Thoughts

The first story of the new New Mutants era comes to an end here – and its a fun conclusion that gives all the team some fun to do.

Indeed from the team fighting point of view, the storytelling is quite typically Claremont. Everyone gets a moment in the fight, and there’s fun to be had with all their powers. I’ve praised a fair few X-men slugfests on this score, and the writing’s still got it here. What is different here is the presentation. What other Marvel title will track the course of the fight via a sketchy doodle map? It’s inventive fun.

That said, it doesn’t quite stick the landing here. The resolution just seems a bit underwhelming. Illyana stabs with it with her soul sword. It’s a shame that this victory doesn’t tie in with the backstory and nature of the Demon Bear.

But then that can’t really happen because right to the end, the Demon Bear just remains a vague threat. Claremont drops some of his epic purple prose about it being an eternal evil on this land, but without context it all feels rather meaningless.

And while the Demon Bear is a suitably unsettling villain, coming to it in the re-read it’s striking how often he looks very much like Warlock. Which detracts from some of the more bestial depictions when he just looks like confused/frightened warlock.

Still this has been a fascinating reinvention for the title, that still maintains its power all these years later.

Fun Panel

Another fine moment where the art just sells the threat and unsettling terror of the Demon Bear.

Any Googling

I do find it frustrating that we don’t get much info on the Demon bear. We learn it possessed Dani’s parents rather than killed them. And that’s it. We don’t learn why it did it, or indeed much at all.

This panel does suggest that this might be a Part One of the bigger story, that things might be continued in another title, in this case Doctor Strange. Indeed, because this story still feels incomplete I convinced myself that much be the case. So I went online to find it. Although it doesn’t seem to exist. Which is very odd indeed.