Based on the cover, the New Mutants are a bunch of petty bullies and Kitty Pryde is an insecure little kid. Not a fan. Fortunately, the inside of the book handles this situation better. Kitty is summoned (rather harshly) by Professor X, but along the way she comes across Magma, the newest new mutant…
…Who officially joined last issue and on the splash of this issue. Magma is struggling to adapt to the “modern” life of upstate New York (having been rescued from a hidden land that still lived like Ancient Rome), and Kitty tries to give her a pep talk when the rest of the New Mutants come along and misunderstand what she’s doing—and kind of act like dicks about it.
Then Professor X interrupts and yells at her psychically, then he brings her into his office and yells at her again.
All told, she actually handles it pretty well.
Also in this issue, Professor X really is a jerk.
He reads Magma’s mind to design her bedroom, and when she expresses concern about that, he reassures her that he will respect her privacy. Then, on the VERY NEXT PAGE, we see he’s a liar and he’s actively “monitoring” her.
Now, I understand the need to monitor a powerful mutant who is not yet in control of her powers—but his behavior about how he’s doing it, lying and inserting himself into anyone’s mind whenever he feels like it, is just wrong. He’s really a bad headmaster. I don’t remember him being this forceful in the early days of The X-Men, so I’m taking this as character progression. It makes sense, given all he’s seen happen to various students over the years.
Also in this issue: The Hellfire club are still working with former Avengers’ government handler Henry Peter Gyrich on developing Sentinels but they’re having trouble. And apparently they cost $5 million to make.
Frankly, that seems like a very low cost.
Chris Claremont sure could pack a lot into an issue, eh? Even Gyrich!