DeFilippis and Weir juxtapose the origin story of an old New Mutant with a new New Mutant with the kind of soap opera poignancy not seen in an X-title since Claremont's better days in the 1980's. This tale bodes well for what the husband and wife writer team has in store for the X-Men academy follow up to NEW MUTANTS.

Once again, Barberi shows improvement, but he's more style than storytelling, a product of young artists growing up on the Image founders and their followers' art(less) style. He can tell a story, but drawing like this wouldn't have gotten in him a job 20 years ago, even at a time when many mainstream artists of the time were considered to be little more than hacks.

[DRECK, DULL, READABLE, PRETTY GOOD, EXCELLENT]