New Mutants Epic Collection, Vol. 8: The End of the Beginning

New Mutants Epic Collection

by Louise Simonson (Writer), Rob Liefeld

The road to X-Force! The mystery man called Cable continues to train the New Mutants into a fierce fighting force just as the team is targeted - along with the X-Men and X-Factor - by Cameron Hodge and the Genoshan government! Escape will only come at a devastating cost, and two New Mutants will not return home! Then, when Cable's past catches up to him, the fast-talking Deadpool and the lethal Domino make their debuts! And as Sunspot heads into the sunset, the arrival of two strange new allies - Feral and Shatterstar - will lead to an end…and a beginning! But can the all-new New Mutants survive the resurrection of Proteus?

Collects New Mutants (1983) #95-100 and Annual #7, Uncanny X-Men (1981) #270-272 and X-Factor (1986) #60-62 - plus material from New Warriors Annual #1, X-Men Annual (1970) #15 and X-Factor Annual #6.

Genres: Comics, X Men, Superheroes, Marvel, Fantasy, Collections, Graphic Novels

504 pages, Paperback

First published July 19, 2022

About the author

Louise Simonson (born Mary Louise Alexander and formerly credited as Louise Jones, when married to artist Jeff Jones) is an American comic book writer and editor. She is best known for her work on comic book titles such as Power Pack, X-Factor, New Mutants, Superman, and Steel. She is sometimes referred to by the nickname "Weezie".

Since 1980 she is married to comic book writer and artist Walter Simonson

Reviews

[Milan Konjevic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ničim izazvano, u ovoj kolekciji se našao gotovo ceo X-tinction Agenda crossover, koji nije baš najbolje ostario, plus nekoliko završnih epizoda Novih mutanata pre ributa u obliku X-forcea, plus neki meni do sada nepoznati crossover Kings of pain koji je išao kroz nekoliko godišnjaka te godine... realno, ovo možda zaslužuje i manje zvezdica, ali nostalgija je kučka, a Rob Lajfeld car koji nikada nije znao da crta, ali mu sve izgleda tako #ebeno kul.

[Mike A · Rating 5 out of 5]

The road to X-FORCE

New Mutants Epic collection:The end of the beginning is a fantastic read putting the new mutants to rest.. And ushering in the all new X-Force!

[Adam Stone · Rating 2 out of 5]

The bridge between New Mutants and X-Force takes us back to Genosha for the decent but not wonderful X-Tinction Agenda, and then we get a series of issues where the old New Mutants leave the team, and Cable beings to recruit/offer refuge to an almost entirely new team rebranded as X-Force. It's a steady, if not spectacular series of stories.

While the debut of Cable, in the previous volume of New Mutants provided us with an interesting new character, Deadpool debuts here and is nothing special. Liefeld had envisioned him as just another assassin with 1980s style action quips, and it would be a few years before he became an irreverent, fourth wall breaking character. Still, Liefeld's brief run as the head writer for New Mutants is decent, if not exceptional.

Unfortunately, it's followed up by a series of annual stories called "Kings Of Pain" by Fabien Nicieza, one of the hackiest hacks to dribble his quarter-baked ideas over the X-Franchise. He doesn't get off to a good start here, as he throws New Mutants, New Warriors, X-Factor, and the X-Men into a nonsensical crossover where the government and two shadowy masterminds set out to...checks notes...create a new Proteus, a character the government has previously had nothing to do with? Sure. And on the last page, the two shadowy figures are revealed to be...Gideon, the advisor to Sunspot in the New Mutants, and Toad, the long ignored and mostly forgotten member of the Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants. It's a crusty goosehonk of a reveal that, like many of the ideas introduced during Nicieza's time with the books, goes absolutely nowhere.

[Devero · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tacerò di quella bruttura enorme che fu X-Tinction Agenda, veramente il peggior cross-over mutante che io abbia mai letto: estremamente confuso, poco coerente e disegnato male.
Le storie dei New Mutants che portano la serie al finale numero 100, per poi ripartire come X-Force hanno un loro perché nell'economia della serie.
Ricordo bene come ad una prima lettura oramai quasi 30 anni fa mi fossero piaciute, almeno più degli ultimi 30 numeri della serie. Ma non posso dire che queste storie abbiano retto bene al trascorrere del tempo. Ci sono troppe cose buttate lì senza senso nella storia, ed i disegni di Liefeld che all'epoca giudicai passabili oggi sono proprio inguardabili. Un poco meglio la storia del presunto ritorno di Proteus.
Pertanto darei all'albone non più di una stella e mezza.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read as individual issues over three months because I had to backtrack and catch up on X-Factor to make sense of the X-Tinction Agenda (beautifully dumb pun, by the way) storyline. Anyway, this really pushed my limits as a Rob Liefeld apologist. Some of the art really is that bad, but he still has a knack for character design and I like the Fist of the North Star-style size inconsistencies. I know it’s gauche to like Deadpool these days but it’s fun when he shows up and same for Domino. Extra points for the wacko backup feature in the Kings of Pain storyline where the Freedom Force serves in Operation Desert Storm and fights a group of Iraqi supervillains.

[October Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

My low rating for this book can't be laid at the feet of Louise Simonson. The lack of control she had over the direction of the team and story clearly affected the end product. New Mutants became a bestseller with this run simply because of the art, which though controversial, happens to bring me joy. Art isn't enough for me in terms of comics and graphic novels, and with few plot threads to follow and little to no character development, it's just hard to find much to re-read here.

[Gabriel James Maurice Rodriguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liefeld was a dynamo

His reputation doesn't do justice to the energy of the New Mutants issues. Unfortunately, the Epic collection is 75% crossover annuals and they are quite poor. Not even prime Jim Lee can save the Xtinction Agenda, it is a dog from top to bottom.

My advice is skip this in favor of a collection that just focuses on the mainline New Mutants/X-Force issues.

[Stephen Lewis · Rating 2 out of 5]

The ad said Deadpool was in it. It did not lie but he's only there for 3 pages.