Marvel Graphic Novel #4: The New Mutants (1982)

From 1982 to 1993, Marvel would regularly publish original graphic novels, oversized comics with higher page counts and printed on higher-quality paper. Marvel's editor-in-chief at the time, Jim Shooter, was inspired by Franco-Belgian albums. These graphic novels would tell tales of Marvel's many heroes, like Spider-Man, the Punisher, and the X-Men. However, the line would also chronicle adventures of creator-owned characters, like Jim Starlin's Dreadstar, Dave Cockrum's Futurians, and even Michael Moorcock's Elric.

Some of the stories told in the Marvel Graphic Novels would become iconic, like The Death of Captain Marvel (The first MGN, which told the last days of the Kree hero Mar-Vell as he fought cancer), and X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills (The fifth MGN. Elements were used in the film X2).

So, what does that have to do with the New Mutants? Well, the New Mutants' first appearance was in one of those Marvel Graphic Novels, the fourth one to be exact. It was originally meant to be the first issue of a new comic series starring them, but Jim Shooter ordered it to be reworked into a Marvel Graphic Novel so one could be published on time. The Graphic Novel would spawn the first New Mutants comic series, which lasted 100 issues, from 1983 to 1991, which then became the first X-Force series.

The New Mutants would continue to get series over the years, mostly focusing on the 80s version of the team. But how did they start? How did five young mutants come together and become one of the most beloved teams of the 80s? In honor of their movie coming out (after years), let's find out in my review of Marvel Graphic Novel #4: The New Mutants!

The cover is a Bob McLeod piece. It's not a bad cover, but it is a bit basic. It is well-drawn, though. What I do like about the cover is that we get some idea of the powers of each of the characters. I'm kind of amused by Xavier on the cover. It's like he's trying to get the New Mutants to stop being so rash. Chuck, they're teenagers with attitude and superpowers. They're going to get rash.

"Renewal"
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Bob McLeod
Inker: Bob McLeod
Colorist: Glynis Wein
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Editor: Louise Simonson (credited as Louise Jones)
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The story begins with Moira MacTaggert, a friend of the X-Men, spotting a wolf leaping by.

"I've heard of werewolves in London, but this is ridiculous!"

The future reincarnating mutant is surprised to see a wolf in Scotland, as wolves have been extinct there for generations. Yeah, I'm not the biggest fan of Jonathan Hickman's retconning Moira to be a mutant, but that's getting off-topic. The wolf crashes into the ground, seemingly changing shape. Moira investigates and discovers the wolf changing into a redheaded teenage girl. To Moira's shock, she recognizes the girl, one Rahne (pronounced "Rain") Sinclair.

Moira notes that the girl has a gunshot wound on her. Nothing life-threatening, but she did note the girl had unusual DNA. She's 14 years old now, old enough to manifest powers. A pitchfork-toting mob shows up, led by one Reverend Craig. He demands that Moira back away from Rahne, and let them exorcise the "demon" from him, but she knows his way of doing so would involve him putting a bullet in her. She states that since they're on her family's land, Rahne is under her protection now.

The mob disperses, but Craig warns her the Lord's will cannot be stopped. Moira's like "yeah yeah, go away." She wraps Rahne up in a jacket and plans to take her to Charles Xavier. The scene shifts from the cool night of Scotland to a hot day in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A soccer game is going down between two archrival teams: The Thunderbolts and the Dynamos. We focus on one particular Thunderbolt: Mr. Roberto da Costa.

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLL!"

A couple of the Dynamo members attack Roberto. You see, they're not too fond of the fact that Roberto is biracial (His father is black, and his mother is white). Roberto tackles one of the attacking Dynamos, and ends up catching a beating...but then the football player undergoes a startling transformation, sending one of the racists flying.

"Oh man! I shouldn't have drank that mad scientist's energy drink!"

