Like the X-Men parent title, also written by Claremont, The New Mutants featured an ensemble cast, with stories often focused on interpersonal relationships and coming-of-age arcs, blending teen drama with action and adventure.
The title was taken over by writer Louise Simonson, ultimately taking a more action-oriented focus under artist Rob Liefeld, who relaunched the characters as X-Force following the series' end.
[2] The New Mutants were teenaged students of Professor Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters and wore matching uniforms, much like the original X-Men, who had since grown into adulthood.
The stories also relied on wilder, more far-fetched premises than were typical of X-Men at the time, shaping into more of a science fiction and fantasy series than the superhero coming-of-age comic it had been touted as in its early days.
[3] Locales included demonic dimensions, alternate futures, and an ancient Roman civilization hidden within the Amazon rainforest.
The New Mutants also encountered a secret society called the Hellfire Club, and began a rivalry with their young apprentices, the Hellions.
Annual #1 featured the first appearance of Cannonball's love interest, rock musician Lila Cheney, and was drawn by McLeod.
A 1987 issue of Comics Feature called New Mutants Special Edition #1 "the single finest New Mutants tale to date and one of the best comics published in the past decade", citing Claremont's penchant for fantasy, artist Arthur Adams's depiction of Warlock, and the strong individual development of all the characters.
The 1988 (#4) Annual saw Mirage's powers dramatically enhanced so that she created physical manifestations of people's fears and desires rather than illusions.
It also featured the first appearance (in pin-up form) of Shatterstar, as part of a planned line-up change preview that was ultimately discarded when Louise Simonson left the series.
After "M-Day", the cataclysmic event that decimated the world's mutant population, only 27 of the 182 students enrolled at the Xavier Institute retained their powers.
The New Mutants and the other training squads were disbanded, and the remaining students were folded into a single junior team, the New X-Men.
[citation needed] The team is a reunion of the cast from the first volume, consisting of Cannonball, Karma, Magik, Magma, Dani Moonstar and Sunspot.
Magik shows up at the X-Men headquarters in San Francisco, claiming to be from the future and warning that Dani Moonstar and Karma are in danger.
After locating her and helping her defeat a mutant rock band (Diskhord), Blink returns with them but decides to join the X-Men at the Jean Grey School of Higher Learning.
[32] Later issues were featuring older New Mutants Karma, Magik, Mirage, Warlock, Warpath, and Wolfsbane acting as teachers and mentors to a new group of younger students known as the Lost Club.
[33] This new group of students (which includes Anole, Scout, Rain Boy, Cosmar, and No-Girl) falls under the influence of, and later into conflict with the Shadow King, culminating in an adventure through the astral plane.
[35] Originally led by Professor X, and later by Magneto, the lineup gradually expanded to include additional recruits, with subsequent volumes and titles have features a variety of team members and associated characters.
The graphic novel Rahne of Terra, by Peter David, is set in a heroic fantasy universe in which Wolfsbane's counterpart is Princess Rain of Geshem.
Other denizens of Terra include Rain's lady-in-waiting Tabby (Boom-Boom), the knights Richard (Rictor), Robert (Sunspot), and Samuel (Cannonball) and the peasant boy Douglas (Cypher).
[40] Former members include Angel, Beast, Cannonball, Dazzler, Karma, Northstar, Polaris, Sunspot and non-mutant Cypher.
[41] The New Mutants, based on the first comics incarnation, appear in X-Men: Evolution, consisting of Boom-Boom, Cannonball, Magma, Sunspot, Wolfsbane, Berzerker, Iceman, Jubilee, and Multiple.
The film was directed by Josh Boone, with a script written by Boone and Knate Gwaltney, and stars Maisie Williams as Rahne Sinclair / Wolfsbane,[42] Anya Taylor-Joy as Illyana Rasputin / Magik,[43] Charlie Heaton as Sam Guthrie / Cannonball,[44] Blu Hunt as Dani Moonstar / Mirage,[45] and Henry Zaga as Bobby da Costa / Sunspot.