New Mutants #33:
Summary: This issue basically deals with the New Mutants and what decisions they are going to make in regards to the whole Lord Summers/Wolverine Schism deal. Cannonball and Karma decide to go with Wolverine since living on Crazy Mutie Island(Utopia) wasn't the best thing for them. Magma and Sunspot are undecided, while Cypher and Warlock can't help but think there had to be more than just those two choices. As for the greatest comic book character of all, X-Man, Nate Grey(there, now you know who it is!), while he doesn't like the idea of staying in one place for too long, he's prefer to stay on Crazy Mutie Island in order to get to know Lord Summers better, seeing as that Lord Summers IS his father, in an alternate reality sort of way. Plus Nate doesn't see the sense in shielding children from the real world, which is a BRILLIANT nod to Nate's own past, so I tip my hat to Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning for that. As for Moonstar, she can see both sides of the argument, but feels loyalty towards Lord Summers since he believed in her even after she lost her mutant powers. However, she doesn't think staying secluded on Crazy Mutie Island is the way forward for mutantkind. As such, she meets up with Lord Summers and gets him to agree to allow the six remaining New Mutants(Moonstar, Nate, Sunspot, Magma, Cypher and Warlock) to live in nearby San Fransisco where they'd still be close to Crazy Mutie Island, but be able to interact with humanity. This issue ends with Lord Summers giving Moonstar her next assignment, to find Blink(!).
Thoughts: So here's my dilemma... The last two comic books I reviewed I gave perfect scores to. After I put this comic book down, my first instinct was to give it a perfect score... I couldn't think of any faults in it, but I've always hated giving out too many perfect scores, because it dilutes the importance of them... So what to do... To solve this, I decided to go back through this issue to look for something, anything that I didn't like... And I couldn't find it. This comic was just SO well written, and the art was strong. I mean Abnett and Lanning wrote Nate here about as well as he's been written. Not only that, but everybody else was written strongly as well! Add the fact that the team is going to look for Blink, and I have to say, I loved this issue. And you know what that means...
Score: 10 out of 10. THREE straight perfect scores!!! Wow, this is shaping up to be a hell of a great week comic-wise for me!
Huh, that's probably the best dialogue Nate's had in the longest time, and I'd know best seeing as that I own every single comic book he's ever appeared in!
I was hyped that 1) they are leaving Utopia and 2) they are looking for Blink. The original teaser of Nate coming back had him standing next to Blink so I kept wondering when she would show up. I just thought the issue was alright because I am getting a bit tired of the whole "who is going where" when the regenesis issues have already started. I am ready for the respective teams to do something.
ReplyDeleteHey...did anyone notice it was said of Nate that he was getting stronger and that his powers would return (heal or reactivate)? That being said brings to my mind an interesting point. Nerve damage (though an extremely slow process) can heal over time. So its my guess at best that Nate Grey will soon revive aspects of his power set over time. However, how much and if he ever returns to his omega levels will remain to be seen (ultimately up to the writers). But I believe Hope and Moonstar's comments and actions both attest to that fact.
ReplyDeleteAlso in the New Mutants 33 opening ad it appears that Xman's identical half brother Cable returns in the pages of the Avengers....but it appears the TO virus has control of his mindset and powers? What do you people think about the Avengers Sanction ad?
ReplyDeleteYeah, I like the fact that the New Mutants are leaving Crazy Mutie Island as well, Jermox. Moonstar's comments on why she felt that was for the best made perfect sense. As for Blink, I CAN'T wait for that! A team with(hopefully) both Nate AND Blink on it?! I get the feeling DnA must have been huge fans of AOA, much like myself!
ReplyDeleteYep, I did notice that, Radtrainer. I like the idea that Nate's powers will gradually return, especially in light of how important his powers always were to him. Like you said, this puts the writers in a sweet spot, where if they want, they can bring Nate back to about half-power(which would make him stronger than most mutants) just so he doesn't overshadow the rest of the team, with the possibility of always re-powering him back to his Omega levels if they see the need to do so. It's a smart move by DnA since it leaves them with a few directions they can go with him. Naturally, as a huge Nate fan, I just love that there are actually things they can do with him now.
I'm still not sure what I think about Avengers: X-Sanction... I've read that Cable has to kill the Avengers in 24 hours or something to protect Hope, but who knows if that's what this is really about. I've already put that on my pull list though, I'm interested in seeing what happens in it. Cable trying to kill the Avengers could be fun/interesting.
