What’s this? WHAT’S THIS??? A new book review!? Holy Smurf on Toast! It’s been FOUR MONTHS since my last review, and besides being inexcusable, it’s also somewhat excusable. My brain is in complete revolt, lately, but I’m making attempts to get back to something like a “routine” after getting medicated, starting a new (actually a really old) job (again), and trying to adjust to our new life (post-partial-apocalypse) and craft all of these elements into something I might be able to call the NEW NORMALITY… What better way to start this new era than with NEW MUTANTS. I was a HUGE fan of this comic when I was in junior high and high school, but I hadn’t really read any issues since then. (I graduated in 1990, for those interested in “HISTORY.”) I got INTO the series because of the art and the fantastic covers, which were by Bill Sienkiewicz, but the issues covered in this collection are from BEFORE Sienkiewicz joined the team, so I was a little sad about that. Regardless, here’s a delayed book review about a comic book that’s become a (SERIOUSLY) delayed film! I do want to see it, though, and I HOPE it’s worth the TWO-YEAR WAIT!!!
[This is a photograph that I took of the actual digital comic that I read. The image is included for review purposes only!]
Claremont, Mantlo, McLeod, Buscema, Buscema, and others – The New Mutants – Epic Collection – Renewal (2017)
I’m going to give Marvel Comics credit… They did NOT skimp out on this collection. It’s BEEFY, like 520 pages beefy! You will not feel like your money was wasted (in regards to the QUANTITY of material in this book.) As for the QUALITY… We’ll talk about that in a bit, but do be aware that what you are getting here is a QUILT of books with characters in and around the NEW MUTANTS universe. This book includes issues of Marvel Team-Up, the original New Mutants graphic novel (Marvel Graphic Novel #4), an issue of Uncanny X-Men, the first dozen issues of New Mutants proper, AND the four issue alternate universe mini-series, Magik from the early 1980s. Like I said, this is a THICK collection, and it’s straight-forward chronological, so you get a nice continuation of the “plot,” all the way up to Magik, which gets weird (but in a cool way.)
I read this collection twice through, so that I could get a solid handle on it before trying to write this review---but even so, there are a LOT of pages here. I am going to admit that I liked the book better the SECOND time reading it through than I did the first time. Part of the “problem” with this book isn’t with this book at all. I’m going to attribute the issue to AGE. I was thirteen, fourteen, fifteen when I was reading this series regularly, and at the time, I couldn’t be buggered to care about things like logic, verisimilitude, or any of the stuff that a “mature” reader is supposed to care about. Nonsense, like a guy turning into a cannonball with half his body on fire, or an indigenous person being able to link, telepathically, to ALL animals (except humans), and the idea of a pocket of land in a South-American jungle where a ROMAN SETTLEMENT has existed, exactly as it did in the days of the Roman Empire… All fine. Not a problem, at all…apparently.
In fact, at one point, I considered Chris Claremont, who wrote a huge chunk of this collection, one of my favorite authors. The New Mutants series and Uncanny X-Men where my absolute favorite comics for a couple of years…until I got into things like Sandman and Miracleman and The Watchmen and Vertigo Comics in particular (all spooky, weird, psychedelic, horror leaning “Mature” titles…) But for the better part of two or three YEARS, Claremont was KING.
So how does that translate to NOW? Now that the world has fallen apart? Now that I’m old and cynical and acutely aware of how short and unfair life can be? As I implied above, I was a bit disappointed on my first read-through of this book, particularly since my MEMORIES of the series had me expecting brilliance. (Again, part of what was missing is Bill Sienkiewicz's touch. His cover work is AMAZING, as he often incorporates painted elements, abstraction, and an aggressive psychotic flare to his imagery. I’m almost certainly going to try to find the NEXT collection of New Mutants, to finally get to the “Golden Era” of Seinkiewicz participation, but that’s not what we get in THIS book.
The artwork here, primarily penciled by Sal or John Buscema (with some work by co-creator, Bob McLeod, Ron Frenz, Paul Smith, and even some early Frank Miller), isn’t super-remarkable. It’s solid. It’s serviceable---but it’s not MAGIC (not even in the Magik mini-series!) However, when I came back to the book for my second read-thru, realizing that I wasn’t about to encounter a lost Alan Moore masterpiece, I had fun. It is FUN, if you let go of all those expectations of REALISM in your fantasy, and just enjoy the goofiness.
With all that said, let’s look at the big question: Is this book worth the money. Short answer, YES! It’s a huge collection that covers a lot of early ‘80’s Marvel Comics' territory, (Spider-Man, the X-Men, even Team America, the forgotten motorcycle riding superheroes, all make appearances), and it’s some entertaining adventure fantasy. Is it as brilliant as a Neil Gaiman book? No. Is it as stylistically exciting as a Jack Kirby comic, or even as good as it would be in the hands of Bill Sienkiewicz, no… But these are BIG, BRILLIANT standards to compare with---uncommonly talented people. In a way, it’s not fair to compare EVERYTHING to the heavy hitters…
What you get with Renewal is a solid, entertaining, no cuss words, no explicit sex, trip into Chris Claremont’s imagination brought to life by some solid, hard-working folks who weren’t trying to change the world, just tell entertaining stories. It’s enjoyable for it’s pre-Watchmen naiveté, and it might give you something interesting to compare with the film version…which hasn’t reviewed so well. (34% on Rotten Tomatoes and 5.5 out of 10 at IMDB…) I’ll still watch it. I usually HATE the movies that get good reviews, anyway…
So there we go. A return to the book reviews! I hope my NEXT one doesn’t take MONTHS to finish. I try to read every night, but with all the meds I have to take now, I’m sleeping a lot better…well, a lot MORE…than I used to! (Ha! Sleep-time is when I used to do most of my reading!!!) Thanks for stopping by! If you’ve read this book or seen the film, drop a comment and let me know what you thought!!! And while you’re at it, check out all my OTHER reviews, as well!!! There’s a LOT: https://primitiveentertainment.wordpress.com/read-a-damn-book-list/
Later skaters!!!
---Richard F. Yates
(Primitive Thoughtician and Holy Fool)
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