New Mutants Vs. Darkseid

 

Looks like the New Mutants are in a tough spot.  It's too bad they didn't bring Magma along with them, she would have been a big help in this locale!

The Avengers and Infinity Inc. (And More!)

 

Mr. Universe returns for his 12th appearance as STF's greatest villain, and this time he is super-charged enough that it will take two teams to beat him.  Fortunately, this issue is 100 pages, so there will still be plenty of room left for some fun back-up tales!

My goodness, are we really on the march towards STF #5000?

Here are some larger views of this issue's individual stories:

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.

Jimmy Olsen and Wolfsbane

 

They're both redheads that have been known to turn into wolves, so I think that these two would definitely find some common ground.  I always like Rahne Sinclair, especially in her earlier appearances.  Later efforts to make her a little more edgy didn't really work for me.

I am always glad to use the amazing art of Bob McLeod on this blog.  Here's a page I picked up by him and inker Tom Palmer several years back: 

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.

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
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