Punch Up: “To Me My ❌-Men”
Chapter Seventeen:
1984
April, May & June, 1984, New Mutants No. 18-20 by Sienkiewicz, G. Wein, Orzechowksi, Claremont + Nocenti
Mixtape tracks: The Caterpillar by The Cure, The Killing Moon by Echo & The Bunnymen, Never Tell by Violent Femmes, & Let's Go Crazy by Prince
Chapter 22 of “to me my ❌-Men,” we read Demon Bear, our second comics masterpiece chapter.
Previously on “to me my ❌-Men,” we check in with our ronin and cub, while we expose the limits of a serviceable penciler inking themselves.
This becomes even more stark for Al, as Bill follows him for a few issues, with the identical collaborative team of Chris, Glynis, Tom and Ann. Only with starkly different results.
The New Mutants have multiple architects. And Bill Sienkiewicz has multiple projects he is associated with. However, there is something special with regards to these three issues. His run will go beyond this, but the impact of these three issues is felt deeply for generations.
We have become familiar with Bill through covers and his work on Moon Knight thus far. But in this reading, closer analysis, and my own decades of reflection, there are really two works that come to mind when thinking of Bill Sienkiewicz. Demon Bear and Elektra Assassin. A little peak at the great Wizard of Oz, as we plan to spend time with both in this telling of the ❌-Men.
There is an elevation of comics that is happening here. I mean exactly what I say. Not simply ❌-Men or Daredevil comics. Not simply Marvel or Superhero comics. I mean the medium, the culture, the art in form and function, in utility and aesthetic, in legacy and the moment.
Bill (who is one of the sweetest people in a medium and industry filled with sweet people), pulls in at the level of the nonsense folks try and sell us on with regards to fine art and elitism. He is working at that level, but more importantly he is working with that gutter punk, trash, visceral comics flavor, that real news print, metal, kids cran level…in the same moment.
This has to do with his process, his use of gesture, his care and lack of care, his ego and humility…he is in balance. He accepts what is, and controls it.
Which makes this next part make even more sense to me. I went on a rant more than once regarding the film New Mutants. He supported the project as it was coming out. It is absolutely based on his, Claremont and the teams work here.
It took me watching and reflecting on it…and concluding it is one of the few Fox and frankly now any X-movies you can recommend. I place the film in a Marvel film rewatch as During The Blip…At the Drive-In…as such:
Intermission: New Mutants
*In the future, in the past, in our reality as a global pandemic shut down society…My lil’ family went out for the first time in a long while…cautiously…socially distant…being presents…with community…in the middle of the end.
This takes place on a Fox/Marvel timeline…one that seems to be the same one Logan is on…in fact while it seems to utilize tec from subsequent decades…they seem like found resources. Which makes sense. The film is set in 2027…two years before Logan (2029). It includes footage that informs Logan. Logan informs Deadpool 2…but that film takes place a decade prior to New Mutants. However, whatever “year” it is, we know the TVA and the Multiverse have confused the matter and all that does matter is what order the story is being consumed in (THUS THIS EXERCISE). It may make sense in terms of Fox/Marvel Deadpool & Wolverine take place in the same year as New Mutants and it makes sense that number would be the same as it is for Disney-Marvel/Marvel…2027. I am going in thinking time and place will be manipulated, but it is 2027 in the MCU…and this is all MCU by the end of the film. Because all of this is how I am viewing it. For we are The Watcher!
And so…
New Mutants was not something I sought out…it pulled me in like the Force or Wonder Woman’s Laso. As I formed identity around being an X-Marvel fan and established a path headed towards cartooning superhero (or so I thought) comics, New Mutants was establishing and continuing through till it’s finally issues played an instrumental part in me heading towards cartooning mini-comics as I entered adulthood. However, Chris Claremont, Bill Sienkiewicz, Ann Nocenti, and Liouse Simonson produced comics that shaped this 80’s path…and Liefeld and Deadpool assisted my exit from Marvel comics until the turn of the Century. As this Century unfolded, New Mutants has become a part of my identity. One it represented all along. And here I am, summer 2020, in a moment representing of before and after, with The Kid turning into The Teen (and friend in tow). My Lifemate and I…revelling in the darkness of our world..of a horror film (The Teen’s fav genre)…based on the work of my childhood professional heroes. Social distancing…muggy…buggy…vintage…contemporary…shadows of death and angst…existential collapse…Howard makes sense now…What’s more Blip than this. Tee up Endgame.
