Episode 88 – New Mutants: The Demon Bear Saga

In this episode, our look back at 80s mutant mania continues with The Demon Bear Saga from The New Mutants Vol. 1 #18-20, and the follow-up double-sized story Slumber Party from #21, by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz, published by Marvel Comics! Danielle Moonstar, haunted by visions of the monster that killed her parents, summons it to a showdown on the snow-covered grounds of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. It doesn't go well. As she lies near death, her fellow students find themselves in the mystical Badlands, the only ones standing between this savagely powerful entity and the rest of the human race! And if and when they finish with the Demon Bear, they'll face off against the bizarre techno-organic alien known as Warlock! Can the X-Men's inexperienced junior varsity prevail against these larger-than-life, out-of-this world threats? And can they crash that swingin' superhero sleepover known as ... The Comics Canon? Things Discussed in This Episode: The New Mutants movie The origin of The New Mutants The artwork of Bill Sienkiewicz Why are the other kids hatin' on Illyana? The implications of Healer the Morlock Who knew changing two characters' race would be problematic? Warlock Fear Itself: Wolverine/New Mutants The New Mutants: A Date With the Devil The Immortal Hulk Vol. 1: Or Is He Both? Join us in two weeks as we kick off Crimewave!, a series of episodes on gritty crime comics, with one of the grittiest crime comics of all—Frank Miller's Sin City: The Hard Goodbye! Until then, trade in those drab yellow-and-back New Mutants uniforms for some snazzy Comics Canon merchandise! And add your own Roberto DaCosta sunspots with King Krackle from our friends at Category 4! Last but not least, please be so kind as to rate us on iTunes, send us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook, and we may read your comments in an upcoming episode. And as always, thanks for listening!