New Mutants #18
Karma and Mirage enter Crucible in New Mutants #18, by writer Vita Ayala, artist Rod Reis, and letterer Travis Lanham. New Mutants has been pretty hit or miss since Ayala took over, but this is probably their best issue yet, combining the action of Crucible with more development of the Shadow King plot.
This issue cuts back and forth between Karma and Mirage’s battle in Crucible and Scout trying to talk Cosmar, Rain Boy, Anole, and No-Girl out of their present course of action. Each story sees those within confront what they fear- Karma isn’t sure if bringing her brother back to life is what she really wants, and Scout wrestles with facing her friends about what she suspects of Shadow King. Karma and Mirage’s battle comes to a bloody end as Mirage kills her friend and the separation is successful, while Wolfsbane separates Scout from her friends and takes her to the Shadow King.
As good as the Crucible fight is, the real highlight of the issue is Scout. Scout has been adrift since Wolverine disappeared in the Vault, and now that she’s back, she’s changed too much for Scout to talk to, so she goes to Warpath and tells him what she suspects. Warpath doesn’t do what she suspects he will- he tells her to trust her instincts. Scout has been through more than just about any mutant on the island in her short life, and Warpath knows it. Scout expected him to take charge, but there’s no reason- she has all the experience she needs. It’s a great moment for her character- realizing that she’s just as experienced as any of her teachers and that they trust her, something that she has been wrestling with lately. Her speech to her friends about her life and the cost of manipulation is wonderful, and probably Ayala’s most effective piece of writing in their New Mutants run so far. Scout’s subplot makes this issue so much better, and the moment she tells Shadow King she won’t let him use her friends is amazing.
The Crucible fight is great. At first, both Karma and Mirage are holding back. For Karma, it’s all about fear of her brother- she knows who and what he was. She questions what will come of unleashing him on Krakoa, but once she realizes that it’s not her choice to make but his, she lets go and puts her all into the fight. Mirage, for her part, doesn’t exactly want to do this either, for similar reasons, but she loves Karma and wants the best for her, so she presses forward. It’s a wonderfully written and paced fight. Ayala knocks it out of the park with this fight.
Much like this is Ayala’s best issue of New Mutants; it’s also Reis’s. His art lately has been sort of sketchy a lot, with some of what he’s drawn looking great and some of it not so much, at least not for someone who isn’t in love with his style. In this one, he does a great job throughout. The Crucible scenes look amazing, as do the Scout parts. His detail is great, and he really captures the emotions of every scene he draws. If only his art could look like this every issue.
New Mutants #18 is the best issue of Ayala and Reis’s run by a country mile. Both of them are at the top of their game for this book, and it shows. The key to this issue is the emotions of the character and the creators hit with all cylinders. Things are building nicely, and hopefully, the creative team can keep up the quality of this issue in the stories to come.