New Mutants (Vol. 1) #16

"Away Game"
Published June 1984
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Sal Buscema
Inkers: Tom Mandrake and Kim Demulder
Cover Artist: Tom Mandrake

What's Going On?
After realizing that they had walked into a trap at the end of last issue, the New Mutants manage to distract the Hellfire Club's goons long enough to regroup and form a plan.  That plan: split up and try to rescue Kitty Pryde and Doug Ramsey.  As they go about their mission, though, they discover that the Hellfire Club has their own team of teenage mutant students --- the Hellions!  The two squads face off and when the dust settles, Kitty and Doug have not been rescued, and Cannonball, Magma, Sunspot and Wolfsbane have captured.  Dani and Magik escape via one of Magik's teleportation discs.

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- The White Queen informs Kitty Pryde that her struggles against the Queen's psychic indoctrination are pointless; the White Queen has already broken her down.

- Dani continues to get emotionally distressed when she sees the effects of her mutant power on others.

- Amara's control over her mutant ability belies how little she has used it.  Considering that she had never gone full "Magma" in Nova Roma before the New Mutants came, that means she has more or less mastered the basics of her powers within only a few issues (since New Mutants #12).

- Thunderbird on the Hellions doesn't seem like too bad of a guy.  He expresses concern for both Sunspot and Wolfsbane when they get hurt.

- The Hellions don't appear to be great at teamwork.  I wonder if this will come into play later?

Writing!
This is a pretty fun issue.  The New Mutants don't appear to be horribly outclassed by their new rivals, the Hellions; last issue made the excellent point that the team would be hopelessly outmatched by the Hellfire Club, so giving them opponents that they can actually compete against was a good choice.  This sort of fight makes so much more sense than say, fighting (and defeating!) Sentinels or Viper.  Now, was sending in the junior team to capture the New Mutants a good strategic choice for the Hellfire Club?  Good lord, no.  The fact that the White Queen elaborates on the Hellfire Club's general motives makes this even more nonsensical, but I'll take the small victory of having villains in the same proverbial weight class as the New Mutants.

Art!
I know I've mentioned this before, but the quality of Sal Buscema's pencils are always shown to be questionable when there is an issue with multiple inkers.  I've gotten used to Tom Mandrake's inking (and cover art) --- it's not super-dynamic, but he is a solid storyteller and he does a pretty good job portraying the team as kids.  I didn't hate Kim Demulder's work in the back half of this issue, but the difference is noticeable.  Here is Mandrake on the left and Demulder on the right.

Again, nothing against Demulder, but I prefer this comic when the characters look their age.

Another weird thing in this issue was the coloring.  On the one hand, we finally got to see Dani use her powers and not have it presented in the hard-to-see day-glo pink that has been her trademark since her debut.  I don't have any strong preference in how Dani's powers should be visualized, as long as I can see the picture on the page.

On the other hand, this issue sees a lot of questionable coloring choices.  Throughout the issue, the colorist had trouble deciding where the New Mutant costumes stopped and where necks began.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- I am always interested by the changing of the Marvel corner box on the front cover, and I am frequently amused when comics try to disguise how scantily clad some characters are.  This month's corner box, with the White Queen's super-high-waisted panties gives the best of both worlds.

- The White Queen gives some exposition to explain the Hellfire Club's attitude toward mutants; they are simply a means to an end, and that end is power.

- This is the first appearance of James Proudstar, the younger brother of the late X-Man John Proudstar.  But how can Claremont draw attention to their connection without announcing it via exposition or outright stating Jimmy's name?  If you answered "Have them share the same codename, Thunderbird" you are only partially right.  You forgot, "Use an exclamation that only a Native American in a comic book would use" and "Color his skin so red that it almost matches the magenta of his costume."  Racism is so much easier than subtext!

- I wonder if the New Mutants will escape next issue?  (cue last panel)

Worth Noting:
- This is the first appearance of the Hellions as a team.  Specifically, Catseye, Empath, Jetstream, Roulette, Tarot, and Thunderbird.

