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The New Mutants Classic

New Mutants Classic Vol. 6

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Collects New Mutants (1983) #41-47 and Annual #2, and X-Men Annual (1970) #10.

Cannonball! Wolfsbane! Sunspot! Warlock! Karma! The adventures of the next generation of the X-Men continue alongside Psylocke, Captain Britain and Longshot against the evils of Mojo and Spiral! Plus: The deadly threats of Empath, Legion and the Magus! Danielle Moonstar, in a gunfight with Death herself! And the tragic tale of Larry Bodine! With guest appearances by the X-Men, Lila Cheney, Dazzler and Kitty Pryde!

265 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 3, 2011

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About the author

Chris Claremont

3,281 books894 followers
Chris Claremont is a writer of American comic books, best known for his 16-year (1975-1991) stint on Uncanny X-Men, during which the series became one of the comic book industry's most successful properties.

Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.

Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.

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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
Profile Image for Baba.
4,094 reviews1,556 followers
December 2, 2020
By the stage of this series Chris Claremont appeared to be steering it into a teen angst phase with character driven tales of pain, suffering and anguish around the repercussions of both Demon Bear and Secret Wars II. The best book in this volume takes a long cold hard look at teen suicide, and does it well. In regards to the Mutant Massacre the team gets off a lot less easier than the other X-teams! 6 out of 12.
Profile Image for Shannon Appelcline.
Author 30 books168 followers
February 5, 2013
New Mutants #41-42. Claremont kicks this volume off with a pair of one-offs spotlighting Dani and Sam. They’re both terrific, nicely highlighting the characters and their cultures, while also pulling at the heartstrings [10/10].

New Mutants #43-44. The next two issues with their battles against the Hellions [7/10] and Legion [6/10] aren’t nearly as deep, but they do paint a nice picture of the X-universe at the time, and it is fun to see the New Mutants finally getting back together.

New Mutants Annual #2. The Wild Ways / New Mutants Annual is a pretty good character piece for the New Mutants and a very nice integration of Captain Britain and Pyslocke into the X-Mythos. On the downside: brainwashing and bodywarping is very much a Claremont cliche. I also would have much preferred to have this innocent Psylocke remain with the New Mutants, rather than turning into the super-cool Ninja X-Man Psylocke [7+/10].

X-Men Annual #10. The X-Men annual is a nice follow-up that’s also a great turning point for the New Mutants as they consider their potential roll as X-Men. On the downside, it introduces the X-Babies, though they’re not quite as horrifically terrible as in some future stories [5/10].

New Mutants #45, “We Were Only Foolin’”. One of Claremont’s best stories, because it treats the Mutants like real people and addresses very real issues. Decades later, I remember parts of this story verbatim [10/10].

New Mutants #46, “Bloody Sunday”. This is a nice bit of connectivity to the Marvel Mutant Massacre, showing the New Mutants in a larger context, but it’s unfortunately one that they can’t help much with (which is the point). [7/10].

