The Karma Conundrum part I: Xi'Ain't Coy About Mind Control...

Every comic book writer has a signature storyline that defines their run on a title. The Masters of Evil invading Avengers mansion was probably the hallmark of Roger Stern's Avengers. Frank Miller's greatest Daredevil tale is arguably 1986's Born Again... and when it comes to New Mutants, Chris Claremont had the Karma Conundrum, better known as  # 29 - 34.

And, this being a Claremont comic, it involved a truckload of mind control.

For those of you not in the know... 'Karma' was actually the former Vietnamese boat refugee Xi'an Coy Manh... An original Claremont creation first appearing in 1980's Marvel Team Up # 100 in which she used her mind control powers to keep both Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four at bay. At the end of that particular issue, she was relegated to Charles Xavier where this initially one-off character became a charter member of the New Mutants.

But Karma wasn't exactly a mainstay of the team... Back in New Mutants # 6, right in the middle of the New Mutants' fight against Viper and the Silver Samurai, she was shocked and surprised when professor Xavier's mental manifestation changed into something intent on consuming her.

"Xi'an Coy Manh... I have come to claim you... body and soul... forever!"

And so it did... Possessed, Karma seemingly perished when she dropped into the ocean along with most of Viper's cliffside headquarters. The team searched for several days, but in the end professor Xavier declared Xi'an dead and ordered the team home. That was # 6, and close to two years no one gave Karma a second thought... until New Mutants # 29 hit the stands.

"Alert the Gladiators. We have most special guests. I want them given a show they will never forget. It will end with their joining us!"

Confused yet? Don't be... the Gladiators mentioned by the shadowy figure, are a band of super powered (mutant)creatures who make a living competing against one another in bloodsport type arena combat. Dazzler and Henry 'the Beast' McCoy first encountered this modern day 'blood and circuses' enterprise back the Beauty & The Beast miniseries. But the arena had obvious ties with the Hellfire Club, as this scene from New Mutants # 28 proves...

"I only wish I could be there to see them slaughter each other in your arena."

Here we have disgraced Hellion Empath messing with the New Mutants by bringing both Sunspot and Magma to the attention of the Arena. When professor Xavier was over on Muir Island dealing with his son Legion, Roberto and Amara were kidnapped by Arena henchmen... This had the remaining New Mutants all up in arms in # 29, with a little help from Dazzler.

Unfortunately for continuity, Secret Wars II literally broke in when Magneto lifted the dome off the arena and gathered the New Mutants so they could appear in the crossover to fight the Beyonder. Sunspot and Magma were blackmailed to stay behind, which gave the others something to do once their obligatory crossover involvement was done.

The unlikely team of Cannonball, Dazzler, Kitty Pryde, Magik and Rachel Grey were off to rescue them. Now what does all this have to do with a deceased New Mutant? Well, the Arena was run by a man called Alexander Flynn who claimed he was Doctor Doom's bastard son. But he wasn't exactly in charge any more, as Kitty Pryde found out when she was mind controlled, stuffed inside a giant medieval killer robot (yes, I know) and forced to fight the New Mutants in the arena...

God, you gotta love comics from the days of the Comics Code Authority... An institution that insisted giant red skulled killer robot savages had to cover their genitals, so put him in a metal loincloth already...

"The X-man is proving surprisingly stubborn... possessed as she is... totally under my mental control... she still resists! Charles Xavier, rot his soul, taught her well."

Yeah, that doesn't exactly look like Doctor Doom's son, bastard or otherwise. And what's with the possession? That was never his shtick... Still, he was nowhere near done...

"Ali's voice... but fatso's thoughts and words. She's possessed like I was..."

Yes, Dazzler gets herself mind controlled and in an added twist, her new owner uses Ali's light powers to hypnotise everyone who looks at her. Kitty is smart enough to look away, but...

"Regrettably, sweet Rachel... 

your own psionic abilities make you much more vulnerable to mine."

So in the space of two pages we have five mind control victims... High time for the big reveal, just who is this mind controlling master villain? Can you guess who it is? That's right, nót Alexander Flynn.

"Karma betrayed her best friends... she's trying to kill them...
 just like I did to Wolverine when I was possessed."

