Just in time to celebrate 40 years of the original New Mutants, catch up with some old friends — like Sunspot, Cannonball, Wolfsbane, Boom-Boom, Dani Moonster and Rictor — as Caliban leads Famine and War, the remaining Horsemen of Apocalypse, in a hunt for new blood. Witness a never-before-seen link between the New Mutants and Apocalypse in X-Men Legends #11, written by Louise Simonson, drawn by Walter Simonson, colored by Edgar Delgado and lettered by John Workman.
Dan Grote: This issue juggles such a large cast — New Mutants, Morlocks, Horsemen, Rusty Collins for some reason — there’s plenty to dig into. But Austin, all I can think about is the fact that a pre-X-Force Sam Guthrie said “asses.” That just doesn’t sit right with me.
Austin Gorton: Look, don’t think I’m going to let that Rusty crack slide on account of a Sam Guthrie profanity discussion, but yes, it seems very out of character for the Sam of this era to use the word “asses” like this. Boom-Boom, sure. Rictor? Probably. Maybe even Dani, under the right circumstances. But the only person less likely to curse in that manner is probably Rahne.
Dan: (We’re gonna talk about this Rusty Collins apologism at some point, but) OMG I would love to see Rahne go off on a profanity-laced tear in a comic. Like, actual swears, none of that grawlix stuff. Anyway, I wasn’t 100% sure young Sam had ever walked on the wrong side of “Shucks,” so just to be sure, I consulted CXF’s resident Cannonball expert Zoe Tunnell, and the ruling on the field is: No. No, he would not.
The Wonderful World of Walt Simonson
Dan: I didn’t cover the first few issues of Legends, so I gotta say, it’s nice to finally read an issue where the artist is actually from the era of books being homaged. Partnered with his wife, Louise, and his longtime letterer, John Workman, this issue looks like a comic from 1989, instead of just sounding like one.
Austin: Walt Simonson is clearly the winner of this series in terms of A) being a good artist who B) isn’t a garbage person and C) actually has a direct connection to the characters/series being revisited. Other artists have managed to check one or two of those boxes, but Walt is the only one to nail the trifecta.
(That said, I don’t love the heavier lines he’s using, which is very much a hallmark of his current style, but I am admittedly quibbling.)
Dan: Hey, man, that’s what we’re here to do. Besides, we can more than balance that out by saying the panel of Dani yelling “And we all DIE” with the cast behind her with skulls over their heads is very good, probably one of the best bits in the book. And we get to see Simonson draw everyone’s favorite robo-scribble boy, Warlock, which is a litmus test for X-Men artists of the period. Where does Simonson rank on the artists-who’ve-drawn-Warlock scale?
Austin: Lower than Bill Sienkiewicz and Art Adams, higher than Rob Liefeld, ‘bout the same as Bret Blevins?
Dan: “Higher than Rob Liefeld” is certainly a way to delineate the floor. Tell ya one thing I don’t miss from this era: Those New Mutants costumes are rough.
Austin: They are better than most of the “graduation” costumes Art Adams designed, but still not great. Just lots of colored lines and non-distinct looks for the New Mutants, with the imported X-Factor kids (Rusty, Skids, Rictor and Boom-Boom) just basically wearing their street clothes (which at least helps them stand out some).
Dan: I also wanted to call out the cover. Don’t you love that old gag of the wall of monitors full of characters’ faces? Really makes it feel like private eyes (clap clap), they’re watching you (clap clap). That said, what do you think Caliban is doing with his hands? It looks like he’s offering to pass you an invisible baby. “You wanna hold her?”
Austin: I’m hearing that in a creepy Gollum voice now, thank you very much. The cover combines two of my favorite cover tropes: the “wall of character faces” and the “who amongst the faces listed here will be the new member of ________?!?”
