Review by Frank Plowright

Vita Ayala’s New Mutants is a series for people who already know the many characters she’s using. There’s no attempt made to introduce new readers to a very large cast and what they can do, and in Vol. 1 she set too much in motion, resolved very little, and didn’t spend enough time with individual cast members. The confusion is temporarily rectified by the entire opening chapter taking place at Krakoa’s Hellfire Gala, but it’s entirely conversation based, catches up on different characters in addition to the core cast, and moves little forward.

The primary issue is the Shadow King manipulating younger mutants for purposes as yet unknown, but his control isn’t absolute. The murder of a friend obviously affects them deeply irrespective of the Krakoan ability to restore mutants to life.

There is a greater focus to this volume. It errs too far toward conversation, which isn’t generally the superhero way, but neither is there a reason that all superhero titles have to be non-stop action. It’s refreshing to see talk used as the method of choice in resolving a situation when the usual recourse would be to violence.

Violence duly manifests, though, as the Shadow King plot draws to a close. The three chapters it occupies are allocated to Rod Reis (sample art), and given much occurs in a shifting environment where almost anything can be distorted, it plays to his artistic strengths. He’s able to supply startling single images and his portraits have personality, both seen on the sample page, and other pages are also remarkable, if owing a lot to Bill Sienkiewicz. However, concentration on the big moments leaves his connecting passages weaker. Despite that, Reis is far preferable to both other artists. Alex Lins on the opening chapters delivers strangely stylised people, even allowing for them being mutants, and Danilo Beyruth’s cartooning of close-up faces tells the story, but without any style.

To be fair to Beyruth, much of what he’s given is extended emotional conversations that didn’t really need to occur, the comic equivalent of underlining in bold. It is Ayala’s style to have conversation-based stories, but what she wants to say could be conveyed more concisely.

Vol. 2 is flawed, but a more satisfying experience overall, offering greater focus, plots drawn to a close and progress for the cast. It seems Magik’s due to take centre stage in Vol. 3.