New Mutants (Vol. 1) #13

"School Daysze"
Published March 1984
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Sal Buscema
Inker: Tom Mandrake
Cover Artist: Bret Blevins (the Marvel Wiki says Tom Mandrake is the sole cover artist, but Blevins' style is pretty obvious and his signature is visible under the UPC)

What's Going On?
Finally back at school after their South American adventures, Professor Xavier and the New Mutants welcome Amara to her new home.

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- Roberto flirts with Amara,which makes Danielle a little jealous.  I believe this never goes anywhere.

- Sam also tries to flirt with Amara, but his attempt is clumsier and less successful.

- Kitty Pryde and Doug Ramsey hack into Project Wideawake and clumsily control a Sentinel for a few moments, until the Wideawake folks force it to self-destruct.

- Kitty talks to Doug briefly about her parent's divorce.  This is the first time she has mentioned it since Uncanny X-Men Annual #6.

- The New Mutants are rude to Kitty Pryde, reviving the "X-Babies" feud that had not really been an issue for the team until now.

- Kitty Pryde worries about her relationship with Colossus, wondering if she may wind up falling in love with Doug Ramsey, with whom she has much more in common.

- Xavier suffers yet another blow from the as-yet-undefined psychic scan, as he did in the last two issues of Uncanny.

- Xavier and Lilandra have a long-distance holographic conversation, and it appears to be the last time we will see Lilandra for a while; she is going beyond communications range with Earth, so we probably won't see her for a while.

Writing!
This might be my favorite issue of New Mutants to date.  It's an issue spent entirely on character building, and it works pretty well.  When I realized that this was going to be yet another issue spent discussing how little control Amara has over her powers, I was disappointed.  However, despite the lack of any major action sequences, this issue finally felt like a sister title to Uncanny X-Men.  The action has not picked up, but it was nice to see these characters get a much-needed opportunity to expand a bit.

Art!
Well, it's more Sal Buscema, and he's given less to do than usual.  It's not that Buscema cannot handle character-based scenes, but he tends to make them a bit melodramatic.  It's not bad by any means, it just feels uninspired.


Retrospectively Amusing:
- Despite the cover of this issue, Kitty and the New Mutants do not have a major showdown (and she never wears a costume with that color scheme).

- It's the first issue back at the X-Mansion since Karma disappeared.  I wonder if any of the New Mutants will ask how Xavier's search for her is going...no?  Okay, I guess we're just assuming she is dead now, but it's okay because she has been replaced by a blonde babe now.

- Professor Xavier explains how much he respects privacy to Amara, stating that he will not use his psychic powers to pry in her mind.  The very next page has Xavier deciding that he had better remain in constant psychic contact with Amara.  Granted, he is completely justified in wanting to keep her from causing an accidental earthquake; I just love that those two panels are so close together in the story.

- According to Henry Peter Gyrich, Sentinels cost around five million dollars.  While I don't have $5m, that seems like a pretty reasonable price tag for giant walking arsenals with artificial intelligence.

- Gyrich makes a valid point, stating that the hacking of Project Wideawake is an attack on the federal government.  I'm going to hazard a wild guess that this concept never really causes and problems for Kitty or Doug.

- Xavier mentions the events of Marvel Team-Up Annual #6, which saw Sunspot and Wolfsbane get infected by the drug that created Cloak and Dagger.  That issue was released in October 1983, and this is the first time anyone in this comic has acknowledged those events.

- While both Sam and Rahne feel pretty stupid in computer class, Xavier chooses to help only Sam, even as he wonders how to convince Rahne that she's not dumb.

- When Amara asks if being a mutant is something to be ashamed of, Rahne answers in the affirmative and no one disputes it.

- There is a promo for the upcoming Beauty and the Beast at the end of this issue, promising  a February release.  Since the general newsstand practice was to have a publication date two months after the actual street release date, that means that this issue (ostensibly released in January 1984, but dated March 1984) was promoting a title for release in the following month.  Beauty and  the Beast was eventually given a release date of December 1984.

- I love the last panel of the issue.  Xavier being ever-so-chipper in the face of failure is cute, especially when you consider latter-day retcons that made him into a completely manipulative asshole.

- In her second appearance, Valerie Cooper is mentioned by name but has no speaking lines.  Clearly, a solid attempt at building an independent female character!