The stadium flies into a panic, except for Roberto's father Emmanuel and Roberto's girlfriend Juliana. She runs to him as he returns to normal, and freaks out. Roberto's body feels stone cold and still. Unknown to them, someone is observing this. The observer notes that more mutants are appearing every day, all across the world. But that doesn't matter. The observer vows that every time a mutant appears, they will be destroyed.

The scene shifts again, this time to the Appalachian mountains in Kentucky, USA. We focus on one of the mines belonging to the Pierce-Consolidated company. One of the miners is a 16-year-old boy named Samuel Guthrie. He's beginning his first day of work at the mine. You see, Sam's father was a miner, who had just passed away from black lung. With him gone, Sam's now the man of the house, and he needs to provide for his family. Sam's father dreamed of him going to college, but that's likely not going to happen now. But one of his brothers or sisters might.

A cave-in occurs, trapping Sam's boss. Sam tries to rescue him, and a miracle occurs.

"Mama always said this would happen if I listened to all that Def Leppard!"

Sam erupts from the mine, like a human rocket. Or a cannonball. The mine's boss believes that he was saved by God making a miracle. Sam knows he somehow blasted them out, and he's utterly scared and confused. The observer notes that this mutant manifestation is "closer to home". Interesting... The observer notes Sam's powers will be useful...for a while. And then, he can join Roberto da Costa six feet under.

The scene shifts again. We're still staying in the United States, but we're going from the Appalachians of Kentucky to the Medicine Bow Mountains, part of the Rocky Mountain range of Colorado. There, we look in on a girl meditating in the forests nearby. Her name is Danielle Moonstar, and she's enjoying a seemingly-increasing rare moment of peace and joy. A mountain lion approaches the girl.

Normally, that's something that should cause worry...despite mountain lion attacks on humans being quite rare. However, it turns out that this particular lion is a friend of Danielle's, and they cuddle together for a bit like he's just a big ol' housecat. The lion scurries when it picks up the scent of an unfamiliar man. The man is Black Eagle, Danielle's grandfather. He has some news for her. Danielle is a mutant, with powers of the mind, and Black Eagle has contacted a man who can help her understand and master her powers. That man's name? Charles Xavier.

Danielle is furious. Why should she go across the country to see some old white dude? Her anger ends up triggering her powers.

"Is this that Stadia thing, Danielle?!"

She projects an image of what looks like her grandfather being beaten to death by armored men. She freaks out as this happens whenever she gets her temper up. This is why Black Eagle contacted Xavier. She's reluctant, considering what the white man has done to Native Americans in the past. Black Eagle assures her that Xavier is a good guy. He should know. He and Xavier were blood brothers. Danielle reluctantly agrees to go.

The observer is overjoyed to hear this. He believes Xavier will go to answer Black Eagle's summons alone, without any of the X-Men. The telepath will be vulnerable, and then he'll strike. Who is this observer? One Donald Pierce, at the time the White Bishop of the Hellfire Club. The bigoted cyborg also has a woman named Tessa restrained in...wherever he is. Tessa tells him the Hellfire Club won't let him get away with whatever he plans, but Pierce isn't worried. By the time they figure out what he's up to, they won't be able to stop him. Their wealth and power will be his.

That night, Danielle wakes up screaming for her grandfather. She takes her horse out to the town and finds him lying dead. She knows her grandfather was murdered. And she shall have her vengeance. At the Xavier Institute, there's some testing going down.

One of the most reliable ways to test mutant powers: The Lime Jell-O Test.

The test subject is one Xi'an Coy Manh, aka Karma. Unlike the rest of the New Mutants here, she was an already established character, first appearing in Marvel Team-Up #100 (December 1980), by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller. With Xavier are Moira and Rahne.

Xi'an has the power to control minds, but she's demonstrated other psionic abilities over the years. Xavier is testing Shan's powers ("Shan" is her nickname, as it's how Xi'an is pronounced), and he's found that her psionic gifts have the potential to rival his in raw power. He would like her to demonstrate.

