How good was the original New Warriors from the '90s

[Winghead]

It has to be up there with PAD's Hulk and X-Factor as the best title at that time. anyone agree?

[cosmoboy]

I was 16ish. The idea of Batman with a skateboard was incredibly appealing to me. Also it was nice to see Firestar as I had grown up with the Spidey cartoon. Story wise ..I'm old now and I don't remember hating anything. My most vivid memory is probably the first appearance in Thor. I kind of kept tabs on this last relaunch and didn't like where it went.

[drwho]

I loved the series. Kind of wish they had better developed villains though. I thought they were weak in that area and a lot of villains just seemed like c list characters.

[artiepants]

It has to be up there with PAD's Hulk and X-Factor as the best title at that time. anyone agree?

i don't know if it was that good, but it was quite good (i'd say the best thing Niecza ever wrote). The stuff with justice and his father was pretty hardcore/intense for the era.

[T Hedge Coke]

While I think there were far better books on the shelves at the same time, it wasn't a bad book by any stretch, at least early on. Those were some fun characters and the writing was often pretty sharp.

I still don't get why Speedball has seemed so hard to accept as a concept, in the past ten years or so. Speedball was great! And, yeah, Marvel Boy's reaffirmation as Justice. Namorita's weird blue skin and fishnets period. Nightthrasher's whole armored vigilante on a skateboard willing to call himself "Nightthrasher" set up was cool enough.

No one on that team ever stopped to consider their names in-depth, did they?

[Will.S]

I loved the series. Kind of wish they had better developed villains though. I thought they were weak in that area and a lot of villains just seemed like c list characters.My only problem with the villains that were co-created by Mark Bagley were that they had lame strap/buckle/spike heavy designs.

Case in point the Folding Circle:

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/893/foldingcircle7020777.png

And Psionex:

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/4672/psionex7105697.png

[Alan2099]

I'd rank it as Pretty Darn Good.

Not great. Not excellent, better than just good and far beyond halfway decent.

[MTL76]

I loved that series. One of my favorites. That's why it's so depressing to see what's become of the New Warriors in current-day MU.

Them and the original lineup of the Thunderbolts. I always associate the two, not just because of the art but because of the nature of the teams.

[marvell2100]

I thought it was a good book that sort of tailed off to towards the end. I liked the Sphinx storyline and the Punisher appearance.

[Westgarth J]

I think it depends entirely upon the age and/or nostalgic disposition of the reader. If you read it first time around, it beat a lot of stuff on the shelves because it was aimed at teens with no interest in all the boring stuff from Watchmen and Dark Night Returns that didn't involve punching mutant criminals in the head while not shaving for several days. Reading it now, the odd daffy thing might jump out at you as being radiculous ('Batman on a skateboard', the Dire Wraiths, Power Pax), but otherwise it was more mired in the punching and finding a home for superheroes whose books had just tanked (Darkhawk, Nova, etc).

I think it was the 1990s and you just... had to be there.

[Cthulhudrew]

I thought- and still think- that it was great, up until around issue #25 or so. It had a solid through story (Night Thrasher and the Temple of Dragon's Breadth), a lot of characterization, action, great artwork. Again, I think it kind of started to slip following the resolution of the Folding Circle arc, but that may just be me.

It still holds up to this day as some of the most solid storytelling of any book- I'd even rank it as some of the best of FabNic's work.

[Deathstroke]

It has to be up there with PAD's Hulk and X-Factor as the best title at that time. anyone agree?

I thought it was a very good title when it started but no I don't think it was up to the level of Hulk and X-Factor.

[GHalecki]

It might not have been quite that good,but I still give the early part of the run a four star grade.

The thing about it was that the team was formed with all existing, yet completely ignored, charachters, with one exception. They completely revitalized Nova, bringing him back into the MU after being on the shelf for a decade (or even longer?). Marvel Boy/Justice and Firestar might not have had two hundred pages worth of stories between them, although chronilogically they both had existed for quite some time. And there was Speedball, a throwback Ditko charachter. How can you not love that?

[Christopher Cross Is God]

I'd say it was a book that often delved into mediocrity. Not as bad as a lot of other books around that time period, but that doesn't mean much.