Update: While camping in the woods on a lake we saw a cloud…I said it was Lockheed. This lead The Teen to confirm this moment in our lives was important and that the film is 🔥!
Anyhoo…
Back to comics…
Whatever your version of drive-in hight of the pandemic trash horror movie nostalgia context is…watch it like that and the film reaches a level beyond its weight class.
But that is still more like a Kitty Pryde & Wolverine level of love. It’s more of Al, and less of a Bill context.
This Bill context is something else.
Nothing drove me more nuts than a cover failing to infer what was inside. I Have loosened on this, as I am for folks getting paid, and cover work is a great gig. Especially, if like Sienkiewicz, you can make it at a high level and demand. But most Bill Sienkiewicz covers have comics pages behind it which fail to deliver on the promise. Sure don’t judge a book by its cover, but let’s be reasonable. I am paying for the pages, not the cover.
Not all Sienkiewicz covers are equal. Some, honestly not that many, are so iconic, that they somehow make whatever is behind them worth price of admission.
The cover for both No. 18 & 19 are on that short list. While better than most covers in 1984, No. 20 is nearly forgettable in comparison.
I don’t know exactly what is being used here, but my educated guess is that Bill is using both typical and unconventional methods. I know for example he loves to apply ink free of pencil. However, that doesn’t mean pencils aren’t part of the process. It seems reasonable that he is using dip nibs, but I would probably be using brush and ink. I don’t know if he is using tooth brush for whites. I definitely think he is using brush for paint application, but don’t know what paints. My guess is water based.
What’s really cool is the splash page 1 of 1.
He has used ink nib to draw in a checkered quilt that surrounds Dani and foreshadows the Bear. It also is a checkered board which becomes a utility going forward.
Chris and Tom have to be pithy and give Bill the space to make this work. If they work in his space, the illusion brakes down.
It also requires coordination or trust with Glynis and her colors.
This is actually more impactful than the cover.
We get the horror she is experiencing and that she is a kid. A teen. An awkward teen with real tragedy.
The comic is no longer covering for Chuck. It is at least admitting this is no longer a safe space for kids.
An explosion.
BLAM - - Chuck is shot, midsection…while in his chair.
I this must be Rachel. Our reading started the issue after her first two and we haven’t been exposed to her yet, because we avoided Days of Future Past. So this is Scott and Jean’s daughter, from a future, and it must be confusing to everyone, because Jean is dead. Kitty also was taken over by her future self, so add that to her trauma. However, this is just answering questions, not experiencing this as it is being presented. To us this is a girl, with Psi powers, short read hair, and our best guess is Rahne doesn’t have Psi power. We also know Rachel was trained by her Mom and Chuck.
So this may be a training session.
As Cannonball, Magma, Sunspot are tinging in physical combat in the Danger Room. This is also our first sighting of Magma in our readings.
She js literally magma…I guess a distinction from The Human Torch.
Illyana, Lockheed and Psyche (Dani) are in the observation booth. They are talking about how Sam has a crush on Amara (Magma)…and apparently she is from the 1st Century culture…oh right…those Romans from the last time we saw the New Mutants.
There is mention of them having joined the Hellions in past tense. The Hell Fire Club.
OK so those pages of Rachel and the Professor are out of sequence. Chuck is gone. Dani and Illyana don’t know if they can trust the others. And Dani is concerned about her ability to control the Demon Bear. Wishes Chuck was around to help with that.