Shan is understandably reluctant. When she possesses someone with her powers, her personality can slowly change to match the host. Xavier tells her he'd rather not have his powers either, but he's stuck with them, so he might as well learn to control them...or they'll control him. Moira volunteers to be Karma's possessee. Karma uses her power on the scientist, and Moira gets up from her chair, speaking with Shan's voice. Shan herself can still move her own body, but it's greatly weakened.

Rahne partially wolfs out, demanding Shan let Moira go. Uh, Rahne? You were in the room when Moira volunteered to let Shan use her powers on her. Xavier is able to telepathically calm Rahne down as Shan releases Moira. Xavier notes that Moira's mind was essentially shut down. The group head out to get some food. Testing out superpowers works out quite the appetite. It's there we get a recap of Shan's origins from Marvel Team-Up #100. Basically, Shan is a Vietnamese refugee. She and her family had escaped Vietnam to America. Her mother and father died on the way, but she and her younger siblings Leong and Nga made it.

She also had a twin brother named Tran, who had the same powers she does. He supposedly died as well, and unlike Shan...he reveled in his own psionic abilities. He supposedly died as well, but future stories would reveal that was...not quite the case. Future stories would also reveal Shan had a half-sister, but that's another tale for another time.

Rahne is very disturbed by the casual discussion of mutant powers, as she thinks they're demonic in nature. Xavier explains to her there's nothing inherently evil about mutant powers. They're no different than having a heart or a brain. Shan has had to use her powers to survive in the past, and she admits to feeling the temptation to use them like her brother had. She's hoping Xavier can help with that, but he can't. 

Xavier is tired. He's gathered up young mutants to help people in the past, but he's seen them die. Also, the X-Men being kidnapped by the Brood in X-Men #161 (September 1982) is on his mind. Moira reminds him the X-Men were heroes, and they knew the risks. The X-Men were originally formed to help foster human-mutant peace, to help them live with and understand what they are. To refuse Shan and Rahne's need for their help makes all the X-Men have done meaningless. Xavier then agrees to help them.

Shan points out that she needs to care for her younger siblings. That's no problem for Xavier. He offers her a job working for him. Generous salary and benefits. He then gets a letter from Colorado. You see, Xavier served in the armed forces back in the day, and Black Eagle was basically an old army buddy. His granddaughter Danielle has manifested mutant powers, and he figures since Xavier is an expert on that kind of thing, he could help her out.

The next day, Xavier heads out to Colorado alongside Shan and Rahne. He finds that Black Eagle is dead. Xavier mourns his old friend, remembering him as a wise and respected man among his tribe. The world is poorer for his loss, as far as the bald telepath is concerned. Shan realizes with him gone, they don't have much of a chance of finding Danielle. However, that is not a problem for very long.

"Professor, I think we found that magic movie ticket from Last Action Hero!"

The group find themselves suddenly in what looks like Vietnam during the war, making Shan scream in horror. An explosion knocks her, Rahne, and Xavier senseless. Danielle runs for her life, being pursued by an armored man on a flying craft. She recognizes the man as one of the men in Black Eagle's death-vision. Dani's mountain lion friend attacks the armored man, but gets tossed off a cliff and killed for its trouble.

The armored man tries to do the same to Danielle, but Shan's able to take control of the man's mind and use him to fight off the other armored men. Xavier introduces himself to Dani, saying that he was with her parents when she was born. She demands that he leave her alone. He points out that Danielle has trouble controlling her powers, and he can help her with them.

Xavier scanned the minds of the man Shan controlled. He works for Donald Pierce, and Danielle was not his only target. He's also after two boys, one in Brazil, and another in Kentucky. Dani wants to put a knife in the man's heart, but Xavier convinces her to leave him to the cops. The next day, the gang are in Rio de Janeiro, looking for Roberto. The cops burst into their hotel room.

"STOP! IN THE NAME OF LOVE!"

One of the cops explains that there was an attempt to abduct Roberto, and his girlfriend Juliana Sandoval has vanished. And Moira made a phone call to Roberto's father Emmanuel about him.