- Stevie Hunter's role seems to be expanding.  For a while, she was the gymnastics teacher for the kids.  Now, her role has expanded so that she can "help Charles work with all you kids."  That makes it seem like her role will be expanding in this title, but I don't belive that is actually true.

Worth Noting:
- Future New Mutants penciler, Bret Blevins, gets his first crack at the characters with this cover.

- Amara finally gets her code-name, Magma

- This is the first appearance of Doug Ramsey, although he looks a bit more rugged and handsome than he is typically drawn in later appearances.

- Rahne refers to Moira MacTaggert as her godmother in this issue; this is the first time a formal relationship has been suggested between the two characters.

Everything 80s:
- The 80's were absolutely ADORABLE with their video games that came in 8 different console versions! 

Uncanny X-Men #176

"Decisions"
Published December 1983
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciller: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Bob Wiacek

What's Going On?
The newlyweds, Cyclops and Madeline, are on their way to their honeymoon destination when they encounter a storm while flying over the Pacific.  Their plane is hit by lightning, but they survive...only to encounter an aggressive giant sea squid.  But what chance does a giant squid have against the man who beat up all the X-Men last issue?

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- Wolverine confronts Mariko for calling off their wedding, back in Uncanny #173.  He correctly attributes their breakup to Mastermind's manipulations, but she argues that the things she did (apparently off-panel) under his influence were so bad (read: criminal) that she is honor-bound to fix the situation on her own.  If she dies in the process, it is up to Wolverine to to slay her remaining foes.  Wolverine tries to give back the Yashida Clan Honor Sword (given to him by Mariko in Wolverine (Vol. 1)), but she refuses.  Basically, he proved himself worthy when he killed her evil father, regardless of the cost; it is up to her to show that she is equally worthy by cutting Clan Yashida's ties to the Japanese underworld.

- Henry Peter Gyrich, the Marvel Comics designated "political bureaucrat who has to be involved in super hero matters," is invited to a meeting where mutants are seen as an increasing danger.  Magneto is the textbook example of how dangerous mutants can be (based mostly on his exploits from Uncanny X-Men #150).  The other reason for worry (according to the bureaucrats) is that mutants are popping all over the globe, even in Communist nations.  Remarkably, the usually insensitive and abrasive Gyrich comes across as very reasonable, while the typically sensible Val Cooper looks like a bigot.

- Callisto tells Caliban that she wants to make Kitty Pryde fulfill her promise (made in Uncanny #170) to live forever with Caliban in the Morlock sewers. Masque warns Callisto that this may cause conflict with their new leader, Storm.  Callisto hopes it does.

- Cyclops decides to not join his father and the Starjammers in their space adventures (the choice was last mentioned in Uncanny #174).  He wants to live a normal, non-super hero life with Madeline. 

Art!
This is John Romita Jr.'s first full issue on art, and one if his more annoying (to me, anyway) habits shows up right away.  He has this weird thing where he likes to overdo the cheekbones on female characters at times, making it look like their lower jaw is caving in.

Is it a big deal?  Not really.  It's just a Thing He Does that I'm not terribly fond of.  On the other hand, I loved his cloaked-in-shadows Wolverine, and he did a good job with the sea monsters and the underwater sequences.  Overall, the man is off to a nice start.

Writing!
This is one of those "slow" issues that frequently come after a major storyline ends, and that is perfectly okay.  Chris Claremont (at least, according to interviews looking back at the character) had intended for Madeline Pryor to simply be a doppelganger of Jean Grey and nothing more.  This issue ended with a caption reading "The Beginning;" this was Claremont's attempt to give Cyclops a happy ending, as he retires from the X-Men and begins a normal civilian life.  How different would this series have been if characters were allowed to actually do this?  It would be weird, right?  This issue served as a well-deserved bon voyage to a character that had lived a pretty tortured life up to this point.  Unfortunately, when Marvel decided to launch X-Factor, a lot of this progress was lost...

On the bright side, Claremont decided to have Wolverine and Mariko realize off-panel that Mastermind undermined their wedding.  Why that had to be off-panel, I don't know, but I disagree with the choice.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- Behold!  The color-changing bikini!  First it is black...

...and then it is white!

Could she have changed?  It's doubtful.  Is it important?  Absolutely not.  This is the sort of thing kids would try to get No-Prizes for.

- Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter spent half of a page complaining about Romita Jr.'s cover art.  That's an odd choice.

Everything 80's:
- Check out this ad for CBS' Saturday Morning Cartoon lineup.

The Little Rascals/Richie Rich?  Pac-Man?  Rubik, the Amazing Cube?  Menudo?!?  Good lord, what children went through in 1983!




Worth Noting:
- This is the last mention of the Yashida Clan Honor Blade/Sword for a good long while.  I think it next pops up in Wolverine (Vol. 2) #78.

- Finally!  Someone acknowledges that Mastermind ruined Wolverine's wedding!  The act that no one addressed this last issue really bothered me.

- Valerie Cooper makes her first appearance as someone that is alarmed with the "mutant problem."  This is an odd angle for her character, since she quickly becomes one of Marvel's most reasonable government (read: not bigoted) employees.

- Cyclops has officially left the X-Men and is now considered (by Claremont, anyway) retired from super heroing. 

Daredevils #9

"Waiting For the End of the World"
Published September 1983
Writer: Alan Moore
Penciller: Alan Davis
Inker: Alan Davis


What's Going On?
Jim Jaspers makes a televised speech that portrays super-heroes as dangers to the world at large; Linda (Captain UK of Earth 238) explains that he made the exact same speech on her world as a precursor to the wholesale slaughter of all superhumans.  Captain Britain tries to console her and convince her that this world will not suffer the same fate, but she doesn't believe him (in part, perhaps, because Betsy Braddock has a premonition of the impending slaughter) and leaves Braddock Manor...only to come face-to-face with the Fury.

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- Merlin and Roma are playing a chess game, with the major characters in this story acting as the chess pieces.  It turns out that the Fury is not on the game board, though, so events may not turn out as Merlin has planned...

- Jim Jaspers takes a moment to change his white wine to red, indicating that he has the same reality-altering powers as his Earth 238 counterpart.

- There are tensions brewing within the Special Executive.  While Wardog is concerned with a possible superhero holocaust, Zeitgeist is only interested in getting a paycheck.

- Betsy Braddock's boyfriend, Tom, is still urging her to abandon her brother and go somewhere less violent.  Since we know that Betsy eventually joins the X-Men as Psylocke and I've never heard of Tom in any X-title, I'm going to make a wild guess and say Tom won't have a happy ending here.

Writing!
This is yet another issue where Alan Moore manages to do a lot with only a little space.  I thought that the Merlin chess scenes were trying to be a little too clever, but Moore balanced that out by having the Fury throw a monkey wrench in that game.  Other than that, we see progression with Linda, the growing conflict within the Special Executive, the growing danger from Jaspers, and a cliffhanger with the Fury.  That's a lot for one half-issue!

Art!
I liked how Alan Davis chose to handle Jim Jasper's reality manipulation with the wine.  It's simple, but it's just another example of how well he works with subtle facials expressions.  And that last page...considering that neither character is exactly iconic, it's a damn nice panel.  I think the best example of Davis' work on this issue, though, is Betsy's premonition.  It's nothing huge or splashy, but showing her premonition within the silhouette of her profile is a very nice touch.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- It looks like Merlin and Roma are hanging out in a cosmic jacuzzi during the chess game.  I guess you can play chess wherever you want to, but it does look strange that the father (Merlin) is at least partially unclothed and the daughter (Roma) appears to be jacuzzi-ing with her normal outfit on, right?

Worth Noting:
- Jim Jaspers specifically mentions the Presidential pardon from Incredible Hulk #278, and Henry Peter Gyrich and Sebastian Shaw both make cameos.  This is the first evidence that A) ties Captain Britain to the X-Men titles and B) Marvel UK/Earth 616 is still the same as the prime Marvel universe; yes, CapBrit had made some appearances in the Marvel Universe before (Contest of Champions, Marvel Team Up) and his original self-titled comic did have a few American heroes guest-star, but Alan Moore could have easily changed what reality Marvel UK inhabited when Merlin brought CapBrit back from the dead and returned him home.  So, now we have proof that these stories can impact the Marvel Universe as a whole, and an indication that Alan Moore liked Chris Claremont's Uncanny X-Men run.

- While she has been mentioned earlier, this is the first appearance of Vixen.  It turns out that she's a woman, which will surprise Captain Britain and his friends, who somehow concluded that someone named "Vixen" had to be male.

