New Mutants #17 review *spoilers*

[ericng]

Can someone explain to me why Dani and X’ian need the crucible? Don’t the both have their mutant abilities?

They both already have their mutant abilities. Dani doesn't need the crucible, it is Karma who needs it.

Karma might think that if she were to die, her and her brother's souls would separate and would be born into two bodies once again.

Correct me if someone thinks I am wrong about this.

I think Tran is coming back and so is Rahne's son. It will be a happy reunion, sort of.

[Wolverine12]

They both already have their mutant abilities. Dani doesn't need the crucible, it is Karma who needs it.

Karma might think that if she were to die, her and her brother's souls would separate and would be born into two bodies once again.

Correct me if someone thinks I am wrong about this.

I think Tran is coming back and so is Rahne's son. It will be a happy reunion, sort of.

Okay I thought it had something to do with her brother but prior to today’s issue I didn’t know she had a brother or absorbed his soul. I was very confused lol.

[ZephyrSurf]

That makes sense. But it still begs the question of why they didn't double check to be sure that this is the person and not the dangerous evil spirit they've handled. And regardless of whether he's possessed or mentally broken, someone should have been keeping an eye on him in either situation.




Them being figures of authority who always place themselves in charge is exactly why this conversation should be had with them. It would at least carry a lot more weight than it does here. Gabby is a literal child, and even though Anole's age seems to have regressed he's still much older than her. Gabby isn't even conventionally attractive with her facial scars. Its just bizarre that he would throw this on her of all people. This kind of conversation should happen, and really needed to happen sooner in X-comics in general. Just not with Gabby of all people.

I think a thing you gotta understand is New Mutants is very much a "kids running the school/inmates running the prison" kind of situation. Hell, the only reason the main New Mutants are in charge of these kids is cause Xavier was like "Haha, glad y'all volunteered." after they brought up that a lot of the kids aren't alright.

Now it's a situation where there's a bunch of volatile kids and teens and young adults. Even in the main group, both Karma and Wolfsbane are going through it. Warpath is struggling to figure out where he wants to be in life and Doug's off not bothering at all. This leaves Mirage and Magik to pick up the slack. And while Mirage is trying her damnedest to fix her own team, the kids fall through the crack which leaves Magik, who while the leader, is the last person you'd want as a counselor.

[Grunty]

If she was more trustworthy the best person to talk to would be Mystique. Someone who could pass for human but chooses not to and is proud to look abnormal.

Magik also can relate to these 'non-passing' mutants in a way characters like Dani can't given her Darkchild form. That seems to be why she forms the Dark Riders in the first place. The big difference is there are real problems with that form that don't apply to physical changes caused by mutations. It's evil and dangerous as opposed to just conventionally ugly. But it makes sense that the kids aren't turning to her. Anole has bad history with her and to the others her current status would make her seem aloof like Storm and Emma.

The problem isn't that Anole or Cosmar dislike how they look and want to look more 'normal.' The problem is that the lengths they are willing to go to 'fix' this includes inflicting self-harm. Right now I blame Farouk's influence for this. He may think he's trying to help, but he's causing serious long-term mental harm. Karma isn't going to the crucible to get her leg back. She's going to try to help her brother and possibly free herself from his influence forever. That's very different from Cosmar who just wants to look like she did before.
(...)

I once again have to wonder what Marrow would have to say to all of this if she was brought in, considering ho boy could she related to any of this and have some story to tell. Much more than Mystique i would argue.

As Morlock she spend her early childhood entirely cut off from the rest of the world, in a mutant only environment and taught some pseudo-mystical worldview in which "her people" were the downtrodden victims of looking "ugly" because the "beautifull" normal humans in the "paradise" above ground wouldn't accept them.

Now on Krakoa the narrative taught to the kids is that they are in paradise instead and the normal humans are the ones who live in squalor, also that they shouldn't fear but pitty them for not having a magic mutant island that gives them everything they need and a mass cloning facility for everyone so they don't stay dead.
However this kind of warped world view, in a mostly isolated (not by barrier but social pressure) environment, indoctrinated to the kids has just as much potential to mess them up down the line, as it did with Morlocks kids like Sarah.

Because while the Morlocks also tried to play of their abnormalities as something to be proud of (they named themself after the mutants from H.G. Wells The Time Machine who had become the dominant human species, while feeding of the pretty but mentaly stunted Eloi), trying to turn the word "ugly" into something positive, the fact that the media from the rest of the world which made it down into the Morlock tunnels, still showcased an image of the world that was clearly telling a different picture.