New Mutants #47, “My Heart for the Highlands”. A bit scattered as it’s largely the middle of a story, but it’s got a great ending [8/10].
Profile Image for Anthony.
259 reviews7 followers
May 16, 2020
One of my favorite volumes of new mutants
Profile Image for Ian Kalman.
14 reviews
Read
January 10, 2026
Writing dips toward the beginning mostly post secret wars, but it really recovers after especially with the two amazing annuals. Had me worried for a little
Profile Image for Devero.
5,044 reviews
January 29, 2023
I primi numeri di questa raccolta ci fanno seguire, per lo più singolarmente, i Nuovi Mutanti e approfondiscono le loro storie personali ed i loro rapporti con i rispettivi genitori. Quella di Dani mi è piaciuta particolarmente, ma anche le altre sono buone, come buono è il loro scontro con i Satiri (Hellions nell'originale) ma il capolavoro è un'altro.
Il capolavoro contenuto in questo albo è la storia di Larry Bodine, "Stavamo Solo Scherzando". New Mutants #45
Una storia che appariva estrema all'epoca, perché non si parlava di suicidio, tantomeno adolescenziale, nei fumetti. Una storia con una trama che, oggi, nell'era dei social media, solo in Italia abbiamo visto avverarsi almeno una dozzina di volte nell'ultimo decennio.
A seguire, giusto per ricordare che eravamo nell'era dele storie cupe, assistiamo all'orrore del Massacro Mutante, nonché al Magus che oramai è arrivato a Warlock per la resa dei conti.
Ci sono anche un paio di annual con i disegni di Alan Davis e Arthur Adams, decisamente divertenti, che dimostrano come Claremont fosse in grado di scrivere anche ottime storie "leggere".
4 stelle e mezza.
Profile Image for Rick.
3,174 reviews
May 22, 2025
Not some of the best issues of The New Mutants but some wonderful stuff is still included in this volume. Claremont offers up a rematach between the junior X-Men team and their rivals the Hellions, a return of Xavier's son Legion, some wonderful Mojo shenanigans, a poignant story about bullying and teen suicide, a tie-in with the Mutant Massacre crossover event and even an appearance by Robert the Bruce. Lots of fun with Marvel's High School mutants and some great art as well. There's nothing really deep here, even the one story that touches on real world issues is too quick and too stereotyped to be really effective. Claremont was still putting out good material, better than much of what was available elsewhere from Marvel at the time, but he was still trapped in the soap-opera mentality that had made his run on Uncanny X-Men so astonishingly successful that he wasn't really challenging himself as a writer.
Profile Image for David.
2,565 reviews87 followers
August 3, 2016
Finally - a New Mutants collections that I totally loved. (Okay, the first collection is pretty lovable.) All the different elements, that have made the title a classic & one that should be read my current X-fans, seem to at last come together in full bloom maturity.

For me it was Alan Davis' stirring Annual 2 featuring Cypher and Warlock saving the rest of the Mutants. Magneto's reformation continues. We also get a fun revenge on Empath story. Then there's Mutant Massacre crossover. Even a time travel tale to old Scotland with a meeting of Robert the Bruce!



Profile Image for Kris Shaw.
1,424 reviews
November 20, 2023
Chris Claremont was and is a great comic book writer. It is fashionable to bag on the man's work today. Tastes change, times change, things go in and out of style, but quality art is quality art in my opinion. We should all appreciate Claremont while he is still around. I can remember people bagging on Kirby in the '80s, but nowadays he is a sacred cow. Once Chris Claremont is dead and gone everyone and their brother will be proclaiming their love for his work. Well I'm saying it here and now: I love Chris Claremont's writing.

Claremont's run on The New Mutants is a precursor of sorts to many “mature” comic books. Not because it is overtly sexual or violent, but because it is so character driven. The New Mutants were the junior X-Men team, teenagers who were out of place everywhere but with their own kind. This was extremely identifiable for me as a teenager, even if I only sporadically read this title back when it was originally published.

The Cypher/ Warlock friendship was so bold in it's gossamer thin veil of homosexuality. For all intents and purposes, they were gay during a time when such a thing was shocking. Warlock, an alien techno-organic being, was afraid of infecting Cypher (Doug Ramsey) with his techno-organic virus, a metaphor for STDs perhaps? Claremont quickly back-peddled, writing in Psylocke and making her a crush for Doug. I am guessing that this was done to appease higher ups, as it seemed to come in right after some pivotal moment of friendship between Warlock and Doug. It is refreshing to see the original British, non-Asian ninja Psylocke. Jim Lee would crap up the character beyond repair during his overrated run on the X-Men a few years later.

The first few issues in this book focused primarily on one team member each. Issue 45's teen suicide story is great and worth mentioning as well. The Annuals are a crossover where Mojo and Spiral try to kidnap and enslave each team. The Uncanny X-Men Annual features a Claremont pet theme: reverting the X-Men to childhood. It also features the debut of the horrible X-Babies. Cutesy stuff like that is totally lame and stupid, but these are a fan favorite. Not I said the fly.

The artwork is great throughout this book, with Jackson Guice (pencils) and Kyle Baker (inker) doing quality work. Alan Davis handles The New Mutants Annual while Arthur Adams does the art for the Uncanny X-Men Annual. I was not a fan of Art Adams in the '80s but his modern day stuff is fantastic. Alan Davis is a genius, plain and simple. His artwork is simple and elegant, and his action sequences are almost without peer.

