FSC: MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL #4

When it was first launched, there was a veneer of respectability about the MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL line. Based on the format of European albums, these books were a place where creators could tell stories that were a bit more sophisticated and adult-oriented than the typical Comics Code-approved fare that filled the pages of the monthly Marvel line. Even with the first such book being devoted to Captain Marvel and his demise, that was still the feeling the line had–after all, the Death of Captain marvel wasn’t the kind of thing that you’d see in the regular comics. All of that went away, though, with the release of this fourth installment, which featured the debut of the long-anticipated spin-off to the uber-popular X-MEN series. There was no hotter title in the Direct Sales Market at the time, so deciding to launch this spin-off feature in a $4.95 format was seen, at least in my circles, as a pretty naked cash-grab. It didn’t matter that the book was mostly pretty fine, it was simply the idea of it that soured people.

The push towards the New Mutants had been going on for some time, and came from a few disparate sources. One of them was editor in chief Jim Shooter, who held to the belief that the premise of X-MEN was that it was about a school for mutant super heroes. Chris Claremont, though, was of the belief that the series had outgrown those early roots and was now far more about “Protecting a world that hates and fears them.” Either way, Chris and his artist collaborator at the time, John Byrne, began to try to appease Jim. They planned to introduce a second team of young mutants, a new class who could take up the “school for mutant super heroes” mantle, this leaving the more established characters to continue doing the sorts of things that they had been doing. Kitty Pryde was introduced with the notion that she’d be the first of this second wave of X-Men, and another character called Caliban was conceived, though never realized before Byrne left the title. (Shortly thereafter, a similar-but-different character named Caliban was introduced by Claremont and Dave Cockrum.)

But the idea of launching a second team never quite went away, and especially in all of the energy surrounding the aftermath of the incredibly popular Dark Phoenix Saga that had made X-MEN a craze among comic book readers the likes of which hadn’t been seen in several years, there was a drive to be able to get more out of the property than merely a single monthly title. New incoming editor Louise Jones Simonson made it a priority to get a second series up and running. Already, one prospective character had been introduced by Claremont and popular artist Frank Miller in MARVEL TEAM-UP #100, Karma, and after a few false starts with other artists, Louise was able to pair Chris up with artist Bob McLeod to create the balance of the cast of the book that eventually became know as NEW MUTANTS.

As with the All-New, All-Different X-Men, the notion here was to have a diverse and international cast. So Claremont and McLeod conceived of four additional characters: the Cheyenne Dani Moonstar, known initially as Psyche but shortly thereafter renamed Mirage; Wolfsbane from Scotland; Sunspot from Brazil; and Cannonball from Kentucky. Karma, from Korea, was also added in. The notion of using the original black-and-yellow X-Men uniforms was a holdover from the John Byrne conception, but it made a lot of sense. These new pupils of Professor Xavier would be younger than the current X-Men, more in line with the original team in terms of age when it was first introduced. Initially, the book was simply going to launch with an oversized first issue, but at some point–possibly because other material intended for the MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL series was encountering production delays–the decision was made to debut the new series as a MGN first, then spin out a monthly title thereafter.

At the time of the events of this story, the X-Men were believed to have perished by Professor Xavier and his associate Moira MacTaggart. Instead, they were off in space dealing with the threat of the Brood–but this gave the space for the Professor to start again with an entirely new crew. The opening half of this book is dedicated to introducing the newcomers one by one: Moira encounters Wolfsbane in Scotland, where she’s on the run from a violent mob. In Rio De Janeiro, Sunspot’s powers first manifest during a soccer match. A cave-in in the mines of Kentucky cause Sam Guthrie’s Cannonball abilities to activate, propelling himself and a fellow miner to safety. And in Colorado, Dani Moonstar’s grandfather informs her that he’s arranged for her to receive training from Professor Charles Xavier in New York. All of this is observed by a vengeful Donald Pierce of the Hellfire Club, who sees opportunity in these new emerging mutants.

These disparate threads are pulled together as Pierce moves to capture or recruit the New Mutants even as they one by one encounter both Professor X and each other and form connections. Cannonball winds up working for the Hellfire Club, at least until Pierce reveals his true hateful colors, at which point he refuses to go along with murder and switches sides. Sunspot’s girlfriend Juliana is killed in the crossfire while attempting to protect him, giving him ample motivation to want revenge on Pierce and his minions. Eventually, all roads lead to a blow-out at Pierce’s makeshift headquarters in Kentucky where the five untrained kids prove their courage and their moxie by bailing out Xavier and saving the day. As much as Xavier claims that he’s not looking to put together another class of young X-Men, he can’t seem to argue with the results.

It’s a pretty sure-footed pilot episode, for all that the five New Mutants aren’t quite as interesting or visually distinct as the All-New X-Men. By this point, Claremont had honed in on what he felt the key aspects of the series were all about, and he worked to make those themes of intolerance, bigotry, race hatred and self-doubt a central part of the stories going forward. Still, NEW MUTANTS didn’t really ignite as a series until the arrival some 18 issues into the run of artist Bill Sienkiewicz, who brought a shocking contemporary style to the storytelling, separating it from everything else that was on the stands at the time. The book immediately went from being a somewhat lukewarm junior version of the X-Men into something more unique and fascinating. I liked this initial Graphic Novel (apart from the price) enough to start following the eventual series, but I only lasted on it for about three issues before financial considerations caused me to scale back sharply on the number of comics i was purchasing. So I missed out entirely on Sienkiewicz’s arrival.