New Mutants #12
The New Mutants pay a visit to a racist website in New Mutants #12, by writer Ed Brisson, artist Marco Failla, colorist Carlos Lopez, and letterer Travis Lanham. On top of that, something nasty is happening in Magma's home of Nova Roma as well.
Outside Nova Roma, a few guards find a large footprint. They are attacked by more monsters, led by a blonde woman who releases them on the city. At Krakoa, Magik meets with Trinary, who gives her all the information she needs about the website DOX. Magik brings Mirage and Glob to the offices of the website, where they confront the owner. They plant a bug in their server that will give the name and address of the authors every time the website tries to dox a mutant. The owner tries to threaten the mutants, but Glob snaps on him. Back in the Nova Roma, the mysterious blonde woman and her monsters confront Senator Aquila, Magma's father, about the New Mutants, who killed one of her monsters. She implants a creature into them that will torment him until he tells her the truth. Back on Krakoa, Magik talks to Glob about why he snapped and finds out that his father had raised him to hate mutants until he became one and the people at the website reminded him of his father.
Ed Brisson uses this issue to say something about how the Internet works nowadays- "content creators" who are no better than trolls stirring up trouble, doxxing people, and then when terrible things happen to those people, take no responsibility. Magik, Mirage, and Glob's intervention feels like wish fulfillment- Trinary gives them a way to dox the doxxers, taking away the anonymity they hide their racism behind.
Glob's snapping on the owner didn't have to be explained too much- as one of the less attractive mutants, it makes sense that he wouldn't take well to bad things happening to fellow mutants because of bigots, but Brisson does. He's been working with Glob since his time on Old Man Logan and took this chance to flesh him out, going into his back story more than any other writer has and using it to explain when he joined Kid Omega's gang waaaay back in "Riot At Xavier's." For fans of Glob, it's a nice little moment, but even for people that don't know much about him, it's still a great bit of character work.
Marco Failla's art is very good. His linework is nice and simple, and he does a great job with character acting. He's able to capture a lot of emotion from Glob, which isn't easy because of the way his features are. There's a close-up panel of Glob that is legit frightening because of how angry he is, and it cuts through the idea of Glob as a joke character that many readers have.
New Mutants #12 is a nice one and done that ties up a bunch of loose ends from other issues, ending the DOX website's threat. Brisson picks up a plot thread involving Nova Roma, a nice bit of set-up that will eventually pay-off. Failla's art makes everything look great, especially the stuff with Glob. Brisson and company give readers a good succinct issue.
Grade: B
