinking back to my early days of collecting.
Posted by: 1407graymalkin | March 22, 2006 12:17 PM
I got an email back from Bob McLeod in response to my question about the new look to the Sentinels in New Mutants #2.
He said "I can't remember exactly, but I think they asked me to come up with a new design for the Sentinels in #2. If you compare them to the original ones, there are a lot of differences besides the colors. I think Chris wanted to make the point that the Sentinels were always being improved."
Posted by: 1407graymalkin | March 22, 2006 12:20 PM