The New Mutants #8-14
Okay, when we left the New Mutants, they were headed into the Amazon with Sunspot's mother. Sunspot's father, Emmanuel DeCosta was working with Sebastian Shaw to stop them.
#8: As the New Mutants make their way down the Amazon River, we find that the boat has a Hellfire Club agent aboard, Castro. He riles up some piranha when Mirage tries to swim to the boat from shore. When Cannonball rescues her, he is confronted by aggressive native women. He and Mirage drive them off, and take one captive, wondering why they were watching the boat. The captive either doesn't know any language Sunspot's mother does or refuses to talk
In Rio de Janeiro, Emmanuel DeCosta talks to Sebastian Shaw via viewscreen. He's been having trouble stopping the New Mutants without hurting his wife or son. It turns out they are after a "mineralogical treasure trove."
Wolvesbane comes upon Castro beating the prisoner and trying to question her, and drives him off. He returns and knocks her out, and she finds that the other New Mutants are recovering from being drugged. The boat goes down the wrong branch of the river, with no one at the wheel, and goes over a waterfall. The native is revealed to be a blonde girl, and Sunspot's mother cannot be found. The New Mutants find themselves being captured by ancient Roman soldiers.
New Mutants #9: The New Mutants are lead to Nova Roma, an ancient Roman colony, populated by their descendants and Incas. The girl, Amara Aquila, begs them not to reveal that she isn't part of their party, and they are all thrown into a dungeon. Amara reveals that there is a dispute between those who wish to continue with a republic, and those who wish to revert to the Inca's absolute monarchy. She is part of the opposition, and her father is a senator; if she is discovered, it could ruin her father politically. Further, there is a Sunspot knocks the door down but they are all taken out by drugged darts.
At the baths, senator Aquila (Amara's father) and Marcus Domitus quip a little over the new prisoners. The boys are to go into the arena, and if they survive, they will be sold as slaves, along with the girls. Marcus retreats to his home and his wife, Selene. They have Castro captive and Selene knows the "black arts." Castro wants to work with them to exploit the land in exchange for whatever they need.
Elsewhere, Mirage, Wolvesbane, and Amara are getting washed up. Mirage and Wolvesbane drink some drugged wine against Amara's warnings, which makes them loopy then knocks them out. Amara slips out on her own, being struck down by some sort of pain. She then finds herself confronted by Selene. (This pain is the same as what Kitty was feeling when her mutant powers were emerging!)
At the arena, Wolvesbane and Mirage are under the thrall of their drugs in the stands, and Sunspot and Cannonball are given a drug that makes them violent. There is fighting, but when Sunspot is ready to kill Cannonball, Wolvesbane is shocked out of her stupor, having a crush on Cannonball. She turns into a wolf and goes to help, and the psychic link Mirage shares with animals shocks her into lucidity, too. She uses her powers to shock the boys back, and Marcus declairs that Wolvesbane must be related to the "she-wolf who suckled Romulus and Remus." She is pronounced a goddess.
New Mutants #10: I don't have this issue. I'm sure nothing important happens in it.
New Mutants #11: Amara is in her Magma form fighting Selene over a pit of lava, while Mirage looks on. (Okay, we missed a little.) Selene is aging as she expends energy. She intends to make Mirage a psychic vampire like herself. Selene knocks some dudes into the lava, soaking up their life forces, then drains the life from Amara. The others have fallen in with Marcus, who has used them to take down senator Aquila. Sunspot slips away and finds Castro abusing his mother, who is in shackles. He beats up Castro and frees her.
Amara pops out of the ground in the presence of her father and others, in her Magma form and in bad shape. Sunspot, Cannonball, and Wolvesbane turn on Marcus, freeing senator Aquila. He, in turn, kills Marcus in a sword fight. They fight Selene some more, with Sunspot ultimately throwing her into the lava pit and collapsing the ceiling over it. (This shows Sunspot's slightly shady nature, as he is so easily willing to kill.)
