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New Mutants

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'''''New Mutants''''' is the name of two comic book series, published by Marvel Comics. Both are offshoots of the popular X-Men franchise and both featured a team of teenaged, mutant (fictional) mutant superhero superheroes. The first New Mutants were created by Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod and were featured in their own series from 1983 until 1991, when it was reinvented as X-Force. Like its parent title, ''New Mutants'' highlighted interpersonal and group conflict as much as action and adventure, and featured a large, ensemble cast. The second ''New Mutants'' series featured another group of teenaged mutants, tutored by members of the first group. In 2004, after thirteen issues, it was relaunched as ''New X-Men: Academy X''. In late 2005, as part of the Decimation (comics) DeciMation "event", the subtitle was dropped and the New Mutants team dumped.

History

The New Mutants, Vol. 1
{{Superteambox| image=Image:NewMut1.jpg 225px| |caption=''New Mutants'' (vol. 1) #1. Clockwise from top: Cannonball, Sunspot, Wolfsbane, Karma, Dani Moonstar, Professor X (blue in background). Art by Bob McLeod |comic_color=background:#ff8080 |team_name=New Mutants I |publisher=Marvel Comics |debut=''Marvel Graphic novel Graphic Novel'' #4 (1982) |creators=Chris Claremont Bob McLeod |status=Became X-Force |base=X-Mansion Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters |alliance_color=background:#ffc0c0 |current_members=N/A |former_members=Cannonball (comics) Cannonball
Wolfsbane (comics) Wolfsbane
Danielle Moonstar
Karma (comics) Karma
Sunspot (comics) Sunspot
Magik (comics) Magik
Magma (comics) Magma
Cypher (comics) Cypher
Warlock (New Mutants) Warlock
Rictor
Rusty (comics) Rusty Collins
Skids (comics) Skids
Meltdown (comics) Boom Boom
Domino (comics) Domino
Shatterstar
Warpath (comics) Thunderbird (James Proudstar)
Feral (comics) Feral |}} By the early 1980s, ''Uncanny X-Men,'' under the authorship of Chris Claremont, had become one of the comic book industry's most successful titles, persuading Marvel to launch ''The New Mutants,'' the first of many spin-off spin-offs, deemed "X-Books". The New Mutants were teenaged students of the telepathy telepathic Professor X, much like the original X-Men, who debuted in 1963 and had since grown into adulthood. The New Mutants, however, more resembled "All-New, All-Different X-Men," who debuted in 1975, in ethnic diversity. The original team consisted of: *Cannonball (comics) Cannonball (Samuel Guthrie), a mild-mannered Kentucky Kentuckian who became nigh-invulnerable when rocketing through the air *Wolfsbane (comics) Wolfsbane (Rahne Sinclair), a Scotland Scot who transformed into a wolf-like creature *Danielle Moonstar Psyche (Danielle Moonstar, also called Mirage and Moonstar), a Cheyenne who could create visual illusions of others' greatest fears or greatest desires *Karma (comics) Karma (Xi'an Coy Manh), a Vietnam Vietnamese girl who could mentally possess other people's bodies *Sunspot (comics) Sunspot (Roberto da Costa), a Brazil Brazilian who gained superhuman strength in the presence of sunlight The team debuted in ''Marvel Graphic novel Graphic Novel'' #4 (1982), which continued a plotline from ''Uncanny X-Men''. The group was formed by Professor X, when he was under the control of the menacing alien race the Brood (comics) Brood. The youths were intended to be hosts for Brood embryos, but the X-Men returned and set matters straight. The five youngsters remained at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters to learn to control their powers. But, predictably, they were thrown into a series of adventures in ''The New Mutants'' monthly series. The series was originally written by Claremont and illustrated by McLeod, the team's co-creators, but McLeod soon passed artistic duties onto Sal Buscema and then Bill Sienkiewicz, who often painted covers for the series. Claremont gave the series an oddly dark tone. In addition to very seriously-toned depictions of teenage angst and growing pains, the series featured themes of mysticism and psychic boundaries. The New Mutants battled various demons, a cult-like villain group called the Hellfire Club (comics) Hellfire Club and their young apprentices, the Hellions. Although ''The New Mutants'' never reached the popularity of its parent title, the series gained a loyal following among many readers. Image:Newmutants11.png thumb|left|''New Mutants'' #11, featuring [[Magma (comics)|Magma.]] As typical with X-Books, new characters were frequently added to the team. Early new recruits included: *Magik (comics) Magik (Illyana Rasputin), the sister of the Russian X-Man Colossus (comics) Colossus, who possessed the ability to teleportation teleport and many mystical powers *Magma (comics) Magma (Amara Aquila/Alison Crestmere), a fiercely-tempered native of a secret tribe in the Amazon Rainforest who controlled magma and lava *Cypher (comics) Cypher (Douglas Ramsey), a shy boy who could understand all languages *Warlock (New Mutants) Warlock, a goofy, techno-organic extraterrestrial lifeform, of a race called the Technarchy In 1986, Professor X was written out of the series. Before he left, he made the X-Men's one-time nemesis, Magneto (comics) Magneto, headmaster of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Not trusted by his students, Magneto struggled in his new role and eventually joined the Hellfire Club. In 1987, the series was turned over to writer Louise Simonson and illustrator Bret Blevins. Simonson controversially killed off Cypher and shortly thereafter retconned Magik's origin, reverting her to childhood. She also folded the X-Terminators, a group of young wards of X-Factor into The New Mutants. The X-Terminators added to the team were: *Rictor (Julio Richter), who could create shock waves *Rusty (comics) Rusty Collins, a pyrokinesis pyrokinetic *Skids (comics) Skids (Sally Blevins), who projected a force field around her body *Meltdown (comics) Boom Boom (Tabitha Smith), who created “plasma bombs” In 1989, Simonson crafted a saga in which the team journeyed to Asgard (comics) Asgard, the home of the gods of Norse mythology. The storyline wrote Dani Moonstar out of the series and was essentially the last gasp of the high-flying, mystic-minded version of the team. Sales of the series had slumped for several years, but took a sharp upturn after Simonson introduced a new mentor for the group, the mysterious mercenary Cable (comics) Cable, and Rob Liefeld took over the pencilling chores at the end of 1989. Over the next year, Simonson wrote out several longtime team members. When Rob Liefeld (plots) and Fabian Nicieza (scripts) took over as writers of the final three issues of the series, they replaced them with harder-edged characters: *Domino (comics) Domino, Cable's pale-skinned, black-garbed mercenary lover *Shatterstar, a swashbuckling warrior from an alien dimension *Warpath (comics) Warpath (James Proudstar), an Apache who possessed super strength and speed *Feral (comics) Feral (Maria Callasantos), who possessed a beast-like temperament and appearance In 1991, with key characters and plot elements from the series gone, ''The New Mutants'' became the platoon-like ''X-Force,'' a series that would last until 2002 and incorporate many members of the New Mutants; Liefeld plotted the last few issues (with Fabian Nicieza supplying dialogue, as well as pencilling the title. He also claimed to be inking the art as well, but later acknowledged that the bulk of the inking was done by his studio assistants. In 1997, a three-issue reunion series, ''New Mutants: Truth or Death'', written by Ben Raab and illustrated by Bernard Chang, featured the younger New Mutants, traveling forward in time to meet their older selves (the contemporary team). {{-}}