I totally agree Xman75. Like you, X-man is my favorite Marvel character and I too have all his comics and crossovers. Guess I gravitated to him because I always wondered just how powerful Cable could have been without the TO virus. But since X-man is from the true source and not the clone, he's able to do things not even Cable could have done (this comment is theoretic and subject to scrutiny). I agree that if DnA or any future writers would just bring Nate Grey up to or a little beneath the power level he was in X-man #10, he would indeed be more powerful than most mutants. Even at that point, he was rival to the Dark Pheonix, which is why I say possibly under that level of power. At the time of the Dark X-men Nate Grey had ascended to untold power...a psionic entity of pure psionic force or energy. They later stated in New Mutants #27 that Nate could even warp reality, things that Franklin Richards is able to do among the host of new abilities he gained in Dark X-men. Wonder if he got such upgrades due to being an omega or was it due to the alien merger of sorts at the end of X-man #75?! In either case, he had to rematerialize his former physical body (mostklikely explaining why he was able to keep it after Green Goblin draining his powers/energy temporarily). If it wasn't his original genetic body he rematerialized, I have strong doubts as well as unanswered questions about him being stuck in a fake/new one...feel free to comment if you like. I remember reading before the Dark X-men that Nate was referenced as X-royalty which lead me to believe he finally would begin interacting with some/many x-titles. But when he was depowered to a chump, at first I was highly ticked off and perceived DnA lied to some degree. But I got to thinking if they hadn't done this, as Nate stated in New Mutants #33, he more than likely would have remained independent of the X-men despite his connection to Scott and Jean. Let's face it....at the level he was in Dark X-men, Nate Grey was the Xmen and then some. An omega mutant of that caliber who is used to working (for the most part) alone wouldn't fit as an underling. The only way for that to happen is if Nate was depowered to the level of,....lol...indeed, a chump. At such a level, Nate would have no choice but to reach out for help. (lol) His power is all he knows....without them he is lost and needs assistance. I mean, Nate definitely is no fighter specialist as
ReplyDeletethe past few comic New Mutants now has been showing. Plus, he has low self-esteem and is much more humble these days (New Mutants #32). Who wouldn't be?!... if once you were godlike and then all of a sudden a super weakling in power?! What I truly believe is cool though is that Nate is learning how to become a warrior without powers...so when he gradually gets them back one by one/little by little...he's gonna be a force to recogn with and it may be unnecessary for him to even need all that godlike power. Like you hinted, xman75, if the need arises he may be able to tap into the Pheonix force (due to his Grey Genome, omega potential & tk/tp abilities - he possesses all the usual requirement for such a merger) to reboost his uber omega power grid if things get to out of hand....just a scenario. Been reading your blog for a while now, xman75 (awesome by the way), but refrained from posting until I received confirmation within the New Mutants comic that DnA were following this course of action regarding Nate Grey's x-royalty situation and at the same time staying true to Nate's perception and concept of things as regards his character from X-man #1 thru #75 and Dark X-men. Its definitely been the case regarding his comments and actions within New Mutants.
Awesome, it's always great to hear from another massive Nate fan! First off, I'm glad you made reference to Nate's power-levels rivaling that of the Dark Phoenix, because not many people realize that yes, it WAS indeed stated that Nate did have power that was Phoenix-esque(in Cable #29). Even Prof X states that Nate's power is like none he had ever encountered... Coming from Prof. X, that says A LOT! And yes, Nate has warped reality from time to time, I can recall during one of his outbursts he managed to freeze snowflakes in midair, besides the famous example of when he pulled Prof. X's astral projection from the astral plane to the real world, something that shouldn't have been possible. Add that to his extra-dimensional abilities and Nate was WAY powerful back in the day!
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I've been really enjoying the way Nate's been written as more humble and oftentimes frustrated, because as you said Radtrainer, here's somebody that practically had godlike powers, and now could barely use low level tk... That HAS to be tough, and DnA have done a great job of showing just that. And I think my own feelings mirrored your own with regards to Nate's depowering... When it first happened, I was pretty pissed. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. If you have a guy like Nate on your team, what's the sense in having anybody else there? I mean he should be able to handle most any problem that arises, thus making everybody else unnecessary. In a perfect world, I'd like to see Nate regain his telepathy and telekinesis, but more at the levels Jean Grey had for her non-Phoenix career. Naturally when the need arises he could bust out his uber-Omega abilities, but that could be saved for special cases. Regardless, I'm STILL ultra happy that Nate was at least brought back... I always figured he'd simply remain in Limbo forever because comic writers didn't know how to properly bring him back.
