Thoughts

We’re back intoi the Sienkiewicz Era of New Mutants and possibly the most iconic story of his tenure as artist. The character of Legion is introduced here, in a story that has a brilliantly compelling dark tone. It has moments of real horror where the mystery and inexplicable events in the writing match the twisted and unsettling art. Best summed up in the page below that’s just awesome.

Proteus gets mentioned here and its intersting to compare and contrast these set-up issues. Both are tales of children that have become horrors. But whereas the earlier story fitted well into the sort of horror around in the late sixties and seventies – there’s something Doctor Who like in the way Proteus murders – this issue is more visually striking. Almost Lynchian.

Whereas the moment Proteus finally breaks reality is presented as terrifying because of how “realisitc” everything before it looked, this story opens in a much more unsettling reality, and then doesn’t let up on the uncanny. As the adults talk about the dangerous child, the sense of an unknown threat

Fun Panel

I feel mean picking this out, not least because there’s great art in this issue but this is just strking for all the wrong reasons!

None More Claremont

The return of Gabrielle Haller forces Claremont to confront the incredibly icky nature of their “romance”. I think Claremont is trying to have his cake and eat it, acknowledging the problemlatic nature but then trying to gloss over it by insisting that in this case it was ok. I don’t really buy that but I guess its a good sign that he felt the need to try.