You'd think the team would be able to handle one corpulent woman, but Karma forced her harem of slaves and attendants to put knives to their throat, ready to kill themselves if she wasn't allowed to board her plane. So the New Mutants begrudginly watch her take off, swearing to bring their former teammate in. 

But more on that in part two of The Karma Conundrum: Mind Controlling in Madripoor

Legion Lost part III: Sole Soul Survivors

In the third and final installment of Legion Lost, the New Mutants and professor Xavier finally come face to face with 'the Arab', supposedly controlling the mind of David Haller, better known as the mega powerful mutant Legion... who also happens to be Xavier's son.

After surviving inside David's wartorn mind, Xavier and his students finally took to the offense in New Mutants # 28, by taking the fight to the  Arab who was living inside the big, black dome that kept on growing and growing. 

According to Jack Wayne and Cyndi, split personalities of David who controlled his telekinesis and pyrokinesis respectively, the Arab was using his control over David's telepathic gifts to influence the young boy in a sneaky attempt to completely take over his mind. That's why professor Xavier was determined to stop him, with lethal force if necessary.

But, how does one penetrate a seemingly impenetrable object? Well, as Douglas Ramsey points out by referencing an old Star Trek episode, and the Vulcan scholar Kiri-Kin-Tha from that same franchise was fond of stating as well: "Nothing unreal exists".

"Thing is, the phasers worked all along. 

It's just that the villains, who were telepaths, wouldn't let the crew see that."

Once inside, Charles Xavier realises Jack Wayne might not have been too truthful about what 'the Arab' had been doing... For one thing, it seemed many of young David's damaged memories had been carefully repaired, giving the boy small fragments of his sanity back. In effect, his ever increasing mental health might be the big black dome that was slowly taking over the ruined mindscape outside. 

So the Arab... Or Jemail Karami as his real name turned out to be... was actually helping him. Karami was part of a Palestinian death squad that attacked David and his mother Gabrielle, killing his foster father David Shomron in the initial assault.

The shock of witnessing this triggered David's vast telepathic powers and he absorbed Jemail's mind into his own, shattering the lad's psyche in the process. But during the time inside David's head, Jemail got a new perspective on the world, renounced his violent ways, and actively tried to repair the damage he had caused...

Which was something Jack Wayne, as a splinter personality, wasn't too pleased with... If Karami cures David, there'd be no more Jack. That was reason enough for Jack to trick Xavier and the others to get him close enough to Jemail to do just that.

The moment he got within striking distance, Jack attacked...knocking out Jemail, Charles and several of the New Mutants. Luckily, Moonstar was on hand to revive Jemail using a subtle form of mind control....

"She reaches out with her psi-talent... praying to the great spirit and her Cheyenne ancestors for help as she uses her power to draw upon Jemail's happy memories to calm and revive him."

With Jemail restored to normal, the different aspects inside David Haller's head finally have a heart to heart. Neither of them can actually leave the boy's mind, that's why they decide to make the best of it and work together in David's best interest... But that's something Charles Xavier didn't realise until he woke up from the coma Jack's assault blasted him into... A good two weeks later.

So, after all this time, Charles finally gets to properly meets his son David. But while Jemail did his best to mend the boy's mental state of mind, part of the 'peace treaty' negotiated by Dani meant that he still wasn't all there. In fact, splinter personalities Jack Wayne and Cyndi were now openly fighting for 'air time'...

"Forgive me, professor. I lacked the strength and knowledge to deal with these psi-selves"

But at least David was communicating again... And father and son had an emotional, heart felt first meeting that also doubled as a reunion in a way. After al, they'd already met back in Haller's own head. At the close of the issue, Charles made a very poignant promise to his son...

"You have my word... I'll never lose you!"

Well, if you can't trust your father, really... who *can* you trust?

Anyhoo, a month later Secret Wars II kicked off and Charles was too preoccupied with the Beyonder to really notice the plight of his son. And by the time the Beyonder left, Xavier had pretty much signed his own death warrant by pushing himself too hard for too long, collapsing in Paris during Magneto's trial (where Gabrielle Haller was present too, who was watching Legion?)

Still, that's why, a short six months after the touching father and child reunion, we get to Uncanny X-men # 200 and this particular scene...

"And we'll never know... if you don't... try!"

