New Mutants (Vol. 1) #1

"Initiation!"
Published March 1983
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciller: Bob McLeod
Inker: Mike Gustovich

What's Going On?
An undisclosed period of time has passed since the events of the New Mutants graphic novel, and not a whole lot has changed.  The kids are still kind of awkward with each other and they are still having trouble controlling their powers.  The highlight of all this is Dani accidentally making Shan relive the death of her parents and her own brutal rape.  Oops!

A while later, the students gather for their first Danger Room training exercise.  The task is simply to cross from one side of the Danger Room to the other, but the training sequence is designed to counter their abilities.  Cannonball, Wolfsbane, Karma and Sunspot all fail in rapid succession.  Psyche, though, has a panic attack and runs away.  While she sulks and works up her nerve to try again, the rest of the team go into town with Stevie Hunter.  When Psyche returns and takes her Danger Room challenge (unsupervised), she passes...and is then struck down by an unseen assailant.  When she awakens, she finds herself in the Danger Room still, but with all the safety modes overridden and danger imminent.

Subplots, Oh the Subplots!
- Moira MacTaggert and Illyana visit London for a meeting with Israeli ambassador Gabrielle Haller.  Gabrielle wants Moira to help her autistic mutant son, although it is not explained how she wanted Moira to help.  The boy's father is Charles Xavier, although Gabrielle wants to hide that fact for some unknown reason.

- As the students head to town, they are followed by government agents as part of Project: Wideawake.  Why the government is following Xavier's students, or how they know about Xavier's school for mutants is not explained.

Writing!
Honestly, the writing feels a little rough in this issue.  The characters haven't really found their groove yet, and there isn't a particularly likable point-of-view character.  It looks like Claremont is trying to make Dani Moonstar the narrative focus in this issue; her nervousness helps with that, but it doesn't erase the broadly-painted stereotype she was portrayed as in the graphic novel.

Art!
Bob McLeod's biggest strengths are how well he portrays distinct characters (face, body, etc.) and their their facial expressions.  Sometimes that leads to goofy-looking scenes, but McLeod's weak scenes are still pretty endearing.

I mean, this is a pretty cute scene, but that is one crowded co-ed bathroom.

The choice to ink and color Dani's mental projections pink does not work as well on the typical cheap comic book paper as it did in Marvel Graphic Novel #4.

This looks less like an innovative way of expressing a superpower and more like a Pepto Bismol nightmare.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- Apparently, there are times where smacking a woman in the face is heroic.  Fun fact!

- I love how eloquent Roberto is in this issue.  He is never portrayed as a dumb character, but the traditional take on the character is certainly more of a party boy than a wordsmith.

- Apparently, the entrance to Storm's attic bedroom is in Kitty Pryde's room.  That doesn't seem awkward at all.  I suppose the other explanation is that several rooms have entrances to the attic, but that's still awkward and weird.

- Moira brings Illyana to London for a meeting with an ambassador because...she is a background character that Claremont likes to include in things, I guess.

- When Roberto asks if the students will become the new X-Men, he prefaces it by saying that he has been in the library, reading about the history of the school.  While it doesn't surprise me that Xavier would keep case files about his team's adventures, I would think that information would be sensitive enough to not leave in books kept in the school library.

- Xavier states that he will never have a team of super-heroes again.  Obviously, that shows the man in mourning, but it's hilarious in retrospect, especially after the publication of of X-Men: Deadly Genesis.

- Xavier lists himself, Moira MacTaggert, and Stevie Hunter as the adults that may supervise Danger Room sequences.  It seems like Claremont was preparing for Stvie to have a fairly large supporting role in this book.  I wonder how long that lasts?

Worth Noting:
- Dani, Rahne, and Roberto get their code-names this issue; they are Psyche, Wolfsbane, and Sunspot, respectively. 

- The scene with Gabrielle Haller is the first reference to Xavier's son, Legion, although his first appearance will not come for at least another year.