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Underground > Comic Books >

(New) New X Men: Academy X

18:02 / 27.03.04

The cover characters are - left to right - David/Prodigy, Sofia/Windancer, Noriko/Surge (is in front), Josh/Elixir, Laurie/Wallflower, Sooraya/Dust.

My question is, will Beak, Angel, Ernst, Martha, and The Cuckoos play a role in this title... it doesn't seem like it.

18:32 / 27.03.04

I don't know what's more dispiriting - that most of the characters are wearing glammed up costumes and look like porn-stars or that they've squished Sooraya in there as well (and that she evidently doesn't seem that phased by the sheer amount of flesh that's on offer around her). I suspect that we'll not see much of the rest of the special class for a few months - then they'll start reappearing in second-run books or as supporting bit-parts here and there, rather like most of the New Mutants have tended to over the years.

18:39 / 27.03.04

What? They like porn-stars cause their middrifts are exposed? PLS... that's highschool, man, they ain't even wearin' fuckin' kilts. Now THAT shit is aiight... what I wouldn't give to see that sweetness on some X-Women...

Point being it's not that bad by today's standards,bub.

18:56 / 27.03.04

No, he means that they're all hot and sexy... none of them are strange or freakish in any way. We'll have no floating brains or pot-bellied queen bees or plucked chickens or little girls that look about 80-years-old.

19:05 / 27.03.04

The only problem I have with the whole Reload angle and approach to "costuming heroes" is its seeming insistance that the costumes are necessary. I think that statement will read poorly... let me demonstrate.

I think Cyclops' speech in stonishing is accurate. People MAY ACTUALLY be afraid of the black leather and costuming up a strikeforce as a supergroup may be a way to celebritize "mutants" into an accepted subgroup... "Queer Eye".

But costumes aren't necessary for every level of the game. Some ops may require black leather outifts akin to the Matrix, some may require plain-clothes infiltration. Do the characers even need "one outift"? Or can they get away with wearing the movie costumes on their black ops mission, the yellow and blues during training, and flashy spandex for daytime fights with camera spots?

Bah. I'm done X-collecitng anyway. I'm just disappointed. All that glitters isn't spandex, but spandex does glitter.

Haus of Mystery

19:17 / 27.03.04

Cutesy Ameri-manga artwork is a big turn off. But as Chesed said I'm done with the X-franchise. I'm sure all the good work Mozzer's achieved will be quickly and dutifully eroded by the hacks. Hooray for conservatism!

Imaginary Mongoose Solutions

19:41 / 27.03.04

Well, apparently rumor has Beak joining the cast of EXILES. He's been billed in previews as the big guest star for the Reload arc and the writer of Exiles is a huge fan. I figure the only special class people we won't see again for a while are Martha/No Girl and Ernst/Cassandra.

20:22 / 27.03.04

That's actually kind of disspiriting--I'd hate to see Beak permanently "exiled" from the the 616 universe, never to be seen again once Exiles loses steam and gets cancelled.

20:36 / 27.03.04

It's too bad. The creators of the new 'New Mutants' run are also responsible for a great B+W series from Oni entitled 'Skinwalker'. It's creepy post-X-files modern horror set in the American west and it's a lot of fun, particularly for an early creative effort.

In contrast, The New Mutants vol 3 (assuming you count that dumb mini-series from a few years back) has been fairly watered down. Too many characters, not enough focus.

Anyone who hasn't read them would be advised to check out the original run of New Mutants from, say #18-54. It's the series that got me into American comics, back when I was just a wee pup. The writing is Claremont at his best and the art is a big chunk of Seinkewicz, followed by a great run by Jackson (formerly "Butch") Guice, with occasional turns by Rick Leonardi and one or two other talents.

This was the highlight run for the title and some of the best X-output ever, IMHO. And I reckon the vast majority of it can be found dirt cheap in the back-issue bins these days.

20:40 / 27.03.04

A clarification on 18-54:

NM18 is the start of the Seinkewicz run and the Demon Bear saga. This was when the book was just starting to get over its second stringer status. Some stuff is already in motion by this point but it's nothing you can't infer from what's described later on.

NM54 is the final Claremont issue. It doesn't wrap everything up and, indeed, many of his dangling plot threads never properly resolved. I liked Louise Simonson's run on X-Factor but her take on the New Mutants was weak. (And, in retrospect, the X-Factor stuff may've been Walt's influence more than hers.) The Claremont run builds to a head in #50, 'Father's Day', which is still one of my favourite comics of all time. The 4 issues after that are part denouement and part setup for the Simonson run.

I'm just plugging this 'cause I like it and I'd like to see someone else enjoy it.

20:47 / 27.03.04

Yeah - that early first run New Mutants stuff was pretty bloody good. The art was extraordinary for a start and I think that really helped push Claremont's above average and quite fresh writing of the time in some interesting new directions. It all seemed really un-comic-book - kind of a bit like some of Grant's run does now - particularly as the run included (I think) an incursion into the mentally disturbed brain of Legion, Charles Xaviers MPD-ed son. Excellent stuff.