Words to live by, Charlie... even if you were in the middle of a fatal heart attack at the time. Unfortunately, after Lilandra and the Starjammers used their advanced alien medical technology to save him, circumstances made it impossible for Charles to return to his son... A boy he never told Lilandra about on panel to begin with...

Xavier remained in space for most of the 80s, only returning to Earth when the X-men told him about the rise of his old enemy the Shadow King...who by then had taken over his son's mind... After Moira MacTaggert forced him in Uncanny X-men # 259  to use Cerebro in an attempt to locate the missing X-men...

"My head... it hurts it HURTS!"

Yeah... If only Xavier had been around to train his very vulnerable telepathic son. The Shadow King took control of the boy and he became the focal point of Claremont's final story arc during his initial X-men run: the Muir Island saga. In the end, the Shadow King possessed David Haller's body and father and son were forced to fight. Charles won, driving the King from his son's mind, but he was crippled in the process.

Still, one has to wonder if things would have turned out differently if Xavier had remained on Earth. For instance, if Charles had been a presence in Legion's life all the way through the modern day, would he have been able to provide a lasting impact?

"In mercy's name, cease fir...*"

Probably not.

And let's not forget what other writers did to Legion after Chris left. Scott Lobdell and Fabian Nicieza used poor David as the impetus for the wildy succesful 1995 crossover Age of Apocalypse. The lonely, hurt young boy woke up one day and figured out why his father was never there: Magneto.

If Magneto never rose to power, his father's dream of mutants and humans coexisting peacefully would come true and 'daddy' would spend more time. David used his latent temporal powers to travel back to 1950s Israel, where Xavier and Magneto first met. He also ran into his mom and this disturbing scene happened...  

"Mother...?"

Those glowing eyes are usually a dead give away mind control is in play... Because this is what Gaby saw...

"Don't call me Charles... Not tonight..."

Urgh, talk about oedipal complex... A son sleeping with his own mother, who he mindcontrols into believing he's in fact his father. But hey, let's not claim comics are formulaic, it's not like the son would plan to kill his father... Right?

"Shakkreeee!"

Well, not unless your father happens to jump in front of the psychic knife you were planning to kill Magneto with... Xavier's death caused the Age of Apocalypse... way to parent, Charlie.

But hey, back in 2012, Xavier got yet another chance to prove himself as a parent when he went off with Legion to teach his son what he needed to know... And right in the middle of that, the Avengers versus X-men crossover went down...

"Father... make it stop..."

Xavier did indeed try and make it stop, by forcing former star pupile Cyclops and the other members of the 'Phoenix Five'  to stand down. An enraged Cyclops finally incinerated Charles, killing the professor and forcing his son to grow up...Legion did just that, scoring the lead in the recently relaunced X-men Legacy. 

And whát a legacy indeed...

Legion Lost Part II: Charles Xavier You *ARE* The Father!

When we last left the New Mutants, they had accompanied their mentor Charles Xavier to Moira McTaggert's mutant research lab on Muir Island. One of her patients, an autistic boy called David, had accidentally put Tom Corsi and Sharon Friedlander into a coma and Charles was asked to help out.

When Moira and Wolfsbane suffered a similar fate before the end of New Mutants # 26, that gave Xavier a lot to do ánd recap at the beginning of # 27.

"Only an extraordinarily powerful telepath has such a capability"

Isn't it funny how intelligent people can be oblivious to the obvious at times? David is the son of Charles' former lover Gabrielle Haller... and now turns out to be a powerful telepath. You'd think Xavier would put two and two together, right? He doesn't... not until he finally, with the help of Mirage, enters the astral plane to look for Rahne and the others. But first, we're treated to this delightfully creepy tidbit...

"WOW! Professor, you look fantastic! I never dreamed you were such hot stuff!"

Here we have a 14 year old girl basically telling her teacher he has a nice ass. Can't blame her for being surprised, after all he was in a wheelchair for most of the time she's known him.

Anyway, while it looks like Wolfsbane is approaching them, it's actually a psychic illusion that tears into Xavier and Dani, before bursting into flame. Meanwhile, in the real world, the flames appear around their bodies, shocking Doug Ramsey and Gaby Haller... right before sucking them on to the astral plane as well. Because... well... because.