Speaking of X-Man #75 I've always wondered what ever became of that kid Nate seemed to hand his role of shaman to before he "died". Mike Dorie. He was in one of the various handbooks Marvel puts out from time to time, but he(to my knowledge) never appeared anywhere else. Speaking of things that were never touched upon again was that potential child Nate had with Threnody... That's something else I wish some writer would explore. Since you seem so well versed in Nate's history, I just figured I'd toss those things out there to see what you thought of 'em.
You know what....he sure did! He froze snowflakes in time in Cable #30 I believe during there half brother 3 issue crossover. Come to think of it, he also accidentally warped reality when he plucked a thought out of Peter Parker's head and crossed warped/transfered Gwen Stacy from AOA into reality 616. Man!...can't believe I forgot that. Or how he accidentally warped reality even upon himself when Morbius bit him based on the horror movies he watched in the loft when he was with Threnody (something Spiderman addressed when he discovered Nate's unexplainable condition). Or how about Bux arm reappearing out of nothing. Making Jack Cole dang near unstoppable accidentally. Resurrecting Cable's mom Madelyne out of residual psionic energy before evil dimensional Jean replaced her. Now that's warping or enhancing reality for ya! Wow...how much I've forgotten, yet still remember. I'm sure Nate's done other stuff I haven't quite pondered on and brought to mind....but yeah, that's definitely reality warping to say the least. Don't know anything in regards the shaman kiddo, but he could be a future vessel in Nate's power restoration since he marked the child similar to that of Jack Cole (Jacknife). Just saying...anything Nate touches seems to have an accidental effect, though as Shaman, it appears he has sound control. Just saying that incident could be useful later for adventures involving Nate Grey. As far as the Xman/Threnody baby is concerned...that story is bound to show face sometime in the future similiar to the third Summer's brother story involving Gabriel Grey....lol...I mean Summers. It appears I'm about to get Sylar from the tv show Heroes involved slicing people's heads open and taking there powers. Lol. But for real, getting back on the mystery child subject...if they brought Nate back and put him mainstream within the x-titles and Threnody is still alive, that grandbaby when older will make his way into Lord Summer's life as Nate has. Believe that...Nate's child story is a big deal to many comic fans. Marvel will not leave it untouched....it will come to light...the revelation: child of Omega Nate Grey!
ReplyDeleteDamn, I'd forgotten so many of those things until you brought them up! You are WAY up on your Nate Grey history my friend! The Maddie thing, the Gwen thing and vampire Nate, which I probably should have remembered first since it's my avatar and all :P def show that Nate has been messing with reality, most of the time without even realizing it.
ReplyDeleteThe interesting thing about the kid from X-Men #75 was that he had a brief little bio in the Civil War Battle Report handbook where he's known as "Mutant Shaman" Michael Dorie: Status Undetermined... That handbook came out a good 2-3 years before Nate came back in Dark X-Men, so I wonder if Marvel had some plans for him but ended up scuttling them.
You know, Vulcan's powerset would REALLY fit with Nate's potential child... Just sayin... :D Interestingly, Threnody is another character that hasn't appeared since her last appearance in Nate's book(around X-Men #58 or so). There is SO much that could be done with a potential child of Nate and Thren... I mean you could easily have the kid taken by somebody like Dark Beast, artificially aged and sent after Nate and the New Mutants! Pure storyline gold! One of the best things about DnA is that they seem to really know Nate and must have researched his character before they brought him into this series so here's hoping they do delve into that mystery sometime down the road.