New Mutants #12: Emmanuel de Costa returns to his office to find Sunspot waiting for him. Sunspot tells him off, and says if the doesn't leave Nova Roma alone, the New Mutants will find out about it and make him sorry. After he leaves Emmanuel calls Sebastian Shaw and says he wishes to accept his offer of joining the Inner Circle. We get a flashback showing Sunspot's mother remaining in Nova Roma, and another with Magma (as I'll be calling Amara from here on out) being convinced by her father to go to learn to control her powers.
A dude gets fresh with Magma on the beach (they're in Rio de Janeiro, by the way) and she raises a volcano. She flees, suffering from heatstroke and not knowing the local language, causing her to lash out with her powers more. The New Mutants track her down and cool her off, and she realizes that she really does need to learn to control her powers.
New Mutants #13: Magma meets Professor X at the mansion and he shows her around. They have a barbacue in her honor, and she feels more and more out of place. Cannonball likes her (if you know what I mean!) and crashes while trying to show off, drenching her in soda. She is already upset, and he's apparently ruined a keepsake from her mother, so she runs off crying into the forest.
At Project Wideawake, Sebastian Shaw, Henry Gyrich, and Valerie Cooper are looking over a sentinel. A remote source makes it go berserk, locking them out of any chance to shut it down. They have to self-destruct it. At the mansion, we see Kitty working on computers with her new friend, Doug Ramsey. She's coyly gotten him to hack into Sebastian Shaw's stuff, and she caused the other damage from there, leaving him oblivious. She goes to meet with Professor X, at his psychic summons, and sees Amara. She offers to help and Amara tells her to go away. The other New Mutants join in and drive her off. Professor X tells her that she's been missing a lot of training sessions, and that her rivalry with the New Mutants needs to end. (Oops! Doug was first mentioned in X-Men #177, but I forgot to mention it!)
Later, we find that Magma is quick to learn computers and already has a strong foundation in dance class. Wolvesbane is jealous, since she likes Cannonball and Cannonball's been oafishly showing off for Magma. Magma gets mad when Professor X scans her surface thoughts, but sees him talking to Lilandra via hologram and sort of makes peace with him.
Magik #1-4: We get the background for Magik in these issues, told with bookends in the current issues. I've already covered her background, so I'm going to skip these. It leads right into...
New Mutants #14: The New Mutants are goofing around in the snow, while Illyana watches from the sidelines, not sure how to interact with other normal kids. Professor X seems down to them, and they decide to cheer him up with a surprise party. They enlist the help of Stevie Hunter in town, where they see Doug Ramsey, who is looking for Kitty. At the mansion, Professor X is attacked by S'ym, a demon from Limbo, who easily beats him. The New Mutants return and Illyana goes inside, since she's immune to Professor X's telepathy. She fights S'ym, and then other New Mutants join in. Even being doused in lava doesn't seem to phase him, but Illyana uses her Soulsword to defeat him. She makes him denounce Belasco and serve her in exchange for her letting him live, then sends him back to Limbo. The X-Men come home to find the place a wreck from the battle, but with the surprise party underway. Professor X surprises them by standing up, finally having regained normal use of his legs, and dancing with Illyana. Kitty and Doug find each other and he reveals that he's been accepted at the Massachussets Academy. (Illyana (Magik henceforth) uses her magic normally in the normal world. In future issues, she can only use the simplest magic in the normal world, but is almost without limit in Limbo. It's Magik's birthday, and she's 15. She says Magma's the same age she is, so Doug's the only question mark for age among the New Mutants.)
Overview: Whew! I'll try to tackle the New Mutants in smaller chunks in the future. You can see how the stories intersect. As I said before, cool at the time, but a bit of a nuisance when you're trying to piece it all together decades later. We get the introduction of Magma, Selene, and Doug Ramsey, who later becomes the New Mutant, Cypher. We get Magik added to the team. That makes four girls against two boys on the team, if you're counting. Selene becomes a major recurring threat. Magma is WAY more powerful than the other New Mutants, who are pretty low-key.