It certainly didn't help that the "grand heros of mutantkind" were with the exception of Nightcrawler, mostly not only normal but conventionaly attractive looking (Storm in particular left quite an envy in Sarah).

So between the constant reminder that she was "abnormal" and "ugly" and the few bits of information from the outside world painting a clear picture of what was "normal", Sarah still developed a self-conscious perspective and feeling of not being "right", something that would gnaw on her all the way into adulthood, causing her to go extreme lengths in an attempt to look "pretty".

Which also somehow stuck in her mind all the way through her time in warped pocket dimension The Hill. Another mutant only environment cut off from the normal world, in which once again a narrative of "mutant superiority" was indoctrinated into the children.
This time it was all about mutants being the true inheritors of the world and that they would eventualy go into a great war to conquer it from the "humans" who were responcible for their ancestors suffering, while the children had nothing to do but fight each other to proof their worth. With power being the only true display of a person's worth.
There was also an order of "breed stronger children" if they were not capable of proving said worth. An order constantly hovering over the young children before they even came of age.

(Side note: The Hill had a warped time progression similar to The World and The Vault, in which it seems that the lower someone was on the titular hill, the faster time moved compared to the peak or the real world. While Marrow only aged 10 years or less there, because she got to the top relative quickly, entire generations of mutants were born there aswell, never even knowing the Morlock tunnels or the outside world.)

Again while Krakoa doesn't have this exact kind of toxic narrative under which the children are raised, nor are children forced to fight endlessly. There are still some dangeorus parallels which could be drawn to what the adults of Krakoa are teaching the children about their purpose in the world and the social environment created.

So once Sarah got back from the Hill, had some reality check in form of Storm ripping her heart out (in retrospective one has to wonder if it was an attempt of suicide by cop?) and was able to reconnect with what the world was actualy like, she straight away developed back into being bothered by her appearance and having a sense of not being "normal". Especialy since "normality" in her mind promised an easier, more confortable life, than being an "ugly" mutant. Having fun, flirting with boys, not being looked at weirdly and not having to fight to the blood all the time. That's how she understood it.

As a result she eventualy (after mysteriously losing her mind and being used as sleeper agent by SHIELD) joined the Weapon X programm for the selfish reason of wanting to look "normal" and "pretty". Killing people and abducting other mutants for them. Something she came to deeply regret (but was unable to do anything but go back to indiscriminate violence over it).

A story to tell for any abnormal mutant who might be willing to go extreme lengths for an easy way to become "pretty".

And that's before we go into the whole situation of having lost her power, but still not being normal looking, driving her to yet another dangerous experiment at a price, to at least get back what her special regardless of what it did to her appearance.

So bottom line. If there is someone who could relate to the environment the kids are now growing up in, the pressure given to them by their society and the fact that there is no easy way to "fix" being abnormal looking it would be her.
Especialy since by now she also has enough controll over her powers to pass as normal, but seems to have grown to prefer looking abnormal and deal with it head on instead.

However given her violent temper, she might not be a good teacher either.

[Kingdom X]

I think a thing you gotta understand is New Mutants is very much a "kids running the school/inmates running the prison" kind of situation. Hell, the only reason the main New Mutants are in charge of these kids is cause Xavier was like "Haha, glad y'all volunteered." after they brought up that a lot of the kids aren't alright.

Now it's a situation where there's a bunch of volatile kids and teens and young adults. Even in the main group, both Karma and Wolfsbane are going through it. Warpath is struggling to figure out where he wants to be in life and Doug's off not bothering at all. This leaves Mirage and Magik to pick up the slack. And while Mirage is trying her damnedest to fix her own team, the kids fall through the crack which leaves Magik, who while the leader, is the last person you'd want as a counselor.

Couldn’t agree more. Charles really said let me put the twenty-somethings in charge of all child care, social work, education, etc.

It’s definitely my bias as someone who works with students, but this annoyed me more than half the other shady stuff Chuck has been doing on the island.

[Grunty]

Couldn’t agree more. Charles really said let me put the twenty-somethings in charge of all child care, social work, education, etc.

It’s definitely my bias as someone who works with students, but this annoyed me more than half the other shady stuff Chuck has been doing on the island.

One has to wonder if he and others in charge have this subliminal reasoning, that because they are now practically immortal (as long as the machine works), that the 18 or so years of childhood aren't as important anymore? Since they are timescale wise so insignificant to the 1000+ they expect to live now.

Which would also not be suprising considering this entire plan is based on Moira X a person who lived over a thousand years and through 9 incarnations, that her early childhood became meaningless, forgotten and more an annoying burden to her.

