Summary
In Queens Night Thrasher recruits Kid Nova to his cause before recruiting Marvel boy who’s been turned down by the Avengers. They contact Firestar formerly of the Hellions, when they make contact with her Namorita and Terrax start fighting. Night Thrasher and company rush to the scene and engage the villain. Only after Speedball arrives do they manage to defeat the villain before the Avengers arrive to clean up.
The team decides to stay together with Night Thrasher despite the clashing of personalities.
The Good
Cover- This one has aged well! Kid Nova, Namorita, Firestar, Marvel Boy, speedball and Night Thrasher burst through the first issue covers of the X-men, Avengers, New Mutants etc. Very symbolic considering this team was literally an amalgam of quite a bit of the marvel universe. Mutants, mutates, humans and those empowered by suits, classic New Warriors was the best use of variety that 90’s marvel had to offer.
Great Intro- This first issue manages in many ways to easily and organically introduce the six superheroes and their personality in a very believable easy to understand way. While the modern comic would have introduced the team over the course of three issues this one is self contained and on point.
Art- Mark Bagley’s detailed art without any computer enhancements has aged very well. Considering this book was released way back in 1990 when comics where printed on those flimsy “newspaper like” paper I wasn’t expecting it to look as good as it did. Bagley has well proportioned characters without the 90’s liefeld bulk, distinctive faces and lovely new costumes for the warriors and good renderings for the Avengers.
Black Hero- Night Thrasher and Chord make an appearance and prove their valuable skills by hacking the Hellfire and SHIELD databases and using money they have eyes and ears everywhere. I miss Thrasher and Chord they were awesome in the 90’s but alas have gone the way of the dodo.
Team Dynamics- We can already see the budding of and clashing of personalities this issue as Nova is distrustful of Night Thrasher, Nova likes Namorita, Marvel Boy likes Firestar, Speedball is the comedian etc. Everything just clicks!
The Bad
Too Trusting- By today’s standards it’s weird that Night Thrasher would reveal his identity and his secret hideout to people he had just met.
Avengers- Captain America and the Avengers seem terribly aloof and unconcerned about the battle that took place and who these young untrained superheroes are. In hindsight a reprimand here may have stopped the team from ever getting off the ground and thus prevented the Civil War that happened more than a decade later.
The Ugly
Overall Fabian Nicieza and Mark Baggley’s now classic New Warriors #1 is still an impressive first issue with great art, characterization, team dynamics and chemistry that we rarely see in modern day comics. There are a few elements that have not aged well namely the inclusion of the Avengers and how Night Thrasher just rolls out the red carpet for those he doesn’t know but it’s still a pretty good read so this one gets 3.5/5 stars
New Warriors was honestly one of my favorite comics of all time. You may wish to do a review of the storyline with the Sphinx in which we see a world where the Egyptian empire never fell, and consequently, the middle passage never occurred. Incredibly imaginative story.