[Limelantern]

I always thought New Warriors did a better job of mixing it up with all the different types of superhumans out there into one team. They had a normal guy with kungfu skillz, a radioactive lab accident hero, Atlantean princess, two mutants, Hero from space, normal person with power armor, and on occasion they had guy in robot body, along with the nerdy sidekick. They had everything.

[Leogam]

Now if only Spiderman, Iceman, Living Lightning, Cloak & Dagger had permanently joined the team

[Limelantern]

It was Bolt not Living Lightning.

[IronMagnus]

The Fabian/Bagley run, which was the first 25 issues or so, was fantastic. Fabian nailed the characters and created a great overreaching plot involving Night Thrasher and his guardians. And one of my favorite things about this series was seeing Mark Bagley's art evolve. You can literally see him grow as an artist by leaps and bounds from issue #1 to issue #25.

I also think that Fabian did such a great job with these characters that Night Thrasher, Nova, Namorita, Firestar, Justice, and Speedball will always be the New Warriors in the eyes of many fans. "New Warriors" isn't just a generic concept about young heroes - "New Warriors" equals these specific characters. Which is why changing the lineup and recycling the New Warriors name with completely different characters has always ended in failure.

[Leogam]

I was refering to Living Lightning of the Avengers west coast fame, he was a college student & openly gay he would have brought good stories. Bolt sucked, he was very generic

[lobsterj]

I don't think it was up with that Hulk run, but was definitely entertaining, well-done superhero comics. So much of the stuff coming out at the same time was absolute garbage that I think it looks even better by comparison. One of my favorites then and now, and I hate to see what Marvel has done to the Warriors name and certain members of the team. At least Namorita and Thrash got to die, the issue where Speedball became Penance is literally the worst comic I've ever read.

[Rich L]

Fantastic, fantastic run - one of my favorite series ever, especially the first 40-50 issues. Things fell apart a little when Fabian left, but even the Skolnick issues still stand up, for the most part.

[Grapeweasel]

Liked the cast.

Wasn't always drawn into the stories.

[Calybos]

Exactly. This book was all about the characters, who were generally handled excellently. The stories were okay-to-above average, but the characters--those were where the New Warriors really stood out.

Turbo, the reluctant heroine. Speedball, the well-intentioned goofy guy. Nova and Namorita trying to get together while out-"tough guying" each other; Firestar and Vance/Justice's relationship; Thrasher working out his family issues; Rage, the overgrown teenager in an adult world; Alex Power outgrowing his younger siblings for a solo career... Everything about these characters was just targeted like a laser at teenage readers.

GREAT writing.


.

[PaxHouse]

Exactly. This book was all about the characters, who were generally handled excellently. The stories were okay-to-above average, but the characters--those were where the New Warriors really stood out.

Turbo, the reluctant heroine. Speedball, the well-intentioned goofy guy. Nova and Namorita trying to get together while out-"tough guying" each other; Firestar and Vance/Justice's relationship; Thrasher working out his family issues; Rage, the overgrown teenager in an adult world; Alex Power outgrowing his younger siblings for a solo career... Everything about these characters was just targeted like a laser at teenage readers.

Fantastic, fantastic run - one of my favorite series ever, especially the first 40-50 issues. Things fell apart a little when Fabian left, but even the Skolnick issues still stand up, for the most part.

The Fabian/Bagley run, which was the first 25 issues or so, was fantastic. Fabian nailed the characters and created a great overreaching plot involving Night Thrasher and his guardians. And one of my favorite things about this series was seeing Mark Bagley's art evolve. You can literally see him grow as an artist by leaps and bounds from issue #1 to issue #25.

I also think that Fabian did such a great job with these characters that Night Thrasher, Nova, Namorita, Firestar, Justice, and Speedball will always be the New Warriors in the eyes of many fans. "New Warriors" isn't just a generic concept about young heroes - "New Warriors" equals these specific characters. Which is why changing the lineup and recycling the New Warriors name with completely different characters has always ended in failure.

Great job to all of those in not only explaining as to why the First 25 issues of their first series is the most praised; but also as to why this series managed to have such an excellent run for a mere 75 issues {and you can't deny that the most recent run of THE NEW WARRIORS barely came closer......}.......

