“New Warriors” has been a rollercoaster ride of events the last two weeks, with ‘Kings Of Pain’ and ‘Forever Yesterday’ shaking up the status quo, but now it’s time to return to regular scheduling. The Warriors are back in their own timeline and are back to facing threats both familiar and new. Let’s look at how Nicieza and Bagley’s run continues in the upcoming issues, starting off with a visit from Darkhawk and the King of Abslantis himself, Namor.
Written by Fabian Nicieza
Illustrated by Mark Bagley
Inked by Sam DeLaRosa and Larry Mahlstead
Colored by Andy Yanchus
Lettered by Joe RosenGeneTech’s supervillain team returns for more! Will the New Warriors be able to square off with Psionex for a second round? Plus, just what kind of trouble has GeneTech fallen into? And why are they counting on the New Warriors for a bailout?
Issue #14 starts off with a strike from the dynamic duo of Namorita and Speedball, but the story is very much a point of development and spotlight on the former. The team feels much more cohesive and naturally so given Nicieza’s development throughout the run so far. I’m also glad for a bit more spotlight on Robbie, who didn’t feature heavily in ‘Forever Yesterday’. He feels much more comfortable in his character after some solid development back in the ‘Hard Choices’ storyline, making quips and authoritative decisions with little hesitation. Darkhawk, the then-recently introduced extra dark hero, shows up and quarrels as superheroes are known to do with first time meetings. Nicieza’s voice for him is great, leaning heavily into the gritty dialogue whilst still giving him a rookie air, with a great flourish as he makes the meta-comment ‘New Warriors? Uhm… Sorry… I’ve never heard of you.”.
Bagley’s characterization of Namorita is great, as she has that Greek-goddess, supermodel beauty yet with the toned body of an athletic swimmer. Her choreography is wild at times, with her torso twisting like an action figure when being hit, but considering her heritage and training, it still reads as valid. What ensues in her story is a confrontation with a massive armored suit-wearing villain named Sea Urchin, who’s been going after her hereditary Atlantean artifacts. Nita fights admirably, but Sea Urchin delivers a violent and brutal beatdown, to the point of ‘scalping’ her ponytail off. She’s saved by her cousin Namor, who’s much more composed than in his usual characterization, and warns her against revenge. Nita makes her reply known by donning some fantastically complex Atlantean armor that gives her the right to fight her enemy to the death, and Nicieza gives her a fierce resolve in this decision. Bagley draws some slick underwater environments and gorgeous shadowing as Nita confronts Sea Urchin for a decisive showdown. Nita gains an easy advantage in her ferocity, but pulls her punch just before the killing blow, unable to sink to his level. She reconvenes with Namor, saying she doesn’t deserve her heritage, but Namor helps her realize that agency and identity is more important than tradition. It’s a fantastic standalone issue with themes that still ring true more than twenty-five years later.
The next three-issue arc feels like the perfect capstone of everything that’s happened in the series so far. We open with Richard Rider, Nova who, thanks to a new costume given by Dwayne in an interlude last issue, has a new lease and outlook on life. Bagley does clean and inspiring super-heroic art here, with lots of sweeping shots of Rich. There’s a neat sequence where Rich learns that crime isn’t as clean-cut as he remembered, encountering the forsaken family of a crack dealer before he returns home and is found in costume by his parents – in costume! The scene shifts to the familiar laboratory of Genetech, who are still working on the misguided supergroup Psionex and studying the remains of Terrax from the very first issue of this series. We’re quickly recapped as to the members of Psionex before they conveniently decide to bust free from Genetech, who smartly decide to contact the Warriors for assistance once again.
We see some neat downtime as three-quarters of the Warriors are shown a new base of operations acquired by Dwayne, where Angie make the terrifying comment “A regular little Donald Trump, aren’t you, Dwayne?’. Angie and Vance, who went on a cute-as-heck date the last issue, continue to flirt hard as Bagley draws the latter with a serious bad-boy expression before they’re called away to help Genetech. The rest of the team are called individually, with Nita choosing to still use her battle armor considering her serious damage, again from the last issue, and Rich reconciling nicely with his parents about his superhero career. The team meets up at the lab, where they proceed to bust through a wall in grand superhero fashion and confront Psionex. There’s a great moment where Nicieza bucks the usual trend of these fights, with Vance calling out “Don’t pick solo opponents—everyone works together!”. Harmon Furmintz, the director of Genetech, does some serious lamenting on the path Psionex has chosen and has some regrets about the company’s overall direction. Bagley sells this well with subtle portrait shots of him carrying heavy doubt in his expression. As the fight comes to a climax, Furmintz decides the best thing he can do is to reform Terrax under his control and stop the brawling, which Nicieza manages to make sound possible in Furmintz’s earnest self-convincing. To little surprise, however, Terrax possesses Furmintz and declares his triumphant return in a terrific, pin-up splash page from Bagley.
