New Mutants #22
The New Mutants confront the Shadow King in New Mutants #22, by writer Vita Ayala, artist Rod Reis, and letterer Travis Lanham. Ayala and Reis do good work in this issue, combining ominous goings-on with a reminder of the power of friendship and family.
This story switches between the New Mutants confronting Shadow King and him explaining why he’s doing what he’s doing with the young mutants and Cosmar, Rain Boy, Martha, and Anole coming to see Scout. Shadow King’s explanation is simple, as he believes Krakoa is making mutants soft, and he wants them to be tougher. Scout accepts the apology of her friends, and when they leave to confront the Shadow King along with the New Mutants, she decides to join them. What they find when they get there is chilling, to say the least.
Ayala has been setting up this story for a long time, and this issue is yet another brick in that wall. It sees Shadow King show the New Mutants his vision for Krakoa’s future- devastation at the hands of humanity and their machines or the Brood or any other enemy. He believes that Xavier has made mutantkind soft, and while they’ve built something special on Krakoa, its foundation is weak and will crumble. Of course, this is the Shadow King, so it’s hard to know if he’s sincere about anything. He’s a mutant who has always desired power over others. His refrain the whole issue is, “You will learn,” as he mentally throws the New Mutants into hopeless situation after hopeless situation. One of the most effective parts of this whole sequence is that Ayala makes sure that nothing Shadow King says is out and out wrong; Krakoa can be very soft in many ways, but his way of doing things is exactly the wrong way to go about it.
Ayala serves up some heartwarming interplay between the young mutants, which helps even out the tone of the issue. Ayala has been serving up a lot of community throughout their run, and that’s on display with this part of the book. Cosmar, Martha, Rain Boy, and Anole went through a lot to get Scout back to life, and she knows it. The fact that they came to see her again to make sure everything is cool between them and she forgives them serves as a nice counterpoint to everything that Shadow King tried to say. The strength of Krakoa is community, and Ayala has been trying to show that. It works brilliantly in these parts of the issue, and it will be interesting to see how it all plays out next issue.
Reis does a great job again. The highlights of the issue are Shadow King’s dystopian visions. X-Men books have always had a penchant for showing off the death of everything readers love, and Reis does a great job showing that in this issue. His style works very well for it and the second scene, which is a Brood attack, is the best one, especially the end when Magik is tearing through the Brood, her dead friends around her. It’s so well done and the best page in the book.
New Mutants #22 does a great job of juxtaposing Shadow King’s pessimism with the power of community. Ayala presents both sides very well. Reis’s art does a good job of illustrating the issue. It’s an entertaining issue and continues this grand, long Shadow King story Ayala has been building.