New Mutants #39:
Summary: Warlock leads the plague infected New Mutants across Paradise Island, in search of the Ani-Mator's labs, figuring(hoping) that a cure would be located there. The team manages to get past all sorts of strange creatures before entering the lab. While Warlock is looking for clues in th Ani-Mator's files, Sunspot passes out from overexertion and Nate and Moonstar's hands meld together... Weird. Eventually the Ani-Mator, who created the virus and had become some sort of bacterial, plant-like creature, enters the lab to attack. This issue ends with Cypher and Warlock combining to face-off against the man... um, thing... um, creature(?) that murdered Cypher once before.
Thoughts: Before the ending I was REALLY enjoying this issue. But the addition of the plant Ani-Mator and Cypher and Warlock combining really bugged me. Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning did a great job prior to those actions though, as they gave us great character development moments for pretty much EVERY character in this issue, which is an amazing feat. Not only that, but they also managed to get me to like Warlock for the first time since... well, ever. A better ending would have probably put this comic in the 8 to 8 1/2 score-level, but as it is, I'll give this one a...
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Um, really smooth lines there, Nate...
Hey the last issue of the curent Ghost rider book comes out next week, in order to redeem herself Alejandra is declaring war on hell itself.
ReplyDeletethis looks damn cool whether u hate her or not (and after her actions in circle of 4 i do hate her)
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=11851
and the discription suggest the possiblity that johnny will go back to being the GR
With the movie coming up pretty soon, I'd def expect Johnny to become GR again to end this one. While I don't like Alejandra at all, I'm def kind of curious to see how Marvel deals with her... Will she sacrifice herself, will she voluntarily give up the Spirit, will she keep it, will both Johnny AND Alejandra be GRs? Doubt I'll pick it up, but I may give it a flip through at the shop.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this one, particularly the fact that Warlock trying to raise morale and keep the team moving reminded me of Friend Computer from the RPG Paranoia. ("We have arrived. Moderate celebration is permitted! Notice my reassuring smile!") I wasn't really bothered by the ending, though that may be because I was expecting it - this story arc seems to be mainly involving Cypher confronting his past, so I figured it would give us a call back to a Cypher-Warlock battle mode Megazord!
ReplyDeleteAnd to close on a Nate Grey note, while there have been indications that his powers are gradually returning, this issue seemed to be quite a jump. Last issue it was stated that he had the power to lift and manipulate only what he could physically do, and in this issue (maybe an hour or so later I'd guess?) he can push a steel security door off its hinges - not too shabby! I may be reading too much into his recovery, but I'm also seeing a parallel to a story arc from his original series where some power surge or something in the Astral Plane (I forget the exact reason) stripped him of his powers. His TK came back pretty much right away, but his telepathy took a lot longer, and was at one point established as being made dormant by his subconcious until he was recovered, and then returned when circumstances pushed him into needing it. I don't know if this is being deliberately mirrored right now, but I do like the idea that his base TK powerset is recovering first and in response to how much he needs it, not just in sheer strength, but his flair for creative adaptability which gradually grew into a real talent of his over time. Perhaps when this powerset has recovered enough and he finds himself in situations requiring less combatative and more investagative or manipulative actions his telepathic powerset will start to develop more?
"And to close on a Nate Grey note" That's always the best kind of note to close on! :D I DO remember that storyline as well! It was a battle between Psylocke and the Shadow King on the Astral Plane that messed up the world's psychics, including Nate, if I'm remembering the story correctly. And he DID regain his TK first, and then, later on, the telepathy followed suit. That very well could be what we're seeing here, good pick up, Crystarr. Hopefully Nate's TK continues to grow, and by the time the AvX stuff comes to an end, we'll have Nate just about ready to retake his spot as one of the most powerful mutants on th Earth.
ReplyDeleteAh, yes, now I remember! Funny how the details come flooding back! :)
DeleteSomething else that's occurred to me is Nate's role in the team at the moment. He's still very much the outsider, and spends a lot of time reporting and advising team leader Dani, analyzing the team, being critical but rushing in when he's needed. Even though he doesn't preach about it any more, I think he's actually falling into the role of a shaman to a tribe, but actually understanding the role more rather than his more surface understanding that he took when swapping bodies and aspects with his alt-self. I quite like the idea of filling this role, especially if he eventually gets his full powerset back - it gives him an actual role to play in the team while also constraining him from overshadowing them with his awesome power, very similar to how Thor is constrained from just ending 90% of Avengers fights with his godly powers.
I'm also hoping once Nate has settled down into his new situation that at some point he'll run into Franklin Richards and Spider-Man again, given they were pretty much the closest things he had to real friends in his previous life. Given his condition at the time, it'd be interesting to see how/if the events of One More Day affected him too!
I can't blame you for not remembering that storyline, Crystarr... I don't remember it being particularly good...
ReplyDeleteThe Thor/Nate comparison is a good one. That's the thing I was wondering the most about. I mean if/when Nate does get his full powers back, he'd seemingly be able to defeat pretty much ANY threat the New Mutants go against in the blink of an eye. But Thor is obviously WAY more powerful than almost all of his Avengers teammates, yet still functions on the team. THAT'S the role I'd love to see Nate end up taking here. That Thor role is perfect for Nate. Stand back, advise and when needed, defeat the threat.
I've kind of given up hope of a Spidey/Nate encounter... I mean we COULD get one during the AvX event since they'll be on opposing sides, but after OMD, I think working a Nate/Spidey talk into a comic could be kind of tricky. Nate wasn't REALLY around when OMD took place(well, he was, but he wasn't...), so you'd think he'd fall outside the spell/hex/whatever you want to call it that altered reality. That could lead to Nate talking about events that Spidey should have no knowledge of, which would be awkward. More than likely, I'd bet if the two ever did cross paths their prior relationship would be forgotten or not acknowledged, which would really suck, since Spidey pretty much fell into that older brother role for Nate.