Of Morlocks and Math Problems
Dan: This is the first story with in-Legends continuity, calling back to Weezie and Walt’s last story in issues #3-4. Which is neat, but then I did some more math. X-Men Legends #3-4 took place before the “Judgment War” story that started in X-Factor #43, released in August 1989. X-Men Legends #11 takes place before New Mutants #77, released in March 1989, BEFORE X-Factor #43 was released. But X-Men Legends #11 takes place AFTER issues #3 and 4. Austin … what?
Austin: It’s actually quite simple.
The key piece here is the young Illyana — having been returned to roughly 7 years old in the course of “Inferno.” This story takes place just before the New Mutants return her to her family in Russia, which happens in New Mutants #77. This is where the New Mutants are headed to at the end of this issue. That story falls into roughly the same pre-”Judgment War” gap as X-Men Legends #3-4, between issues #42 and #43 of X-Factor (it ultimately has to, because both New Mutants #77 and X-Factor #43 kick off long-running stories in which the title characters end up embroiled in meandering sagas offworld, with the two groups not meeting again until X-Factor #51 and New Mutants #88). So basically, it goes: X-Factor #42, X-Men Legends #3-4, this story, then New Mutants #77, followed by New Mutants #78 and X-Factor #43 happening roughly at the same time (New Mutants #78 is where the team, having returned from Russia and getting caught up fighting Freedom Force, sees Ship heading into space as a result of the events of X-Factor #43).
See? Simple. 🙂
Dan: You say so. I suppose if anyone else questions it, neither X-Factor nor the New Mutants will be around to answer.
Austin: One of the things that Louise Simonson does really well (both in her earlier issues and here) is recreate the feel of the era in which the stories take place by referencing plot points and minor bits of characterization specific to the particular time of the story. Dani started suffering headaches during “Inferno,” and she mentioned it constantly in the subsequent issues (until it blew up into a whole Valkyrie thing that led to the long “New Mutants in Asgard” story that takes place after this one). Similarly, up until her X-Force days, Boom-Boom would always verbally count down the seconds until one of her time bombs exploded; the image of a little yellow ball being thrown alongside linked dialogue bubbles saying “3…2…1” is seared into my brain as representative of Louise Simonson X-Factor/New Mutants stories. As a result of little touches like that, this story feels like it could have been written in 1989, which is what these kinds of continuity-insert stories should strive to do.
Dan: Got to appreciate the little touches like that.
Another thing I’m a little murky on is the Morlocks used in this issue. Some of them I remember — Beautiful Dreamer, Healer, Masque, Erg. One of them, Feral, is being shunted backward through continuity, which, fine. I’m sure some people are happy to see Feral. But who the hell are Mole and Chicken Wings? They look like deep-cut Muppets that got added to the Morlocks when I wasn’t looking.
Austin: Both Mole and Chicken Wings are creations of Louise, debuting in the immediate aftermath of “Judgment War” in X-Factor #51. Both are killed by Sabretooth (as part of a larger “Caliban is hunting Sabretooth and Archangel gets caught in the middle” plotline), though Mole escapes briefly and befriends Iceman’s future girlfriend Opal Tanaka before his death. Using them in this story, set before their published first appearance, is another one of those things you can do with a story like this. I’m not sure how Boom-Boom recognizes them, though, as this would now be their first chronological appearance (and it’s not like Boom-Boom has an extensive history with the Morlocks outside of the ones who bunked with X-Factor briefly in the wake of “Mutant Massacre”).
Dan: Actually, wait, I take it back about Feral. Not fine. Wouldn’t Sam and Tabby remember meeting Feral later when she joins X-Force?
Austin: It’s definitely a fine line. Flipping through the issue again, they never interact directly (There is not, thankfully, some kind of winking nod to X-Force #2 in which Feral in this story almost disembowels Sam and someone remarks on what a close call it was or something like that), so it’s plausible she simply didn’t stand out enough to Sam and Boom-Boom for them to remember her when she shows up later looking to join proto X-Force (triangle-haired furry mutants would shortly be all the rage, after all). Ultimately, I do like Weezie including her; Feral was introduced after she had already left the Morlocks, so seeing her among the likes of Erg and Ape here helps reinforce that bit of her backstory, however incrementally.
AAAHH!!! Real Monsters
Dan: The word MONSTERS appears in big chonky letters over Apocalypse at the beginning of this issue, as if to yell THEME at the reader. And throughout, we see characters accusing other characters of monstrousness.
The Celestials are monsters to Apocalypse. The Marauders are monsters to the Morlocks. The Morlocks appear monstrous but are mostly victims. Caliban is now a monster to the Morlocks even though he’s trying to save them by offering them Horsemen status. Meanwhile, all mutants are monsters to humans.
For a done-in-one, it’s certainly a hook to hang a story on, but it still felt a bit slight, like we’ve seen the Simonsons work smarter and harder. Any thoughts there, Austin?
Austin: I mean, it’s a mildly clever theme around which to build the issue, one which takes advantage of having all these different groups mashed up and getting into various Misunderstanding Fights. And it’s certainly more of a theme than whatever last issue was supposed to be about. But it definitely feels like a theme that got tacked on after the plot was laid out, and not something they decided to build a story around.
Dan: Yeah, I can see that. Speaking of the issue’s real monsters, how do these OG Horsemen compare to the others we’ve seen over time? After decades of vamped-up X-Men and now the First Horsemen of the Hickman era, these ones feel nowhere near as glam-evil-sexy. Unless you’re into bowl cuts. They’re kinda chumps, really. D’you think Apocalypse is ashamed of them? D’you think he thinks about his First Horsemen when he’s with them?
Austin: There is a glam-sexy progression to the Horsemen for sure, and this first batch is starting out on the far end of that progression. But they are the first (publication-wise), and I have some mild affection for them, bowl cuts and all. And it’s appropriate for them to be here, given they were created by the SImonsons in the first place. But there’s definitely a weird bit of continuity enforcing itself, since a big distinction is made over the fact that Caliban *isn’t* a Horseman, even though they’re down a couple Horsemen, which is what causes Caliban to go out into the tunnels in the first place. This is, of course, because in later appearances during this era, Caliban pointedly isn’t a Horseman. But later in X-Factor, Apocalypse gives up on Horsemen in favor of the Dark Riders, so it probably doesn’t matter all that much?
Dan: I have a dirty little secret. Maybe it’s the ’90s kid in me, but I’ve always preferred the Dark Riders to the Horsemen. They just look cooler. I mean, look at Tusk. He’s a big rock guy who poops out little rock guys. If that’s not toyetic, I don’t know what is.
X-traneous Thoughts
- Flying toasters? Did the New Mutants see a movie about a screensaver?
- The New Mutants went down a dark alley after seeing a movie? This is roughly the year Batman ‘89 came out. They should know that’s a bad idea. At least Boom-Boom wasn’t wearing pearls.
- I like how Weezie and Walt shunted off Rusty and Skids on the first page. Even they know they had nothing to say there, and Weezie created Skids! (This hurts, Dan, it really hurts. Though it’s certainly in keeping with the spirit of the times. Never forget, our first Rob Liefeld issue of New Mutants was about what Rusty and Skids were up to after being left behind by the other New Mutants).
- Next time? Chris Claremont returns for the final issue, a story about Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde.
Dan Grote is the editor-in-chief of ComicsXF, having won the site by ritual combat. By day, he’s a newspaper editor, and by night, he’s … also an editor. He co-hosts WMQ&A: The ComicsXF Interview Podcast with Matt Lazorwitz. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, two kids and two miniature dachshunds, and his third, fictional son, Peter Winston Wisdom.
Austin Gorton also reviews older issues of X-Men at the Real Gentlemen of Leisure website, co-hosts the A Very Special episode podcast, and likes Star Wars. He lives outside Minneapolis, where sometimes, it is not cold. Follow him on Twitter @AustinGorton
