REVIEW: The New Mutants Annual #7

“The Kings of Pain Part 1”
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Penciler: Guang Yap
Inker: Dan Panosian
Colorist: Brad Vancata
Letterer: Joe Rosen

“The First Cut (The Killing Stroke Part 1)”
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Penciler: Kirk Jarvinin
Inker: Joe Rubinstein
Colorist: Mike Thomas
Letterer: Joe Rosen

“Close Encounters of the Mutant Kind”
Writer: Judy Bogdanove
Penciler: Jon Bogdanove
Inker: Hilary Barta
Colorist: Mike Thomas
Letterer: Joe Rosen

Review: Art Bee

Recently my daughter requested to pick out the next comic to review from the back issue boxes at my LCS. When she does this it is quite the mystery as to what will be grabbed. This time The New Mutants Annual #7 made the draft, bringing a look of bewilderment to my face as I know very little about the group. This is strange to say since I have been an X-Men fan for a long time and the groups are closely tied together.

Considering the issue was 64 pages long, I knew this would be a chore to read and review, but what I didn’t know was this issue would be difficult as well. 

This annual had three stories within. The first and main one was the kickoff for an arc called, “The Kings of Pain”, which took up the majority of the issue.
A few of the characters were known to me, but most of them were unfamiliar.
Cable was the leader, and who doesn’t like Cable?
Your answer had better be, “nobody”.   

The story kicks off with a group of baddies called the Alliance of Evil attacking St. Simon’s School, a school for mutants, and kidnap a kid known as Piecemeal. This Alliance is made up of Stinger, Frenzy, Tower, and Timeshadow, of which all I am unfamiliar.
One of the students, Taki, is injured in the attack, and awakens in the hospital surrounded by the New Mutants:  Cable, Cannonball, Domino, Shatterstar, Warpath, Feral, and Boom Boom.

The story starts interestingly then loses momentum fast. For most of it I wanted to quit and grab something else to review. Luckily, I mustered the motivation to continue. Towards the end of this story the New Mutants seek out the Alliance and a nice battle ensues. The action is not great but adequate. and we are left with the heroes face-to-face with the New Warriors and the promise of the continuation in the New Warriors Annual #1.

 In the second story, “The First Cut (The Killing Stroke Part 1)”, I found a shorter, more interesting story. Here we find a group of villains on a mission in Kuwait City attempting to find and acquire a German physicist, Reinhold Kurtzmann, and deliver him to allied forces.
The villains are: Crimson Commando, Blob, Pyro, Avalanche, and Super Sabre. All of these I knew about except for Crimson Commander and Super Sabre, but the latter dies fairly quickly in this story.
For the early ‘90s time period this story would have hit home for many, considering Operation: Desert Storm.

The last story was kind of comical. It featured the same three St. Simon’s students from the first story in an unrelated adventure. Taki uses his power to build and pilot a flying saucer for him and his two friends. They have a fun adventure until a crazy lady sees it and calls everyone, saying aliens have invaded and zaniness ensues.

Also, the end of this issue featured an art gallery starting with a visual history of the New Mutants. It spotlighted the leaders and members along with when and how long they were a part of the team.

All of the artwork is very good in, “Kings of Pain”, exceeding the other two in its attention to detail, especially on Cable’s cybernetics. Throughout the pages the colors are brilliant, and the color choices in a class of their own. This is from an era of comics in which Marvel cared a lot about the quality of product published.

How I miss those days…

Even though I didn’t enjoy most of the story content, this floppy was well worth the purchase. The ads made me feel nostalgia for my youth. Ads for D&D, Game Boy, etc. all call forth Christmas wish lists and fun times.
Remember to give old comics a home.