Continued belowThe cover and the first page of issue #16 are great homages: the first to Walt Simonson’s Beta-Ray Bill debut cover of his “Thor” run, and the first page having a great close-up shot of Terrax in a very Jack Kirby fashion, with beautifully purple speech, Darkseid-esque laser eyes and Krackle to boot. Bagley and Nicieza also go all out to make sure Terrax feels like an even more genuine threat than in his issue #1 appearance, filling the pages with Michael Bay-level destruction and debris. Some of Psionex leave whilst Mathemanic and Impulse decide to stay, with the general rationale being the thrill of battle.
Much of the rest of the issue from this point is an extended fight scene with interesting story beats to pad it out, which is a great way to display Bagley going absolutely ham with Terrax’s power. The teamwork between the Warriors is palpable and infectiously fun, as the trust between the members has well and truly cemented. Terrax is a great sadistic villain to watch, as he kills Impulse with relative ease and spends the whole battle with a satisfied grin, moving around with little effort. Some of the Warriors get great moments too, as Dwayne proves his worth in a cosmic slugfest by setting off a bomb on Terrax’s back, and Speedball, who continues to be so much fun when drawn by Bagley, launches a high-powered kinetic punch right in the former Galactus-herald’s kisser. There’s also a subplot here involving Midnight’s Fire’s return and a guy called The Left Hand, but since that won’t come to fruition in this arc, let’s redirect our attention to the cavalry that Nova and Speedball bring to the fight, the Fantastic Four! All armed with beautiful, obscenely-sized guns! Thank you for this splash, Mark Bagley!
We get another great cover here with the Thing and Nova armed with said guns, bantering about taking on Terrax, and it’s a total blast. Nicieza and Bagley are letting it all out in this final chapter, giving us an unashamedly massive cosmic-level brawl. We get some nice continuity acknowledgment as Reed Richards addresses the almost rival-level history between his team and Terrax, and Nicieza proves he has Mister Fantastic’s voice nailed by having him go on to explain the technology they’re using to beat their foe. As the FF block Terrax from regenerating cosmic energy, the Warriors work on clean up. There’s a charming moment as Vance stumbles upon a woman in labor, to which he exclaims awkwardly before Nita picks up his slack and takes her to a hospital. Nova and Johnny Storm have some great dialogue, as the latter spouts a sassy, condescending remark before being humbled quickly by Terrax. It seems like the good guys have the upper hand for a while, before Terrax goes full-on tyrant mode, with Bagley drawing him blast up from the Earth with energy-pulsating speed.
The final fight, funnily enough, evokes a lot of the tones of the climax of the first MCU Avengers movie. Everyone gets a heroic moment in, with smooth-as-silk quips whilst Terrax angrily vows to destroy them. On top of that, if you thought the FF reveal was huge, Nicieza and Bagley pull out all the stops as we get a momentous splash of the Silver Surfer charging in at hyper-speed from orbit, smashing into Terrax with an explosion of Kirby Krackle. The battle is essentially over, as the Surfer takes Terrax hurtling into space and imprisoning him on a primordial planet almost entirely made of water. What I love about the aftermath is that the Warriors are petty that they didn’t get to snag the win for themselves, but the FF and Speedball remind them that personal victories aren’t what they’re in the hero business for. Everyone gets to unwind and return to their families, with some great closing scenes ensuing. Rich and his parents are back on good terms, Robbie and his Mom share a neat little connection in knowing his secret identity, and Dwayne and Sil see the darker side of Tai, which Bagley amps big-time. Best of all, Vance meets up with the pregnant mother he saved and her newborn boy, now named after his personal savior, Vance! It’s a heartwarming ending and gives the Warriors the most closure they’ve had in some time.
That wraps up our Summer Comics Binge coverage of “New Warriors” for now, ending with an arc that not only circles back to the team’s inception, but shows each character’s massive development and the genuine chemistry between each of them. Keep an eye out for more coverage in the future, and chime in down in the comments to voice your own opinions on Marvel’s greatest nineties super-team!
