Remember the New Mutants?

Before I even start this review, let me warn you that I am a hardcore homer when it comes to the New Mutants. In a sense, I kind of feel as though I grew up with these kids. So that might slightly skew my vision when it comes to evaluating their comics.

Marvel has been pumping out a lot of "introspective" books lately and to tell you the truth, it is starting to bug me. I prefer seeing some dude punched through a building as opposed to listening to some cape crone on about the difficulty of living with so much responsibility. With that said however, I really appreciated to personal nature of this issue.

The recently appointed leader of the New Mutants, Dani Moonstar, has decided to bring in an outside therapist to work with the New Mutants. The therapist in question, Gus Grim, specializes in working with minority groups and has a history with Dani based on her Native American roots.

I hadn't really though about just how messed up the New Mutants were until I read this issue. Sure I've followed all of their exploits and felt sorry for them one at a time, but I never bothered to really put it all together until now. Let's evaluate these lost souls: Dani Moonstar lost her powers at M-Day, Nate Grey is trapped in a parallel dimension after being tortured by an insane genetic scientist, Sam Guthrie has the most serious confidence issues anyone has ever seen (maybe do to watching the majority of his family be slaughtered because they were mutants), Karma lost both her legs to a Sentinel and Illyana Rasputin is currently incarcerated and is the demon queen of Limbo. And these are just the members mentioned in this issue. I won't even get into Roberto, Magma, Warlock and Cypher!

These kids have had a really messed up life with very few high points. Abnett and Lanning's introduction of a psychotherapist couldn't have better timing in hindsight.

As a long time fan, I found this book very touching. It reeked of honesty and payed proper respect to the long pasts these characters have. I'm actually pretty surprised that D&A had this type of earthly knowledge of the mutants. They always seem to be on more of a cosmic level. Nevertheless, the cosmic duo did a fantastic job of making me feel sorry for the New Mutants. And in an age where I am starting to loathe the characters of the Marvel Universe (thanks Bendis!), this isn't an easy thing to do.

The art is probably the only weak point to this story. Not that it is bad, it just isn't my cup of tea. Penciler Michael Ryan and colourist David Curiel oversimplify both the lines and the palette.

Dani mentioned that Gus Grim will be back for weekly visits. I hope the creative team hold true to this idea. I think it will be a very valuable journey for this long struggling group. Thanks D&A, for helping me remember why I love the New Mutants so much!