New Mutants, Vol. 2/New X-Men: Academy X
{{Superteambox| image=Image:NewMutantsII.png 250px| |caption=New Mutants
Art from ''New X-Men: Academy X Yearbook''.
Art by Georges Jeanty. |comic_color=background:#ff8080 |team_name=New Mutants II |publisher=Marvel Comics |debut=''New X-Men: Academy X'' #2 (2004) |creators=Nunzio DeFilippis
Christina Weir
Keron Grant
Randy Green |status=Absorbed into general student body |base=X-Mansion Xavier Institute for Higher Learning |alliance_color=background:#ffc0c0 |current_members= |former_members=Prodigy (comics) Prodigy
Wind Dancer (comics) Wind Dancer
Elixir (comics) Elixir
Surge (comics) Surge
Wallflower (comics) Wallflower
Icarus (comics) Icarus
Wither (comics) Wither |}} In 2003, Marvel launched a second ongoing ''New Mutants'' series with writers Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir. The series featured a handful of the dozens of teenagers attending the Xavier Institute. The kids were instructed by the X-Men, Danielle Moonstar Dani Moonstar, Karma (comics) Karma, and Northstar, while Wolfsbane (comics) Wolfsbane and Magma (comics) Magma also appeared in several issues. After 13 issues, this series was relaunched as ''New X-Men: Academy X'' in 2004. Ironically, it was only after the name change that the main group of characters was formally dubbed the New Mutants and received codename codenames. The former line-up of the New Mutants, advised by Dani Moonstar, included: *Prodigy (comics) Prodigy (David Alleyne), the team's co-leader, who could utilize the skills and knowledge (but not special attack powers) of those near him. Now powerless. *Wind Dancer (comics) Wind Dancer (Sofia Mantega), the other co-leader, who could create winds, fly via said winds, and hear faraway conversations. Now powerless. *Wallflower (comics) Wallflower (Laurie Collins), a shy girl, who generates pheromone pheromones that usually cause people near her to match her moods, although she is learning to control this. *Elixir (comics) Elixir (Josh Foley), who can heal himself and others *Surge (comics) Surge (Noriko Ashida), who absorbs electricity which she can release as blasts, or use for super-speed, but requires mechanical gauntlets to prevent overcharge. *Icarus (comics) Icarus (Joshua "Jay" Guthrie), who flew on red, angel angel-like wings, heals rapidly, and possesses a very beautiful singing voice. Wings cut off. The current group of Hellions (comics) Hellions is another squad at the school advised by Emma Frost, and the antagonism between the two teams plays a significant role in the series. The Hellions' Wither (comics) Wither was previously a New Mutant, and Icarus was previously a Hellion. {{spoilers}} :''Main articles: Decimation (comics), New X-Men'' As a result of the Decimation (comics) Decimation event, in which the Scarlet Witch's magicks depowered most of the mutant population, only 27 of the 182 students enrolled at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning still retain their powers, and the comic changed its' name to simply ''New X-Men'' while the New Mutants were disbanded. {{-}}