Shocked and tired of being toyed with, Charles brings the full range of psi talent to bear and bluntly tears into the walls around David's mind, hoping to break through. This causes the boy considerable pain, and as he cries out, his true face ánd an obvious truth is revealed...

"This is Gaby's secret, the boy sees it in her thoughts and I in his. David Haller is my son!"

No duh, Charles... look at the size of those bushy eyebrows Bill Sienkiewicz drew on the kid... Apparently, it's a hereditary trait. 

After breaching his mental wall, Xavier tried to bring the others into David's mind... but he got surprised by how quickly the boy's defenses were being rebuilt and lost most of them as they tumbled down into his mindscape. Holding on to Gaby, Charles literally came face to face with the people who ran David's head...

"Momma... poppa... help me!"

You have to feel sorry for the little boy on the far right. No way this child is able to deal with the three adult personalities vying for control over his body. He wants to be good, but he can't help doing bad. But now his parents were there to help... unfortunately, they weren't in the best of shape. Gabrielle was unconscious and Charles was still suffering from the severe injuries he received after a beating in Uncanny X-men # 192.

Xavier pushed himself and Gaby into David's mind. But the effort proved too much. He passed out and when he came to, he was alone and a little disoriented by what he saw...

A dark, disturbing amalgam of places the boy had been to, with a mysterious, seemingly impenetrable black dome dominating the scene. Sienkiewicz's abstract tendencies really sold this premise, giving the inside of David Haller's autistic mind a true sense of alienating weirdness.

And that was before Charles even met the many, curious inhabitants... Like a curious telepathic Arabic man and... Jack Wayne.

"The big man's grin is infectious. And in spite of himself, Xavier warms to him"

But it's not like they have too much time getting acquainted, because the mind of David Haller is like a war zone in more ways than one.  Xavier gets chased by black helicopters with gatling guns, and Jack is the first to explain to him what was going on...

"See that dome... that's where you'll find the kid's essence, whatever's left of his true personality. The Arab's responsible for the dome and the military hardware... he keeps the kid prisoner inside."

That's enough to convince Xavier he needs to penetrate the black dome and with Jack's help he sets out to do just that. Meanwhile, in another part of David's mind, Moira McTaggert, the New Mutants and Gabrielle Haller meet the same young Arab that Charles ran across, but Gaby's reaction to the man is rather explosive.

Turns out he was part of a Palestinian terroristgroup that attacked Gabrielle, her lover Daniel Shomron and David, killing Shomron and traumatising the young boy into his current autistic and catatonic state. Ignoring for a second that autism isn't triggered by trauma, it's obvious Gabrielle is more than a little ticked off at this terrorist.

But he disappears before she can catch up with him, just as a young punkish girl makes her first appearance...

"Watch how you talk to m, ladydoc..."

Meet Cyndi, another one of David's made up personalities. While Jack Wayne controls the boy's telekinesis, she possess his pyrokinesis... In other words, she can set things on fire. Heck, in all likelihood her name is derived from 'incendiary', which means 'capable of causing fire. She also has a fiery personality, a typical teenager distrustful of any and all authority figures, preferring chaos over boring, adult order. She's also the one who torched Moira's lab...

But Dani Moonstar has bigger concerns, not to mention questions for Gaby Haller.

"I want to know more about that Arab."

You gotta love how innocent the mid 80s were, in retrospect, Nowadays, refering to someone as 'that Arab' has an ever so offensive ring to it. But here we have Gabrielle Haller, smoking in her astral form by the way, explaining how 'that Arab' terrorist attacked her and her family in Paris. 

Gaby finally decides to come clean about her son. She always knew he was Charles' child and that he had mutant potential. Witnessing the terrorist attack as a young boy, triggered his enormous psionic powers before he was ready to use them.

This caused David to fully absorb the Arab assailant's mental being into his own, which caused his autism and the formation of split personalities like Jack and Cyndi to help deal with a trauma he couldn't grasp at that age...

While Gabrielle is filling in the New Mutants, the professor is getting briefed by Jack Wayne, who has a slightly different take on the Arab's influence on David's mind...

"Imagine... Bein' killed an' then reborn as part of the consciousness of your intended victim.
Ironic, huh?"

