The first trailer for the “New Mutants” dropped, appropriately, on Friday the thirteenth, to a positive reception, and that’s going to drive interest in the old X-Men series.
While this may be the first project with the actual title in its name, this is not the first “New Mutants”-related venture as of late. For one, there’s the “Legion” television show on FX that is returning for its second season. Then there’s the new “The Gifted” show on Fox that is getting praise from comic fans. But the movie will stand out from both of these shows.
The “New Mutants” movie is important not only because it is the first X-Men spinoff movie that doesn’t feature any of the major X-characters (sorry, no Wolverine here), but it is the first modern superhero movie that merges with the horror genre (no, I’m not counting “Blade,” as it was before the Marvel Cinematic Universe completely changed the landscape of superhero movies). It’s been much talked about that next year’s Spawn film will be a horror movie, so it’s going to be a boon to Todd McFarlane’s second attempt at Spawn if “New Mutants” is a hit.
The big question mark to me is how close will the movie be to the source material? The Chris Claremont/Bob McLeod story about the younger generation of X-Men-in-the-making is not a horror story. Not that making New Mutants scary can’t work, but I hope it doesn’t stray too far from Claremont’s writing.
While we play the waiting game for the next trailer and the impending release date, why don’t we take a look at some of the “New Mutants” issues you should be watching?
It makes sense that the first issue of the spin-off series would be the most popular comic. “New Mutants” #1 leaped 21 spots and is the 56th-hottest comic over the past month. As the trailer builds excitement for the forthcoming movie, this comic is only going to sell more copies. Although the tone is much different between the comic and the movie, you will still find the key characters in “NM” #1 that you see in the trailer, such as Cannonball.
Just below the first issue of “New Mutants” is the series’ last issue, “New Mutants” #100. There’s not going to be a major connection between this comic and the “New Mutants” movie besides the title.
What I suspected is driving sales for “NM” #100 is another planned movie, “X-Force.” During the summer, Fox announced that an X-Force movie is in the works with Drew Goddard (who established himself to comic crowds with “Daredevil” on Netflix) at the helm. As you’ll recall, “New Mutants” #100 marked the first appearance of X-Force as the title transitioned from New Mutants to the aforementioned team.
Although there was no mention of Demon Bear in the trailer, the rumor is that he will be the main villain in “New Mutants.” If that’s true - and if the Demon Bear is handled well, which it looks like he will be - then this will quickly become a hot issue.
Not only does Demon Bear make his debut in “New Mutants” #18, but so does Warlock, who later became one of the more popular members of the original series. That just gives you an added bonus to getting your hands on this comic. Another plus is that “NM” #18 is still a cheap buy as a graded 9.6 is only averaging $55.
