482 – The Mutant Gene for Murder

The “mutant gene for murder” makes me think of the Riverdale plot twist that Betty has “the serial killer gene”.

I’m afraid I do not share in any enjoyment from such a tediously dull villain as Tsung. If Grant Morrison were writing him, I think I could see them playing him up as an absolute idiot to be mocked the way you chaps tend to mock Shinobi Shaw, with his whole “Look at me, I killed an air stewardess for no reason. Look at me, I killed crowds of small kids at a birthday party because I want to use a phone. See? EEEEVIL!!” but I suspect here we’re actually supposed to take Tsung dead seriously. The Joker this guy is not (and I was over “murder death kill” Joker by about 1988)

I think it’s the difference between a “So bad it’s good” movie and a “It’s so bad it’s utterly bad” movie. Tsung misses the mark for me. He’s had no build up so he’s got no stakes behind him to make me think he’s anything other than one note… which he is.

I imagine that the difference between his mind bullets and general telekinesis is that the death bullets are automatically fatal. Telekinesis CAN kill, but doesn’t have to, simple contact with a death bullet, even in a non vital area, would kill instantly.

Interestingly, Sam’s costume does sort of retain something of his classic New Mutants uniform: yellow central stripe down the chest and stomach, with black stripes down either side from both the suspenders and the jacket. I suspect that’s deliberate.

Jimmy’s outfit reminds me of Harpoon of the Marauders, another guy who wore an off the shoulder look. I suspect that it might be a nod to several variations of gladiator outfits which usually had one armoured and one exposed arm.

Boom-Boom’s I have no explanation for, except it makes me think of the catwalk model outfits you see which are aesthetically stunning, but so absolutely impractical that they could only be worn on a catwalk.

I also just don’t think Wisdom works in this role he has here at all. He’s never been a leader (or shown interest in wanting to be), he’s never been a team tactician (If anyone had that role it was Nightcrawler). He’s the “too cool for that sort of a thing” loner for a reason. So for Wisdom to suddenly have in depth awareness of other charcters potential (which even they don’t suspect but he does because… well… reasons I guess). It feels like John Constantine showing up to train Power Pack and everyone being instantly “Oh that makes sense, of course he’s the perfect person to train small children because he’s THAT cool”)

And the art… yes The Matrix was big (for our sins) so black and monotone where in, but this is just painful to read in many cases.

The discussion about how telepathy might be perceived was fascinating. I guess I default to the “voice in the head” approach, because of how many times characters say “I can hear [telepath’s name] voice in my head”, and because Chamber has an actual audible accent when he speak telepathically. Plus they do tend to differentiate between “speech” and “memory/infodump sharing” but still, it’s an interesting one to ponder.

Minor little note on the Nasty Boys Disambiguation: there is a third possible Nasty Boys – the tag team of Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags, which started their career in 1985 in the American Wrestling Alliance, before later going to WCW in 1990.

They helped solidify the gimmick (which would become a big part of the independent wrestling scene for the 90s and 2000s) of “Guys who don’t have a look, can’t really actually wrestle, but can brawl real good” – also demonstrated by such luminaries like Public Enemy, and Bad Breed – though some teams who did have a look but couldn’t wrestle (like Insane Clown Posse in their wrestling career), or could wrestle but didn’t have a real unified look at first (like the Hardcore Chair Swinging Freaks, or the Dudley Boys outside of Bubba Ray and D-Von) would build off of that foundation.

On Pete Wisdom smelling “weird”: Does Tabitha not know what cigarettes smell like? Smokers smell like that.

I agree with Icon_UK’s point above that Wisdom isn’t believable as a mentor figure at all, and eulogies trumpeting his “clarity of vision” are just laughable. Even though later series (like in Cornell’s MI-13) depict him to be clever and a decent team commander, he’s still not a “leader,” per se, just a quarterback. And he’s admired by exactly nobody, even those who care about him. (Cornell also uses Kitty as an Ex better in “Elements of Wisdom.”)

It’s hard to understand how Warren Ellis could get his own character so wrong. Perhaps instead he’s writing the other New Mutants as just directionless kids who will grasp at somebody — anybody — to steer them. Which isn’t consistent with past writers, either, and certainly doesn’t explain Domino’s “I was so wrong about Pete” speech, but Ellis mischaracterizing *other* people’s characters, I can get.

And that beard of Sam’s is ridiculous. Sam’s attempts as fashion should always be disastrous and immediately abandoned. (See past Lila Cheney stories.)