Let me start with Michael Dorie. What I researched about this mysterious young mutant is that he has telekinetic abilities. Also he has mental resistance which is why the alien couldn't control him much like Threnody has. Many mutants with psi-mental blocks tend to evolve with time so by now Mike may be a stronger mutant with extra abilities. I say this extremely with regards to Michael Dorie due to the fact that Nate Grey anointed him as Shaman (and you know what happens when Nate Grey touches someone...lol), which means he could possibly be warped and/or amplified. Plus it appears Shaman Nate was more in control of his powers at that time, so what all was involved in this anointing wasn't clarified. Its a strong possibility that Nate placed a percentage of his very essence and power grid within the boy that would mostlikely mature as he gets older or possibly became immediate without Dorie's realization or awareness in the complete sense (Dorie was never trained by the teacher, only implanted with such gifts; may have taken some period of time to fully grasp). This makes sense since Nate knew he was going to sacrifice himself immediately afterwards. So then, the question: What happens when that essence reestablishes contact with the entity that placed it there? Kinda like a Dragonball Z/GT Majin Buu & Uub scenario where two entities are technically one. What intrigues me the most is that after Nate Grey's sacrifice as Shaman, Dorie's mutant abilities was sustained after M-Day. Only special mutants could keep there abilities and it was revealed that he continued defending as Mutant Shaman, but no details were disclosed as to how or what all has taken place or what he has done in place of Nate Grey. So I feel that its a strong possibility with Nate Grey having significance again that this character will soon appear back in his predecessor's life as a possible shining major player in order to aid Nate when things get extremely harsh and life-threatening on a major scale. This isn't the first time Marvel has used a nobody character and later made them a rising star....it adds a new feature to the primary characters lives. Melody Jacobs was a nobody/forgotten such character until she met Nate Grey during the X-man title run. I didn't even know Threnody existed until Nate ran into her and even then I didn't think she'd become a major player! Now people are asking where is Threnody and the baby? Yeah
ReplyDeleteP.S. And don't think DnA aren't reading your blog Xman75. Many times I believe blogs help writers come up with scenarios and new ideas and right now your blog is probably the biggest X-man captivator...the one DnA label as x-royalty. So they definitely want to know what the fans think. Also Xman75, I still got some things on my mind in regards Threnody and this mysterious baby, but right now don't have time to write about it....so keep checking back. For now, its all Shaman Micheal Dorie....humh.... Ever think that's why Nate isn't too worried about his Shaman tasking and has seemed to shift gears? Shamanism seemed to still have some significance to him during Dark X-men! Just saying...
"by now Mike may be a stronger mutant with extra abilities" Yes! This is exactly what I was thinking too, and for the exact reason you brought up. With Nate at the height of his Shaman phase, I always figured he sensed something special/great in Mike which would lead him to anoint Mike as the next mutant shaman. You'd figure in the time since Nate "died" Mike had the time to mature and wound up becoming even more powerful. Plus it stands to reason that he did indeed keep his powers post M-Day since that Battle Damage handbook came out well after the M-Day mess. So the question would be, there's this pretty powerful young mutant out there who hasn't been very visible after M-Day, what has he been doing. That's why I find that character so interesting, he could be taken in so many different directions, good, bad or somewhere in between.
ReplyDelete"possible shining major player in order to aid Nate when things get extremely harsh and life-threatening on a major scale" I actually really like that idea. He wouldn't even have to physically show up, things could just mysteriously work out for Nate with nobody knowing why. The reveal could always be held off for sometime down the road.
"And don't think DnA aren't reading your blog Xman75." HA! I wish they were! Well, if Abnett and/or Lanning ARE reading this I just want to say you are both fantastic writers. Please continue to focus New Mutants on Nate. And if you can, have him appear in several other comic books as well. And if I didn't mention it before, you are both awesome! There's no harm in trying to butter them up, right? :D I'll definitely be looking forward to reading your thoughts on the potential Nate/Thren child, Radtrainer. The more Nate we talk about, the better!
Hey....just had a quick thought. According to the X-man Annual '96, Nate has to return to the AOA yet again (if not more than once). Could Michael Dorie possibly aid him or venture with Nate? Obviously Nate would need more power(s) than he possesses at present. Is reasons for Dorie not being found as of yet due to transdimensional travels (meaning he's not even in reality 616 at present, but may need help from Nate Grey later)? Just a slap to the skull!
