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!
