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Review: New Mutants #44

By | June 22nd, 2012
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

‘Exiled’ is over, and DnA are back to their own devices for the Future of “New Mutants” (get it?). But is it for better or for worse? Let’s figure that out in the review.

Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
Illustrated by Leandro Fernandez
“FEAR THE FUTURE” Chapter 1!
– Guest-starring the Defenders!
– Dr. Strange’s team protects humanity from the impossible…so what does this uber powerful group want with the New Mutants?
– It begins here: the culmination of all the super smart seeds that DnA have been planting…in “Fear The Future”!

“New Mutants” is one of the oddest books Marvel is putting out. I don’t mean that in the traditional sense of the term; it isn’t particularly strange or weird to any extent that other books just can’t match up to. No, “New Mutants” is odd because after almost 25 issues, Abnett and Lanning still have no apparent foothold on the book. That’s shocking; these are the guys who orchestrated a massive comeback of Cosmic Marvel to staggeringly great effect, and that was juggling two books, five events and I don’t even want to count how many minis involved. You’d think a simple team book on Earth would be a cakewalk.

And yet, here we are at issue #44, and still the book fluctuates between an entertaining read and something ultimately generic. This seems to be the case for every arc of “New Mutants” right now; the first arc bringing back X-Man was great, but was quickly followed by a lackluster “Fear Itself” tie-in. This was followed by an enjoyable ‘Regenesis’ jaunt and the return of Blink, but when issue #38 started a new Warlock and Doug-centric arc the quality dropped again. Queue a “New Mutants”/”Journey into Mystery” crossover with ‘Exiled’, where everything is great again, and now here we are at an arc featuring the Defenders, missing characters and foreboding futures — and while we’re one issue in, the quality has already dropped again.

The current story goes like this: after the events of ‘Exiled’, the New Mutants are back to work as another team of heroes in the Marvel Universe who are protecting and serving. However, while fighting demons at a carnival, they are approached by three (out of five?) members of the Defenders, who claim that there is something weird and mystical happening around them. The New Mutants agree to take care of this themselves, and weird and mystical things happen around them. There is a callback to an earlier issue, the return of some past friends and the general feeling that this is supposed to all be pay-off from the beginning of DnA’s run, assumedly as we head towards issue #50 — and despite all of this, it all just feels rather dull.

The ostensible problem of “New Mutants” here is that the book ultimately isn’t engaging. The book has gone through two “relaunches” now, and both times it’s done quite well under the more attention grabbing circumstances, but when we get into a story that’s for current fans of the book, not just potential fans of the book, there is much to be desired. For an arc that is playing off previously planted seeds, there’s no real sense of urgency present in the first issue of this storyline, no sense of danger. It’s very much a run of the mill issue, which is unfortunate because it’s coming straight out of a fast-paced and highly entertaining crossover that, for lack of a better term, reinvigorated my interest in the series. Perhaps it’s too early to judge as this is Part 1 of a 6 part story, but it’s hard to get excited about this book any more than the 14 other X-Titles out this month alone.

It’s not just the story, though, as the characters themselves waver frequently. DnA have a reasonable handling on the characters enough for us to recognize them as “young kids with powers”, but unlike with Wells previous run there’s nothing to make you really care about or identify with any of the characters. You care about the characters probably because you’re already familiar with them, but outside of that there’s nothing new to go on. They all seem rather scatter-brained and unfocused, and that’s reflective on the writing. Who is in charge? Who likes kissing who? Where are they going? One could argue that this open-ended nature is certainly reflective on life and on being a young adult, it till stands as unfortunate that the book seems to be moving from arc to arc, from point A to point B, without the same sense of conviction that DnA’s previous work with Marvel Cosmic had.

Continued below

(Heck, DnA’s “Heroes for Hire” seemed more focused, and that got cancelled with less issues than “New Mutants” has before it could feature a proper conclusion, resulting in “Villains for Hire” for those that remember.)

Even Fernandez doesn’t really appear to be on top of his game with the issue. There isn’t anything bad about it, per se; it’s even, solid and clear throughout with no blemishes or awkward faces/poses (outside of that one panel of Warlock in the background hiding from Mrs. Livitz, but hey, no big deal). The monster designs are creative, and his Mignola-esque shading helps in the beginning (and hinders later on). However, the three colorists on the book make certain parts of the issue look a tad uneven, and there’s nothing particularly standout about the issue overall. It simply is, neither good nor bad.

It’s awful that this has become a reason for giving a book a thumbs down, but in today’s economy where Marvel is double-shipping the majority of their titles and you really have to pick and choose between what’s really great and what you’re possibly buying just because (insert reason here), “New Mutants” doesn’t offer anything particularly striking from anyone. The New Mutants haven’t really been “new” in who knows how long, and there’s just no major reason to read the book unless you’re a) a diehard fan of the New Mutants, b) a diehard fan of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, or c) a diehard fan of Leandro Fernandez. If you don’t fall into any of those categories, now would be just as good a time as any to jump ship if you haven’t already.

Final Verdict: 5.0 – Browse, maybe?


Matthew Meylikhov

Once upon a time, Matthew Meylikhov became the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Multiversity Comics, where he was known for his beard and fondness for cats. Then he became only one of those things. Now, if you listen really carefully at night, you may still hear from whispers on the wind a faint voice saying, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not as bad as everyone says it issss."

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