New Mutants Vol 1 #51: "Teacher's Choice"
Sure, we see Carol Danvers again as Binary and as part of the Starjammers, but clearly she has no role here other than being there. She helps around, but not in a meaningful way which is disappointing.
The issue opens with us seeing the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters empty. No X-Men and no New-Mutants. Magneto, who sees the New-Mutants as the future of his kind has also disappeared. But the New-Mutants are not dead, they survived. They survived a battle against Magus, who came after his son, Warlock, who is part of the New-Mutants. Now, along with Professor Charles Xavier and Lilandra, they are on the Starjammers ship. A ship that is stuck on a dying planet. They are trying to fix the ship, which was already damaged before the battle against Magus.
While the ship is being repaired, Xavier merges his mind with that of the New-Mutants. Xavier needs to see all that happened up until the point where he rescued Magik. He sees the tunnels under Manhattan. He sees the Morlocks which have all been murdered. The X-Men tried to help and returned with a few survivors, but they have lost half of their numbers. The Marauders are responsible for this crime. Then he sees a TV screen. On the news they speak of a team the X-Factor (not the TV show) that was assembled to deal with the Mutant threat. A team that is made out of the original X-Men, which makes Xavier feel extremely betrayed. This is worse than his worst nightmares.
Xavier is devastated. Lilandra tries to comfort him. He tells her everything. When she asks him what he will do now, she know the answer. He will return to Earth with the New-Mutants.
Then finally we see our first glimpse of the X-Men. Storm and Magneto are on a ship on a stormy night. They turn the ship into a barrier that protects a small town from the giant waves coming their way. Magneto tells Storm that the hellfire club has invited him to be their White Knight. Storm thinks that he should accept the offer and be both an example to the White Queen's students and a spy for the X-Men. This could protect the children at the school and help the X-Men. But Magneto doesn't trust himself to remain good.
Then we are back in space. The New-Mutants are helping the Starjammers fix their ship using their powers. Hepzibah and Lilandra get into a physical confrontation after an argument. Hepzibah thinks that Lilandra's problems shouldn't be the Starjammers' problems. Her home planet was completely destroyed by the imperium. But the confrontation is stopped when Wolfsbane calls for help.
It's not the kind of help that we think of though. Wolfsbane was rambling about happy she will be to return home, when suddenly Illyana Rasputin got really upset and locked herself in her room. In one of his questionable decisions Xavier asks Karma to possess Illyana so she would open the door to her room, a decision which outrages Mirage and the reader probably. It did anger me. Through Karma he can see what Illyana was hiding in her mind. She doesn't want to go back to Limbo. That will force her to reconnect with her darkside. On the ship she is the girl she could have been, free. Last issue she seems like she already embraced that darkside. Looks like she is having a change of hearts. Illyana is in distress after revealing her secret. Which angers Mirage even more. This is not one of the professor's greatest moments.
Suddenly, while trying to explain himself Xavier senses danger coming. He tells Binary telepathically to bring the children back in safely. Then he tells Hepzibah to fly she ship away and turn on the defensive shields. She does that, but she's surprised. She doesn't see the danger until a bright light appears. The radiation isn't healthy so Binary doubles her speed.
The ship is under attack by the Shi'ar apparently. The ship can't detect them, but Xavier can read their minds. They are going for a dangerous ride, while Binary keeps the kids from falling out of the ship. Corsair wants Xavier to stay with them. He is their only chance of surviving in the long run. Lilandra tells him that all of the children of the galaxy need him, not just the New-Mutants. Talk about a guilt trip. Which works. He wants the New-Mutants to teleport to Earth without him. However, Magik refuses to do that without him. To get back to Earth she must go through Limbo, which she is terrified of doing. So he just makes Karma possess Magik and force Magik to take them home. That is just terrible. Binary tells him that he has saved the children, now he must save them.
But we don’t see that. We see the New-Mutants landing on Earth. Magik is furious at the way she has been treated and immediately returns to Limbo to fight the demon S'ym with the promise of never forgiving them and possibly attacking them when she gets back.
On the things can only get worse note, Magneto, with the persuasion of Storm join the Hellfire Club. She reminds him that their need is great with the fight against the Marauders. Apparently, she too, is joining the Hellfire club. They are the White King, together. What an odd couple. Almost no one in the Hellfire Club is happy about this situation and that is how the issue ends. With an almost ominous promise.
It's always fun to see Carol Danvers as Binary, but this was disappointing. She could have used her powers to attack the Shi'ar ship, but she is being benched to be a babysitter for the New-Mutants. Sure, she saves them. But she can do that and fight at the same time, which she doesn't. Disappointing.
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