Last time, we had the spark that lit the flame, the birth of the New Warriors. Now that our teenage heroes have quarreled enough to tolerate each other, we can call them a full-fledged Marvel superhero team. Where we last left off, the New Warriors had faced off with rival superhero team Psionex, and the fight proved that there are still tensions within the team’s dynamics. This time, in issues #5-9, we get our first multi-issue arc, and it’s an all-stops tour around the Marvel universe that Nicieza, Bagley and the gang make a thoroughly wild ride. Strap in, because this week’s a big one!
Written by Fabien Nicieza
Illustrated by Mark Bagley
Inked by Larry Mahlstead
Colored by Andy Yanchus
Lettered by Rick Parker and Joe RosenThe New Warriors are divided when team members pursue personal agendas. Night Thrasher only has eyes for protecting Silhouette from Bengal, while Speedball investigates his mother’s disappearance. Plus, a shocking ending from Punisher that will unite the Warriors in battle!
First up, we’re introduced to the fantastic eco-terrorist and possibly my favorite Mark Bagley design, Star Thief! This cosmically-powered criminal has shades of Kirby all over, with the fabled Kirby Krackle featuring heavily in his character design and a simple yet sharp costume motif. Nicieza then jumps back to introducing our roster via Dwayne’s father Chord’s evaluations. It’s an interesting analytical way to look at each character, and even does a little bit of foreshadowing as Chord reveals that Firestar has some untapped potential with her mutant power. We get some more development from each character and their family. Robbie’s afraid of his parents’ inevitable divorce, Nova is still a frat boy. The real gem here is that Emma Frost is shown to have seen Dwayne’s hack into the Hellfire Club’s system from issue #1, bringing her and her torturous history with Firestar into the fold.
Then we move to the meat of the tale: Stane International are dumping chemical waste in space, which is ACTUALLY a cover for their move to nuke the Blue Area of the Moon and claim it from the Inhumans. Star Thief now becomes more of a complex character as we find out that he has been committing his eco-terrorism to stop this alleged space-dumping, and as readers we can gain a little bit of sympathy for him, leveling up from being visually fantastic, to also being multifaceted. And then, the team is separated, with half of the Warriors hitching an accidental ride to visit the Inhumans, whilst the other half stays to bicker with Stane International and their dickish representative, Robert Hanklin. It’s worth pointing out here that Bagley, now inked by Larry Mahlstead, has a very smooth, sleek style that is much more reminiscent of his later “Ultimate Spider-Man” work rather than the early “New Warriors” material, giving the book a modern and cinematic quality.
Namorita, Vance, and Angie all interact with the enigmatic yet supportive Inhuman royal family. The ever-delightful teleporting dog Lockjaw is used to transition the New Warriors to the Inhumans’ palace, where Namorita catches up with the aquatic Triton, implying further roots in the Marvel universe that this series has already established.
Back on Earth, Nova starts to get interesting as he moves from just being a jock to be an emotional, compassionate jock in response to Hanklin shooting his friends off in a rocket. It’s also interesting to note that Dwayne is the one being passive in restraining here, in contrast to his earlier appearances. Sadly, our bud Star Thief descends from being a layered character to becoming something of a one-note villain, blaming his situation on mankind’s misdeeds and being generally horrible to everyone. Mandroids are fought and roofs are destroyed before we find Star Thief hanging out with the Watcher, who’s made him cosmically aware. He’s brought back up to neutral status, so he can assist Firestar and Black Bolt in destroying Stane’s waste-rocket in an epic beam-struggle fit for the likes of “Dragon Ball”. The contrast of street-level brawls with cosmic, laser-powered standoffs is well handled, making “New Warriors” feel like the best parts of the whole Marvel Universe condensed into one issue.
Continued belowNow we get into the first multi-issue arc of “New Warriors”: ‘Hard Choices’. Nicieza brings back Silhouette, Night Thrasher’s former ally from the first arc, who’s been reflecting on her brother’s deed with Father Janes, a Vietnam War-vet-turned-priest. All the while, we get some incredibly dry narration from an unknown source, one that I will touch on later when an assassin named Bengal attacks both Sil and Father Janes. Bagley’s action choreography is tight and dynamic, especially in how he draws Sil leaping away with superhuman agility using her arm crutches, with some great widescreen paneling to make it scene even more engaging.
