X-Lapsed, Episode 117 – New Mutants #13 (2020)
X-Lapsed, Episode One Hundred Seventeen
New Mutants (vol.4) #13 (December, 2020)
“X of Swords, Chapter 07”
Writer – Ed Brisson
Art – Rod Reis
Letters – VC’s Travis Lanham
Design – Tom Muller
Head of X – Hickman
Edits – Bissa, White, Cebulski
Cover Price: $3.99
On-Sale: October 14, 2020
Today we explore the unbearable lightness of being… Doug Ramsay. Our favorite mutant translator has his hands full with the upcoming Contest of Swords, and we get a front-row seat to his sparring sessions.
We’re going to be talking a lot about Doug, Warlock, and Magik today – I hope you’ll all be there for the… uh, fun? Yeah, we’ll go with that.
Plus: Great Mailbag action!
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@acecomics / @cosmictmill / weirdcomicshistory@gmail.com
I've been very enthusiastic about the last 2 issues so I suppose I had to come back down to Earth at some point. This is pretty much the definition of an ok issue. There's nothing actively bad about it but it isn't exciting me. Like the Marauders issue it's focussing on character but it's not doing it well. The main problem is Illyana. I do not understand why she is written like this. The original story of Illyana was that she had to become hard and ruthless to survive Limbo but the fellowship of the New Mutants was able to help her regain her humanity. Why would she throw away what she has gone out of her way to gain? I think Brisson has taken Hickman's presentation too far. It sounds a little harsh but I am glad that this is Brisson's last issue. Under his hands the book has never felt very New Mutants-y it's always felt more like a generic X-Men spin-off.
What I liked about this issue was the relationship between Doug and Krakoa. It's interesting to see this in contrast to Doug's relationship with Warlock where they are close enough to pretend to be the same person. Talking of the pretense. I wonder if it's down to Xavier trying to hide Warlock from Moira. I imagine he knows about her fear of the Phalanx but would see Warlock as non-threatening. This would also explain why Doug was so careless about the secret. He has been told to hide Warlock but not why. That's another addition to my long list of HOXPOX theories.
Reading along with you was the first time I had read this issue since I first bought it as it's entirely possible to re-read X of Tens whilst skipping New Mutants. This means I had never reread the one line in this issue that predicts exactly what happens to Doug in X of Tens. Particularly as it seems to come out of nowhere when it happens. Really fun to see that.
Onto your discussion of Doug's powers. I'm glad they've dialled them back. When he was first resurrected they were edging on making him like Taskmaster with the ability to pick up physical capabilities just by understanding how they worked. I prefer him to be an ideas man.
Anyway until Doug gains a reputation as an accomplished swordsman, Make Mine X-Lapsed!