New Mutants in the House of Mystery

The original splash page that I was working from required a bit of tweaking before I could add in the New Mutants.  Here's a look at the behind the scenes progress:

Robin and The New Mutants

 

I remember being excited about the arrival of the New Mutants.  As crazy as it sounds now, a spinoff ongoing comic from The Uncanny X-Men was a new thing, and I could get on the ground floor.  Well, not exactly the ground floor.  I remember being frustrated that their debut was made in a graphic novel, only available in comic shops.  It would be years before I got my hands on that first chapter.

The New Mutants and Cyborg

 

The New Mutants was exciting for readers of my age because here was an X-team that we could start collecting and following as soon as they began.  Well, not exactly, for me anyway.  While I was able to get the series off of the stands from issue #1, the first appearance of the team was in one of Marvel's new graphic novels.  Those were only available in comics shops, none of which were nearby my home, certainly not in bike riding distance.  It would be years before I was able to get my hands on a copy.

New Mutants Vs. Doom Patrol

 

Well, after numerous delays,  New Mutants has finally been released to theaters.  It has only been getting middling reviews, but I like the characters so I am sure that I will check it out as a home rental at some point.  It looks to be a pretty low budget affair, with minimal use of powers and filmed on a single location.  Then again, Lockheed looked really cool on the commercial, and I am interested in how the Demon Bear is handled.  Has anyone gotten a chance to check it out?

Fire and The New Mutants

Word on the New Mutants movie is that it is that it has been plagued with difficulties since the beginning.  Delays, reshoots, budget issues and indecision over the tone of the film have all seemingly taken their toll.  I remember seeing some kind of teaser a good while ago, and to be frank, if it wasn't labeled as a New Mutants movie, I would not have known that's what it was supposed to be.  Now the rumor is that it will either go straight to a streaming service or not be released at all.  It's too bad, I loved the series in its first few years and would love to see a faithful adaptation one day.

New Mutants Vs. Godzilla

Reports are that the King Kong in Kong: Skull Island will be considerably larger than other cinematic versions.  I am assuming that is to make him more of a match when the King Kong Vs. Godzilla film becomes a reality.  I still think it's crazy that they are planning to do that - but crazy in a good way.  I know I'll be watching!

Deadman and The New Mutants

Work on a New Mutants film has been announced, and frankly, I am surprised that it has taken so long.  Of course, audiences will see at least one more X-Men installment first, this time using a younger cast in the roles of the team of heroes,  Given that they will most likely now be closer in age, I hope there will be enough to differentiate the New Mutants from their predecessors when they take their cinematic turn.

The New Teen Titans and The New Mutants

This is a team up that I have been wanting to do forever, I just was waiting to find the right images.  Both of these teams have seen a lot of shake ups and roster changes over the years.  I have to say that the incarnations presented here  are still my favorites.  The first couple of years of each title were team comics at their best - writing and art were firing on all cylinders, featuring lots of cool characters and concepts.  Plus, the protagonists were around my age, and had to deal with some of the same issues I did, in addition to their larger than life heroics.

The Legion of Super-Heroes and The New Mutants

These two teams have each seen their share of revamps and relaunches, which have taken their toll on both groups.  The Legion seems to get made over every few years and attempts to make them darker and edgier have backfired, in my opinion.  They are currently back in limbo, hopefully their inevitable return will feature a more classic version of the team.  The New Mutants have fared a little better, but still tend to get lost among the glut of X-teams out there, and they have lost a lot of their uniqueness.  Still, I will always have a soft spot for them, especially the members featured in the first two years of the original title.

The Flash Enters The Marvel Universe

Company-wide crossovers are so commonplace today that it is easy to forget how fun it was when Crisis on Infinite Earths and Secret Wars first hit the stands.  In retrospect, the convoluted plots and aftermaths of these series can be debated, but there's no denying the cool factor of having so many characters together in one big sprawling epic, illustrated by masters like Mike Zeck and George Perez.  In the pre-internet age, the tie-ins that promoted each series were much more effective than they would in these spoiler filled days.  DC's comics featured mysterious red skies and  a shadowed figure working with the villains of Earth.  Marvel had their heroes enter a strange stadium, disappear, and return with the changes that would happen within the upcoming mini-series.  Both of these build ups had me eagerly anticipating the crossovers, and I could not read each issue that came out fast enough.

The New Mutants and Jor-El.

One of the surprises for me in watching Man of Steel was Russel Crowe's performance as Jor-El.  I came in with lowered expectations because I had just seen the man almost single-handedly destroy the film adaptation of Les Miserables (he is a talented actor, but his singing voice leaves much to be desired).  I thought he handled the role of Superman's birth father well, and I was not expecting him to have so much screen time.  I especially liked the extended opening sequence on Krypton, it was cool to see Crowe in full action hero mode again.  I wouldn't have minded a whole film set on Krypton from what I saw there, it was a visual feast.

Supergirl and The New Mutants

I was a big fan of New Mutants during its first few years.  First of all, it was just cool to have a spin-off book from Uncanny X-Men... which seems like a crazy thing to say today given the gigantic amount of X-related comic books out there!  At the time though, it was a very new thing and a cool way to expand the world set forth in the original title.  Wolfsbane was having teenage werewolf angst decades before those Twilight kids became all the rage!  Those early Supergirl stories also focused just as much on teen drama as they did with superheroic activity.  The tales would often be more about getting asked to the dance than defeating the villain of the month.  Still, I always checked them out, if only to enjoy the great artwork. Jim Mooney could draw some pretty girls
!

Batman and The New Mutants

As promised, here is the continuation of the story that began with yesterday's cover. Looks like things didn't go too well for Batman.

I really liked the New Mutants during the first couple of years of their original series. This was back in a time where being a newly created mutant was actually a fresh concept, of course! Recently Marvel has brought the original team of characters back for a new series. I liked the first few issues, but unfortunately it got too intertwined in crossovers with X-titles I do not follow.