Published December 1983
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciller: Sal Buscema
Inker: Tom Mandrake
What's Going On?
Remember last issue, when the team had been drugged, making Cannonball and Sunspot fight in the arena as gladiators? Yeah, that's over now. The team has been embraced as demigods because Wolfsbane is a redheaded werewolf (there's an explanation for that, but it's pretty dumb). Now that they are honored guests, the team gets involved in local politics, helping Senator Gallio arrest his rival, Senator Aquilla. Even though they appear to be on Gallio's side, Sam and Roberto are starting to question that loyalty. The more they learn about Gallio and Nova Roma, the more they find to dislike.
Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- Rahne gest angry whenever Amara is mentioned. Dani wonders if Rahne's anger is due to something that occurred between the two girls, or if Rahne is jealous that Sam seems to be favoring Amara.
- Roberto is worried about his missing mother. He thinks back to all his recent loss and blames himself for the deaths (presumed or not) of his late girlfriend, Karma, and his mother. That's a lot of death in a short period of time, although I would think that Karma's fate would be A) out of his control, since it was caused by a bomb B) less important to him, since he barely knew her, but loved the other two women.
- Rahne admits to Roberto that she enjoys being a wolf more than a human, and it is challenging her religious convictions. The two almost discuss this and develop their characters, when someone shoots at them.
- When Sam tries to reprimand Rahne, she gets upset, arguing that he is not the leader of the New Mutants. Roberto reflects that Dani has been taking charge lately, and she would make a better leader than he would.
- Dani is kidnapped by worshipers of the Cult of Fire, to join Amara and another girl as human sacrifices to Selene. When Selene tries to kill Amara by throwing her in a lava pit, Amara's mutant abilities manifest.
Writing!
The Nova Romans worshiping Rahne was both inspired and idiotic. It is inspired because I doubt Claremont planned this story out when creating Wolfsbane, and it is a fairly clever manipulation of Roman history. It is idiotic because...well, it just is. "She has red hair like Caesar! And we have a creation myth involving a lady wolf! WORSHIP HER!" I might have bought into it if Claremont had foreshadowed it, maybe with some Caesar artwork showing off his red hair, or maybe paintings or sculptures of wolves in background shots, but nothing like that is present. This feels like exactly what it is: a way to have the team play both gladiators and gods in the same story arc.
Speaking of ways to get the story from Point A to Point B, it is revealed that Roberto speaks Latin, and has been hiding the fact. I'll go into how goofy that is in a little bit, but what a lazy storytelling choice! "I need to let the other characters know what the people speaking the foreign language are saying, but how? Of course! One of them is fluent is a dead language that exists only on paper!"
Aside from those lame choices, this story keeps on trucking. It is still an awful concept, but Claremont is doing his best to sell it.
Art!
While I wouldn't argue that the art here is great, I don't have a problem with the Sal Buscema/Tom Mandrake team. The storytelling is decently clear, and Mandrake softens Buscema's angular pencils almost as much as Bob McLeod's did. It's just not very exciting. I will give credit where it's due: the debut of Magma's mutant powers looked pretty cool.
Retrospectively Amusing:
- Roberto mentions that his father, Emmanuel DaCosta, was once a slave. Without more information, it's hard to disprove that claim, but the last nation in the Western hemisphere to have legal slavery was Brazil. They abolished slavery in 1888. So where was he a slave?
- Dani is kidnapped moments after sneaking out of a guarded palace. Those are some diligent kidnappers.
- Roberto speaks Latin. Putting aside how unlikely it is that he would be able to understand the spoken form of a dead language, spoken in an accent he has never heard before, this is just an odd choice. Roberto is the second-youngest member of the team, and is not portrayed as particularly studious. Wouldn't it have been less of a stretch for the lonely Catholic girl, Wolfsbane, to know some Latin?
- Remember last issue, when Selene was referred to as the Black Priestess? Yeah, that doesn't come up again when we witness her cult worshiping her.
- Dani and Amara get manhandled by Selene in this issue. I don't know if this really qualifies as part of the whole "female characters being easily dispatched by physical force" theme in this title, but it's close. The only reason I hesitate is because it looks like Selene is supposed to have super-strength. It's not explicit, but she sure doesn't look like she should be able to pick Dani up by the throat...
Worth Noting:
- Selene implies that she is a mutant, and Dani discerns that Selene's abilities are psionic in nature. Selene can block Dani's abilities and force the drugged prisoners to act against their wills. She can also touch souls, whatever that means, and maybe has super-strength? I wonder if these will be the same abilities she has in later appearances? The answer is "not really."
- Amara debuts her mutant powers for the first time
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