Two new series this week, but one of them doesn't really count because it's just a renumbering.  The other one is New Mutants, making a return after its cancellation in 1991.  Of course, it wasn't really cancelled - it transmuted into X-Force.  And the characters long since passed the point where they can be put back in school.

So, judging from promotional interviews, what we have here is a series which is going to feature two sets of lead characters - the original New Mutants, returning to Xavier's school as staff, and a new bunch of Xavier's students.  I mention this because, if you know that you're not getting a series solely about the old characters, the content of this issue makes a little more sense.

This is actually the origin story of one of the new characters, Sofia Mantega.  The story starts off with her living happily as a mutant in Venezuela, kills off her mother, and packs her off to America to live with her biological father - who wants nothing to do with her.  In due course she comes to the attention of Dani Moonstar, who shows up at the end on a recruitment drive.

I'm not sure this is the story I would have started with - there seems to be an increasing tendency at Marvel to slow starts, and I'm not at all convinced it's the way to go.  This is the origin story of one individual character.  So it only introduces two of the cast, and it never even gets around to introducing the school which is supposed to be the central concept of the series.  It'll be a couple of issues before we can judge whether this was really the best way to start the series, but I'm initially sceptical.

The story itself is fairly standard stuff - de facto orphan is mistreated by de facto stepfather but bears it with saintly patience until an X-Men supporting character realises that she is a princess and carries her away to a better life.  Nothing wrong with reusing the old classics as a framework, but you need strong, believable characters within that framework.  That's where this story falls down.

Sofia's father is a one-dimensional character lacking in any sympathy whatsoever.  He's so irredeemable that Sofia comes across as impossibly saintly for tolerating him at all, as does his long-suffering manservant.  It's just too much, and all subtlety of characterisation is lost in overpowering black and white.

Keron Grant's art is decidedly mixed.  There are three inkers on this book, which is an oddity in itself and normally an indication of behind-the-scenes deadline panic.  There are sequences that are nicely laid out and dynamic, but also some horribly awkward pages.  The opening panel, which is supposed to show two rival crowd on the verge of street fighting, looks more like a group of extras waiting politely for their cue.  When Dani turns up at the end, she's got a horribly elongated neck and is wearing a a jacket so rigid that it must have been borrowed from a Lego man.  Most of the story looks okay, but the book doesn't have a particularly engaging look to it.  The contrast with Joshua Middleton's beautiful cover is deeply unflattering.

I wanted to like this book - writers DeFilippis and Weir are doing a rather good series at Oni at the moment with Three Strikes - but this is uninspiring.  One-dimensional characters in a fairytale plot with middling art does not leave me enthused.

Rating: C+

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