Illyana answers the door, having to shoo away Lockheed. It’s Rachel and she is looking for Chuck. Illyana says he will be back tomorrow. Illyana tells her who she is and this is so upsetting to Rachel, she runs away. And the thing is that Rachel saw her die the same day Chuck is shot and the school blows on page 1 and 2. And what is upsetting is that Illyana looks the same age as the one in front of her, but the explosion is not supposed to happen for years. Clearly the timeline is different, but for Rachel she doesn’t understand the Multiverse, being raised in Hell, or know the Blonde Phantom or She-Hulk…so this is far to real and confusing. And frankly that absolutely works on a distraught grounded horror vibe, because Bill Sienkiewicz. This works for us today. We are Rachel when we are watching New Mutants…or ❌-Men ‘97 or Deadpool or Multiverse of Madness or Loki or She-Hulk or ❌-Men in 2000…you recognise, but nothing is as it should be…and eventually you adapt.
And then an interlude. (A can understand why Dani didn’t want to get out from under the covers…today or whatever…is a lot).
We are in outer space on a planet and a father is chasing his son who is trying to hide in the universe from him. The son is Worlock. His first appearance. Bill is using graphing, painterly, and scribbled in effective ways to show us a change of scene.
Which then transitions on the page into a grounded snow with a silhouetted Dani hunting a bear with her bow.
It was another Danger room training. Illyana turns it off.
Dani is working on being able to be effective against those who are not affected by her psyche powers.
Only as they shutdown the danger room, the lights and leave…the bear is still in there. Oops.
Illyana confides full in Dani, and Dani is not reciprocating.
Dani feels like she needs to process on her own (though I guess she will use Chuck as available and needed). I wouldn’t be confiding in Illyana yet. And they both seem to be cautious of their classmates after the Hellions recruitment. Plus Kitty has been going through her own thing and so even Illyana doesn’t fully confide in her, like she does Dani.
Dani blames herself for it was her spirit which compelled her parents to go to the mountains and face the Bear, which was in her dreams, and the bear in her dreams killed them
She refuses to put anyone else in harms way of the Bear.
She is Cheyenne, plains people.
Oh…she is out there calling out the Bear. In the snow, with her bow. She seeks to end this!
It’s a really lovely page, the transition from contemplative, looking away from the panel progress, to looking to the future, now with war paint on, and then the bottom two thirds being decided to a tall panel of shadow in snow and large square, our final panel, the vision of the Demon Bear is larger than life, the snow covered trees, the moon or setting sun red behind the silhouetted Dani, and her eyes wide and large bellow…we anticipate as she is wilful and frightened in the same panel.
Turn of the page, the Demon Bear is massive. Reality has hit. An iconic image in the history of Marvel comics.
With her Psyche powers she sends a visage of herself floating and this distracts the bear so she can launch her first arrow into his neck.
The bear disarms her. I love this page. It’s perfectly limited and the design is utilizes space so well.
He’s got her.
She stabs him through the mouth and face with an arrow.
She runs and regroups. Also an iconic page.
She believes she has killed it.
Its eyes though.
Rahne wakes from a nightmare. Dani must have entered it. She gathers her classmates and they rush to a giant tree and find Dani’s body in the snow with blood. A haunting and beautiful ending to No. 18.
The cover of No. 19, another iconic Sienkiewicz painting, includes Demon Bear in battle with Sam, Bobby, Amara, and nearly hidden, Rahne. Marvel corner boxes were iconic in their own right. A relevant design clue, and an aesthetic all their own. The corner box, here is a bit unique. Instead of floating heads or an iconic full figure, we have Dani with an I V. Underscores how serious we are to take this story, or this section of this story.
The credits on the credit page are also a bit unique for the time. You get your Sten Lee presents…with little evidence he even knew it. You have your Jim Shooter “chief.” You get New Mutants “stars” a bit of fun. You have the creative team and thier roles; Claremont writer, Sienkiewicz artist, Orzechowski letterer, Glynis colorist, Nocenti editor. But you also get, “created by Chris Claremont & Bob McLeod.” These little details matter at times. Especially in court, or arbitration.
Triage at Mid-County Medical Center, outside Salem Center, New York. Dani on a stretcher inbound.
Officer Tom Corsi is taking with the kids. The medical team and the police are taking this as a rough one.
