Thoughts

As a title New Mutants continues to perplex. Last issue was an interesting exercise on taking what – in a super hero universe – would seem like a low key threat and taking it with real world seriousness. This issue is all about motor bike heroes, samurai and a hit evil chick in a sexy outfit. This doesn’t so much feel like a comic that has an absolutely rock solid vision and direction behind it, more that product of trying to cram in everything an eleven year old boy might want in a comic.

It trundles along nicely enough, with a servicable plot. But it feels like such a weird conconction of ingredients that it’s hard to get a handle on what type of comic this is. Mad stuff seems to happen that doesn’t really make much sense – Psyche is a secret masked bike-riding hero what?? – and it all slowly grinds to a surprisingly verbose and underwhelming cliffhanger and set-up for next issue.

Any Googling

Halfway through this issue, I think most readers nowadays would have one perfectly reasonable question. Who the **** are Team America.

It turns out they were a project Marvel took on to align with an existing toy range. It doesn’t seem like the editors were that enthused by the concept, but they launched a Team America title in January 1982. Reading about that title and the central concept makes a bit more sense of this issue of New Mutants, although it really doesn’t explain what they are doing here.

Not least because by the time they turn up to adventure with the New Mutants, their own title had been cancelled two months earlier with Issue 12. If this was intended to be cross-promotional, its one that had already missed the point by publication date. I guess its revealing that the cover makes no mention of Team America guesting in this issue becuase by the time they were bringing it out, what would be the point. The comic was dead, the toy range was winding up and the general public had clearly sent a message that they did not care for Team America. Reading this comic, you get the impression Claremont didn’t either.