#8: As the New Mutants make their way down the Amazon River, we find that the boat has a Hellfire Club agent aboard, Castro. He riles up some piranha when Mirage tries to swim to the boat from shore. When Cannonball rescues her, he is confronted by aggressive native women. He and Mirage drive them off, and take one captive, wondering why they were watching the boat. The captive either doesn't know any language Sunspot's mother does or refuses to talk
In Rio de Janeiro, Emmanuel DeCosta talks to Sebastian Shaw via viewscreen. He's been having trouble stopping the New Mutants without hurting his wife or son. It turns out they are after a "mineralogical treasure trove."
Wolvesbane comes upon Castro beating the prisoner and trying to question her, and drives him off. He returns and knocks her out, and she finds that the other New Mutants are recovering from being drugged. The boat goes down the wrong branch of the river, with no one at the wheel, and goes over a waterfall. The native is revealed to be a blonde girl, and Sunspot's mother cannot be found. The New Mutants find themselves being captured by ancient Roman soldiers.
New Mutants #9: The New Mutants are lead to Nova Roma, an ancient Roman colony, populated by their descendants and Incas. The girl, Amara Aquila, begs them not to reveal that she isn't part of their party, and they are all thrown into a dungeon. Amara reveals that there is a dispute between those who wish to continue with a republic, and those who wish to revert to the Inca's absolute monarchy. She is part of the opposition, and her father is a senator; if she is discovered, it could ruin her father politically. Further, there is a Sunspot knocks the door down but they are all taken out by drugged darts.
At the baths, senator Aquila (Amara's father) and Marcus Domitus quip a little over the new prisoners. The boys are to go into the arena, and if they survive, they will be sold as slaves, along with the girls. Marcus retreats to his home and his wife, Selene. They have Castro captive and Selene knows the "black arts." Castro wants to work with them to exploit the land in exchange for whatever they need.
Elsewhere, Mirage, Wolvesbane, and Amara are getting washed up. Mirage and Wolvesbane drink some drugged wine against Amara's warnings, which makes them loopy then knocks them out. Amara slips out on her own, being struck down by some sort of pain. She then finds herself confronted by Selene. (This pain is the same as what Kitty was feeling when her mutant powers were emerging!)
At the arena, Wolvesbane and Mirage are under the thrall of their drugs in the stands, and Sunspot and Cannonball are given a drug that makes them violent. There is fighting, but when Sunspot is ready to kill Cannonball, Wolvesbane is shocked out of her stupor, having a crush on Cannonball. She turns into a wolf and goes to help, and the psychic link Mirage shares with animals shocks her into lucidity, too. She uses her powers to shock the boys back, and Marcus declairs that Wolvesbane must be related to the "she-wolf who suckled Romulus and Remus." She is pronounced a goddess.
New Mutants #10: I don't have this issue. I'm sure nothing important happens in it.
New Mutants #11: Amara is in her Magma form fighting Selene over a pit of lava, while Mirage looks on. (Okay, we missed a little.) Selene is aging as she expends energy. She intends to make Mirage a psychic vampire like herself. Selene knocks some dudes into the lava, soaking up their life forces, then drains the life from Amara. The others have fallen in with Marcus, who has used them to take down senator Aquila. Sunspot slips away and finds Castro abusing his mother, who is in shackles. He beats up Castro and frees her.
Amara pops out of the ground in the presence of her father and others, in her Magma form and in bad shape. Sunspot, Cannonball, and Wolvesbane turn on Marcus, freeing senator Aquila. He, in turn, kills Marcus in a sword fight. They fight Selene some more, with Sunspot ultimately throwing her into the lava pit and collapsing the ceiling over it. (This shows Sunspot's slightly shady nature, as he is so easily willing to kill.)
