A combined team of “New” Mutants travels to the Slavic nation of Carnelia to help a young mutant girl. This sure ain’t a lot of these kids’ first rodeo when it comes to mass hallucinations! Ed Brisson, Flaviano, and Carlos Lopez craft the creepy tale.
Allison Senecal: Here we are folks, finally to a single arc! And to no one’s surprise it worked much better than everything through #8.
Liz Large: This issue feels like we’re finally tying together the two plotlines- we’ve got the full cast here (with the exception of Glob and the twins). Hopefully with just Ed Brisson writing, the book will seem more cohesive- and he makes an effort in this issue to do a review of what’s happened in both the Space and Nebraska storylines, so the kids are all on the same page as each other and the readers.
AS: It already feels so much better. God. I know Brisson can write the #$%& out of some X-Men. I believe in him. I really enjoyed his Extermination and not just for the Larraz art. That was also cleaning up some incredibly messy disparate plotlines,and we’re already well past that by the end of this issue, so. Greener pastures.
The Gang’s All Here (Again) (Again)
AS: LOOK AT THE ACCENT RAHNE HAS AGAIN. I know I’m very likely to prefer his voice over Hickman’s for most of these characters going forward. And, uh is it possible for an artist to level up from issue to issue, because the opening pages of this were some breathtaking stuff from Flaviano.
LL: Agreed. We get a really classic New Mutants-style scene of the space-team returning to their home on Krakoa, and Brisson’s able to give all of them a little moment or two to react to recent events and reunite with each other. The art in this scene adds to the homey feel, too– we get an (accented) Rhane slumped on the couch, Karma chugging a water bottle, and Boom Boom sulking in a very expressive pose, and it’s just great.
AS: I’m pretty into this combo team make-up, too…no Glob! No twins. Yet. I know they’ll pop up to spite me eventually. Magma has this sick butch haircut now. Amazing. I kinda miss Bobby, but it’s also nice to not hinge the series around him and Sam now and give the ladies all some more breathing room. Mondo (who is still thankfully a very chonky boy with this art change), Chamber, and Cypher are Very Acceptable Men to round out the team and keep things interesting. I love Mondo and Chamber being eternally out of their depth. [Ed. note: As we learned in this week’s X-Men, the Gen X kids are “living like animals”.]
This Is Your Captain Speaking
LL: Speaking of “out of their depth,” we get to witness Cyclops have the world’s most awkward performance review with Magik, who I almost forgot has an actual, Council-sanctioned job as “Captain” and is responsible (in part) for the safety of Krakoa. I always appreciate getting to see the behind-the-scenes type stuff about how the island functions. While the point Cyclops is attempting to make is valid–probably children generally (and the twins specifically) shouldn’t be the ones going on mutant retrieval trips–but as Magik points out, none of the humans were killed by the hands of a mutant.
AS: Suuuuuuuuuuch a technicality, considering the twins, but I got a kick out of it, especially with the cut and dry delivery. A brief ‘Yana appearance thus far, but I think Brisson got her down and much less over-the-top than in the space arc. I, too, had completely forgotten she’s a Captain. More of this, please. We also got to see a bit more of Dani still acting as a field leader, so she definitely definitely hasn’t lost that in the wake of Magik’s more official title.
LL: Absolutely. We get to see her lead the team into the field as they head to Carnelia. Do they technically have “permission”? Of course not, but it’s worth pointing out that Magik isn’t with them, so how could they possibly know that Cyclops is literally mad about this right now? Dani is at least thinking about potential implications of heading into a hostile nation, but ultimately: there’s a mutant kid in trouble, and there’s no way this team would stand by and not get involved. We get a data page that’s a “MISSING” poster for the girl, and all we know is that it’s not good– her parents are dead, and she’s nowhere to be found. There’s no mention made of her powers or anything being the cause of this, but it’s not a hard assumption to make.
