Gabrielle Kinney is missing! And so are regular co-creator Vita Ayala and Rod Reis! Don’t worry, they’ll all be back soon. In the meantime we’ve got a neat fill-in adventure starring Warpath and… Daken? New Mutants #29, written by Danny Lore, drawn by Guillermo Sanna, colors by Dan Brown, letters by Travis Lanham.
Stephanie Burt: Liz! We’re covering New Mutants and Vita Ayala’s gone! I miss them already but I hear they plan to return. Coming up soon we’ve got Charlie Jane Anders and her made-exactly-for-me trans teen mutant Escapade. This issue we’ve got the estimable Danny Lore and Guillermo Sanna, whose pencils and inks are new to me and new to the X-line. What do you think?
Liz Large: I had somehow missed that the creative (and fictional!) teams would be doing a switch this month, so it was definitely a surprise. I have to say, making this single issue tie in to the earlier Shadow King arc really made it feel cohesive—something that’s hard to do for single issues by a different team. It’s impressive!
Stephanie: From what I can see, Sannas drawn a lot of gymnastic and pugilistic action, like Bullseye and Luke Cage and Spidey. Does he remind you of David Aja’ on Hawkeye? Thick outlines, dynamic bodies in action, bringing forward only what counts for the story?
Liz: Oh, that’s an interesting take. I definitely see what you’re saying! I think that the art works so great for the fight scenes in what is a fairly fight-centric issue. It’s a really clear way of conveying the action, I’m a fan.
Go Your Own Way
Stephanie: So, that story. Gabby’s missing, and Daken Akihiro’s upset. Even more upset than normal, Daken being Daken. He blames Warpath, because “it’s the New Mutants’ fault,” and starts, of course, a misunderstanding-based, claws-out fight with Warpath. Why does he blame the New Mutants? Because the adults on that team really were to blame the last time Gabby got hurt, because they (mostly Dani) didn’t follow up fast enough on Gabby’s alarms re: the Shadow King.
Liz: Something I always noticed when working on shared projects or having a shared space is that if something isn’t specifically somebody’s responsibility, it often becomes nobody’s responsibility. Gabby’s got a few different sets of adults (or adult-adjacent people) she can turn to when she has troubles, but none of them are on full time Gabby duty— there’s a lot of unsupervised kids for the New Mutants to watch (plus they get pulled into things like Limbo’s succession crisis), and her biological family are all on superhero teams. Gabby is the mysteriously moldy tupperware in the office fridge— I haven’t taken responsibility and cleaned it, but I’m going to be mad at everyone else who was equally not responsible. Why do you think Warpath is the target here?
Stephanie: Maybe Warpath happens to be around and not currently taken by other storylines. Maybe Warpath is the adult New Mutant whom Daken sees as equipped to protect his sister, since he’s got physical super-punch-people powers (unlike Dani, Xi’an and Rahne) and Illyana probably scares him. And maybe Warpath makes sense because Danny Lore wants to tell a story about brothers and brotherhood, sibling responsibility, and men who aren’t culturally permitted to act out on big feelings other than anger. Liz, can we select all of the above?
Liz: That makes the most sense to me. I love a story about siblings, and we’ve had some great setup for both of these families in past issues. I’m really excited that this thread is getting picked up on. It’s so satisfying when creative teams can put their own spin and add to a story that’s been worked on by another team. It’s the beauty of shared universes!
Stephanie: Daken and Warpath follow Gabby’s scent trail through a gate that leads to a half-shut ORCHIS facility. “Why would she come out here?” James Proudstar asks, while Daken won’t leave him alone: “Your whole team keeps putting these kids into dangerous situations. This is your fault.” Dude, the current New Mutants adults are the first X-adults in recorded X-history who do not keep putting these kids into dangerous situations! Literally every New Mutants plot involving the kids has shown kids getting themselves into danger, and the adults trying to get them out. Not that Daken would know: he’s been off in space.
Liz: Right! The New Mutants have pretty clearly come down on the “stop putting these kids in danger” side of the arguments. While the Shadow King situation was terrible, it was more neglect than bad advice on the part of the adults. He’s very clearly over-correcting to cover up his own mistakes here—something that I find realistic.
Stephanie: Liz, between this issue and Warpath’s old (as in months ago) journal entries, has this title been building James Proudstar up to be a good leader, with high emotional intelligence and the ability to plan for his team? I like that a lot. Especially given his punch-first, former-baddie background.
Liz: I think it’s a great choice. This series is about growth, and someone taking the experience that James has had and changing into a leader makes so much sense. It also makes sense from a team balance perspective. You can’t have a team made up of entirely loose cannons (or Cannonballs?), and having a team member who’s here, taking care of their responsibilities with the kids while the others are off making a mess in Limbo is necessary.
Second Hand News
Stephanie: So we get to the ORCHIS facility and it’s a half-deserted shell of barbed wire out west, and then it’s a Danger Room-style simulation of a bad Western winter, and we learn that ORCHIS loves to program and test lots of End of the World Scenario Modules (EOWSM’s, presumably pronounced “eww-wozums”). I like the art, which looks like Daken and Warpath– who are in some sense Western characters anyway– have to fight their way past goons in a snowstorm in Wyoming. What do you think?
Liz: The EOWSMs are pretty neat! Cool technology like this should get used more often, especially for technologically advanced villains like ORCHIS. It’s a great fight scene, and the fact that some of their enemies are optical illusions lets them really cut loose. The rule about killing humans not applying to robotic/fake people is giving off very Saturday morning cartoon Standards & Practices energy.
Stephanie: I have no idea who decided to spell out the sound effects in this fight sequence, but they remind me a lot of a Hawkeye fight. And I love it. Daken’s attacks go “SLICE.” Warpath’s go “PUNCH.”