The cop explains this while smacking Moira. I get the feeling this cop is not good at his job. The cops go to arrest the three, but Shan is able to use her mind-control powers to get the cops to cuff them in a way that's escapable. Shan makes the two cops punch each other. The three future New Mutants make their escape. Moira will stay and try to convince the police of the truth.

Dusk falls over the capitol city of Brazil. Shan, Dani, and Rahne find Roberto sneaking out of his family townhouse. They follow him to a slum district. There, Roberto meets with a man in red. Roberto tells him that he's completed his end of the bargain. Now it's time for him to release Juliana. The man in red is like "Nah, screw you!" The man in red has some friends. You see, these three want Roberto dead because...he exists. That's pretty much it. Roberto transforms into his Sunspot mode.

"Kill him before we get Kirby Krackle'd!"

Roberto thrashes the men, but they're able to fight back pretty well. You see, these men were once regular Hellfire Club guards...until a certain Canadian man named Wolverine sliced them up to ribbons. They got some nice new bionic implants. Roberto can't maintain the Sunspot form for long, and transforms back. He pleads with the men to not hurt Juliana, but they're like "Nah". Shan takes over one of the men's minds, making him fire at the others, while Dani disorients them with an illusion of the men's worst fear: Wolverine.

Shan goes to help Roberto up, but he knocks her out by mistake. This releases the merc she was controlling. He starts firing, and Juliana takes a bullet for Roberto. An enraged Danielle unleashes an illusion of Wolverine on the shooter, rendering him catatonic. Roberto laments that Juliana is dead, and he blames himself for her death. Shan tries to comfort him and get him to join them at the Xavier Institute. He just wants revenge. Dani convinces him to join up. Remember, Pierce's men killed her grandfather, too. So, how's Xavier doing?

Well, he and Rahne are driving in a back road in Kentucky, hoping to locate Sam. They find him alright. The future New Mutant, X-Man, and Avenger slams into his and Rahne's jeep, knocking it over and setting it ablaze. Rahne is able to leap out from the jeep in her wolf form, and Sam rescues Xavier from the jeep. She watches a group of Hellfire Club mercenaries arrive in a helicopter. Sam is wearing their uniform himself, but not their masks.

The men collect Xavier, but Sam is worried. He could have sworn he saw Rahne in the jeep. This is rough country, and she could get hurt out here. The mercs point out that the only human they detected was Xavier. Sam wants to know why they want him, and who he is. The mercs tell him that's info he does not need to know. After all, Pierce gave him a job. Rahne is able to follow Xavier's scent to a compound deep in the Kentucky woods.

"I hope there's dog biscuits there..."

The first line of defense in the compound is a pair of high fences, topped with barbed wire. There are guard dogs lurking between them. There is no way Rahne can leap those fences in wolf form...and good luck climbing them as a human. Luckily, Rahne can shift into a halfway form and use that form to get over the fences and escape the guard dogs. She's able to make her way to the roof of the main building and spots Donald Pierce doing his whole supervillain thing.

"I could just shoot you right now, but I'd rather gloat."

Pierce's gadget is keeping Xavier's psi-powers dampened. He also intends to use the machine to download all the knowledge in the telepath's brain. Xavier can resist...but it will cause him permanent brain damage. He also intends to use it on Tessa as well, likely to make sure she can't escape and reveal his plans to the Hellfire Club. You see, he's not a fan of the fact that many of the higher-level members of the Club are mutants, and he intends to stage a coup and drive them out. Rahne overhears this, and is unsure what to do. She's rather...new to this superhero thing, so she knows she has no chance of freeing Xavier. However, she can't just stand by and do nothing while his life is in danger. Not to worry, Rahne! Help is on the way in the form of Dani, Shan, Roberto and Moira.

San Guthrie spots the young Scot on the roof, but is driven away by an illusion of a cave-in. Unfortunately, he rockets away through the building, which brings out a swarm of Hellfire Club guards. The group are able to take them down thanks to Roberto. Sam returns, but is driven off by Shan when she gets her hands on a machine gun. The group enter the building, wrecking everything they see.