Everything 80s:
- Jetstream's "compu-scan" computer-aided visual equipment may have as many as 8 bits of graphic power!

New Mutants (Vol. 1) #15

"Scaredy Cat"
Published May 1984
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Sal Buscema
Inker: Tom Mandrake
Cover Artist: Tom Mandrake

What's Going On?
Worried about Kitty Pryde's safety as she visits the Massachusetts Academy, Magik decides to cast a spell that allows her astral projection to visit the academy without being noticed.  There, she witnesses Kitty tied to a chair, in the clutches of the villainous White Queen; the Queen somehow senses Illyana's presence and disrupts the spell.  With the X-Men missing, the team tries to get help from other adult super-heroes, but has no luck.  Desperate, they decide to take the bus --- because unlicensed teens driving Xavier's Rolls Royce would be suspicious --- to the Massachusetts Academy to save Kitty, but instead fall into a trap!

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- The White Queen tells Kitty that Doug Ramsey is in love with her --- and that Kitty secretly loves him back.  Gasp!

I love that it looks like Doug is crooning into an invisible karaoke microphone as much as it looks like he's dancing with himself.

- The New Mutants are now aware of Illyana's powers of sorcery.  So I guess the memory-erasing spell she cast on Stevie Hunter last issue wasn't really needed.  Well, that secret lasted all of one issue.

- Both Kitty and the White Queen can see Illyana's astral form.  When Illyana reflects on that fact, she is confused because he astral form is "invisible to mortal eyes."  For some reason, Kitty seeing her seems more confusing to Illyana than the White Queen.  Are telepaths not considered mortal by Illyana?

Also, I love that the White Queen's (presumably) psychic attack is coming from her hand.  And she knows who Illyana is?  She's got quite the information network, since Illyana returned from Limbo after the last time the White Queen encountered the X-Men and is now several years older than any official records of Colossus' family would indicate.

- The New Mutants try to call the Avengers and Fantastic Four for assistance, but they are also missing, thanks to Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars.  It's a small moment, but it makes the kids seem less idiotic when they go to save Kitty; at least they tried to get help first.

- Illyana is reluctant to use her mutant power of teleportation, because her control over it is still shaky.

- Sunspot and Wolfsbane find themselves distracted and almost hypnotized by the sight of Cloak and Dagger's church refuge.  This is another reference to their appearance in Marvel Team-Up (the last one happened in #13)

- Sam compliments Dani's leadership abilities while criticizing his own lack of skills.  Dani also makes a good point, building up the imminent confrontation with the Hellfire Club as a serious problem.

- Sam and Rahne share a moment where they discuss their Christian faith and how Rahne is not the spawn of Satan.  It's a nice scene.  Sam doesn't often get portrayed as the religious type --- a little bit country, sure --- and it's a sensible thing for him to bond with Rahne over.

Writing!
This is a solid issue, and it has some good character moments.  I especially like that Chris Claremont takes the time to have at least Dani and Sam realize that fighting the Hellfire Club is going to be way out of their proverbial weight class.  Unfortunately, this issue brings to a head something that has been bothering me for a few issues.

I don't like the presence of Kitty Pryde in the pages of these recent issues of New Mutants.  Now, she's an X-Man, lives in the mansion with the kids, and is best friends with Illyana, so it makes sense that she pops up from time to time.  I just don't like her being instrumental to the plot of this title.  She hasn't had much time on the page, but her relationship with Doug Ramsey (including them hacking into Project: Wideawake!) happened here; the team doesn't have any emotional investment in Doug, so rescuing Kitty is the impetus for the team's trip to the Massachusetts Academy.  You know what would have made more sense?  For Doug to befriend one or more of the New Mutants (as a computer tutor, perhaps?) and then be unwittingly drawn into the clutches of a X-enemy.  That would have been a more satisfying narrative.

Art!
It's more of the same from Sal Buscema and Tom Mandrake.  Solid storytelling with a focus on non-action scenes.  It's not super-pretty, but it works well enough.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- I'm keeping track of how many times the New Mutants refer to Illyana as scary/evil.  Since she joined the team last issue, we are now two-for-two!

