{"id":6919,"date":"2021-07-22T21:42:36","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T20:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=6919"},"modified":"2021-07-22T21:42:36","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T20:42:36","slug":"new-mutants-20-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=6919","title":{"rendered":"New Mutants #20 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbersgo by the digital edition.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>NEW MUTANTS #20<\/strong>
\n“Secrets & Lies”<\/strong>
\nby Vita Ayala, Alex Lins & Matt Milla<\/strong><\/p>\n

COVER \/ PAGE 1:<\/strong> The Shadow King looms over Scout. Seems like a cover that would have fit better an issue or two back.<\/p>\n

PAGES 2-4.<\/strong> Anole, Cosmar, Rain Boy and No-Girl decide what to do with Scout.<\/em><\/p>\n

The previous issue ended with them finding Scout’s body. The strong implication was that Scout had been killed by the Shadow King, after she confronted him in issue #18 about her concerns over his influence over these four.<\/p>\n

The group is named later in the issue as “Lost Club”.<\/p>\n

“Cosmar asked for their help, and they gave her platitudes.”<\/strong> Issue #15. Cosmar, who believes that her distorted appearance is not a feature of her powers but merely a self-inflicted injury when her powers were out of control, asked Dani to kill her in the Crucible so that she could be resurrected in her original form. Dani refused and gave her a mutant-pride speech, which went down very badly.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“And yet they enter the Crucible for little things – Karma still had her powers!”<\/strong>\u00a0Issue #18. Although Karma herself didn’t require resurrection, her twin brother Tran was stuck within her mind, and could only be freed by resurrecting both of them. So Cosmar is downplaying the significance of what Karma was trying to achieve, but she has a fair point that her own reasons for wanting to be resurrected were at least as valid.<\/p>\n

“When Scout asked if the ‘rights’ Krakoa promises extended to those like her – to clones – they patted her on the head and didn’t bother to consider.”<\/strong> Issue #14. Scout expressly raised the point that Madelyne Pryor wasn’t being resurrected because she was a clone (a\u00a0Hellions<\/em> storyline). The cast of\u00a0New Mutants<\/em> all appeared to agree that this was such an obviously bad rule that it simply couldn’t be the rule. They’re wrong, as\u00a0Hellions<\/em> has made clear.<\/p>\n

“Humans took me and tore my brain from my body, and instead of the X-Men undoing what those monsters had done, I was left to figure out how to fend for myself.”<\/strong> This is No-Girl’s origin story from\u00a0New X-Men<\/em> vol 1 #118-119, in which she was one of a number of mutants who had been kidnapped and organ-harvested by the U-Men. She was already a brain in a jar when we first saw her.<\/p>\n

“They even gave me a name that pokes fun at what I went through. No-Girl.”<\/strong>\u00a0This is a retcon. The name “No-Girl” originates from\u00a0New X-Men<\/em> vol 1 #135, where Martha is a member of Xorn’s Special Class. “No-Girl” is supposedly an extra Class member who is invisible because she’s “totally conceptual”. The very strong implication is that she’s a joke that the Class are playing on Xorn. But either way, the dialogue is absolutely clear that Martha and No-Girl are different people (Xorn lists the Class members at one point, and names them both).<\/p>\n

However, in issue #154 (part of the alternate-future arc at the end of Grant Morrison’s run), Martha is indeed addressed as “No-Girl”: “I love being in your mind, Martha… everything’s so colourful and exiting in the cartoon world of No-Girl.”\u00a0The overall implication seems to be that the No-Girl name was invented by the Special Class and subsequently taken on by Martha, which isn’t what she claims here.<\/p>\n

“And even though we argued with Scout…”<\/strong> Issue #18.<\/p>\n

“We switch bodies like we practiced…”<\/strong> Issues #16-18. In issue #18, they wanted to test the theory that the dead bodies in X-Factor’s body farm would endure the experience better. From the fact that they’re now theorising that it’ll work if the mind matches the dead body, one has to assume that the experiment went badly.<\/p>\n

What actually happened to Scout?<\/strong> An obvious question which nobody asks in this scene is what actually\u00a0happened<\/em> to Scout, given that her body – as animated by No-Girl – is apparently perfectly capable of walking around as normal. It can’t have healed into this condition (she’s dead), and it shows no signs of obvious injury. Similarly, at the end of last issue, she was just lying on the ground with her eyes rolled back. So… what actually happened to her? Is she actually dead, or did the Shadow King relocate her mind somewhere?<\/p>\n

PAGE 5.<\/strong> Recap and credits.<\/p>\n

PAGES 6-8.<\/strong>\u00a0Karma, Wolfsbane and Shadow King in the Green Lagoon.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Shadow King befriended Wolfsbane in issue #17, during the period when Mirage and Karma were off in Otherworld and Wolfsbane was especially upset about the news that her son Tier was alive and missing. Hence Wolfsbane trying to build bridges between Scout and the Shadow King in issue #18 – which probably led to Scout’s demise, though she doesn’t know that.<\/p>\n

“What Farouk did to me…”<\/strong>\u00a0The Shadow King possessed Karma after\u00a0her apparent death in\u00a0New Mutants<\/em> vol 1 #6, and she resurfaced as his (grossly obese) host body in\u00a0New Mutants<\/em> vol 1 #30.<\/p>\n

“I have tried to take the promise of Krakoa to heart.”<\/strong> Wolfsbane is echoing the Shadow King’s speech to her in issue #17: “When we came to Krakoa, we were told that this was a land of change. By submitting to the laws of this land, we would be remade and reborn into our truth… Krakoa is for all mutants, regardless of who we have been and what we have done. I have taken the mission of our new home to heart.”<\/p>\n

“One abuser…”<\/strong> Tran was undoubtedly a villain in most of his appearances.<\/p>\n

PAGE 9.<\/strong> Data page. A new mutant has been detected on Tristan Da Cunha, which is indeed a British Overseas Territory. It’s one of the most remote places in the world, with a population of about 250, and no airstrip. The easiest way to get there is by boat from South Africa, which takes about a week (though some passing cruise ships do stop by).<\/p>\n

PAGES 10-15.<\/strong> The rescue mission on Tristan da Cunha.<\/em><\/p>\n

This seems to be a genuine case of misunderstanding: the islanders are alarmed that the kid is going to be carted off to Krakoa for good, and since it takes the New Mutants a page or so to figure this out, they come very close to being right. This, even though the first thing the girl says to Warpath is that she wants her mother. There’s a parallel here with issues #16-17, where Mirage and Karma spent two issues traipsing through Otherworld to retrieve a mutant who had no interest whatsoever in being rescued. The New Mutants seem a little too ready to jump to the conclusion that all mutants belong on Krakoa, though they do back off it pretty quickly when challenged.<\/p>\n

The group of students who accompany Warpath and Magik on this mission are:<\/p>\n