Fall of the New Mutants (#59-#61)

Fall of the Mutants runs in New Mutants #59-#61. Really, there are two stories here: the story with Bird-Brain and the Ani-Mator in #59-#60, and then #61.

The first part is a relatively standard New Mutants story at this point: they skip school to go on a mission. Specifically they are going to investigate Bird-Boy's origin story. We find he was created as an experiment by the maddest scientist of recent years: the Ani-Mator. The Ani-Mator has been hired by Cameron Hodge and the Right to investigate a mutant cure but instead has done a double cross, and is splicing together human and animal parts to create a new race of Ani-Mates (not to be confused with the Ani-Men). He'd quite like to study the New Mutants, as well.

The battle soon becomes a three-way when Hodge and The Right turn up, angry at having been deceived by the Ani-Mator. There is general confusion, but the New Mutants eventually win. But there's a price. Douglas.

Douglas's death is curious. I knew he was going to end up dead at some point, but I thought the transmode virus was going to be involved. It seemed like such a natural thing to do. Instead, Warlock's absence (he and Bobby arrived late, from being in Fallen Angels) was the problem. Yay cliche avoidance?

The reactions to this, and to telly coverage of the other Fall of the Mutants stories, are the focus of #61. There is plenty of self-blaming, as you might expect. And having let one set of friends die, surely they should go to Dallas and help Illyana's brother (she tries but can't get there due to a gridlock in the omniverse). They decide to defy Magneto, one last time. And not without reason: the scenario of these kids being in a school has really fallen apart since their jaunt to the future and to space. They can't be confined so easily.

New Mutants #57-#58: Who is the Mysterious Bird Boy?

New Mutants #57 has our kids dressing up Bird Boy - who they still haven't managed to talk to yet - in some clothes and taking him to the mall. They cause a scene at the Malt Shoppe, and see House II, which is a plug for Marvel's adaptation of that film, produced by New World, who had purchased Marvel Comics in 1986. It has a 0% fresh rating on rottentomatoes, but a 5.1/10, so it's probably a terrible terrible film that they'll like because they're kids who don't know any better. Curiously, although given a 15 certificate by the BBFC, it was rated PG-13 by the RIAA, which means they don't need to sneak in.

What they thought of it, we'll never know, because Bird Boy tries to eat a pre-movie advert. This causes general chaos, and then finally Cypher tries to talk to Bird Boy, which he'd previously thought was impossible on account of it being hard. Some progress is made. In #58 the kids try and teach Bird Boy English, which works, after a fashion. Soon he acquires enough English to make simple orders at McBurger's. With the full moon approaching (something he is concerned about - apparently it is the "time of testing"), he flies away to the North Atlantic ("thousands of miles away" from Westchester, apparently, rather than the few km it really is to Long Island Sound), with food for his friends.

Who is he? We still don't know. He's clearly been experimented on, although what or who he was before is another matter. But what matters is he has friends to help, and those New Mutants are going to go with him.

New Mutants #58 has a piece of card bound in, promoting the upcoming launch of Excalibur and the Fall of the Mutants storyline. It also contains a competition, being a slightly creepy "Mutant Registration Form". Fill in your mutant name, send it in with your name and address, and win the prize of appearing in a subsequent issue of New Mutants. Genius.

New Mutants #56: When Outside Rome

New Mutants #56 starts immediately after #55. The issue's main plot are attempts by the New Mutants and the Hellions to rescue Bird Boy (who I figure is probably the source material for the Weekly World News's character Bat Boy.)

The teams clash without having any real dispute, it's just their usual setting for interaction. The Mutants end up taking Bird Boy home: we'll find out more about him later. But that's calling that the A-plot is like saying whatever scientific expedition the Enterprise is on that week is automatically the A-plot.

What this issue is actually about is Magma, who Claremont spent so much time setting up and then has mostly ignored. She's far more foreign than anyone else there, having grown up in a culture that was completely isolated from the "modern world", even by reputation. But in practice she's not been the one who has been getting the culture shock, and beyond a rivalry (if you can call it that) with Selene and being handy in a fight may as well not have been there.

She's had a letter from her dad saying that her letters have been very useful but that she should come back home now. She likes Empath of the Hellions (this was teased a bit in #53-#54), and she wonders whether she wouldn't be treated better at the Mass Acad. So, assuming that Emma's offer is still open, she decides to transfer. Perhaps she's thinking that'll keep her dad happy. All a bit sudden, though. And that Selene, she's still Black Queen. Has she thought about this much?