- While this issue does not explicitly state where it falls in the Secret Wars timeline, we have some clues.  First off, the New Mutants are not worried about the X-Men being missing, so it probably has not been too long.  After learning that the Avengers and Fantastic Four are not home Dani concludes that the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and X-Men all vanished on the same night.  That means 1) this issue takes place on the evening/morning after Secret Wars started 2) the Avengers' butler, Jarvis, is happily willing to speculate the fate of the Avengers to complete strangers

3) Dani appears to know something (like Marvel's publishing initiatives?), stating that the Avengers, FF, and X-Men all disappeared on the same night.  She didn't get the Fantastic Four's disappearance from their robot receptionist, though.  According to it, they might have just been out to dinner.

Everything 80s:
- Illyana (who shares a room with Kitty) has a Garfield stuffed animal and a Tom Selleck poster on the wall.

Worth Noting:
- Kitty's outfit in this issue is the first appearance of the typical "Hellions" uniform.  So there's that.

New Mutants (Vol. 1) #14

"Do You Believe in -- Magik?"
Published April 1984
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Sal Buscema
Inker: Tom Mandrake
Cover Artist: Tom Mandrake

What's Going On?
Remember Illyana?  She's been lurking in the background of the occasional issue of Uncanny X-Men and New Mutants for a while, and she just starred in her own limited series: Magik (Storm and Illyana Limited Series).  Now, her nemesis Belasco has sent his demonic henchman, Sy'm, to bring Illyana back to Limbo.  Can the New Mutants help defend their teammate this relative stranger against this demonic thug?  Short answer: not really, she can defend herself just fine.

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- The kids decide to throw Professor Xavier a surprise party (with the help of Illyana and Stevie Hunter) to distract him from the fact that his alien girlfriend is a galaxy away.

- Instead of killing S'ym, Illyana has him swear loyalty to her.

- Professor Xavier surprises everyone by standing up and dancing with Illyana; apparently, this comic was released before Xavier was playing basketball in Uncanny X-Men #180.  

- Douglas Ramsey tells Kitty Pryde that he's been offered a scholarship at the Massachusetts Academy, which is run by Hellfire Club member Emma Frost.  He asks her to come along for his school visit.

Writing!
This issue tries something different by having Illyana narrate.  It isn't a revelation or anything, but it's a nice change of pace.  It is interesting that this issue was scheduled to be published after the Magik (Storm and Illyana Limited Series), since you would imagine that raising her profile in this issue would generate interest in the limited series, but whatever.  As far as the story goes, it's decent, but I still get the feeling that Claremont does not know what direction he wants to go with these characters; it feels like he's tossing out ideas, just to see what sticks.  That's not terrible --- here, it is just the degree that Magik is supposed to frighten people --- but it is a recurring theme in this book.  A more troublesome bit of writing involved the motivation for S'ym in this issue.  S'ym states that he was sent to bring Illyana back to Limbo by Belasco --- and yet, S'ym later tells us that Belasco has fled Limbo and has not returned since Illyana defeated him.  So...why and how did S'ym come to Westchester?

Art!

Nice erection, Stevie.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- One of the plot points in Magik (Storm and Illyana Limited Series) was that Belasco wanted to escape Limbo and return to Earth.  I like that it's not a big deal for him to send S'ym to Earth, though.

- Xavier wonders what horrors Illyana experienced in Limbo (subtle nudge for readers to pick up the limited series).  Too bad he hasn't bothered to ask her in the entire year she has been back.

- The New Mutants discuss how scary Illyana is.  Let's try to keep track of how often this is brought up.  I'm guessing not at all, after her first year on the team is complete.

- I know this isn't S'ym first appearance, and he is supposed to be a tribute (of sorts) to Dave Sim's Cerebus, but I just love his costume design: vest and undies.  Nice!  Also, how ridiculously over-powered is S'ym?  I know, he killed some alternate reality X-Men, but still...he just shrugs Cannonball and Sunspot off like they were nothing!  In their own book!  I'll take bets as to how tough S'ym will be to defeat in his next appearance...

