2.37 (402) New Mutants vol 1 #29 to 31 ... Marvel ...

Do you remember some of the weird lame ass seeming characters introduced in the Dazzler and Beast mini-series, Beauty and the Beast? Well, if you don't, no one blames you as it certainly wasn't significant except for a guy who claims to be the real life heir of Doctor Doom NO SPOILER ALERT

Anyway this 3-parter is so good that it rightly deserves its own individual reviews rather than smushed into one like this but ...

#29 - as the cover shows, some of the mutants are "kidnapped" and forced to fight in the Arena against the gladiators who happened to be in the BB mini-series. For those who read this when it first came out, the first reaction would naturally be WTF? Because when that ended, the Mutants had learnt to be free of Doom wannabe and supposedly gone to a better lifestyle than this. So what gives, eh? And o yes, naturally, this is the perfect excuse to introduce Alison Blaire to this title

#30 - next issue, Alison is back and fighting to be top dog of this vehicle or so it seems. Is she slipping back into style because she misses the high of being a performer after her big expose as a mutant forbid her from being an on-stage singer? Or is she merely pretending? And amidst all these, Magneto comes onboard to offer them an out. Remember that last X-Men movie where he ripped a huge stadium shaped thingie? He does that here. And that's how this issue earned its crossover to SW2 but the question on your mind is who the F is running the show since it is most definitely not baby Doom anymore

#31 - the big reveal NO SPOILER ALERT and it is shown on the arty cover as the baddie is ... the first of the Mutants, Karma except she is no longer that shy, lacking in self confidence Vietnamese girl but a hugely bloated bitch. Naturally when faced with overwhelming odds, she bolted and the Mutants are free. Except that since she was once one of them, they decided that they needed to find her and rescue her from herself in need be. O glorious heroics eh? Hahahahahah! We also bid a fond farewell to Bill S with this issue

Ratings: 8/10