Back to school: DeMatteis + Nauck will revisit Magneto’s time as headmaster of the New Mutants

The four-issue ‘Magneto’ miniseries will introduce a new character, Irae, when it debuts in August.

Magneto’s slow and complicated face turn back in the 1980s was one of the highlights of the X-Men titles at the time, and now J.M. DeMatteis and Todd Nauck will explore one of the key milestones in that timeline — the period when Magneto became headmaster of Professor Xavier’s school and taught the New Mutants.

“Magneto may be the single most complex character in the Marvel Universe: a man of dizzying contradictions who has endured, and caused, extraordinary suffering. Who’s been both villain and hero. Whose long, tangled history invites endless exploration,” DeMatteis said. “Our new Magneto series allows us to look at all aspects of Erik Lehnsherr’s soul and psyche—at a period when he was trying to put his life as a so-called ‘evil’ mutant behind him and step, somewhat reluctantly, into Charles Xavier’s shoes, attempting to guide a new generation of mutants. We also get to look back at the early days of the X-Men—one of my favorite periods in Marvel history—and introduce a new villain, born in the cauldron of Magneto’s dark past.”

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Karma gets a new first name in Trung Le Nguyen’s ‘Karma in Love’

The Vietnamese character now has a first name more befitting of her background and culture.

A classic New Mutant received a name change — well, more of a name tweak — in a recent Marvel Unlimited Infinity Comic. Karma, whose real name was Xi’an, is now Xuân.

The Magic Fish creator Trung Le Nguyen, who is also Vietnamese like the character, wrote and drew “Karma in Love,” the story where the new name was noted. He spoke to Marvel.com about the change.

“I’ve had quite a journey around Karma’s civilian name. As a reader who spoke Vietnamese as a child, it was really difficult for me to connect with Karma because I knew her name was gibberish,” he said, noting that the “sh” sound in “Xi’an,” which was shown to be pronounced as “Shan” in various comics, didn’t exist in the Vietnamese language.

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Anders + Balám team for ‘New Mutants Lethal Legion’

The story of Escapade continues in miniseries featuring a new team calling itself the Lethal Legion.

Writer Charlie Jane Anders will team with artist Enid Balám to continue the story of Escapade and the New Mutants in New Mutants Lethal Legion, a new five-issue miniseries coming next year.

The story follows the recent New Mutants arc Anders wrote that teamed the trans superhero with some of Krakoa’s finest. Escapade was introduced earlier this year in Marvel Voices: Pride #1.

“I had so much fun writing a few issues of New Mutants, I didn’t want to get off this ride. So I was overjoyed when Marvel asked me to do a whole New Mutants miniseries of my very own, where I can stretch out and explore these characters in more depth,” Anders told Out.com. “After the dark, scary storyline in ‘The Sublime Saga,’ I was eager to change gears and do something funnier and lighter, and it’s been a total blast getting to play around in the Marvel Universe.”

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Can’t Wait for Comics | ‘Creepshow’ digs itself back up for a new comics run

Plus: Vanish! X-Terminators! Crashing! Big Ethel Energy! And celebrate 30 years of Harley Quinn and 40 years of the New Mutants!

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Comics, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital.

I’ve pulled out some of the highlights below, but for the complete list of everything you might find at your local comic shop and on digital this week, you’ll want to check out one or more of the following:

As a reminder, things can change and what you find on the above lists may differ from what’s actually arriving in your local shop. So always check with your comics retailer for the final word on availability.

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‘New Mutants’ #30 will mark the team’s 40th anniversary

Vita Ayala, Alex Lins, Jason Loo, Emma Kubert, Alyssa Wong, Bob McLeod and more will contribute to the oversized issue.

Although they don’t look that much older than when they first debuted, Marvel will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original New Mutants #1 in issue #30 of the current series, which comes out in September.

The oversized issue will include a collection of shorter stories starring “classic and new characters alike,” and will feature the work of Vita Ayala, Alex Lins, Jason Loo, Emma Kubert, Alyssa Wong and more. Wong, actually, will write a new Deadpool story for the comic, as Deadpool made his first appearance in New Mutants #98.

The New Mutants were co-created by Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod back in 1982, and they debuted in an original graphic novel that was released in September of that year. The first issue of their ongoing series followed a couple months later and lasted 100 issues before morphing into X-Force during the 1990s. Marvel has revived the title and concept a few times since then, including the current title, which features several of the original members with newer characters.

