New Mutants 68 - Inferno Prologue

The New Mutants head in to space to pursue Spyder's ship but find the influence of Gosamyr causes them to got through strange things.

New Mutants #68

Writer: Louise Simonson
Artist: Bret Blevins
Letterer: Ken Bruzenak
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The issue starts out in Limbo as Illyana (Magik) seeks to recreate her Scrying Glass from the shattered fragments. She manages to identify Spyder's ship before the glass explodes again and as it will have moved the team teleports to Gosamyr's ship to pursue it. On board the power of Gosamyr soon becomes clear as she seduces Bobby (Sunspot) and encourages Rahne (Wolfsbane) to indulge her feelings then tricks Dani (Mirage) into creating a solid illusion of Rahne's desire - a gallant Sam (Cannonball) who courts her. The illusion disappears when Dani has to create another to trick officials on the planet they have pursued Spyder's ship to and this causes the team to start lashing out at each other. Worse still when Dani created what the official wanted to see it turned out to be not authorisation papers but a bribe - and a superior has discovered this.

This story arc is incredibly slow and decompressed with the issue taking an unnecessary detour into Limbo to once again show how Illyana's powers over it are breaking down and something dark is on the horizon then spending an extended period on the ship in which Gosamyr's powers and tricks are disrupting the team's dynamics. As well as seducing Bobby she plays upon Rahne's feelings for Sam, even dressing her up and giving her a wig to resemble Lila. Of the boys only Warlock seems immune whilst the manipulation turns Rahne against Dani and then Dani against Gosamyr.

It's hard to escape the feeling that this story arc has been given more issues than necessary in order to tread water before the upcoming crossover. The problem is that it results in an extremely slow pace that's compensated for by a focus upon characters - and when the key character is an unlikeable silly cliche like Gosamyr that's not a good move. Taking the team into space could have opened up many good ideas but so far it's wallowed in bad ones.