[Sutekh]

Cosmar needs to be introduced to Proteus (not Mad Jim, though. Always pick the slightly less crazy reality manipulator mentor!).

Proteus alone could A) show her that controlling her reality manipulation and effects on her body is possible, and B) give her someone to relate to, whose own reality manipulation does extravagant harm to his own body, and requires him to replace them fairly often! (So that she isn't hearing from some 'pretty mutant' that she just needs to suck it up, but from a fellow mutant with the same power, who also suffers for it, and has found a way around it, and shows that she too can eventually find a way to overcome, not just mouth platitudes that, ultimately, mean nothing, since Dani can't really empathize with her situation.) Not just a solution, but that important sense that she's part of a community, and that her problems aren't unique, but these burdens can be shared.

(Plus Elixir *or* Proteus could probably heal / transform her in like, a minute...)

I mean, I wouldn't expect anything *crazy* unrealistic, like someone with a vested interest in the islands success who happened to be able to read minds or anything, but that would be nice. CoughXavier.

In other news, I am rooting for Amal Farouk to turn out against all odds *not* to be a manipulative creep, and actually be just in over his head with this mentoring the young bit, and terribly creepy by default. He's just so *obviously* an evil creep that I kind of want a swerve here. Mix it up and have Shadow King-free Farouk be somewhat socially awkward, because of his lifetime under the Shadow King's thumb, so that he kind of has little idea how to really interact with people (like Empath, but, for reals is trying...).

Ooh, that last page. Nightcrawler's gonna cringe. Not even just the impressionable kids like Cosmar are looking to the Crucible as some sort of easy fix for everything, but even such experienced X-folk as Karma!

[Jeremy!]

I would hate to see these kids concede to assisted suicide in hopes of getting the bodies they believe would affirm their identity. It's only a matter of time one of them sees the footage of Pixie purposely getting her head blown off only to be resurrected soon after.

[jwatson]

I would hate to see these kids concede to assisted suicide in hopes of getting the bodies they believe would affirm their identity. It's only a matter of time one of them sees the footage of Pixie purposely getting her head blown off only to be resurrected soon after.

Yup, Vita is weaving together all the plots from the books and at the same time answering the questions people claimed they wanted answers to. This book is a response to all the posters that were like "but this era." and they are doing it masterfully. This and Way of X are the books people claim they have been clamoring for.

[ZephyrSurf]

Ooh, that last page. Nightcrawler's gonna cringe. Not even just the impressionable kids like Cosmar are looking to the Crucible as some sort of easy fix for everything, but even such experienced X-folk as Karma!

I don't get this point unless you suddenly have some other way to separate Xian and Tran.

[Jeremy!]

Yup, Vita is weaving together all the plots from the books and at the same time answering the questions people claimed they wanted answers to. This book is a response to all the posters that were like "but this era." and they are doing it masterfully. This and Way of X are the books people claim they have been clamoring for.

No doubt! Things are finally happening; the consequences are near.

[Odd Rödney]

This was my favorite book of the week, for reasons Outburstz already pointed out:

Shadow King continues his manipulation this time with Wolfbane

Dani and Mirage now have a no question asked favor to the Kingdom of Faye (enemy of Merlin politics)

Josh is mapping Otherworld for the mutants

Mirage wants to to do crucible

Anole and the kids are experimenting with mind swapping and are planning on doing that with bodies that are not theirs which is not allowed with resurrection.

There were lots of plot lines that got started and ended

I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with Anole and his young mates I'm also keen to see how this business with Farouk is explored and I'm curious as to what will happen if Mirage is resurrected, post crucible. Plus, I really hope we actually see Josh coming back for routine visits to Krakoa, to both update his back up profile with Cerebro and fill Krakoa in on the mapping of Otherworld. Lots of potential from what has been done in this issue.

[Kingdom X]

Yup, Vita is weaving together all the plots from the books and at the same time answering the questions people claimed they wanted answers to. This book is a response to all the posters that were like "but this era." and they are doing it masterfully. This and Way of X are the books people claim they have been clamoring for.

And ofc the first response is, "Well, this should have come earlier!" Like dang, they need to introduce the problems first before someone comes in to address them.

[mugiwara]

This guy could easily help Cosmar
masque.jpg

Except that:

"But I don't want to make mutants beautiful, I want to replace their arms with tentacles!"

[davetvs]

Yup, Vita is weaving together all the plots from the books and at the same time answering the questions people claimed they wanted answers to. This book is a response to all the posters that were like "but this era." and they are doing it masterfully. This and Way of X are the books people claim they have been clamoring for.

I agree. This book is doing almost as much world-building as Hickman's, in a different way.