Roberto is not helpful…or at least is escalating…well, yeah not helping. The dynamics of him are interesting. He comes from immense privilege, but POC, yelling at a cop, calling him an idiot, when the cop has stated this is a Vietnam level situation from his perspective…and Dani may not be helped by this…there is a lot to unpack. But we don’t have the time. Just noting it.
The Nurse is trying to deescalate…so the providers can focus.
All of Dani’s kin are passed away. Chuck has custody. Corsi says this is real bad and will try and get word to him. He is in Mass. Then suggests they find the bear…uh oh.
The snow is presenting to be a real issue. Bobby has gone from outwardly frustrated to inwardly helpless, as the trail is being covered by the snow and they are stuck at the hospital.
Sam is advocating for Dani’s story about the Bear. Bobby is taking off guards this. They all have not really bought into Dani’s caution and fear, and now Sam at least is speaking to the point that they obviously have dealt with and experienced some weird things, like well, demons, and their teammate is a witch (Illyana)…soooo….
Sam brakes out the costumes, Rahne gets sentimental, Illyana is given credit for being there for her, and Bobby loves to be a hero.
Rahne is in a werewolf form for the first time.
And she has a psi link to Dani.
She is aware of her care and the fact that she is dying…she blames herself, Sam tries to take responsibility. Guilt is a hell of a thing.
They are realizing the danger the Bear presents and how they are doing more than protecting Dani. The hospital is potentially in danger. They want to hold things until the ❌-Men show up.
“Meanwhile,” Ch’od is yelling for Corsair. Cr’reee is on his shoulder, we are in space with the Starjammers folks…and it works. Binary (Carol Danvers…that’s right your Carol) found a blip. Hepzibah observes as Cyclops and Havok’s Dad (Corsair) has questions. And with a flash of light the blip(s) are gone, according to Waldo.
We of course know…it starts with a W, rimes with Spock.
Back on Earth, Rahne is monitoring Dani in her new form, of course Corsi finds her and nearly shoots, thinking he is seeing a werewolf, because he is seeing a werewolf…only she switches back and he feels just terrible now.
Corsi flirting with the nurse. Not as gross as it sounds. Funny and cute, real, as long as it doesn’t actually go anywhere.
This page is incredible and haunting. It’s terror. The nurse and Corsi have encountered the Demon Bear and the kids have woken and found blood.
Illyana and Berto. Illyana casts a spell to transform a portion of herself to create a protection around the surgery.
Sunspot goes at the Bear…Illyana is funny here. Then the bear gets her arm, and her arm suddenly has this metal forming around where the injury is. It surprises her.
She uses the soul sword on the Bear and it seems to work wonders.
Nah…now they are all fighting the bear.
And so then we get an excellent final page of the issue, the surgery in a bubbler, flanked by the body of Corsi and the nurse, the bear behind, and on the ground five New Mutants.
We are ready for the third act of Demon Bear.
No. 20’s cover has “Badlands” painted on it and a pink shirted cowboy in the corner box.
After turning the page two times, we see a double splash page. It may not be as wildly recognised as it should be. I would love a print of this on my wall. In the upper left there is a graph. It reminds me of paper cutter. It also reminds us of the blanket that Dani cuddle with that hid a visage of the Demon Bear in it. This board represents the Badlands (not our Badlands, Savannah was just there on her road trip), but a dimension that represents the west before colonisation. On board a black splotches. Areas that the demon bear has occupied.
The place belongs to the Bear.
The bear looms large, above his outstretched arms and beyond his jaw unlocked floats the red ball where you can see the operation on Dani back in NY, and scribbled floating figures of Corsi and Sharon Friedlander (the Nurse), the flirts.
The landscape is done minimally, so perfectly. The New Mutants are small and ready.
A bit of the dynamics are reveald through conversation and thought balloons.
Illyana is protecting the operation and the Bubble represents this.
Her powers are greater in a place like this potentially, because it is a magical realm, while in NY she has limits.
Bobby is desperate in asking for her to help more.
