New Mutants #15
As the New Mutants teach the young how to use their powers, the Shadow King does his own training in the background in New Mutants #15, by writer Vita Ayala, artist Rod Reis, and letterer Travis Lanham. Ayala and company do a lot in this issue, and while it's a good comic, the art leaves something to be desired.
Magik confronts a group of students who are bullying younger students, while in the woods, Anole, Cosmar, No-Girl, and Rain Boy spar with each other under the watchful eye of the Shadow King. Cosmar is able to take down her fellows, and Shadow King praises her, telling her she's ready for Crucible. At the Boneyard, Scout tries to hang out with Daken, but he rebuffs her to spend time with Aurora. Later, during training, she asks Warpath if she can help out with the students she already knows, but he refuses because he says she still needs to learn. At the Sextant, Mirage comes on Wolfsbane, who tells her that the Five have refused her request to resurrect her son quicker. Mirage gives her a shoulder to cry on when Karma shows up and reminds them of Cypher and Bei, the Blood Moon's wedding party. As the New Mutants have a good time at the party, Cosmar asks Mirage if she would go to Crucible with her so she can get a new body and not look the way she does, and Mirage tells her that's not what Crucible is for. The whole time, Shadow King watches and raises a toast to the youth.
Ayala moves around a lot with this issue, and it works pretty well. Each piece of plot builds the whole thing up- from Scout being left out and ostracized to Cosmar's being refused Crucible to fix her warped body, all playing into showing the young mutants as being disillusioned. This leaves them perfect fodder for Shadow King. That said, it raises the question of why Xavier would allow Shadow King to walk around Krakoa without supervision. Shadow King has always been all about manipulating others' minds to get what he wants, so him taking advantage of the children makes perfect sense, but it's also something that could have been completely avoided.
What really makes this story work well is that Ayala puts a lot of focus on the younger mutants. Cosmar and Scout both get the most spotlight, with each of them unhappy with their lives on Krakoa- Cosmar wants to have a normal body, and Scout just wants to not be treated like a child. This makes both of them easy prey for the Shadow King, but he may even have an in on the main team as well- Wolfsbane has no reason to be happy with Krakoan authorities either as they refuse to put her son on the resurrection queue. It's all build-up, but it's very well done.
What isn't very well done is Rod Reis's art in this issue. The best way to describe it is undefined. So many of the figures in the panels are little more than lines that look like people. Some pages look very good, like the splash page with Wolfsbane talking about her son, and sometimes he focuses on the expression of characters that are meant to be the focal point of the panel. Still, other than that, most of the issue doesn’t look very good, and it honestly feels kind of rushed.
New Mutants #15 has a lot going for it, but the art doesn't help much. Ayala does a great job building up to why it's so easy for Shadow King to get his claws into the mutants and do some excellent character. Reis's art, though, barely does the script any favors. It's okay in some places but sketchy and rushed in others. Still, the book is definitely worth a read.