23:05 / 27.03.04

No, he means that they're all hot and sexy... none of them are strange or freakish in any way. We'll have no floating brains or pot-bellied queen bees or plucked chickens or little girls that look about 80-years-old

that's really sad and terribly boring. the comics world needs more Basilisks.

also, i'm not sure what the deal is with the Exiles team, but doesn't Beak have kids to help raise? i think he would take that very seriously if he had any choice in the matter.

23:16 / 27.03.04

an incursion into the mentally disturbed brain of Legion, Charles Xaviers MPD-ed son.

That was probably my favourite arc. The rendering of the mashed up dream world was brilliant.

04:31 / 28.03.04

also, i'm not sure what the deal is with the Exiles team, but doesn't Beak have kids to help raise? i think he would take that very seriously if he had any choice in the matter.

Yeah, I was thinking this too... if they're not going to use him than use the excuse that his raising his kids (and he's got what, about 10 of them... unless they ate each other.) This would be more realistic and decent than just chucking him with crap character lost in the multiverse. I want him and Angel to work dammnit!

Does anyone know if those old New Mutants issues have been collected? I remember having them back in the day but giving them away at school... I was in 5th grade! What the hell did I know?

Molly Shortcake

04:31 / 28.03.04

New Mutants and New X Men were wonderfull. My two favorite comics actually. X-Men turned me off years ago, I'm amazed at what Morrision has done with the title. Everything I hate about X-Men comics, Academy looks like.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

04:47 / 28.03.04

There's absolutely nothing in this cover that I haven't seen before but then Marvel have spent the last decade and a bit throwing absolutely any shit at a big X-Men sign in their office to see what stuck. and it's not like I'm the target audience for this. But I thought there already was a new 'New Mutants' title. Is this just a reboot of that, or are there now two equivelent titles?

07:00 / 28.03.04

But I thought there already was a new 'New Mutants' title. Is this just a reboot of that, or are there now two equivelent titles?

it's a reboot, part of the larger Reload event.

08:57 / 28.03.04

Aside from x-statix my only real interest in the x-universe is to see how much sales slide on the no longer new x-men over the first 4 months of Chuck Austin's tenure...

14:01 / 28.03.04

that's really sad and terribly boring. the comics world needs more Basilisks.

I'll give a big "hyuk" to that, man.

Matthew Fluxington

21:22 / 28.03.04

Well, I'm thrilled that the special class won't be in this book. Those writers are awful, and those kids are no good for a straight superhero comic.

I thought that was Rogue in the middle!

22:30 / 28.03.04

i really liked the modern new mutants, thou it doesn't hold a candle to the original series and i don't see why every character who's been at the school has to appear in new x-men, am i the only one who didn't like the special class, to me they seemed like token unasthetic (is that a word) characters who were quite frankly just annoying

14:17 / 29.03.04

Hey, hey! Hold on, Flux! Nunzio De Philipis and Christina Weir are by no means "bad writers"! Quite the contrary! They've been doing great stuff at Oni Press.

The first 5 or 6 issues of New Mutants' current incarnation was actually quite interesting. I was only let down by the stifness of Keron Grant's art. Little did I know... What came after, made Keron look like Frank Quitely. Real amateurish stuff

But a series focusing on the Special Class? Now THAT would be gorgeous!

But I think only Grant and Quitely could really pull it off.

Just imagine: PROFESSOR XORN & THE SPECIAL CLASS!

Matthew Fluxington

14:37 / 29.03.04

Eh, I thought the writing on those first few issues of the current New Mutants was very amateurish and far too decompressed for its own good.

15:19 / 29.03.04

On De Phillipis, Weir and Decompression:

I also failed to find the New Mutants vol 3 stuff any good. But you really should check out 'Skinwalker', in which the pacing *is* good.

I wonder if, perhaps, Marvel Editorial didn't insist that DeP and W decompress the first story arc. If it were externally mandated that would account for their inability to handle it smoothly.

Pity.

18:56 / 30.03.04

i will agree about the decompression, but i thought the book was kind of sweet in that kind of weird anime-schoolchildren-growing-up kind of way. i was very fond of Hank's cameo (best. teacher. ever.)

15:06 / 31.03.04

>> Does anyone know if those old New Mutants issues have been collected? I remember having them back in the day but giving them away at school... I was in 5th grade! What the hell did I know?

I think the Demon Bear Saga was collected in paperback a few years ago, with a new Bill Sienkiewicz cover.

15:35 / 31.03.04

HunterWolf is correct about the Demon Bear trade.

There's also the odd Muties issue to be found in eg. the INFERNO and MUTANT MASSACRE collections. INFERNO, in particular, is NM-centric, although that's well into the Simonson period by then and I don't think the treatment is nearly as good. Oh, and if there's a FALL OF THE MUTANTS TRADE then there'll also be 3 issues of Mutant Madness in that (alas, poor [SPOILERS]).

However, prolly the best New Mutants story I can think of that's readily available is the Art Adams pencilled 'Giant-Sized Special #1', which is reprinted, along with its sequel (X-Men annual #mumblemumble, and the 2-issue Paul Smith 'X-Men/Alpha Flight' series) in the ASGARDIAN WARS TPB. Top stuff.

Ideally, they'd put out 2 or 3 vols of ESSENTIAL NEW MUTANTS, covering at least through #54. But, TBH, there prolly just aren't enough people out there who really think it's all that "essential". Shame really.