When the X-Men were believed lost in space, Professor X recruited a new class of young mutants; he never intended for them to become superheroes like the X-Men, but they nevertheless found plenty of adventure as they added new classmates (and teachers) to their ranks.
Over the years, they became a tightly bonded group of friends, bonds which persists whether they call themselves New Mutants, X-Force, or X-Men!
Bowing to market pressure given the phenemonal popularity of the X-Men, in 1982 Chris Claremont & Bob McLeod launched New Mutants, the very first ongoing spin-off X-book.Â
Determined to keep the series distinct from the best-selling & critically-acclaimed X-Men, the creators decided the main characters would be students first & foremost, with an emphasis on learning how to control their powers (something the X-Men had long grown past) more so than becoming superheroes.
By making the superheroics secondardy to the series, the characters themselves are the focus of the best New Mutants stories: whatever crazy comic book hijinks they end up in, it is the relationships between those characters and their ongoing development that entrances readers and keeps us coming back for more.
Reading a New Mutants story is like hanging out with your friends, appreciating their flaws & foibles while reveling in their triumphs.
While the New Mutants can have colorful costumes and flashy superhero names, their fans tend to think of them as Dani moreso than “Mirage”, Sam rather than “Cannonball”, Illyana rather than “Magik”. That the series engenders that level of familiarity is at the core of its success.
Gold
Slumber Party
November 1984
- New Mutants #21
- Chris Claremont
- Bill Sienkiewicz
- Bill Sienkiewicz
- Glynis Wein
- Tom Orzechowski & L. Lois Buhalis
The Plot
While the female New Mutants have a slumber party with some local girls, the boys deal with the arrival of the alien Warlock, enlisting the help of Doug Ramsey.
Why We Love It
This is the quintessential New Mutants issue. A “downtime” story that is still packed with thrills, it speaks to what makes the characters’ so enjoyable and their status as students (and kids) first, and superheroes second. The juxtaposition between the relatively “normal” slumber party happenings and Bill Sienkiewicz’s wild art makes the whole thing crackle with energy.
This is also the issue where the classic configuration of the New Mutants, a mixture of the original students plus later additions like Magma, Magik & Warlock, comes together for the first time. With nearly every character given a moment to shine and show off their personality, the combination of smart, character-driven writing & evocative art captures New Mutants at its best, making clear what makes the series great.
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Silver
Demon Bear
August – October 1984
- New Mutants #18-20
- Chris Claremont
- Bill Sienkiewicz
- Bill Sienkiewicz
- Glynis Wein
- Tom Orzechowski
The Plot
Dani Moonstar confronts the ancestral demon that first killed her parents & is now hunting her; when she falls, it’s up to her classmates to defend her.
Why We Love It
The beginning of Bill Sienkiewicz’s definitive run as the series artist, “Demon Bear” is packed with clever layouts, complex images and a rich atmosphere. Yet the story holds its own as well, grounding the narrative in Dani’s determination to defeat the Demon Bear, and her friendsâ devotion to her.
Though sometimes problematic by today’s standards, this first story to center Dani and her heritage was a massive leap forward for representation of First Peoples in comics– and a deep, thoughful look at a marquee hero’s inner life, along with an allegory of colonialism, self-hatred and revenge that can hold its own against any literary form.
It’s also the first big role for Illyana’s powers as a fighter against magic enemies. And its impressively non-realist visuals– maps, abstraction, expressionist people, dream-sequences– remain a monument to comics form, and to what this entire team– Claremont, Sienkiewicz inking himself, Wein, Orchezwoski, and editor Ann Nocenti– could accomplish, given the canvas and the time.
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Home is Where the Heart Is
There’s No Place Like Home
1985
- New Mutants Special Edition #1
- X-Men Annual #9
- Chris Claremont
- Art Adams
- Terry Austin
- Christie Scheele
- Tom Orzechowski & L. Lois Buhalis
The Plot
The New Mutants are kidnapped and taken to the mythical realm of Asgard as part of a revenge plot orchestrated by Loki.
Why We Love It
In this last half of the famed Asgardian Wars, Loki contrives to take his revenge on the adult X-Men, and to get Storm to marry him, by snatching our teenage team from their Greek beach vacation (itself a scene for delightful hijinks) and planting them in locations throughout the Nine Realms, familiar from books about Thor.
Roberto and Sam get to dress up as warrior heroes, while Rahne finds what may be true love with a wolf prince. Dani, horse girl among horse girls, meets her flying steed Brightwind and gets inducted into the Valkyries. Doug, underpowered and sad about it, becomes a mead-hall thrall. Illyana risks becoming an evil sorceress, and Xiâan– who begins the story as a very fat woman– must trek through the desert and find her will to live.
The Xiâan plot merits a content warning– or ten– but the rest of them are perfect revelations of character, with swordfights, giants, and Claremontian mind control. Art Adamsâ hyperarticulate pencils and Terry Austinâs inks establish expressive, believably proportioned, and familiar characters whose new costumes fit their fantasy world, from mead hall to enchanted forest to dungeon (and we do mean dungeon). Has a Marvel fantasy world ever been drawn better, or with more apt detail?
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Inferno
January – March 1989
- New Mutants #71-73
- Louise Simonson
- Bret Blevins
- Al Williamson & Mike Manley
- Glynis Oliver
- Joe Rosen
The Plot
As the demonic dimension of Limbo comes to Earth in the midst of “Inferno”, Illyana Rasputin struggles to hang on to her humanity while reclaiming her lost realm.
Why We Love It
In many ways, New Mutants is the story of Illyana Rasputin, and these three issues, the highlight of Louise Simonson’s tenure on the series, is the climax of that story, as she completes an arc begun all the way back in the Magik limited series.
That climax is, in true X-Men fashion, equal parts triumphant & bittersweet, but in both, true to the character. It also stands as the rare conclusive (for a time, at least) ending for a character in a serialized narrative.
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Bronze
Magik
December 1983 – March 1984
- Magik: Storm & Illyana #1-4
- Chris Claremont
- John Buscema, Ron Frenz, & Sal Buscema
- Tom Palmer
- Glynis Wein & Ken Feduniewicz
- Tom Orzechowski
The Plot
A chronicle of the time Illyana spent in Limbo, between when she disappeared as a small girl and emerged moments later as a teenager.
Why We Love It
The demon lord and supercreep Belasco kidnapped Illyana Rasputin– Magik– as a young child, taking her to the hell dimension of Limbo to raise her as his student, successor and victim. She remained there for eight years, absorbing his magic lessons, resisting his control, and encountering corrupted or severely damaged alternate-timeline X-Men who failed to rescue her.
Storm, grown old in Limbo, has become a master sorcerer, teaching the growing child how to survive– but Illyana must discover her own form of sorcery, and her own way to fight back. With scary fantasy landscapes, emotional peril, and warmly inviting figure drawing, the four-issue series chronicles– in fantasy terms– a childâs progressive escape from her abuser, discovering the way out once she learns the shape of the trap.
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Steal This Planet!
1984
- New Mutants Annual #1
- Chris Claremont
- Bob McLeod
- Bob McLeod & Tom Palmer
- Bob Sharen
- Bob McLeod
The Plot
The New Mutants meet rock star & intergalactic thief Lila Cheney, who strikes a romance with Cannonball.
Why We Love It
Lila Cheney, stadium-filling rock star, mutant teleporter (interstellar distances only, please), galactic thief, and sometime Joan Jett-lookalike stars along with the titular teenagers in this super-fun self-contained story, which also folds in the beginning of Lilaâs sweet but problematic romance with a blushing, starstruck Cannonball (re-costumed in bondage gear to match Lilaâs own).
New Mutants co-creator Bob McLeod draws early-80s teens excited, lost, or righteously outraged as they navigate their newly science fictional world. Itâs a space heist adventure with colorful aliens that might be the most fun that one time straight-arrow Sam Guthrie has ever had.
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Why Do We Do These Things We Do?
1986
- New Mutants Annual #2
- Chris Claremont
- Alan Davis
- Alan Davis
- Glynis Oliver
- Tom Orzechowski
The Plot
When Mojo captures their classmates and turns them into evil adults, Doug Ramsey & Warlock work together to save the day.
Why We Love It
Psylocke’s first appearance in American comics, this lushly-illustrated annual explores the coming-of-age themes at the heart of New Mutants by literally transforming the New Mutants into adults thanks to the machinations of media satire villain Mojo.
It is also a standout issue for Doug Ramsey, giving the more cerebral character without a flashy comic book power a chance to show off his skills and save the day.
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Pawns of the White Queen
March – June 1986
- New Mutants #37-40
- Chris Claremont
- Mary Wilshire, Rick Leonardi, Keith Pollard, & Jackson Guice
- Bill Sienkiewicz & Dell Barris
- Glynis Oliver
- Tom Orzechowski, Lois Buhalis, & Ken Bruzenak
The Plot
In the wake of their death & resurrection at the hands of the cosmic Beyonder, the listless New Mutants are sent to the White Queen’s Massachussett’s Academy, their new headmaster, Magneto, feeling he is unable to help them any further.
Why We Love It
Chris Claremont makes the most of the editorially-mandated Secret Wars II crossover as he explores the nature of trauma and PTSD in the wake of the New Mutants’ encounter with death. Claremont also explores the new status quo: Magneto, who has become the New Mutants’ principal (often, their only) teacher, can’t stop worrying about these traumatized kids, but nothing he does seems to help.
At times a bleak & harrowing read, it is a standout example of using superhero trappings as a lens for emotional exploration, and is a highlight of the bookâs âHeadmaster Magnetoâ era.
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Rat Race
July – August 1987
- New Mutants #53-54
- Chris Claremont
- Rick Leonardi & Sal Buscema
- Terry Austin
- Glynis Oliver
- Tom Orzechowski
The Plot
The New Mutants attend a party at the Hellfire Club alongside their rival school counterparts, the Hellions; teen hijinks ensue.
Why We Love It
Rick Leonardiâs versatile, action-oriented pencils fit the crowd scenes, teen crushes, fancy pants and quick cuts that open Claremontâs next-to-last New Mutants story (Sal Buscema bats cleanup).
The New Mutants and headmaster Magneto accept an invitation to the Hellfire Clubâs ball, and the wonderful Hellions– the New Mutantsâ opposite numbers from the Hellfire-run Massachusetts Academy– pair off with their counterparts: Rahne with the very shippable, silver-furred Catseye, Dani Moonstar with James Proudstar, Doug Ramsey with the seductive Roulette and then with too much champagne.
Plot twists abound, the New Mutantsâ memorably garish and individual graduation costumes debut, Xiâan quits the team, everyone gets reflective, and Illyanaâs verdict on the Hellions holds: âSome are truly evil, though most only play at it.â
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Faith
November 1989
- New Mutants #81
- Chris Claremont
- Louise Williams & Terry Shoemaker
- Josef Rubinstein
- Greg Wright
- Tom Orzechowski
The Plot
Discussing the nature of faith with Empath, Magma tells him of the time she met Hercules.
Why We Love It
This rumination on faith & religion is probably the best Magma story ever told, as Amara Aquilla, a character with a strong visual hook and an overly complex (and problematic) backstory involving lost Roman civilizations hiding in the Amazon rainforest, comes face-to-face with one of the her gods in the form of the Avengers’ Hercules.
This triggers a crisis of faith as Hercules fails to live up to the standards expected of him by Amara, and she comes to realize that sometimes, it is within someoneâs humanity that the truly divine can be found.
Thought-provoking without being heavy-handed, this issue makes the most of its setting in the Marvel Universe, where literal gods walk among mortals, to explore some of our worldâs oldest questions.
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Austin Gorton
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
Stephanie Burt
Stephanie Burt is Professor of English at Harvard and the author of several books of poetry and literary criticism, most recently Donât Read Poetry: A Book About How to Read Poems (Basic, 2019). Her nose still hurts from that thing with the gate.
