New X-Men rounds off its ghost story, and livens matters up with yet another issue of fill-in art. 

This was originally solicited as a Michael Ryan book, but for some reason Emma Frost's Carlo Pagulayan turns up to draw the issue instead.  Which is kind of odd, because Ryan is one of the faster artists in the industry - if anything, he's the one who normally turns up to do fill-in art.  Not that I have a problem with Pagulayan's art - he's pretty good, albeit that his girls tend to look a lot alike.  But this book seems terminally incapable of achieving stable art.  It ploughs through artists at a remarkable rate; it could really do with a consistent look.

Anyhow, as you might perhaps have guessed, the New Mutants solve the ghost problem by talking him down.  It's all a bit underwhelming - the ghost turns out to be some kid we've never heard of who was killed when Magneto blew up the building.  Apparently the X-Men just assumed that he'd escaped, which seems a bit optimistic of them.  We're also asked to accept that he only started haunting the school because David's human sister turned up, which was apparently some sort of final straw.  But wasn't Annie at the school until fairly recently?  Isn't she human?

The most interesting bit of the story is that the ghost isn't sent on his way to the afterlife; he's sticking around as a deceased student at the school.  Not quite sure where they're going with that, but it's a potentially interesting idea for a supporting character.  Otherwise, it's not horrible, but it never really gets off the ground.

Much more interesting are the character subplots, as Josh continues to blithely pursue relationships with Rahne and Laurie simultaneously, apparently seeing absolutely nothing wrong with this.  He's been positioned quite nicely as a character who isn't heartless so much as completely self-absorbed, and they've effectively built up interest in the inevitable fireworks when his questionable relationship with Rahne becomes public knowledge - as it's bound to.

Julian Keller also gets some good material in this issue, reluctantly helping the team and coming across as slightly less of an asshole than usual.  He's a character much in need of a third dimension, and this sort of story does a lot to help round him out.

A mixed bag, but the main story disappoints.

Footnote: Thanks to all of you who reminded me that Jeffrey Garrett isn't a completely new character; he's the kid from the "Schism" arc in X-Treme X-Men last year.

Rating: B-

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