Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
| 1994-10-01 00:02:10 |
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New Warriors #52
Issue(s): New Warriors #52
Cover Date: Oct 94
Title: "Don't mind the maggots"
Credits:
Fabian Nicieza - Writer
Richard Pace - Penciler
Bruce D. Patterson - Inker
Paula Foye - Assistant Editor
Rob Tokar - Editor
Review/plot:
This issue and next are Fabian Nicieza's last. Nicieza's departure is unexpected. This issue's lettercol only notes an upcoming change in the editorial team, but in the next issue Nicieza says that he's leaving the title because of his current workload.
I think it's kind of fitting that both this issue and next use what i guess have turned out to be the best villains for the team: Psionex. This isn't really a great story - it's the kind of topical issue thing that Nicieza has been doing all over the place with varying degrees of success. But at least with Psionex involved it kind of invokes a bit of the older New Warriors issues.
Psionex are technically reformed at this point, and the issue starts with them trying to fight street crime. But it turns out they're just attacking kids who are using water guns, and one of the kids is accidentally killed by the group's newest member, the new Asylum (formerly Darkling, suddenly Asylum and a member of Psionex with little fanfare; as Michael notes, it's because it happened in New Warriors annual #4. As usual, no footnote.).
The New Warriors are running tests comparing Namorita's strength to Rage's (Namorita's base strength is strong, but Rage gets stronger when he's angry). They're then contacted by the mayor and police commissioner, who want help from the Warriors to deal with the Psionex situation. The Warriors were called since they are trusted heroes after the Sphinx incident. And because of their relationship with Psionex, of course.
All of Psionex have turned themselves in except for Asylum. But Walter Rosen's contention is that Asylum himself is "innocent". I think it's better to say that Asylum wasn't guilty of premeditated murder; he accidentally gave the boy a heart attack.
So the New Warriors and Psionex search for Asylum and help "prove" his "innocence".
Quality Rating: C-
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: A footnote says that this story takes place prior to Night Thrasher #16.
References:
- The New Warriors aren't exactly enamored with Darkling/Asylum after New Warriors #32-34 and New Warriors annual #3.
- We did see the old Asylum get destroyed in New Warriors #40.
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
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Comments
The title is from the Rolling Stones' Shattered: "Go ahead, bite the Big Apple. Don't mind the maggots."
(Are we still doing that?)
"formerly Darkling, suddenly Asylum and a member of Psionex with little fanfare"- Darkling became Asylum and joined Psionex in New Warriors Annual 4.
"But Walter Rosen's contention is that Asylum himself is "innocent". I think it's better to say that Asylum wasn't guilty of premeditated murder; he accidentally gave the boy a heart attack."- I think the point is that Asylum's powers wouldn't have been fatal to a "normal" person. The boy had a heart murmur. Of course, Asylum is still responsible.
I thought this one had a good plot- toy guns being mistaken for real guns with fatal consequences is something that still happens to this day. I like how Asylum thinks he can just turn over a new leaf and become a superhero but of course, when a borderline psychotic teen tries to play hero, as opposed to conscientious teens like the New Warriors, his lack of judgement is going to get people killed.
At the end of this issue, Night Thrasher admits he saw in Asylum the same fear the Warriors all have that one day they might make a mistake and get people killed. That reads a lot more harshly after the Stamford incident.
Nicieza said in an issue of Marvel Age that he left a lot of titles around this time because Bob Harras told him he was doing a lot of work and the quality was suffering as a result.
