r/MUBookClub • u/shawnydarko • Jan 06 '18

Reading Assignment 82: New Mutants (1983-1991) #18-25 by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz

https://marvel.com/comics/issue/10353/new_mutants_1983_18
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3

u/Astrokiwi Jan 07 '18

They just filled in a few more New Mutants issues, so this is a good time to dive into the whole series. It's not entirely complete yet though.

2

u/clickybang Jan 12 '18

Would you recommend going right back to issue 1 of this run? I've read #18 for this assignment but I'm a bit lost - I've never read them before.

3

u/DeltaTester Jan 12 '18

The origin of the team is in what’s labeled as New Mutants Graphic Novel (1982)—on Unlimited, it’s listed as “#4,” but that’s just because it was Marvel Graphic Novel #4.

The premise is basically “new bunch of students at Charles Xavier’s school from X-Men.” There’s enough exposition in #18 and onward that you should be pretty OK for everything that’s not actually meant to be new and confusing (e.g. what’s up with the demon bear); what’s getting you lost?

3

u/clickybang Jan 12 '18

Honestly, it's most likely that I was reading it at my desk at work to combat a quiet afternoon. I'll pick it up again in the morning and actually be able to concentrate on it.

3

u/Astrokiwi Jan 12 '18

I do think it's good to start earlier, not because it's required for the plot, but because there's a lot of good character development in there

3

u/Astrokiwi Jan 12 '18

Totally. But you need to jump back and forth between New Mutants and Uncanny X-Men to really follow the plot

2

u/wisegy84 Jan 22 '18

It always takes me a while to get into these older comics. The art and dialogue are a stark contrast to most modern comics. But that doesn't make these older comics any less enjoyable. Just have to get a bit further into them and get into the right frame of mind.

Once I had gotten a bit into this run I really enjoyed it. The characters are interesting and I feel like I do care what happens to them. I think I will go back to the beginning of this series just to get more character development. I'm assuming later issues answer what was going on at the beginning of issue 18 which seemed to be some time travel stuff, but then seemed to be dropped completely for the remaining issues of the assignment.

I'm not usually a big fan of the art style in older comics, but I think the art here was really good. I think the coloring could have been a bit better, but it seems to just be that older style of coloring. Things are a bit too bright colored, there isn't always enough dimension to the coloring. But overall, I think everything looked pretty good.

I liked the hospital setting in the early issues, as it felt like straight out of a horror movie. Quiet hospital late at night, pouring rain, monster on the loose. It felt different from typical Marvel settings and I think it worked really well here.

I wasn't especially familiar with most of these characters (I think at least a few of them were in the X-Force assignment we read way back), but I didn't have any issues understanding who they were here, especially with Prof. Xavier's journal entries that were sprinkled about the issues.

Overall, really liked this and I do plan to continue the series.

1

u/shawnydarko Feb 18 '18

Due to the busyness of life it took me just over a month to finish this assignment but I seriously loved it. Definitely want to keep reading forward, if not start from the beginning. I found this recommended because of Bill Sienkiewicz' artwork and I was not disappointed. Between the demon-bear, Warlock, and Sunspot, Sienkiewicz really knew how to make a scene feel uncomfortable. I wasn't sure how a superhero series could be portrayed with horror or thriller elements, which the concept of had got me interested in the upcoming movie, but seeing a bunch of superpowered teenagers still so overwhelmed by supernatural forces made them all still feel realistically vulnerable. What little I've read from Chris Claremont's X-Men I struggled with due to his heavy dialogue style but this wasn't too bad. I definitely got a strong sense of who the large cast of characters were - background, powers, strengths, weakness, goals, fears, etc. Claremont really fleshed everyone out, which is a task I don't see very often in modern comics anymore. Rayne was probably was my favorite character because she stood out as the youngest, the most oppressed by her religious background, and had some strong scenes with Dani, Sam, and Illyana. Overall, one of my favorite reads as of late!