New Mutants #1

First off, a disclaimer. I am a HUGE fan of the original New Mutants, as well as it's follow-up, the original X-Force. I've always been a fan of Cannonball, and the whole Guthrie clan for that matter. My love for the original New Mutants extended to the most recent New Mutants title from a couple of years back. I can honestly say that I liked the second New Mutants series even more than the first... At least until Joe Quesada and Christopher Yost completely and utterly destroyed that title to make room for X-23... Grrrr... Basically, what I was trying to say before I was sidetracked is that I expect A LOT from any Marvel comic book with the title of New Mutants on the cover. Here's hoping this new series lives up to my very high expectations.

-All right, I'm going to hit the review here in very broad strokes. Karma and Moonstar were sent to some small town in Colorado to check up on reports about a possible new mutant. Cerebra tells Cyclops that it's a false alarm, but Karma and Moonstar don't return.

-A few weeks later, Magik(ugh)arrives at the X-Men's base in San Fran and tells Cannonball and Sunspot that Moonstar and Karma are in trouble. Cannonball gets in touch with Magma and the 4 of them head to Colorado to find out what exactly is going on.

-Cannonball and Sunspot head to a bar to find information and wind up getting attacked by the locals, who tell them that they don't want any mutants in their town. Over the course of the fight, Cannonball knocks some guy through a door and discovers a catatonic Karma tied to a chair.

-At the same time, Magik and Magma head to the home of the girl Moonstar and Karma were looking for, and discover a box in the basement. The two women think they hear Karma's voice from within and open the box, even though Cannonball alerts them that he and Sunspot had already found Karma. Magma and Magik are completely shocked as Legion climbs out of the box.

I have several complaints here. First off, where the hell is Sam's accent?!? Come on! Sam doesn't say "I", he says "Ah"! I stated at the beginning of this post that I'm very fond of these characters, and as such I am very picky about how they are portrayed. I was also pretty disheartened about the inclusion of Magik in this comic. I was NEVER happy with the decision to bring Illyana back to life, mainly because her death was so important when it occurred. Illyana's death was the catalyst for Colossus' joining Magneto's Acolytes, as well as sacrificing his life to cure the Legacy Virus. Plus, the comic where Illyana died was one of the more memorable issues of Uncanny X-Men from the 90's.

On top of all that, it always galled me that that moron Yost decided to bring Illyana back to life right after he killed off 20-30 students in "New X-Men". Illyana's return was what finally caused me to stop reading New X-Men. I can't remember ever being angrier at a comic book than I was when Yost brought Illyana back to life after killing off several of my favorite characters in New X-Men. Instead of bringing back Illyana, who I doubt anyone was clamoring to see return, why not develop the New X-Men kids instead of killing them? Hmm, I seem to have gone way off on a tangent there... Let me bring this review back to this comic book.

I have to say, I'm also not pleased about bringing Legion back to life. He served his purpose perfectly during the "Age of Apocalypse" crossover. There is absolutely no conceivable reason to bring Legion back. Hell, his father, Prof. X isn't even a member of the X-Men right now! I really don't understand why Legion is back.

OK, I think that's enough complaining, now I'll say something good. For the most part, the story was pretty well done and kept my interest throughout. If not for my firmly entrenched opinions, I probably would have really enjoyed this story. But alas, that was not to be. Through no fault of the writer(Zeb Wells), the more I read this book, the more annoyed I became. After what Yost did in New X-Men I honestly believe I will never again be able to enjoy a New Mutant comic book... That's really sad. For a score, I'll give this comic a 6 1/2 out of 10. Boy, maybe I should see a psychiatrist or something. I just can't get over those senseless deaths in New X-Men. The deaths of those kids are tainting every X-comic I read...