Tom Orzechowski deserves a shout out. His hand lettering is great. I would buy a computer font of it if I could. He is lettering royalty. It really is a lost art here in the computer font lettering era of comic books.
Profile Image for Lance Grabmiller.
594 reviews25 followers
August 28, 2018
Collects New Mutants #41-47 (July 1986 - January 1987), New Mutants Annual #2 (October 1986) and Uncanny X-Men Annual #10 (January 1987). Think I pinpointed why exactly I don't like The New Mutants as much as the X-men: Chris Claremont wrote them much more convincingly as teenagers than the original X-Men. They come off as boneheaded, annoying, melodramatic and often downright stupid. Also, I am getting rather tired of the standard New Mutants storyline of "let's go off and save (insert person or persons) without telling Magneto/Prof. X or the X-men and then barely survive it." That seems to be all they really do.

This issue gives us a whiff of the Mutant Massacre storyline (of which I'll get to more later), introduces Psylocke and Longshot into the X-men continuum and hints at the appearance of X-Factor (a big disappointment in my early comics reading but I'll get to that later as well).
Profile Image for Steven.
Author 8 books34 followers
November 6, 2018
This nearly had five stars, on the basis of NM #45, which sees Chris Claremont once again up on his anti-bigotry soapbox, in a surprisingly wrenching story about a school mixer that leads to misunderstandings and a young man's suicide.

Unfortunately, much of the rest of the collection is the usual set of shenanigans, with way too much of Mojo, and a closing issue that crosses over with the X-Men and X-Factor and serves as a chapter in the crunching brutality of X-Men: Mutant Massacre, an interminable event featuring hundreds of mutants being slaughtered in the Morlock tunnels.
Profile Image for Tim B.
259 reviews1 follower
September 13, 2018
I really enjoyed this book. Captain Britain appears in Annual 2 in an interesting story, helping the X-Men and New Mutants with Mojo and crew. You get to see some development with Psylocke. I really enjoyed the opening story which tells of Mirage visiting home and dealing. This book kind of took me back to high school watching the WB shows with my girlfriend, angst and drama in a light, relatable fashion.
Profile Image for Lulu (the library leopard).
808 reviews
Read
July 6, 2021
Enjoyed the Mojoverse and Captain Britan stuff and also GREATLY enjoyed the issue of the New Mutants beating up Empath, less so the issue where Kitty Pryde…uh…drops a ton of racial slurs to make a point about inclusion and bullying. YIKES.
Profile Image for Crazed8J8.
772 reviews2 followers
December 4, 2022
A must read epic

X-Men and New Mutants galore... Major plotlines and character growth abound in this volume, as well as the Mutant Massacre.
Great artwork and storytelling throughout!
3,014 reviews
November 14, 2019
Most of these stories are one-off melodramas.

The Mojo stories felt different from the others in the collection - almost out of place.
Profile Image for Bob.
631 reviews
November 28, 2019
Gems include Mirage v. Death, the team’s revenge on Empath, the returns of Legion & Magus, an afterschool special on suicide, & a Mutant Massacre tie-in, but the less said about Mojo, the better
Profile Image for Russio.
1,214 reviews
July 17, 2021
Magus, the Mutant Massacre, classic line up. All good stuff.
145 reviews1 follower
October 16, 2023
Claremont's gotten really into single character issues and it really works!
Profile Image for Jack.
703 reviews3 followers
September 20, 2025
Maybe I was wrong about Mojo, he’s kind of neat in this.
Profile Image for Stephen.
185 reviews114 followers
July 16, 2016
My latest stop on the Marvel Comics 80's tour is The New Mutants Classic, Volume 6.
In this volume we have New Mutants #41-47, New Mutants Annual #2, and X-Men Annual #10.

We begin in the fallout from the last volume, as several of the members are still dealing with the effects of the Secret Wars as well as time in thrall of the White Queen at the Massachusetts Academy.
The first couple of issues are solo adventures with Mirage and Cannonball each going home seeking direction and learning just what they are made of.
The team gets back together in #43 and soon thereafter attempt to get some vengeance against the White Queen's Hellions.
The annuals chronicle a crossover between the New Mutants and X-Men with the fantastic return of Mojo, as well as Captain Britain and his sister Psylocke.
Other issues deal with heavy subjects: rites of passage, teen suicide, bullying, and fighting schizophrenic mutant children (aka Legion). Squeezed in there is one issue tied to the Mutant Massacre crossover as well.