Creators

Writers
* Chris Claremont - ''New Mutants'' Vol. 1 #1-54, Annuals #1-3 (March 1983 - August 1987, 1984 - 1987) * Louise Simonson - ''New Mutants'' Vol. 1 #55-97, Annuals #4-6 (September 1987 - January 1991, 1988- 1990) * Fabian Nicieza - ''New Mutants'' Vol. 1 #98-100, Annual #7 (February 1991 - April 1991, 1991) * Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina Weir - ''New Mutants'' Vol. 2 # 1-13 (July 2003 - June 2004)

Art
* Bill Sienkiewicz - ''New Mutants'' Vol. 1 #18-31 (August 1984 - September 1985) * John Byrne - ''New Mutants'' Vol. 1 #75 (May 1989) * Rob Liefeld - ''New Mutants'' Vol. 1 Annual #5, #86-91, 93-96, 98-100 (1989, February 1990 - April 1991)

Inks
* Bill Sienkiewicz - ''New Mutants'' Vol. 1 #35-38 (January 1986 - April 1986) * Whilce Portacio - ''New Mutants'' Vol. 1 #43 (September 1986)

Cover art
* Walt Simonson - ''New Mutants'' Vol. 1 #11 (January 1984) * Bill Sienkiewicz - ''New Mutants'' Vol. 1 Annual #1, #18-31 (1984, August 1984 - September 1985) * Barry Windsor-Smith - ''New Mutants'' Vol. 1 #36 (February 1986) * Art Adams - ''New Mutants'' Vol. 1 #38-39 (April 1986 - May 1986) * John Byrne - ''New Mutants'' Vol. 1 #75 (May 1989) * Rob Liefeld - ''New Mutants'' Vol. 1 Annual #5-6, #86-100 (1989 - 1990, February 1990 - April 1991) * Mike Mignola - ''New Mutants'' Vol. 1 ''Annual'' #7 (1991) * Joshua Middleton Josh Middleton - ''New Mutants'' Vol. 2 #1-6 (July 2003 - December 2003) * Chris Bachalo - ''New Mutants'' Vol. 2 #7-11 (January 2004 - June 2004) * Randy Green - ''New Mutants'' Vol. 2 #12-13 (June 2004 - June 2004)

Cover inks
* Bill Sienkiewicz - ''New Mutants'' Vol. 1 #17, 35 & 37 (July 1984 - March 1986) * Todd McFarlane - ''New Mutants'' Vol. 1 #85-89 (January 1990 - May 1990)

Other media
The animated TV series ''X-Men: Evolution'' (2000-2003) featured a group called the New Mutants who, like their comic book counterparts, were a junior team living at the Professor X's school concurrently with the X-Men. The team featured Wolfsbane (comics) Wolfsbane, Cannonball (comics) Cannonball, Magma (comics) Magma, Meltdown (comics) Boom-Boom and Sunspot (comics) Sunspot. Other members, such as Iceman (comics) Iceman, Jubilee (comics) Jubilee and Multiple Man were not New Mutants in the comic book series, but were featured in other X-Men comics. ''New Mutants'' is the name given to the 'race' of Mutants on the television show Mutant X (television) Mutant X.

Bibliography
* ''New Mutants'' Vol. 1 #1-100 (March 1983 - April 1991, Marvel Comics) * ''New Mutants Annual'' #1-7 (1984 - 1991, Marvel Comics) * ''New Mutants'' Vol. 2 #1-13 (July 2003 - June 2004, Marvel Comics)

See also
*New X-Men *X-Men *X-Force *List of X-Men comics

External links

- Writers talking about New X-Men: Academy X
- New-Mutants.com: Complete New Mutants cover gallery and credits, other details
- New Mutants Squad Page at UXN.net Category:Marvel Comics superhero teams Category:Marvel Comics titles Category:Xavier Institute Student Body Category:X-Men comics fr:Nouveaux Mutants

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