By the early 1980s, Uncanny X-Men (under the authorship of Chris Claremont) had become one of the comic book industry's most successful titles, prompting Marvel to launch The New Mutants, the first of several X-Men spin-offs. The New Mutants were teenaged students of Professor Charles Xavier, much like the original X-Men, who had since grown into adulthood. These students, however, rather resembled the "All-New, All-Different X-Men" in terms of ethnic diversity. The original team consisted of:
- Karma (Xi'an Coy Manh), a 19 year-old Vietnamese girl and the team's original leader, who could mentally possess other people's bodies.
- Cannonball (Samuel Guthrie), a mild-mannered Kentuckian and eventual co-leader after Karma's "death", who became nigh-invulnerable when rocketing through the air.
- Psyche (Danielle Moonstar, also called Mirage and Moonstar), a Cheyenne and eventual co-leader after Karma's "death", who could create visual empathic three-dimensional illusions.
- Sunspot (Roberto da Costa), a Brazilian who gained superhuman strength fueled by sunlight and could store solar energy in his body to use his super strength during the night.
The team debuted in Marvel Graphic Novel #4 (1982), which continued a plotline from Uncanny X-Men. The group was formed by Professor X when he was under the control of the menacing alien race the Brood. The youths were intended to be hosts for Brood embryos, but the X-Men returned and set matters straight. The five youngsters remained at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters to learn to control their powers.
The series was originally written by Claremont and illustrated by McLeod, the team's co-creators, but McLeod soon passed artistic duties onto Sal Buscema. Claremont gave the series an oddly dark tone, which was heightened with the arrival of artist Bill Sienkiewicz. In addition to very serious depictions of teenage angst and growing pains, the series featured themes of mysticism and psychic boundaries. The New Mutants also encountered a secret society called the Hellfire Club, and began a rivalry with their young apprentices, the Hellions.
The New Mutants initially had a semi-antagonistic relationship with the youngest X-Man, Kitty Pryde, sparked by Professor X's decision to "demote" Kitty to the junior team after its establishment. Though Kitty ultimately proved herself to Xavier and remained an X-Man, she held a grudge against the New Mutants nonetheless, dubbing them "X-Babies"; the New Mutants, blameless in Xavier's decision and resenting Kitty's attitude, responded in kind. The animosity softened after the team attempted to rescue Kitty from the Hellfire Club's White Queen Emma Frost, and furthermore after Kitty's friends Illyana Rasputin and Doug Ramsey joined the team (see below).
After the apparent death of Karma, Cannonball and Danii Moonstar were appointed co-leaders. New recruits included:
- Magma (Amara Aquila/Alison Crestmere), a fiercely-tempered native of a secret Roman society in the Amazon who could control lava.
- Magik (Illyana Rasputin), the sister of the Russian X-Man Colossus and long-time resident of the X-Mansion, an accomplished mystic who could open "teleportation discs" allowing travel to Limbo and from there any point on Earth.
- Warlock, an extraterrestrial of the techno-organic race known as the Technarchy.
- Cypher (Douglas Ramsey), a shy boy who could learn any language at an exponential pace.
In 1986, Professor X was written out of the series. Before he left he made the X-Men's one-time nemesis, Magneto, headmaster of his school. Not trusted by his students, Magneto struggled in his new role and eventually joined the Hellfire Club.
In 1987, the series was turned over to writer Louise Simonson and illustrator Bret Blevins. Simonson's run was controversial[citation needed], as Magma was written out of the book, Cypher was killed off, new characters Bird-Brain and Gosamyr were added to the team, and Magik was de-aged back to childhood. Simonson also folded the X-Terminators, a group of young wards from X-Factor, into the New Mutants.
The X-Terminators added to the team were:
- Rictor (Julio Richter), a young Mexican who could create shock waves.
- Rusty Collins, a pyrokinetic wanted by the U.S. Government.
- Boom Boom (Tabitha Smith), a teen runaway who could create “plasma bombs.”
In 1989, Simonson crafted a saga in which the team journeyed to Asgard, the home of the gods of Norse mythology. The storyline wrote Dani Moonstar out of the series, as she joined the Norse pantheon as one of the Valkyrie
Sales of the series had slumped for several years, but took a sharp upturn after Rob Liefeld took over the penciling and co-plotting chores at the end of 1989.[citation needed] A new mentor for the group, the mysterious mercenary Cable, was introduced, further helping sales. Over the next year, several longtime team members were written out or killed off. When Rob Liefeld, providing ploting and pencils, and Fabian Nicieza, who wrote dialogue based on Liefeld's plots, took over as writers of the final three issues of the series, they included several harder-edged characters:
- Domino, Cable's pale-skinned, black-garbed mercenary lover.
- Shatterstar, a swashbuckling warrior from another dimension.
- Warpath (James Proudstar), the younger brother of slain X-Man Thunderbird and a former Hellion, an Apache who possessed super strength and speed,
- Feral (Maria Callasantos), who possessed a bestial temperament and appearance.
The New Mutants was cancelled in 1991 with issue #100, but the new platoon-like team formed by Cable continued in X-Force, a successful series (whose first issue sold approximately one million copies)[citation needed] that would continue until 2002, and feature a variety of the former New Mutants cast.
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