- Don't worry, kids!  Stevie Hunter will save you!  Until her knee gives out (again).

- Illyana casts a spell to alter Stevie's memories so no one will know she is a sorceress.  I don't think this type of spell comes up again in this series.

Worth Noting:
- Remember the New Mutants cameo in Magik #3?  This is the tie-in.

- While it is not explicitly stated in this issue, S'ym mentions that Belasco's "mantle" is Illyana's by right of her victory.  This is the first allusion to Illyana being the ruler of Limbo.

- Again, this is not explicitly stated in this issue, but this is the issue that Illyana joins the New Mutants.  Aside from the fact that she seems to be accepted as one of the students and having the issue's narration told from her point of view, the cover shows her in a New Mutant uniform.  Despite the issue's title, she still has not been called "Magik" by anyone yet.

New Mutants (Vol. 1) #12

"Sunstroke"
Published February 1984
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciller: Sal Buscema
Inker: Tom Mandrake
Cover Artist: Tom Mandrake

What's Going On?
After their Nova Roma adventure, the team takes some time to unwind in Rio de Janeiro.  Unfortunately, Amara gets heatstroke on the beach while she is unwinding, and gets lost in the city while losing control of her lava powers.  The team has to track her down and get her under control.

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- Roberto confronts his father, Emmanuel, about his attempts to have hired thugs derail his mother's expedition into the uncharted Amazon.  Emmanuel does not try to defend himself, and the two simply argue and part on bad terms.

- Emmanuel DaCosta accepts Sebastian Shaw's offer to join the Hellfire Club.

I love the halo of light surrounding Emmanuel in this scene.  It sure makes this seem more important than it ever turns out to be.

- While praying, Rahne mentions that she still has feelings for Sam, but that he seems to have a crush on Amara.  Rahne fears for her immortal soul for simply being a mutant.

- Nina DaCosta has chosen to stay in Nova Roma for...you know, reasons.

- Amara's father is now the top politician in Nova Roma.

Writing!
It looks like I spoke too soon, proclaiming last issue as the final part of the Brazilian tour.  While I will admit that the Roberto/Emmanuel scene had to happen, I don't think we really needed an issue justifying why Amara is joining the team.  She had minimal control over her powers in Nova Roma, so this story felt redundant.  But hey!  At least now the team has someone who needs to be taught how to control her powers!  Ever since Cannonball learned to turn mid-flight, that focus has been missing in this title.

Art!
Sal Buscema and Tom Mandrake's art has settled into consistently acceptable work.  That may seem like faint praise, but...well, it is.  It's not particularly splashy or exciting, but it certainly is not bad, although some of the contemprary style choices for the characters are questionable.  Nice sunglasses, Dani!

To be fair, this art team hasn't had many exciting things to draw, except maybe the occasional Magma scene.  Even that scene is less impressive in this issue.  Again, nothing is wrong, it just isn't good.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- I've noticed several scenes in this title where one of the female characters is easily defeated in a physical battle.  This is the first time the issue of consent has popped up.  Not surprisingly, it is not exactly an opportunity for a feminist manifesto.

- Sunspot has super-strength.  Cannonball can fly and is strong enough to carry Sunspot.  Therefore, Cannonball is strong enough to carry Sunspot while he is carrying a truck.  Sure, that logic checks out.

- Wolfsbane is unhappy with the team seeming to only include her when they need her to track someone, and she is upset that Sam has a crush on Amara.  Immediately after mentioning this, she is asked to track Amara.  She indicates no reluctance or annoyance when asked, and when the whole episode is over, she appears to have accepted Amara as a friend.  Because that is how teenagers work.

- When Amara passes out in the street, some kids find her and bring her home to help her recover.  That was nice of them.  Why, then, did it sound like they were going to sexually assault her?

