New Mutants #18 by Vita Ayala
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I’m loving what Ayala and Reis are doing in their New Mutants run. Exploring the ramifications of resurrection and what that means to the mutants of Krakoa both young and old.
The Crucible seems insane and a weirdly brutal way of solving problems and it can’t possibly be healthy, long term, to see people throw their lives away in this way, knowing that they’ll be resurrected with all their problems magically “fixed.” I think this is where we’re headed with this group of young mutants, whose mutations have taken a heavy toll on them, physically speaking. They’re heading towards self harm to an extreme degree, and I wonder what will happen when resurrection doesn’t magically solve all of their issues.
Of course, it goes without saying (or maybe doesn’t as I’m saying it) that you really need to be reading this alongside Way of X, which is also exploring the ways in which Krakoan society is very, very wrong. I feel like some people have mistaken the way that Krakoa has been presented within the narrative as a utopia for the creators behind these books saying that Krakoa is a utopia. It’s very clearly not, there’s very clearly something deeply wrong here.
As ever, Reis’s art is superb, and a huge part of what makes this book really special. I hope he sticks around for a long time!
Random Ramblings Of A Ragamuffin 