New Mutants #27 & X-Men: Schism #1

First reviews for the new week, and I'll be taking care of the book I'm most looking forward to(New Mutants #27), as well as the first part of Schism, which should give the X-books the shake-up they desperately need. Okay, let's get started!

New Mutants #27:

Summary: Basically you have the New Mutants facing off against Sugar Man and his mutates. The prize? Nate Grey, who is still strapped to the Omega Machine, which was using his vast mutant powers as fuel. Moonstar decides to pair off against Sugar Man and take him on in one-on-one combat, but anybody who's ever played X-Men Legends 2 knows that's a risky strategy. The rest of the New Mutants try to keep the mutates occupied, while Cypher and Warlock try to figure out a way to disconnect Nate from the Omega Machine without killing him. Eventually Nate decides to push his powers past the breaking point in order to give Sugar Man what he wanted, a gateway back to the Age of Apocalypse, so that Sugar Man wouldn't kill/maim the New Mutants who came to help him. Upon spotting the portal, Sugar Man dashes in and is overjoyed to see that it was indeed his homeworld. Moonstar follows him though, refusing to allow Sugar Man to get away from his various crimes scot-free. Since Sugar Man is now distracted by being home, Moonstar pulls out all the stops and manages to bring Sugar Man down, dragging him back through the portal to the 616 Marvel Universe. With Sugar Man and his mutates taken care of, Moonstar calls in Steve Rogers to clean up the mess. Steve's assistant, Victoria Hand, wants the damaged Nate taken into custody too, since he was such a powerful mutant, but Moonstar tells Steve that Nate was a family member of Lord Summers, and as such Lord Summers wanted him brought back to Crazy Mutie Island. Steve decides to do the right thing and allows the New Mutants to take Nate to Crazy Mutie Island. Once there, after a medical check-up, we learn that Nate's powers had been greatly diminished, basically leaving him with some telekinesis and little else. Lord Summers welcomes Nate to Crazy Mutie Island, apologizes for being a sucky alternate father, and offers Nate the one thing he'd never really had, a home.

Thoughts: Okay, first things first, Nate survived the whole Dark X-Men/Omega Machine stuff, which means he's STILL in the Marvel Universe!!! Awesome!! I was a bit annoyed that everybody kept referring to Nate as a reality manipulator, he's more of the supreme telepath/telekinetic. He could also open dimensional portals(during his shaman days), and has shown some limited reality warping(I can distinctly remember him freezing snowflakes in midair after a temper tantrum), but I've always thought of Nate as a telepath first, everything else second. There was a lot of good that came out of this comic, the first thing being, obviously, Nate being on Crazy Mutie Island. Maybe he'll FINALLY get the opportunity to become a mainstream X-character, something he's never had the chance to do outside of a single 3-part mini-series from the 90's. Downgrading Nate's powers? While it irks me that he's not the most powerful mutant on the planet anymore, I'm actually okay with that. I mean if he does join the New Mutants(fingers crossed), full-powered Nate would make everybody else on the team unnecessary. I mean just send him loose and let him deal with ANY threat. So simply giving Nate some TK, with the chance that his full powers could return or even just some telepathy, was probably the right decision to make. The fight between Sugar Man and Moonstar was fun, the dialogue was good, I liked Steve Rogers allowing the New Mutants to take Nate back to Crazy Mutie Island as a show of good will, because Steve is awesome, really, I had no complaints here. Now I'll wait and see how Nate is used from this point forward. So far I have no serious concerns or complaints, he's in good hands with Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, so this comic left me feeling very happy. Will the next few issues leave me feeling the same? Only time will tell...

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.Hey, Nate's still alive! Huzzah!!!


X-Men: Schism #1(of 5):

Summary: This issue kicks off with Lord Summers the First and Wolverine heading to Switzerland to attend an international arms conference. Lord Summers takes the podium and asks the gathered crowd to stop the proliferation of Sentinels. Many nations act as if they don't know what a Sentinel is, or question their very existence, while others accuse Lord Summers of fear-mongering. While Lord Summers is trying to calm nerves, Kid Omega(Quintin Quire) strolls in the room and blasts all of the dignitaries with a mental attack that forces them to spill their guts on whatever dirty little secrets they were hiding. By the time Lord Summers and Wolvie get back to their feet(they were unaffected due to their psi-shields), the room has descended into pandemonium, with Kid Omega long gone. Lord Summers and Wolvie decide to leave, catching Kid Omega on the TV spouting anti-human rhetoric. While the police are escorting the mentally damaged dignitaries from the room, an order is given and several Sentinels enter the building looking for a male mutant(Quire), but instead finding Wolvie and Lord Summers. The two make short work of the Sentinels and return to Crazy Mutie Island(Utopia). While there, the mutants watch as several nations around the world respond to Kid Omega's attack on their dignitaries by bringing several Sentinels out of mothballs and having them do maneuvers. A leading arms manufacturer, Carlton Kilgore, enters his limo, pleased with the days events, since the increased fear would bring many government contracts his way. Unfortunately for him, his 12 year old son kills him and takes over the company. From there, the kid, Kade, heads to a secret meeting, where he tells the hooded members that he had done everything asked, secretly freed Kid Omega, taken over his father's business, set into motion what looked to be the world vs the mutants. Pleased with Kade's actions, the hooded individuals raise their glasses and declare Kade the new Black King of the Hellfire Club(!).

Thoughts: Well, this showed a lot of promise. I mean there were a few things that felt kind of rushed(Kade's entire story for example), but overall, I enjoyed this issue. Sure, it would have been nice if some of the events here would have been set up in Uncanny X-Men, so they'd mean more(the rebirth of the Hellfire Club, Carlton Kilgore, that many Sentinels hanging around the world), but like I said, for a set-up issue for future events, this one hit all the right buttons. I still don't see exactly where the Schism between Lord Summers and Wolverine is going to come in, especially with them on the same page for this entire issue, but like I said, this was the first issue, a set-up issue, and all in all, it was good.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Always with the Sentinels...