AS: I noticed her surreally huge braces immediately because that gloriously freaky Del Mundo cover for #10, and I SO want to know what is going on with her now thanks to this intro. Looks like we may delve a bit more into our reality warpers, and not just the Omegas. Dani, of course, has her illusion casting abilities back now. This young Carnelian mutant appears to have some form of reality warping nightmare powers…and at the end of this issue, Dani sends a call for help back home to Doug, who immediately goes to get none other than Wildside, who can also induce hallucinations. I just think it’s too high a concentration of reality alterers for Brisson to not be going somewhere with it….
LL: The depiction of these nightmare powers is legitimately terrifying–we can see that she’s completely taking over a building with the nightmare’s area, and when she unleashes her powers specifically on Karma it’s pretty grotesque. We get snake/eel creatures, some claws, creepy smoke tentacles, and dark veins showing through the skin. I can’t help but worry about Mondo, who mentioned that he felt like he had snakes inside of him when interfacing with Krakoa– sure, it could be nothing, but I can’t let any coincidence go with these books. I’m relieved that we got to end on the Wildside reveal, because seeing the MLF acting like kids who don’t want to share their clubhouse was the palate cleanser I needed after looking at what happened to Karma.
AS: YEAH. Gotta shout out Flaviano for that gnarly Karma page. Hoooo boy. I have wondered about his ability to turn in true “New Mutants art”, but this entire issue killed all of my doubts. He’s obviously very distinct from Sienkiewicz and Reis, but some of the nightmare spreads are pleasantly reminiscent of graffiti in a way. It’s funky and I love it. And good call on Mondo. Poor Mondo. No way do we get a couple instances of him talking about how gross the Krakoa meshing makes him feel without that being a big deal. I love the MLF house. FOREARM. AND HIS DOG. Also, why is Doug so ripped? I’ll just accept it, it’s fine. But, so ripped. Anyways, back to Carnelia.
Speak Comrade & Enter
LL: Dani was right, and she should say it– they aren’t exactly welcomed into town with open arms. And for a team that has one member who can speak any language, and one member who’s a native Russian speaker, they’ve left both of them behind in their rush to get to town. But! The day is saved (for a few minutes) because Boom Boom speaks Russian– and speaks it well enough to negotiate and threaten their way in. I love this.
AS: I’m just going to headcanon that Tab picked it up from one of the tracksuit mafia guys from Fraction’s Hawkeye, since she did mention Brighton Beach. I was wheezing. Such a good little tidbit. I kinda appreciated that this wasn’t yet another enemy with power dampeners or unadulterated anti-mutant bloodlust. Yeah, Carnelians don’t like mutants and their country doesn’t stand with Krakoa, but these soldiers are a bit more pragmatic (and tired) than most of the other a-holes we’ve seen in Dawn of X. Still terrible, but a little change-up. And what’s up with most of the Carnelian government getting blown up? Related at all? Hmmm??? Hmmm?
LL: Overall, this issue left me with a much better feeling than #8– sure, Karma and Mondo are full of snakes, and Chamber and Magma have been grabbed, and Doug is perilously close to Wildside’s toenail clippings, but I’m excited! I want to know more about what’s going on here, and if there’s more than meets the eye with the Carnelians.
AS: God for sure. This is the issue I needed it to be to stay invested in this series. I love the entire cast, a feat in and of itself, so it really needed to buck up narratively and in concept. I’m very pleased that Brisson seems to have a decent handle on this going forward, and that there’s finally some intrigue to make us want more. Phew.
X-Traneous Thoughts
- “DING DONG”
- I need to know how every item in the MLF house got there. Did Krakoa create that couch in the yard, or did they very politely ask the Marauders to ship it in?
- The MLF are just trash mutants and I love them.
- Krakoan reads “FEAR”
Allison Senecal buys books professionally and comics unprofessionally.
Liz Large is a copywriter with a lot of opinions on mutants.
Liz Large is a copywriter with a lot of opinions on mutants.