As usual, we get some solo character development, which is the most interesting Nicieza has done since the series’ beginnings. We see Speedball fight with his Dad in what might be the first time he’s had serious, genuine emotions and spoken up about his parents’ marital problems and Nova laments to his kid brother about how he’s a high-school dropout with no direction to go other than superheroes. I’m also super glad to report that Nicieza develops Namorita and Firestar’s friendship in a genuine way: Namorita is raw and unabashed about her emotions, while Firestar is a little more self-conscious, yet they both help and balance each other out endearingly. The team meets back up later in the issue while Night Thrasher and his father Chord are having a friendly sparring match since this is the issue of heart-warming relationships. Speedball confesses his worries about his mother’s disappearance with the dubious Project: Earth, whilst Bagley’s art suffers due to him falling into the horrible trap of drawing sexy dead-or-unconscious female bodies when a naked Sil faints into the room (she doesn’t enter, she really does faint into the scene).
Some big choices are made as Robbie reveals his identity to the rest of the Warriors for the first time, as they see he’s only fifteen for the first time. Nicieza makes sure you really get how risky this is for Robbie, as he hates being looked down upon. Dwayne stays to protect Sil from the threat of Bengal, whilst the rest of the team accompany Robbie to find his Mom, with the help of big daddy Chord. We see Bagley drawing the team at a university campus in Brazil, looking relaxed and modern (Nova’s suit jacket over shirt combo is killer) whilst somehow, a gang of supervillains kill an innocent clerk The Last Crusade-style with the New Warriors seemingly still in earshot? The narrative jumps back quickly enough before you question this decision, revealing that Sil has powers, hinting to a larger game being played here. Dwayne comes off as genuinely wanting to help, and it feels like a solid evolution from his more aggressive identity from earlier on in the run. Mid-stakeout, Dwayne runs into Bengal who’s on the hunt, pops a damn blade from his skateboard and duels with it, and then the goddamned Punisher arrives! Talk about an issue!
We, as readers, realize that the hollow narration from earlier is the Punisher’s ‘war journal’ before we get more of it over a killer fight between him and Dwayne that is pretty much neck and neck. Bagley’s work here is focused on the action, using simple block backgrounds to draw attention to the tight choreography and spring-loaded scene changes. Meanwhile, the New Warriors are bush-bashing through the Amazon in their own veritable jungle adventure, with everyone’s emotions made tense by the humidity and situation. Before long, we run into the plain-sight-killing villains from the last issue, a deconstructed Captain Planet elemental-powered team full of terrible costumes but really great hairstyles called Force Of Nature. Not only do they have killer dos, but Robbie’s mom is hanging out with them!
Back in the USA, the Punisher takes us through a fun, detailed tour of Dwayne’s Night Thrasher armor as he searches for weaknesses to exploit, with Bagley employing a great eye for detail here. The true twist of this chapter, however, is that we find out Bengal is really after Father Janes for crimes committed against his family back in the Vietnam War. Dwayne’s faced with some genuine ‘Hard Choices’ here, as someone who’s own parents were killed by injustice, which interestingly we’re told through Sil’s narration, suggesting a stronger connection between them. Before he gets a chance to choose, he’s interrupted by the Punisher’s reappearance, who takes Sil hostage revealing that he was after her for her brother’s misdeeds, further complicating the matter. And then, Dwayne pulls out a hidden gun. Not too much more happens back in the Amazon at this point, but we do find out that Force Of Nature were made of disparate villains from comics bygone, further rooting the title in the forgotten realms of the Marvel universe
The final issue of the crossover is full of tense moments and big decisions, naturally. Dwayne’s anger surfaces again, making his gun threat feel legitimate and keeping tensions high. In a surprise turn of events, however, Punisher talks him down from shooting when Sil actively separates herself from her brother’s activities. Not content with leaving things in peace, Nicieza throws Bengal back into the mix, letting Bagley again draw some stellar fight scenes, before Punisher forces the two to a peaceful resolution as they all bare their souls to each other. Over in Brazil, the two super teams continue to fight it out, whilst Robbie reveals his superhero identity to his move to save her. There’s some charming banter between the two as Robbie’s Mom tries to be protective before realizing she’s out of her depth, and Robbie starts to act more maturely. The Warriors triumph before long, with the best victory coming from Namorita as she bears Aqueduct’s defeated body to the team, exclaiming “What a dork!”.
In between all these tense superhero hijinks, Nicieza has been doing some sweet, sweet foreshadowing! We see a mysterious figure claim a mystical Macguffin in the pyramids of Egypt, proclaiming her inevitable rise to power and the restoration of her lost love. We also get some more of Emma Frost and her hellions as they are attacked, leading her to believe it was the New Warriors and their meddlesome hacking that led to it. Tune back in next week, for their confrontation, and one of the most nineties of the nineties-annual crossovers, ‘Kings Of Pain’!