Rahne gets to Donald Pierce first, but his cyborg body makes him immune to her fangs. She gets badly hurt by the bigoted cyborg. Dani tries to attack, but his bionics allow him to use her own power against her. Roberto bursts in, and Xavier sees an opportunity. He has Rahne get to a console behind him. She does, despite her injuries. Sam shows and engages Roberto. Shan tries to possess Pierce, but he is easily able to take her down. Shame her gun ran out of ammo...

Rahne is able to find a certain switch and flip it. Pierce orders Sam to get rid of Roberto, Rahne, and Shan. The Kentucky boy is unsure how to do it. What does he mean, just take them to the sheriff? Pierce is like "No, kill them, you inbred hick!" Sam refuses, as he's not a killer. Pierce is like, "Yeah typical, you mutants always side with each other" and is about to shoot him. But Sam Guthrie is not going to die today.

"Aw, nuts! I shouldn't have used a flintlock!"

Funny enough, later stories would claim that Sam is supposedly part of a group of immortal mutants, but its gone back-and-forth since then. Xavier uses his psionic powers to stop Pierce from shooting the young mutant, then takes control of his mind. He uses him to free Tessa. These young New Mutants are sore, beaten up, and Rahne needs to go to the hospital. Moira's on her way with a car, so the kids can go rest and Rahne can get patched up. But that leaves Pierce. What to do with him?

Tessa's got the solution for that issue: Leave him to her. She'll tell the Hellfire Club about his actions here, and they'll deal with him. HA HA HA, he'll be back. And then there's Sam. He's not sure what to do here. Roberto tells him to go with his boss. They leave, with Sam all on his lonesome. A couple of weeks pass. Xavier summons the kids, all wearing their fancy new uniforms.

"Looking good, kids."

I like the little touch of the rebellious Dani making changes to her uniform to reflect her Cheyenne heritage. They have a visitor: Samuel Guthrie. Xavier summoned him, as he sensed the boy wasn't really bad, just duped by Pierce. Roberto is reluctant, as he feels Sam lacks honor. The others are willing to give him a chance, though. Rahne asks Roberto to give hi a chance, and Roberto agrees. After all, he can never say no to a pretty girl. The story ends with Xavier smiling at the five New Mutants getting to know each other.

This comic was very well-done. It does a fantastic job establishing each of the characters and their personalities: Shan, the reluctant but capable hero. Rahne, the shy girl who fears her powers have doomed her to damnation. Danielle, the rebel filled with Native American pride. Sam, the salt-of-the-Earth responsible kid. Roberto, the hothead. It's basic, but there is stuff to build on for them in the future. The story also does have some of that Claremont melodrama, but that's one of the reasons why the X-Men became so popular under him.

I have noticed that the New Mutants all seem to have tragic backstories. Shan's backstory is tied to the Vietnam War, Rahne nearly gets burned at the stake, Dani is forced to isolate herself, Sam has to work in the mines after his father died, and Roberto loses his girlfriend.

I did feel it was kind of pointless to introduce Juliana and Black Eagle just to kill them off. One of my issues with current X-Men is that they seem to have no human allies or friends anymore. That helped the X-Men have a connection to humanity and showed that they were actually making progress on that whole human-mutant peace thing. Having them around would have helped there. Also, this comic established Black Eagle and Xavier knew each other, keeping him around would have explored that more. I don't think it was ever brought up again after this.

I also have high praise for Bob McLeod's art. It's incredibly well-done. His art is very detailed, and I love the "acting" in his art, if that makes any sense. We see the characters being very expressive, especially in the faces. He does excellent facial expressions. Also, I did noticed that the colors in the comic seem to be very pale, washed out. I think it does fit the tone of the comic.

If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend hunting down the 2006 trade paperback New Mutants Classic Vol. 1 or the 2017 trade New Mutants Epic Collection Vol. 1: Renewal. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! Join me next time as we see a battle between two psychics of immense power...