- Amara's heart's desire is the death of her and the entire New Mutants team.  I'm reasonably sure this is never mentioned again.

 I do like that the random bystander knows who the New Mutants are.

- Amara has caused several volcanic eruptions within the city limits of Rio.  How worried are the New Mutants about being held accountable for millions of dollars worth of damage?  If you answered "So worried that they make a joke about it and laugh it off," you are correct.

- One of the fan letters in this issue laments how frequently and easily Rahne gets beaten in this title.  It's nice to know I'm not the only one noticing these things.  In my defense, I haven't used the phrase "Liberated Woman."

New Mutants (Vol. 1) #11

"Magma"
Published January 1984
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciller: Sal Buscema
Inker: Tom Mandrake
Cover Artist: Walter Simonson and Tom Mandrake


What's Going On?
As Amara and Dani continue their battle against Selene, it becomes clear that they are outmatched.   Amara's control over her powers is inconsistent at best, and Dani does not have the firepower (or really, much of any power) to overcome Selene.  In a panic, Amara uses her lava powers to burn a way out of Selene's murder cave and up to the surface.  There, the New Mutants find her and join the fray.

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- Roberto is reunited with his mother, who was feared dead after the events of New Mutants #8.  He finds her in jail, about to be murdered by the same Hellfire Club thug that sabotaged their boat in #8.

After beating her attacker, they join the Nova Roma underground and lead to attack on Senator Gallio's home.  It is interesting to note that Castro explicitly states that he is not acting under the orders of Emmanuel DaCosta, and yet that does not make Roberto or his mother any happier.


- After having their suspicions roused last issue, Sam and Roberto decide that they've backed the wrong power in town.  The more they see of Senator Gallio, the less they like him; that's perfect timing, as it turns out, because the Senator plans to murder them soon.  When Roberto and his mother arrive with anti-Gallio troops, Sam and Rahne join the fight.  Gallio is killed in battle by Amara's father, and Gallio's followers are subdued.


Writing!
After five issues, the New Mutants' Brazilian adventure comes to a close.  That's one issue enjoying Carnivale (and a bad Mr. T impersonator), one avoiding aboriginals, and three in Nova Roma.  That's a lot of time for Claremont to spend on what amounts to a pretty ridiculous story.  It's to his credit that it is not godawful, but this is a pretty bizarre thematic detour for a book that was supposed to be about kids learning to control their mutants powers and not getting involved in dangerous missions. 

Art!
The Buscema/Mandrake pairing is getting more consistent, so that's nice.  It's not the most striking artwork, but it gets the job done.  Amara's Magma form still looks pretty cool.  After an issue or two of trying to find a consistent visual style for Selene, they have settled on what can be recognized as her "classic" look (minus the panty/bustier uniform she will later sport).

Retrospectively Amusing:
- Sunspot ends the fight by throwing Selene in a pit of molten lava and then knocks huge boulders down, sealing the pit.

When Cannonball calls him out for murder, Sunspot shrugs it off by saying A) she deserved it and B) she is probably too powerful to kill that way, so it's not like he really killed her.  Probably.  I'm surprised no one had a problem with Roberto stabbing her in the heart earlier in the issue.

- How many powers does Selene have?  She is an energy vampire, can manipulate inanimate materials, has undefined psychic powers that include a degree of mind control, can "touch souls" (whatever that means), and appears to have super strength. Oh, and she has some sort of energy manipulation abilities that she offers to teach Dani (magic, presumably?), which also seem to tie into her vampirism/long life.

Worth Noting:
- Selene exhibits her ability to manipulate inanimate materials and her vampirism for the first time.

- Amara joins the New Mutants at the end of this issue.

- Continuing the theme of the female New Mutants falling easily in battle, Wolfsbane gets knocked out by a dude with a vase.  Granted, she defeats one attacker beforehand, so it's not too egregious, but you would think a werewolf would be a bit tougher. 

- The New Mutants' contribution to Assistant Editor's Month is this "Letter Page" contest.  It doesn't have anything to do with the characters or title, so it just seems weird.