Liz: My personal favorite is when Warpath picks him up and twirls in a circle, getting everyone within reach with the claws. Perfect!
Stephanie: How much of a jerk is Daken here? “I’m not one of your little students, James.” He’s full of displaced rage! But he’s right when he insists on skewering some of the goons, against James’s insistence that they not kill: they’re “Hard light projections! Only half of these goons are real!” To be clear, that means 50% of the goons are entirely real and 50% are completely computer projected. Though I wouldn’t put it past ORCHIS to make henches who are half-real.
But I’m rambling, maybe because I miss the high emotional stakes for characters I habitually follow. The high stakes here belong to James and, mostly, to Daken, who goes on the usual punch-everyone tear because he’s frustrated at himself, since he hasn’t kept Gabby safe, and hasn’t kept pace with the way that she’s sorta grown up.
Liz: It’s got to be such a weird situation for him. Akihiro’s relationship with his mutant family is complicated, to say the least. Gabby came into his life as a precocious kid, and she’s definitely been through a lot. But she’s still very much a child, even more so than Laura (the other member of his family he has a positive relationship with). None of them have had real childhoods, but there’s a possibility for Gabby to have the closest thing to one, and I think he really wants that for her.
Say You Love Me
Stephanie: Growing up, even for mutants, ordinarily means you need less protection and shelter from the adults in your life: you get closer to life on your own (if that’s what you want). But Gabby has never needed physical protection (except maybe from magical attacks), because she’s Gabby Kinney, and what would be carnage and mayhem and fatal conflict for other kids is either a day at the gym, or a stroll in the park, for her. And she knows it. (That’s how she’s good friends with Deadpool. That, and Deadpool tends to act like he’s ten.) What does Gabby need? An older brother who will act like an older brother, not a hair-trigger defender. And Daken needs to calm the heck down. I love how Warpath calls him on it.
Liz: I like how Warpath waited until this quiet moment to really get into the issue, too. The priority was getting to Gabby, not sorting out the responsibility of why she wasn’t around—but now they’ve had some therapeutic goon beatings, and they can get down to the actual feelings discussion.
Stephanie: “It sucks, not being there when your family needs you…. I’m the li’l bro, right? If I was the older sibling, I bet that’d feel even worse.” New Mutants comics are normally stories about chosen family, about teens taking care of one another, and adults trying or failing to take care of them. And they’re normally, at their best, super-amazingly queer, and they don’t normally center paired-off dudes. But this one does, and it’s about blood family, the people who will always be your relatives like it or not. At least that’s how Warpath and Daken see it. I love their conversation, and I extra love the way Warpath uses his own emotional intelligence, first to see Daken’s needs, and then to see his own.
Liz: Absolutely agree. I guess the journaling exercises he’s been doing have really helped him get himself together, emotionally. He’s been working on becoming the best version of himself, and even if he’s not all the way there yet, it’s clear that he’s doing well.
Stephanie: And here comes the inimitable, irrepresssible, irresponsible Gabby Kinney, whose power set and personality mean– and she knows it!– that she can take risks that get other kids killed! Risks like finding a pizza place whose gate stands next to an ORCHIS facility’s spy-gate! Taking out ORCHIS guards was just kinda something she did on the way, like fetching a pint of milk. “While you’re up.”
Liz: This is fully the fault of whoever is maintaining/creating this grove of gates. You GOTTA label these! So many of the gates aren’t safe for a variety of reasons (ORCHIS, hostile governments, etc.) and there needs to be some clear signage explaining where you’re going to get spit out.
Stephanie: I think you’re describing a wayfinding problem “You’re OK!” says Daken. “Of course I am!” says Gabrielle Kinney, who was… recently resurrected. I love this comic. Even the fill-in issues.
Liz: Gabby is perhaps a little too fearless, considering recent events, but I don’t think there’s any real risk to her from anyone who isn’t a supervillain level threat. Sure, the Shadow King killed her, but I don’t think ORCHIS Henchman #6 is going to leave a mark. She’s appropriately confident.
Stephanie: “You New Mutants make great babysitters, you know that?” That’s the last thing Daken says to Warpath. Is it an insult?
Liz: I think it’s a compliment! I don’t have any kids, but every time I’m responsible for some, it’s the most stressful time of my life. They’re fragile! They’re SO FAST! They don’t have an understanding of risk management! Warpath should take it as high praise (and maybe consider signing up the team for the Red Cross babysitting course, so they can learn child CPR).
Stephanie: Daken’s not going to write Gabby, or anybody, a letter. But Gabby’s now able to write him one. It’s legit tough for kids that age– except Future Writers– to sit down and write a serious personal letter. I buy Gabby writing this one here. Do you?
Liz: I do. Like she says, you can’t interrupt a letter, and I think she wants to make sure she gets all of her thoughts out there. We know she’s tried to reach out before, and I think recent events would only make her more likely to commit to this sort of openness. She’s going to make everyone in her family share their feelings if it kills them. (Which is a phrasing her family would NOT appreciate.)
X-Traneous Thoughts
- Gabby was looking for an amazing pizza place with cool dogs that let her eat two whole pies. Can we go there? Can Danny Lore, or Guillermo Sanna, tell us where it is?
- We nominate Sanna to draw a Gabby solo book, if she ever gets one. She just looks so happy to be alive.
- Gabby mentions that she’s going to be mad if Akihiro and Johnny Storm have been pen pals this whole time, but we are going to be mad if they aren’t.
Liz Large is a copywriter with a lot of opinions on mutants.
Stephanie Burt is Professor of English at Harvard. Her podcast about superhero role playing games is Team-Up Moves, with Fiona Hopkins; her latest book of poems is We Are Mermaids. Her nose still hurts from that thing with the gate.