This volume ramped up the dark and tragic elements. We know for sure that innocence is no longer intact for there young mutants. Death, pain, and despair pervades the volume.

After this, there is one more volume of Claremont's run on New Mutants. His time was great for developing the team and characters. Although the future for this title was at times better than his run, the New Mutants are defined by the first 50 issues.
946 reviews11 followers
January 24, 2016
This volume--and really, New Mutants as a whole--is likely only worthwhile if you're a nutty X-men completist, as I am.

I enjoy the cast of mutant teens writer Chris Claremont has built for the series; he has a nice range of personality types, from Cannonball's understated likability to Sunspot's volatility. But while the civilian personas are well-developed, the superhero side of things is all over the map. In this volume we have solid issues looking at Cannonball's relationship with his dimension-hopping rock-star girlfriend (better than it could possibly sound) and a bit of well-deserved revenge of Empath, a twisted teen on the rival Hellions team with the power to manipulate emotions. But there's also a lot of tiresome Hollywood parody with Mojo as well as a fair amount of overstated after school-special storylines dealing with prejudice toward mutants. (Also, Kitty Pryde has a disturbing tendency to use the N-word to make her point.)

The art throughout, largely by Jackson Guice, is solid enough, and I look forward to the long-promised showdown with Warlock's dad, the Magus. But by this point Claremont doesn't seem to have a larger motivation to advance the plots of their characters, and the wheels feel like they're spinning beneath the narrative.
Profile Image for Amélie.
Author 7 books19 followers
January 15, 2014
I'm really beginning to fall in love with Chris Claremont's writing. For one thing, I'm quite amazed at the diversity of his team - and of the secondary characters, it's extremely refreshing... which is quite paradoxical given that this book is about 30 years old.

I really loved the side-stories, especially the one about Mirage (a wonderful character). You would think you'd get bored, since you don't see most of the team and there isn't much action, but it's quite the contrary : you get to explore the characters and see them grow up, and that's brilliant.

It was nice to see some of the X-Men, someday I'll try and read what was happening on their side of the comic books world at that time. I liked seeing the two teams interact !

Oh, and that story with Kitty at the other school broke my heart.
Profile Image for Ed.
747 reviews13 followers
January 29, 2016
Volume 6 is probably the weakest New Mutants has been so far. It starts off with a bunch of solo stories that are mostly pretty hokey. Most of them have an after-school special vibe that just doesn't work for me. Issue 43 (dealing with bullies) is okay and issue 45's ominous memorial style cover kinda gives away the ending, even though it's decent for an after school special.

Issue 46 & 47 loosely tie-in to Mutant Massacre. Issue 46 is mostly just confusing and issue 47 is a kinda cute time travel issue that feels like filler.

The best part is New Mutants Annual 2 & X-Men Annual 10. these are a two-parter with Mojo, Spiral & Longshot. The story isn't amazing, but I enjoy the focus on Cypher in Annual 2. X-Men Annual 10 has some pretty weird pencils from Art Adams, but it's reasonably fun.
Profile Image for Adam Stone.
2,062 reviews32 followers
September 2, 2024
This isn't a terrible book but I found myself straining to keep reading the stories. Claremont is in full-high-school-drama-mode for this volume, mixed in with some of the more bizarre parts of his 1980s X-Men continuity.

After some more typical stories focused on how the team interacts with each other, and the world around them, be it in a here is a very serious issue focused on the cause and effect of teen suicide near the end of the book
Profile Image for Craig.
Author 16 books41 followers
September 16, 2013
With Sienkewicz gone and stumbling, depressing stories, I considered dropping the book with the previous volume. I'm glad I didn't, as the collaboration between Claremont and Guice generated some of the strongest pieces Claremont has ever written. RIP, Larry Bodine.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Nadia.
290 reviews17 followers
September 23, 2014
This is a more of a 3.5. The one is a little inconsistent but overall has some pretty good stuff. I like that beating up Empath is the cover of the paperback.
317 reviews2 followers
June 29, 2015
#41 3 stars
#42-43 4 stars
#44 3 stars
#45-46 5 stars
#47 4 stars
New Mutants Annual #2 4 stars
Uncanny X-Men Annual #10 5 stars
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews

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