ReplyDeleteMelody Jacobs (aka Threnody) is one bad mutant if she learns how to control her powers. And I'm betting she has mastery to a great degree by now. She in reality is a non-blood, instead death sucking daywalker immortal vampire (a better Blade) + a more powerful Havok (Alex Summers) put together as one. Dang!! Like a vampire she craves the taste of death as well as near death necroplasm and absorbs it as well as any other type of energy similiar to Havok. I'm talking energy as in kinetic and psionic. Man! (Remember, Havok was said to be more powerful than Cyclops in regards potential, but too wild to contain or control, which is why Scott was chosen instead of Alex by Sinister to create Nate Grey/Cable) So getting with Nate Grey is the best thing that could have ever happened to her. At that time Nate vast energy he possessed was killing him so she absorbed both his psionic and death energy simultaneausly. Think how powerful she could have become if she knew how to use her powers to the full extent. Not only that....she, like Havok, can use necroplasma as concussive blasts. Usually due to being untrained, she just blew up all things around her like Havok before learning control. But she could channel them in her arms like Havok if she learns. But that's not the only way she uses her absorbed necroplasmic energies. It appears that she can reanimate life in dead corpses, therefore creating her own super strength zombie army subject to her leadership and command. Wonder what happens if she revives a dead mutant?...now that's a scary thought. If the zombies are beheaded, she still regains necroplasma absorption refueling her strength. Maaaannn! If that isn't enough....she can't die. Instead she's immortal due to the fact that her mutant ability reanimates her lifeforce due to absorbing her very own death energy which makes her stronger than before death. So, when speaking of Threnody....we are talking about a very powerful immortal mutant. Curious Xman75, has there been any references to her existence years in the future because according to the facts...unless beheaded...she don't die...but can only get more powerful if she knows how to fully use her powers. And let's not forget that she has mental resistance to due to absorbing telepathic probe energy. Selene & Madelyne Pryor couldn't break nor control her mind together! Like I said earlier in regards to Micheal Dorie....most mutants with psionic shields and blocks of sorts usually evolve with time. In the case of Melody Jacobs, you've seen bits of it at death....but is her evolution complete? That we don't particularly know yet. But since Nate Grey is now mainstream and if DnA are reading, you can bet it will be addressed and Threnody will pop back up in one or more of Marvel's comic books. Believe that! Lol. Now if Threnody is that potentially powerful and Nate Grey is naturally Omega....well what about?????? To be continued......
ReplyDeleteThat's actually perfect, regarding Mike... He's not in the 616 Marvel Universe! While he was in full Shaman effect, Nate could travel between dimensions at will, so who's to say that Mike didn't gain/inherit those powers and took a trip to some other dimension, at which time he got trapped, thus necessitating a rescue from Nate and the New Mutants! That opens up tons of possibilities since it opens the door to a dimension with a character(s) powerful enough to capture a "mutant shaman". I like it!
ReplyDeleteIn Thren's last appearance(that I know of) she was shown WAY more in control of her powers, controlling zombies to drag Nate back into her life. And I DO recall her using death energy as energy blasts... She's one of those characters that can be taken REALLY far in the hands of a good writer(s). And like you said, we all know how powerful Nate is, obviously Thren is mega powerful in her own way, imagine what type of a kid those two would have!
OK, now that I've made it through "Spider-Island," I'm making my way through "Regenesis." Loved this issue. LOVED it. I love that Dani gets them off, as you say, Crazy Mutie Island. I also agree that DnA give us one of the strongest Nate's ever. I felt like so many writers just phoned in his dialogue, since the stories were often about how powerful he was. As you guys said, by taking away his powers, DnA actually get to spend some time exploring him as a person. I mean, I can't really imagine the X-Man of past (and I didn't read that much of him, so maybe I'm wrong) talking about his desire to get to know his father. It's like being on a team is letting him be a normal person, rather than a rogue mutant always looking over his shoulder. I can't wait to see where DnA go with him. (I would, however, love it if we stopped reducing Bobby to only trying to get Amara to love him. I mean, 30+ issues is enough! He's not Cloak, she's not Dagger.)
ReplyDelete"I felt like so many writers just phoned in his dialogue, since the stories were often about how powerful he was." And that, in a nutshell, was what was wrong with Nate's series from the 90's, JW... Don't get me wrong, I love Nate and all, he IS still my favorite character, but man was his series brutally bad at times... Every story went one of two ways. Either random super-villain of the month(and it could be anybody from Mr. Sinister to the Purple Man) tries to trick Nate into working for them(somehow using his powers to their advantage), or he ends up carelessly lashing out with his powers and then sulking about it. Sometimes we'd get both in the same story! :P It's so nice to see writers who seem to want to advance Nate's character, as opposed to just using him as a story point. That's why I had no trepidation when I heard DnA were the writers taking over New Mutants and bringing Nate in. Because they seem to really get it.
ReplyDeleteAnd TOTALLY agreed with Sunspot... He's now starting to reach Beast Boy levels of annoyance for me. And the worst thing is you KNOW that his unrequited attraction to Magma is going to continue, especially since Magma still owes that date to Mephisto. All I'm hoping is that when/if the date with Mephisto takes place, that finally ends the Bobby/Amara story one way or the other.