Rhene is thinking how Bobby should not be encouraging her, as Illyana herself is also a Demon, like the Bear.
Sam looses it and just fires his body at the bear, despite warning from Illyana.
You can see a visage of Dani with her arrows floating. Looks cool.
Illyana is trying to combine Corsi and Sharon, as they are now demons.
The graph shows more land covered by the bear.
Maybe that was Sharon with the bow.
Well she is firing black lightning. Clarity is not always on Bill’s mind.
There is some awareness of oddity in the opratory.
If Magik uses her magic there is a risk of weakening her spell protecting Dani.
Sunspot stops Maga from using lethal means, as he sees the Bear as an innocent. This is a rescue mission, not murder a bear mission in his mind. He is able to actually tackle Magama as they are both powered up.
Oh, he is word about the cop and the nurse, not the bear.
Missed opportunity.
Corsi attacks Sunspot, who is the strongest New Mutant, but despite being able to tackle lava, is not invulnerable, like Sam is when flying. He is flung into the shadow area on the graph that is controlled by the bear. Sunspots power comes from the sun, like superman. He is in terror and agony against Corsi.
Rahne as a werewolf is able to rescue him, but she is shot by black lighting arrow from the Nurse. Magama advises she pull Sunspot out of the shadow, but forgets how many they are fighting and the Demon Bear malls Magma.
Magik summons the soul sword.
These pages, especially the last three have this iconic balance between photo rendering and punkish cartooning, that drives the chaos of action and magic, while suspending time to focus on emotion.
Illyana is trying to free Amara’s soul from becoming a Demon, as the Demon Bear has called her. To do so, she stabs her with the Eldritch Blade (soul sword). Sam sees this and assumes the worst, acting rashly again. He cannonballs into Magik and accuses her of killing Magama, while claiming Rahne was right not to trust her.
She is protected while he holds her in flight, but letting go she is unprotected when she falls. However, more armor appears on her arm, at the place of impact.
Amara is pissed at Sam. He looks like a fool.
Playing into the Bears hand.
The graph is nearly full. The Badlands are dark.
But for some small spots. The New Mutants regroup there.
It’s been one nice page after another. This one stands out again.
Rahne, Sam, and Illyana are planing, which means Illyana is bossing two people who have show lack of faith in her. Rahne needs to link back up with Dani to get guidance…Rahne felt it nearly killed her last time.
The Demon Bear attacks Magik bubble around the opratory.
Illyana needs to focus. Magma has her back. They fight Corsi and the Nurse. Just as Rahne has the answer Corsi KLUDD 💫 nocks her out.
Illyana gets him with the soul sword. Frees him of the demon…though…wait who is that?!
Amara uses her lava to weaken. Illyana is picked up by Sam and they cannonball into the Demon Bear with soul sword. She questions, as she is still only a child, but in the end the sword splits the poor Demon Bear in two, with its pure light v his pure dark.
In half two people appear.
Suddenly they are in the Hospital.
Magik notes her arms is no longer armored.
Rahne exclaims in the most bigoted way possible, that Corsi and Friedlander they do not appear to be who they once were. The Demon work has proceeded them into previous victims of the Demon Bear. Dani’s father William (one of Chuck’s best friends) and Dani’s step mom Peg. We learn this as the Doctor (Bill) has emerged to say, Dani is alive, but paralysed.
And Chuck just pops in every one’s mind, the helpless mind stalker. Thanks Bub. He even admits he was watching the entire time. Total Jerk.
So Ororo, head of the Morlocks, has Healer (who I STILL aware is not Merlin from Excalibur the movie) fix Dani up.
Ororo delivers the good news that PT will get her back on track. And she is there to hear her Dad and be reunited with her parents. We learn that she was being protected also by a spell keeping them away from Dani. It was cast by her grandfather Black Eagle, who we don’t see here, but ai will note was killed by Donald Pierce’s forces. Only because some accounts of what he does stuck with me more than others. He becomes critical in the end, the White Bishop of the Hellfire Club.
Chuck wants to contact Stephen for help.
These three comics are pure cartooning magic.
Next: Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 No. 184
