Issue(s): New Warriors #28
Cover Date: Oct 92
Title: "Heavy turbulence"
Credits:
Fabian Nicieza - Writer
Darick Robertson - Penciler
Larry Mahlstedt - Inker
Eric Fein - Assistant Editor
Danny Fingeroth - Editor

Review/plot:
This issue introduces a new character called Turbo.

Note that Turbo was conceived by James Brock, Dwight D. Coye, and Evan Skolnick. But i'd say the heavy lifting was done by the creators of Torpedo, who first appeared in Daredevil #126 and died in ROM #50.

Turbo is not a superhero. She's a college student named Michiko Musashi. She lives in New York but uses her powers for flying to Paris on shopping trips. For what it's worth, in response to a letter published in this issue pointing out that the Folding Circle was a more ethnically diverse group than the New Warriors, they point to Turbo along with Rage (and mention the upcoming introduction of Sprocket).

Turbo is on her way home from a trip to Paris when she notices a boat where there usually isn't one. She stops to ask if they need help, and gets fired at by Russians with rifles and rocket launchers. She flees. Not a superhero.

Later, we see her talking on the phone to someone named Michael about a deal they have with the Turbo suit, and then she sees a headline about the Russian mob and decides that she should have done something about the boat.

Meanwhile, some of the New Warriors - Nova, Namorita, Silhouette, and Firestar - are acting on a tip that Namorita got about smugglers. They run into a new villain named Cardinal.

Namorita has modified her costume.

Cardinal's costume has the ability to shoot nets and tar (which covers Nova's eyes) and it's established that he's faster than Namorita but not as fast as Nova. He manages to escape, but it's not clear if he accomplished anything. The New Warriors manage to capture the Russian smugglers and the guns they were selling, but they don't yet know who the Russians were trading with. Or at least most of the New Warriors don't. The Russians were trading the weapons for "stolen icons", and Namorita later reveals that she's been getting her tips from the Project: Earth group, as we saw in New Warriors annual #2 about Sea Urchin.

After a little debate, the Warriors agree to get another tip from Project: Earth, and they wind up at another warehouse where they bump into Turbo.

I like the way they casually accept the appearance of another teen super-hero. No drama.

The Warriors run into more smugglers, plus Cardinal and Sea Urchin, who is not in his exoskeleton so maybe i should just call him Jeremy Swimming Bear. Namorita has a mad-on for Swimming Bear, but he escapes in a helicopter. The pivotal moment comes when Namorita is unable to catch the helicopter, so she has to accept the fact that Turbo will do that while she dismantles Cardinal.

Namorita remembers a line about fish and birds that was given to us as an "ancient Atlantean philosophy poem" after she fought Sea Urchin the first time.

When Turbo says she's not used to "this kind of stuff" and is told that she'll get used to it, she reiterates that she's not really looking to be a superhero. But Namorita says that if she's going to use the suit, she's going to have to learn to become one. And then, reflective of her own obsession about Swimming Bear, says you also have to avoid becoming a villain.

I liked this issue. It's pretty low key, and there's plenty of room to introduce Turbo and give her a distinct personality while also examining the impulses that are driving Namorita. And Darick Robertson is working out as a good replacement for Mark Bagley.

Quality Rating: B

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - first Turbo(s) and Cardinal (later Harrier)

Chronological Placement Considerations: It's said that Namorita has been under a lot of pressure lately, and she agrees, saying, "Yeah... running Oracle with my cousin Namor missing". She could be speaking in the past tense, i.e. she had been under a lot of pressure because of that, but i've placed this before Namor #26-33, which ends with Namorita reunited with Namor and Oracle dismantled. Night Thrasher may not be in this issue because of the events of his mini-series, but Speedball and Rage are also not around. For what it's worth, Namorita is not wearing her new costume in her cameos in that mini-series but it's not like she can't switch back and forth, maybe depending on the weather.

References:

• Namorita first faced Sea Urchin in New Warriors #14.
  
• She made a deal with Project: Earth in New Warriors annual #2.
  
• The rest of the New Warriors are a little wary about Namorita working with Project: Earth after New Warriors #7-9.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Turbo's appearances were an attempt to backdoor the creators pitch for an ongoing series. Apparently, despite being willing to publish just about every teenage super-hero book any Marvel editor wanted to write, Skolnick and Coye weren't high enough on the totem pole for Marvel to take seriously. As time has proved, Marvel's dismissal was good judgment, considering Turbo's current consignment to limbo. Points to the creators, Turbo is a good name, though. Better than Torpedo anyway.

This is the start of Namorita's deterioration that leads to her revealing the Warrior's identities through a night of drunken sex with a strange man that turned out to be a Vietnamese gangster.

Micheal, do you mean mental deterioration or physical deterioration (like become some kind of blue fish-creature perhaps?)

I meant mental. But what you suggested works too.