All this in a single issue? And these were the SUBPLOTS? New Mutants #26

[icon_uk]

At the risk of sounding like an old fart, listening to Rachel and Miles Explain the X-Men has reminded me of how much FUN the old X-Men titles could be, and how densely packed the issues were, plotwise back in that pre-"Stories written for TPB" era.

Case in point was this issue #26, which I genuinely happened to chance upon whilst tidying up my flat.


This is during Bill Sienkiewwicz's seminal run on the title, with Chris Claremont (of course) writing.

It's ostensibly the start of the very first Legion arc, when Professor X met his son, David Haller, for the first time, and tried to help him deal with his rather unique disassociative personality issues, but that's not what I'm looking at in this post.

First up, Warlock being adorable, as the team arrives on Muir Island to deal with an explosion that David inadvertantly caused at Moira MacTaggart's Research Centre on an island just off the West Coast of Scotland... and for one New Mutant, that means she's HOME! (Also, note that Warlock appears to have bent over so he doesn't hit his head on the top of the panel above.)







Warlock being concerned for the wellbeing of the Blackbird is more than slightly cute, and Doug just treating the average mutant-centric insanity around him as one big adventure makes such a pleasant change from the "never-ending battle" approach of the X-Men.

Meanwhile... dum-dum-duuuuuum!!! We get a bit of follow up from X-Men 193, when Empath (being the supreme bastard that he then was) utilised Thunderbird II (aka James Proudstar aka eventually Warpath) and Firestar (A special project student of Emma Frost) to kill Professor Xavier and certain of the X-Men, just for kicks.

It's also nice to be reminded that however callous Emma Frost may seem when she's on the side of angels, that's STILL her having softened up since her days as active White Queen of the Hellfire Club. (Also Miss Hennesy must have a few stories to tell, I learned long ago that one should never, ever annoy a secretary, and I can only imagine what Emma Frost's secretary has to deal with)







Oh Empath, you may be an arrogant cruel kid, but you're an even BIGGER idiot....

And skipping over a little trip the New Mutants take to Ullapool for sightseeing (Doug is doing the tourist thing, taking more photos than anyone else thought possible... I wonder if they even bothered to take their passports?) where there's a brief and unpleasant confrontation with Reverend Craig (the hyper-religious Presbyterian Minister who was Rahne's legal guardian (and possibly more, but that wasn't to be revealed for many years)) which Rahne shies away from, begging the others not to make a scene (which Dani and Doug would have been MORE than happy to do).

So Rahne thanks to her inferiority complex is, in general, not at her happiest, and that night leaves the room she's sharing with Dani whilst Dani is asleep...





Rahne calling Moira "Mummy" (I think for the first time) is such a lovely, sweet and powerful moment for someone who HAS no positive experiences with parental figures. (Which of course is promptly derailed by the first full on-attack by David's fragmented psyches as Legion, but that shouldn't stop one enjoying the moment).

I wonder (trying not to be cynical) how many issues this much storytelling would take these days (And as I noted, these are just some of the subplots, I'm not covering them all, and I've glossed over Legion completely.
 

Comments

[q99]

Oh, trying to mess with Emma Frost's head, that is not a smart move!

[starwolf_oakley]

Moria MacTaggart was so nice. I dislike that Mystique keeps getting a pass on killing her.

[bruinsfan]

Has she appeared in the same comic as Rahne since that happened?

[starwolf_oakley]

Given all the X-books, it is hard to tell. But I don't think so.

[icon_uk]

Though IIRC Mystique was on the same team as Banshee for a while (The hyper-militaristic X-Force thingie), and Sean should have been more than happy to sonic blast Mystique into a puddle of blue goo, but for some reason she slit his throat... I forget the whole story.

[jekylls_salvation]

Oh god the writing. I knew it was Claremont almost immediately. I half expected the Brady Bunch to come out and someone to say "Gee!" or "Oh brother!" Even Emma Frost sounds like a 50's teenager.
And so much text he had to use three different colors of text boxes... Claremont. Your sentences. Hemingway would like to have a word with you.

[wizardru]

These days we've gone the extreme opposite, though. I mean, I enjoyed the Astonishing X-men bit where we have five panels on a page with Logan sitting at the breakfast table and then finally saying '...About Time.', but a 32 page comic like that plays out very quickly.

I'm not saying one style is better (and yes, Claremont's prose can be pretty purple), but there's some seriously good characterization going on here.

Also: Man, I miss Moira McTaggart so dang much.

[icon_uk]

It's overblown, but again perhaps because it's what I grew up with, I prefer it to the minimalist approach that can leave things just plain confusing.

Poor Doug Ramsey

[7dialsmystery]

Poor Doug is so excited to see what happens next. So happy to have made some cool friends and gets to go on cool adventures. Naturally, the happy well-adjusted content x-man get's fridged.

Re: Poor Doug Ramsey

[icon_uk]

The New Mutants were usually more involved in the "Adventurer" sort of adventure rather than the straightforward "Superhero" titles, it was a big part of their charm.

I still maintain that Doug was the best audience identitifcation character the X-titles ever had (Kitty is a very close second, but she was a genius in a fairly esoteric field (Astrophysics) whereas Doug's talents were speaking languages which most kids have more experience of.

And even Doug ended up proving that being Fridged in the X-Verse is less being put on ice, more... being kept fresh for later. :)