Tag: Bill Sienkiewicz

The New Mutants (1983) #36

Nm36

I mustn’t have ever picked up a New Mutants comic as a kid when I was getting Secret Wars II crossovers. I think I’d remember being this totally perplexed. Claremont’s approach to this title is apparently to throw everything he can think of into the issue, up to and including a floating subway car (and a Ghostbusters reference).

There are demons, there are religious things, mutant things, dating things, it’s just way too much. It’s like instead of creating characters, Claremont wants to discuss “issues” just really, really immaturely. It’s kind of like social commentary with stick figures.

The Secret Wars II crossover is actually all right (it’s far better than demons), just because it deals with the fallout of someone encountering someone as powerful as the Beyonder. What’s incredible is apparently no one realized the Beyonder’s a perfect stand-in for the comic book writer, metaphorically.

Big surprise there.

The New Mutants (1983) #30

Nm30

I don’t think I’ve ever read a Sienkiewicz comic before. I know, I know. I was a DC guy in the eighties for the most part and, even if I did, I was a kid and probably wouldn’t have appreciated it. Sienkiewicz did mainstream books? It’s incredible to think about it–his work’s design oriented but also has a narrative flow. It’s absolutely great.

The comic itself, a Secret Wars II crossover, is all right if unspectacular. Even though I’m completely unfamiliar with the title, I could figure some things out (though not all the character names, besides Dazzler and Kitty Pryde), maybe because Claremont is the wordiest comic book writer I think I’ve ever seen.

I wonder if the title was produced “Marvel style” (Sienkiewicz illustrating off a plot, then Claremont filling in text)–there’s a lot of art covered up here with exposition.

It’s a decent enough comic.