New Mutants (2019-) #17 by Vita Ayala
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Now, this is what we like. New Mutants hasn’t looked this good since Sienkiewicz was on the book. While Reis isn’t a Sienkiewicz clone, his art is very much in that wheelhouse. It’s expressive rather than striving for “realism”…and in an industry that seems to value realism in art over storytelling, it’s good to see an artist like this on such a high profile book.
I almost don’t care what’s happening in the book while it’s being drawn like this. But things happening there are! And lots of them. The main plot follows Dani and Xi’an in Otherworld. Having been captured by Merlyn, they’re sent to steal back his favourite pot from Roma, who’s amused enough to send the pot back to Merlyn and send the girls where they need to go…to Joshua. Who’s found a sense of belonging in Otherworld that he couldn’t find on Krakoa.
Meanwhile, the young mutants are continuing to experiment with their powers, and want to use them to possess a corpse…which Gabby thinks is a no good, terribad, very awful idea…and she’s not wrong there. And the Shadow King continues to worm his way into people’s heads…or…is Farouk really the Shadow King…and is he honestly trying to help Rahne? I suspect not…
Overall, this really, really feels like the New Mutants, in all the ways that matter. Both artistically and tonally this is the book I know and love, and it’s well deserving of five stars.
Random Ramblings Of A Ragamuffin 