X-Lapsed, Episode 016 – New Mutants #1 (2019)
X-Lapsed, Episode 016
New Mutants (vol. 4) #1 (January, 2020)
“The Sextant”
Writers – Ed Brisson & Jonathan Hickman
Art – Rod Reis
Letters – VC’s Travis Lanham
Design – Tom Muller
Head of X – Jonathan Hickman
Edits – Bissa, White, Cebulski
Cover Price: $4.99
On-Sale: November 6, 2019
The Kids are Alright… and they’re in SPAAAAAAAAACE!
Today the Dawn of X enters into Shi’ar Space with New Mutants #1! Watch (or listen) as they tick off their ride, and generally make a mess out of everything. It’s a fun issue – a good time will be had by all!
Also: Some more great HoX/PoX reaxxions! Have a (non-spoilery) HoX/PoX/DoX hot-take to share? Please, don’t hesitate to reach out!
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@acecomics / weirdcomicshistory@gmail.com
chrisandreggie.podbean.com
I'm still working my way through catching up with you and we come to one of my favourites. The choice to centralise Sunspot seemed weird to me at first. I always think of New Mutants as being Dani's book, maybe with Cannonball as the secondary character. I also missed all the Bobby/Sam stuff in Avengers. I last regularly read Avengers when Kurt Busiek was writing it. Since then I have felt that Avengers is constantly set up as a book you can't read alone. You need to read 10 Avengers books or none. I've chosen none.
Right from issue 1, page 1 I loved Rod Reis's art. He brings so much characterisation into the team. You're right to compare him to Sienkiewicz but I'm actually reminded more of the brief run where Sienkiewicz inked Mary Wilshire. There's a naturalism to the body language which really sells it as a character driven book.
As for those characters, you talk about Rahne losing her religion. I expect giving birth to a king of hell will have theological impact. Personally I'd prefer to see her still retain faith but reject the Reverend Craigs of this World. It would be quite interesting to see Rahne, Karma and Nightcrawler creating some kind of Christian fellowship on Krakoa. Hickman seems interested in how faith and religion affect people so it might happen.
My biggest concern with New Mutants was the breaking of the 4th wall. It seems too comedic a device for a team that is so defined by a history of tradegies. In the end I came to terms with it when I realised it is just us getting to see life through Bobby's eyes. He lives his life like he's in an episode of Magnum PI.
I eventually stopped buying this book and I can't really remember why. I am tempted to buy the missing books when you get to them.