New Mutants (Vol. 1) #2

"Sentinels"
Published April 1983
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciller: Bob McLeod
Inker: Mike Gustovich


What's Going On?
Stevie Hunter takes Rahne, Roberto, Sam, and Xi'an to the mall to see "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" in the theater.  They are secretly monitored by agents of Project Wideawake, under the orders of Henry Peter Gyrich.  The idea is for the agents to detain the students because they are mutants (that makes sense, right?).  While the agents are making their move, Stevie receives a surprise encounter from Michael Rossi, from Air Force Intelligence.  Rossi alerts Stevie to the abduction of the students, and they (and the kids) manage to fight off the Project Wideawake agents.  That's when the gigantic, mutant-hunting robot Sentinels arrive.  The New Mutants manage to defeat the three Sentinels that were trying to capture them, but they also wrecked the mall in the process.  All's well that ends well, though, as the Project Wideawake agents get arrested and the kids return back to Xavier's school.

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- Remember how last issue ended, with Dani in a very dangerous Danger Room module?  Yeah, that doesn't really go very far in this issue.  Dani avoids some danger, is confronted by a gigantic Brood, and she gets knocked unconscious.  This somehow saves her from the Danger Room program and the Brood.  When the rest of the team finds and wakes her, Dani doesn't think anyone believes her tale.  However, Stevie knows that only three people can activate the most dangerous Danger Room sequences; Stevie was in town with the other students, Moira was in Europe, and Professor Xavier was at home, without an alibi.  Hmm...

- Sebastian Shaw is the man ultimately responsible for sending the Sentinels to attack the New Mutants (I guess?  More on that later...).  Shaw's plan is to make the kids ultra-paranoid, "suspicious of everyone, save their own kind;" once Xavier is "eliminated," Shaw plans to swoop in and have the kids willingly join the Hellfire Club. 

- After Roberto made a vaguely sexual comment about Rahne at the end of last issue, it is implied here that she has a crush on him.  I don't recall that ever being a major sub-plot in this series, so I'm curious as to when this is abandoned.

- Sebastian Shaw realizes that Roberto's father is a member of the Hellfire Club.  Not the evil, power-hungry Inner Circle, but the fancy high society club.  Shaw plans to use the older DaCosta to bring his son to the Hellfire Club.

Writing!
Woof.  This is a poor issue. 

Pushing the cliffhanger ending of last issue to the background of this issue feels unnatural, from a pacing perspective.  Having the situation resolve itself by having Dani get knocked unconscious and then not coming to more serious harm when she was utterly defenseless makes absolutely no sense and undermines the danger she was originally in.

As for the main plot, the Sentinels show up because...um...okay, fine, there is no clear cause-and-effect.  Bringing back Michael Rossi seems absolutely random.  On the bright side, it is fun seeing the kids' powers in action against the Sentinels, but they should be out of their league against Sentinels.  The small character moments in the story came across decently well, but Claremont's attempts at teenager dialogue don't feel very natural.

And then there are the thematic problems.  Just last issue, it was stressed that the New Mutants would not become a team of superheroes.  The very next issue, they are fighting giant robots in public.  Even worse, they do this without masks!  For some unknown reason, the team uniforms that they seem to wear under their street clothes --- because they're not a super-team that would need to switch into their disguises en route to hero-ing --- do not include even the most basic masks.  These costumes are based on the classic original X-Men uniforms (which all had masks) and the modified original Kitty Pryde uniform (which also had a mask).  And what about their lack of training?  None of the New Mutants who defeated these supposedly deadly Sentinels passed even the most basic Danger Room training sequence, and yet they easily defeat one of the X-Men's major enemies?  I'm not saying that I want the kids to die, but don't you think that maybe this win should have been a little less dominant?  Already, it feels like the focus of this title is being pulled in different directions, and the end product is suffering for it.

Art!
I like Bob McLeod's action sequences in this issue; I think he portrays the awkward bulk of the Sentinels very well.

...But there are some serious storyboarding problems.  There are slightly goofy, but annoying problems, like having the kids wearing their New Mutants uniforms under their street clothes --- including the long gloves and boots that they clearly were not wearing under their clothes.  That's a little silly, but not a big problem.  I'm more annoyed by the kids changing their clothes between panels, as they fight for their lives; that just seems like a misuse of time in an emergency. 

