New Mutants Classic

The original New Mutants finally get a collection as part of Marvel's new "Classic" line. Following the excellent Excalibur Classic, this trade collection has beautiful production values to experience the comic as it was meant to be experienced - in color, on quality paper, and in an affordable package (some people may argue that $25 is a lot, but really I'd rather see it like this than as a "Masterworks" at twice as much. Excalibur Classic was only $20, but contained three less issues. Anyways, you can find them both on Amazon for $16 and $13, respectively, if it's a big deal.)

New Mutants Classic (volume 1) collects Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod's New Mutants #1-7, as well as Uncanny X-Men #167 (an issue I actually read fairly recently from an Essential X-Men volume) and the debut of the characters contained within, from Marvel Graphic Novel #4. I was kind of disappointed at the introduction of the characters, as it was done exactly like Giant-Size X-Men #1, showcasing each character in a distressing situation individually before bringing them together to work as a team. I understand the whole trying-to-recapture-the-success of that new team, but it could have been done with a touch of originality. I felt like I was just going through the motions. I did, however, enjoy the characters. I'm not very familiar with the original New Mutants. I don't think I've actually ever read an issue before this. I do know Wolfsbane from later Excalibur issues and I've come across Sunspot and Cannonball here and there, but I certainly had no clue as to who they really were. Dani Moonstar and Karma round up the rest of the team. It's really kind of fun to be with them in this comic though. They're not the best stories necessarily. They're mostly about the group discovering their powers and getting into some sort of situation or another, with emotions running high. I much prefer the X-Men stories from around this time (like the whole Brood saga), if not a little earlier, with the same feel as these and more diverse and distinctive characters. The New Mutants certainly grew on me as I read the collection, but they're not the most enthralling characters of the Marvel Universe, getting into fights we've seen before with Sentinels and with the Silver Samurai and Viper, done better in other books. I was looking at upcoming issues of the series however, and I'm kind of excited to see Magma and Magik coming into it soon. I'll get the next collection in light of that, but I probably would have eventually gotten around to it anyway, as I found myself kind of looking forward to reading another issue.