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‘The New Mutants’: The kids are alright

Carla Hoffman reviews ‘The New Mutants,’ the film based on the classic comics by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz.

I was terrified, you know.  Despite having it marked in my digital calendar (a few times, really), despite my overblown excitement at seeing a lobby poster at the end of last year (‘this time, for sure!’ listed as the date), sitting on my couch in excitement through an online SDCC panel, I still couldn’t find myself to be excited, let alone relieved, that The New Mutants was finally going to be viewable to the public and streaming online.

Repetitive disappointment can do that to a person; the constant backstage chatter, the infinite new release dates, the literal fall of Fox Studios as an independent movie production company, mergers and major misspeaks by the director regarding casting, this movie felt destined to fail.  It was Schrodinger’s Movie: as long as we didn’t see it, the film was either a hit or bust and for a long time, it was just better not to know.

So what was The New Mutants?  Is the cat alive or dead?  Is this the secret savior of the Fox-X Franchise or an ugly cousin they had every right to keep hidden from prying eyes?  Keep reading and let’s see what we can make of it.

(SPOILERS: to discuss the movie means that we have to talk about the movie and all the twists and turns it takes.  Find your own online digital copy and watch and read along!)

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Mail Call | Fantastic Four take a ‘Road Trip’ in December

A round-up of news from DC, Marvel, Image and more.

Fresh from saving the Earth from being destroyed by the sun in Empyre, the Fantastic Four will get a much-needed vacation in a one-shot by new Iron Man scribe Christopher Cantwell and artist Filipe Andrade. It’s titled Fantastic Four: Road Trip, and it features family fun, a station wagon … and a Reed Richards experiment gone wrong.

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Can’t Wait for Comics | Get ready for Adventure(man)

See what recommendations we have this week for new comics coming from Marvel, Image, Oni and more.

Comics continue to return this week, with some old favorites and big debuts.

If you’re wondering what to get this week, check out a few recommendations below from the Smash Pages crew. You can check the Comic List page to see what’s arriving in your local shop, and the comiXology new releases page for what’s available digitally. As always, you should check with your local shop on their hours, curbside pick-up, etc. in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Stay safe out there.

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What Are You Reading? | ‘Avengers,’ Batman, ‘Bleed Them Dry’ and more

See what the Smash Pages crew has checked off their “to read” list lately.

Welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at what the Smash Pages crew has been checking off their “to read” list lately. You can play along in the comments if you wish.

Now here we go …

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Can’t Wait for Wednesday: A little ‘Decorum’ goes a long way

Check out what’s hitting comic shops this week from DC, Marvel, Image Comics and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Wednesday, our look at the comics and graphic novels hitting stores this week. With this week’s column I’m very pleased to welcome back several of our colleagues, including Tom Bondurant, Carla Hoffman and Corey Blake, for their thoughts on this week’s releases.

You can see the complete list of this week’s releases over at The Comic List, and I encourage you to share what you’re planning to get in the comments below.

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Marvel announces new ‘X-Men’ titles, creative teams in San Diego

The ‘Dawn of X’ brings six new titles featuring Marvel’s merry mutants.

Jonathan Hickman’s run on the X-Men starts with House of X and Powers of X, but what happens after that?

In San Diego this weekend, Marvel revealed the details of what the X-titles would look like after these two miniseries end, announcing six titles and their creative teams. The titles will kick off in October and November.

House of X and Powers of X lay the groundwork for a whole new world of X-Men stories for years to come, and the Dawn of X books are the promise of that new world come to life,” X-Men Senior Editor Jordan D. White told Marvel.com. “They are the start of the new era that will change how we think of the X-Men and the kinds of stories we tell with them. It all begins here.”

The titles are:

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Claremont + Sienkiewicz return to ‘New Mutants’

The ‘New Mutants: War Children’ one-shot will arrive in September.

Back in the 1980s, Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz had a critically lauded run on New Mutants, introducing Warlock, the Demon Bear and more. Now the two creators are reuniting for a new one-shot, New Mutants: War Children.

The comic will feature Magik, Wolfsbane, Cannonball, Cypher, Mirage, Karma, and Sunspot, with a guest appearance by Kitty Pryde, as they have to deal with a haywire Warlock and Magik’s Darkchylde.

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