My biggest problem is sloppy storytelling.  Take this scene:

Roberto is inside a parking garage, when Sentinel hands block his way.  His only way out is to desperately break through a wall to the outside.  And yet, the last panel shows Roberto breaking through a wall one story beneath the Sentinel's attack. 

Or how about this? 

What happened to the Sentinel that was holding onto Sam?  It clearly was not shown crashing into Sentinel #3.  Did it just let go, and quit?

Retrospectively Amusing:
- The kids watch "E.T." in the theater and of course have to discuss whether or not E.T. is a mutant.

- Local teens go out of their way to introduce themselves to the New Mutants, because the locals haven't seen them around before.  That's pretty nice, I suppose, but it's not like Westchester is a small, remote village where everyone knows your name; the county has almost a million people in it in 2014, with dozens of schools.

- Sebastian Shaw's student recruitment plan is a bit overcomplicated, especially when you consider that the Hellfire Club eventually decides to recruit its own students at the Massachusetts Academy.  "Wait...you mean we can get kids to be on our side without creating a conspiracy?"
 
- Michael Rossi has been pretending to be dead for the past several years as part of Air Force Intelligence?  The Air Force?!?  Not the FBI or CIA?  Not SHIELD?!?  Unless I missed out on a rich history of Marvel using the Air Force as ultimate spy badasses in the 80s, this is a bizarre choice.

- You've got to love Project Wideawake's camera and microphone network.  It's not like they would have set up their own gear at the ice cream shop that the New Mutants visited on a whim, so that means they have the ability to hack the security cameras at the mall (which apparently also transmit audio?).  I would *LOVE* to hear a technical explanation for that, especially one that uses 1983 technology.

- Project Wideawake has its motives spelled out in this issue, and they essentially boil down to this: since mutants are not a nation-specific resource, it is possible that other countries are creating their own elite offensive unit of mutant soldiers and specialists.  That is a legitimate and sympathetic motivation.  So what is Project Wideawake supposed to do?  Um.  Well.  Be bigoted bad guys, I guess?  It's not very clear.

- According to Henry Peter Gyrich, he is under direct orders from the President to keep Project Wideawake a secret for as long as possible.  And now the Sentinels have publicly battled children and wrecked a shopping mall.  Oops.  Don't worry, though; I'm pretty sure this debacle is not mentioned again and has no lasting repercussions to the program.

- The Sentinels get called in as the "contingency plan" when the Project Wideawake agents encounter resistance.  Henry Peter Gyrich, head of Project Wideawake, said that he would never use Sentinels to apprehend children, only the most dangerous adults.  Which is right?  Did the agents have the okay to call in the Sentinels, or are we to believe that Sebastian Shaw has several Project Wideawake agents on his payroll?  And if that's the case, wouldn't they be found out and punished pretty damn quickly?

- The New Mutants and the Sentinels wrecked the local mall.  You would think that would be a big deal, but the kids get to go back to school at the end of the issue, scot-free.

- The "Professor Xavier has a Brood egg in him" sub-plot continues, even though the story got a resolution last month in Uncanny #167.  Looks like somebody is still getting the hang of publishing multiple related titles per month, eh Marvel?

Worth Noting:
- Michael Rossi was believed to have been dead before his return in this issue.  I believe his death was in Uncanny X-Men #96 at the hands of Sentinel master Stephen Lang, but I'm not 100% sure, since he did pop up in a few issues of  Ms. Marvel (Vol. 1) afterward; it looks like those appearances were only in flashbacks, but I can't be certain.

- The computer screen in Project Wideawake headquarters shows the ages of the New Mutants.  Roberto is 13, Rahne 14, Sam 16, and Xi'an 19.  I'm pretty sure that Roberto is not portrayed as the youngest in the group in any other issues, so this may be retconned quickly.

- Sunspot falls three stories and lands on a car, but does not seem to be hurt.  A Sentinel observes "evident by-product of enhanced strength is increased physical resilience."  So a three-story fall barely hurts him, but Wolverine can knock him out without any trouble in Uncanny #167.  Good to know.

Everything 80s:
- There are a few house advertisements for "Blip" magazine, Marvel's attempt to capture the attention of video gamers.  The attractions are things like video game-themed comic strips, "video games of the stars," and "visual appeal."  It lasted seven issues.

- As someone who went through a major First Wave Punk phase, this just made me groan: