And leaving them with Magneto was seen as being risky?? (Well, back then it was)

[icon_uk]

Chris Claremont discusses "New Mutants Forever" over at CBR and he has a typically... outspoken view about current Marvel goings on, not quite towing the party line one feels.

...the comic won't just be filling in spaces in existing canon buy building an all-new run of stories placed within the writer's own personal conception of the cast and their world. Specifically, "New Mutants Forever" pushes the team into a fight to reconnect as a group of young people when their mentor Magneto has left them in the hands of often villainous Selene – AKA the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club.

"She's the adult who's taking care of the team. They're stuck with her," the writer explained, "Since the story is set in large measure in Nova Roma [the lost city of the Roman Empire], you're learning a chunk of her backstory – who she is, why she is, what she's doing there, what her ambitions are. It puts Magma in the position of having to wonder if her hatred of her is justified. It makes you wonder if being the Black Queen is a good thing or a bad thing. It takes the way you're looking at someone from one clichéd direction and maybe suggests that you could be wrong."

Interesting, given that Selene seemed to be pretty much a dyed in the wool malevolently selfish bitch in Claremont's series too.

He continues

I actually find 'New Mutants Forever' a more appropriate/accessible series from my eyes than [the current] 'New Mutants,'" he continued, noting that his view of many of his X-cast was different than what had grown under the pen of others, largely in the view of his younger heroes ages. "One of the ongoing bones of contention I've had over the years with the various approaches to these characters by various writers in other titles was the determination to leap them ahead in age. It was, example, one of the irksome things about the later issues of 'Excalibur' that I felt was a disservice of the character when Kitty was jumped up a few years to 20 if not 21 so it would not be illegal for her to go hang out in bars with Pete Wisdom. And one of the bones of contentions I got in return when I picked her up in Uncanny back in '99/2000 and the first thing I did was establish she was still barely 17, I caught incredible shit from readers who felt I was ignoring existing continuity.

Now this I think is a best disingenuous, all the comic did was establish that she was over the age of legal consent for sex, probably around 18. You've never needed to be 21 to go into a bar in Britain, where Excalibur was set and Kitty was living. And Claremont DESERVED some shit for the irritating de-aging.

Here's the cover, by Al Rio (Have to say, nice to see the gang, but not a fan of that sort of "wolfhead on costumed human body" Rahne (Her wolfgirl look in the New Mutants was a lot creepier looking by being halfway between human and wolf.)



tags: group: new mutants, title: new mutants forever, creator: al rio, creator: chris claremont

Comments

[crabby_lioness]

often villainous Selene

When has Selene ever been NOT villainous? She was sacrificing children in those days!

Phoenix was not entirely sane., Emma had a soft spot for the kids, Mags was conflicted, but Selene was just plain bad.

And ah, so when exactly is Kitty going to be allowed to grow up?

[cainofdreaming]

Yeah, you can hardly be 'often' villainous if your existence relies on sucking people dry of their life forces.

Well, unless you're a succubus and in an anime/manga.

[kamino_neko]

And ah, so when exactly is Kitty going to be allowed to grow up?

Never. She's the Little Girl of the team. If she's grows up, she no longer has a role, therefor should be sent into limbo.

[punishermax]

This makes Claremon'ts creepy porno overtones in his writing of Kitty like 2 times as creepy as it was before.

[crabby_lioness]

Baloney. She'll always be the Voice of Reason and the Girl Next Door.

(And Lockheed's Mistress, but that's private.)