No sooner did Marvel end the very good New Mutants series than the same writers were assigned a very similar series: Academy X.
It’s basically just more of New Mutants, merging with the kids created by Grant Morrison for New X-Men. I’m not complaining.
Cyclops is kind of in charge now. The Xavier Institute has been rebuilt after having been razed to the ground, and the students are assigned to specific tutors and given new code-names. The New Mutants are all assigned to…Dani Moonstar. Again, not much of a change from the New Mutants series. Emma Frost takes on a group of five as well, and calls them “Hellions.” Hellion is on her team so the name is kinda appropriate. It’s Julian Keller version of Hellion. There have been several. Dust is also on Emma’s team. She’s got a bunch of the less-clearly-good characters from New X-Men.
Finally, Cyclops also gets five students. He takes the Stepford Cuckoos, presumably because Emma has emphatically not done a good job with them thus far. He names his team the “Corsairs.” Presumably because he still has daddy issues.
The student groups are then pitted in competition against each other in various competitions.
And of course, lots of in-fighting and bickering. And sports.
Also some kissing. And not all of it is ethical!
(That’s teacher Rahne kissing student Elixir.)
For dramatic tension, Wither is accused of patricide and is arrested.
His power is a death touch.
Emma’s Hellions break the mutant Wither out of prison. The New Mutants try to stop them from breaking the law or hurting anyone.
New characters introduced include a young Quill…
His powers are pretty self-explanatory. Then there’s Dryad, who doesn’t get much panel time. As the name suggests, she controls plants. There’s also the skrull-looking Victor Borkowski, who was from New Mutants. There, his code name was Lizard Boy. Now he takes a new code name: Anole. That’s dangerously close to a-hole.
Anyway, all the New Mutants cast get new names.
Sam Guthrie’s younger brother Josh now goest by “Jay” and takes the codename Icarus.