New Mutants #12: Emmanuel de Costa returns to his office to find Sunspot waiting for him. Sunspot tells him off, and says if the doesn't leave Nova Roma alone, the New Mutants will find out about it and make him sorry. After he leaves Emmanuel calls Sebastian Shaw and says he wishes to accept his offer of joining the Inner Circle. We get a flashback showing Sunspot's mother remaining in Nova Roma, and another with Magma (as I'll be calling Amara from here on out) being convinced by her father to go to learn to control her powers.
A dude gets fresh with Magma on the beach (they're in Rio de Janeiro, by the way) and she raises a volcano. She flees, suffering from heatstroke and not knowing the local language, causing her to lash out with her powers more. The New Mutants track her down and cool her off, and she realizes that she really does need to learn to control her powers.
New Mutants #13: Magma meets Professor X at the mansion and he shows her around. They have a barbacue in her honor, and she feels more and more out of place. Cannonball likes her (if you know what I mean!) and crashes while trying to show off, drenching her in soda. She is already upset, and he's apparently ruined a keepsake from her mother, so she runs off crying into the forest.
At Project Wideawake, Sebastian Shaw, Henry Gyrich, and Valerie Cooper are looking over a sentinel. A remote source makes it go berserk, locking them out of any chance to shut it down. They have to self-destruct it. At the mansion, we see Kitty working on computers with her new friend, Doug Ramsey. She's coyly gotten him to hack into Sebastian Shaw's stuff, and she caused the other damage from there, leaving him oblivious. She goes to meet with Professor X, at his psychic summons, and sees Amara. She offers to help and Amara tells her to go away. The other New Mutants join in and drive her off. Professor X tells her that she's been missing a lot of training sessions, and that her rivalry with the New Mutants needs to end. (Oops! Doug was first mentioned in X-Men #177, but I forgot to mention it!)
Later, we find that Magma is quick to learn computers and already has a strong foundation in dance class. Wolvesbane is jealous, since she likes Cannonball and Cannonball's been oafishly showing off for Magma. Magma gets mad when Professor X scans her surface thoughts, but sees him talking to Lilandra via hologram and sort of makes peace with him.
Magik #1-4: We get the background for Magik in these issues, told with bookends in the current issues. I've already covered her background, so I'm going to skip these. It leads right into...
New Mutants #14: The New Mutants are goofing around in the snow, while Illyana watches from the sidelines, not sure how to interact with other normal kids. Professor X seems down to them, and they decide to cheer him up with a surprise party. They enlist the help of Stevie Hunter in town, where they see Doug Ramsey, who is looking for Kitty. At the mansion, Professor X is attacked by S'ym, a demon from Limbo, who easily beats him. The New Mutants return and Illyana goes inside, since she's immune to Professor X's telepathy. She fights S'ym, and then other New Mutants join in. Even being doused in lava doesn't seem to phase him, but Illyana uses her Soulsword to defeat him. She makes him denounce Belasco and serve her in exchange for her letting him live, then sends him back to Limbo. The X-Men come home to find the place a wreck from the battle, but with the surprise party underway. Professor X surprises them by standing up, finally having regained normal use of his legs, and dancing with Illyana. Kitty and Doug find each other and he reveals that he's been accepted at the Massachussets Academy. (Illyana (Magik henceforth) uses her magic normally in the normal world. In future issues, she can only use the simplest magic in the normal world, but is almost without limit in Limbo. It's Magik's birthday, and she's 15. She says Magma's the same age she is, so Doug's the only question mark for age among the New Mutants.)
Overview: Whew! I'll try to tackle the New Mutants in smaller chunks in the future. You can see how the stories intersect. As I said before, cool at the time, but a bit of a nuisance when you're trying to piece it all together decades later. We get the introduction of Magma, Selene, and Doug Ramsey, who later becomes the New Mutant, Cypher. We get Magik added to the team. That makes four girls against two boys on the team, if you're counting. Selene becomes a major recurring threat. Magma is WAY more powerful than the other New Mutants, who are pretty low-key.