[dtjunkie]

I grew up with the New Warriors. I first started reading around Issue #20, and quickly identified with the real world problems they had to deal with in addition to the problems they encountered in their Superhero guises. Seeing Robbie dealing with his parent's divorce was tough. I was never more emotional when reading a comic than during the Poisoned Memories storyline, when a street gang used Namorita to get access to the Warriors families. They killed Elvin's Grandma, the only family he had. They cut off one of Richie's little brother's fingers. And they shot Angelica's Dad. The fallout of that story was even more intense with Nita leaving the team out of guilt, and her relationship w/ Rich getting even more complicated. Issue #39 is still my favorite comic book. Fabian Nicieza's run on this book is some of the best writing I've ever read. Of course it was probably because at 13 I could relate to everything, but those issues really stuck with me.

[Nevets F]

It was a fantastic series. My second favorite series of all time.

[whiteshark]

It was a cool book.
Both in stories and art.
It was just in the last stories that the plot got to a point in which i lost interest in it.

But not to be compared with Peter David Hulk or X-Factor in my opinion.
The New Wariors were very diferent books from Peter David Hulk and X-Factor.

[Robert318]

I really enjoyed the series early on...probably the first 40 or 50 issues or so. I recall at some point the Scarlet Spider joined, right? Yeah...that might have been a mistake. Once he came aboard, I jumped off.

[jdwrocks]

I loved New Warriors. Fabian had it going on those first 50 issues or so...

Except for the abomination that was Hindsight Lad. Seriously what were you thinking Fabian?

[Nevets F]

I loved New Warriors. Fabian had it going on those first 50 issues or so...

Except for the abomination that was Hindsight Lad. Seriously what were you thinking Fabian?

You know, once Hindsight Lad evolved to just Hindsight, I actually started enjoying him. I despised him before that though.

[Dagger]

It was pure bliss. My favorite was 1-25. It took me a hot minute to get used to Dwayne's art, but I enjoyed it greatly. Although, Speedball's deflated hair and trenchcoat look need to go. It was a hot mess.

[Rev. Calibos]

Great series, great storytelling, great artwork.

Speedball was my favorite character and I loved how he would have to take the train to come to New York to hang out. I used to live in Connecticut and I took the jaunt into the city in a similar fashion.

I was about 15 or so when it came out and I loved how the Tai storyline unfolded from day to to culminate in issue 25. It was an impressive effort back in those days.

[Dagger]

My favorites members were Nita, Firestar, Justice, Darkhawk and Nova. Didn't really care for Thrash much at the beginning, but he grew on me, and Sil was pretty much blah. Not a lot of character work done with her, which was too bad. And Speedy will always hold a special place in my heart.

[Paiute 1]

It was a book that took me by surprise, I started looking forward to it every month along with the X-men and Hulk.

Like somebody said you could see Bagley realy grow as an artist and Fabian as a writer. Fabian has always been underrated as a writer.

[Dagger]

It was a book that took me by surprise, I started looking forward to it every month along with the X-men and Hulk.

Like somebody said you could see Bagley realy grow as an artist and Fabian as a writer. Fabian has always been underrated as a writer.
I actually loved Bags art here more than I did on Amazing Spider-Man. But I guess I was spoiled with Larsen and McFarlane.

[40yearoldnovafan]

I actually enjoyed the series. I was sad to see it go, and shocked. New Warriors was one of those titles I could not wait for each month.

The title was doing well enough for Marvel to expand the cast and consider to create a second title with a different team of characters. I think, ultimately, it was a bad idea. They started concentrating on characters who did not comprise the core team. Nova lost his powers - the plan was to place Rich in space knight armor. It seemed to lose its focus and by the time they brought Nova back, the title was gone.

As someone else stated, Vance, Nova, Nita, and Speed Ball ARE the New Warriors. The other titles failed quickly because the other characters just were not them. It's the same thing which went on with the New Mutants and Young X-men. They are not Cannonball, Sunspot, Magma,Xian Coy Manh, and Dani.

Lastly, a couple of times Marvel created the New Warriors for children. Even though I hated the too-cartoony version, I bought the titles because they were the only way I was going to get my Nova fix. But they sucked.

Jimmy