Entry tags:

char: cypher/doug ramsey, char: magma/amara aquilla, char: mirage/danielle moonstar, char: warlock, char: x-man/nate grey, creator: andy lanning, creator: bret blevins, creator: dan abnett, creator: leandro fernandez, creator: louise simonson, title: new mutants

Another good issue of this title IMHO, as the team finds out who is behind the problems on the island called "Paradise".



Now one thing that came out of Doug's death back in New Mutants Vol1 #60, was a VERY swift does of justice to his murderer, thanks to a demonically inclined sorceress with anger management issues and an ongoing civil war in Limbo to manage



(Never a fan of Brett Blevin's art) Now at this point in time, S'ym and the other demons in Magik's Limbo had been infected by Warlock's dad, Magus, with the technorganic virus. They were trying to supplant Illyana as ruler and she was trying not to give them any more raw material, but her anger at what the Ani-Mator had done, and the way he talked about Doug meant she didn't care any more, and she sent him there to suffer.

And aside from one brief glimpse of a technorganic Ani-Mator in Limbo a few issues later, that was the last we ever saw of him, though it seems safe to assume that he eventually met his end in the Inferno crossover, and his demise seems to have stuck.

So who could be behind the New Mutants most recent troubles, notably the virus they have all contracted (apart from Warlock)? arriving at the Ani-Mator's long abandoned lab, they discover that the virus has a particularly nasty purpose, it dismantles whoever contracts it at the cellular level, and to Doug's horror he has a feeling that it does more than that, it's designed to rebuild them into something else, something new.

Having had to use his powers to fight off multiple, maddened humanimal beasties getting to the lab Sunspot collapses first, and Magma instantly rushes to his side (I love Dani's description of their relationship)


Okay, now that's a special kind of sick....



Yup, body horror just the way Poppa Claremont used to write....

I won't spoil what emerges from the surroundings, or what it then does to the team, but it's rather gross and pretty darned freaky, which is just what this story needs.

And it IS nice to see that a villain who died (sort of) is actually being allowed to remain dead (sort of).