New Mutants: Fall of the New Mutants #1

The New Mutants are left wounded after the Second Coming and take a trip together to strengthen their bond. A military group called Project Purgatory has plans for them that center around Illyana Rasputin.  

Writer Zeb Wells continues his run on New Mutants and begins by focusing on the beaten and crippled team after enduring several injuries during Second Coming. My knowledge of New Mutant history isn't the greatest so I probably didn't take away as much as the average person who read this would have. I can tell Zeb Wells incorporates a lot of history in his writing which I'm sure longtime fans will appreciate. That's part of the reason I couldn't give this a higher score. I just lack the necessary history but I can tell this was a well put together story. 

I like how Wells doesn't neglect a single member on the team. He makes it seem like all of them are important and vital to the team which is definitely a good thing. I mean why have someone on the team if they won't be involved in anything. Wells begins by focusing on a defeated Cannonball who questions his leadership skills. Cyclops refuses to hear otherwise and gives him advice to take some time off with his team. I like that Wells did that rather then have the team just immediately jump into some random action. He takes a more realistic approach. An approach that you can appreciate and accept. One that feels natural. Of course it's only a matter of time until danger comes knocking on the door. The New Mutants really got hit hard when they were at their lowest point.

The brutality the New Mutants faced was shocking. They were subjected to extreme torture. I liked how Wells took that darker approach to the story. It made it all the more compelling and really lived up to the title. These mutants fell and they fell hard. Now I'm curious to see how they'll pick themselves back up. The X-Men came to their aide in the end but I wouldn't be surprised if this event will have lasting effects on some of the team members. At the end we saw a Cannonball who looked sort of ashamed as he walked away from a broken Moonstar. 

The art was drawn by Leonard Kirk with assistance from Andrew Currie. The art was very solid overall as Kirk did a great job drawing all the blood-spattering violence the New Mutants were caught in. He also did a great job with the facial expressions. Really great. You can read the words clear off their face which was great since this was an emotional and violent story. Dave Wilkins turned in some terrific covers to accompany this story. 

I'd recommend reading this after you've first read Second Coming. You could understand everything hear without having read that story, but I think you'll appreciate it more if you read Second Coming first. This is probably the most difficult challenge the team has faced so far and one that is sure to have repercussions.