Basically, Jack tells Charles that 'the arab' is holding his son prisoner and expanding the black dome to increase his control over the boy's mind. If he isn't stopped, it won't be long before David completely disappears and a murderous terrorist is allowed to run the show inside the head of an extremely powerful psionic mutant.

Handing Charles a knife, Jack dares Charles to end it... If he has the guts for it. Accepting the weapon with grim resolve, Xavier ends the issue with a classic 1980s action movie tagline... "Let's go!".

Just how all this will end is answered in the third and final chapter of Legion Lost: Sole Soul Survivors

Legion Lost Part I: "Charles Xavier *ARE* You The Father? "

Nothing good ever came out of Muir Island.

It's not the fault of the island itself, it's a perfectly decent piece of chilly rock. Mostly, it's Moira McTaggert's fault. After she opened up her mutant research facility there, things took a turn for the worse.  Whether it was Moira's own son Proteus going mad... and deciding to mind and body control his mom while inhabiting the body of his father...

"You're mine, body and soul. Accept that... reality, Moira. You won't like the alternative."

... And let's not forget the Charles Xavier had most of Moira's pupils killed in a desperate attempt to free his X-men from Krakoa...  Needless to say, Muir didn't exactly have a stellar track record when it came to aiding ailing mutants. Knowing this, one would think Israeli ambassador Gabrielle Haller would think twice before sending her severly autistic mutant son David to the Scottish research center. But no, in fact, when she made her first appearance back in New Mutants # 1, Gaby seemed far more occupied with dropping this behind the scenes bombshell...

"Charles Xavier... is the boy's father."

Yeah, but don't tell him that. Just move the boy to Muir for treatment and hope for the best...

And everything seemed fine, until the troubled lad caused all sorts of problems... Especially for cop Tom Corsi and nurse Sharon Friedlander, both former Caucasians who found themselves transformed into Native Americans in the wake of getting possessed by the Demon Bear. They went to Muir to recover and regroup, but didn't exactly get too much downtime.

 "It's an astral form... like the one Professor Xavier manifests! This kid must be a telepath, too!"

He was, and then some... this spectral astral image from Gabrielle's son was so intense, that he put both Tom and Sharon into a mental coma. Distraught, Gabrielle urged Moira to do the obvious but rather unwanted thing: call in Charles to help out.

Arriving with the New Mutants in tow, Charles was totally unaware David's mother was his former girlfriend... In fact, this was the first time readers realised the professor wasn't hallucinating when he fought alongside Magneto to save former nazi deathcamp survivor Gaby from Baron Strucker back in Uncanny X-men # 161.

"Then, I'll have to use all my feminine wiles... to attract its attention"

Yes, the young Gaby from Charles' fever dream turned out to be Gabrielle Haller, a prominent Israeli politician currently working as an ambassador. But the care for her son David had taken its toll on her, which became painfully apparent when Charles and Gabrielle met after so many years...

"It's been so long. You're as lovely as ever."

Gaby is right, Charles *is* a silver-tongued devil. After all, she looks extremely worn down, what, with her chain smoking, prematurely graying hair. The stress from having both a demanding job and a troubled son clearly took its toll.

Speaking of a troubled son, let's check how David's doing...

"Why did you wait so long to call me?! Gaby, I could have helped the boy as I did you!"

So that's why, without further ado, Charles decided to enter David's mind... Unfortunately, he found a bit more inside than he had bargained for. 

  "The thoughts directing David's actions seem somehow alien...
as if there's a portion of his mind that isn't him."

Something inside David that might not be him? Sounds like a proper reason for Charles to go inside the boy's mind. But because he was still suffering from serious injuries received after a near fatal mugging over in Uncanny X-men, Xavier wasn't exactly at his best. That's why he needed a bit of time to collect himself before dealing with David head on... And that left a window of opportunity for Charles and Gabrielle to catch up...

"A telepath can play god. You've no idea how tempting that is. I can change thoughts, twist memories, destroy a personality... erase it utterly...and recreate it any way I choose"

In these quiet moments together, Charles confesses his long hidden guilt about the way things went between him and Gabrielle. After all, she was his patient and after he brought her out of her catatonic state with his mental powers, they became lovers... ignoring the fact he might have subconsciously used his telepathy to influence or even seduce her. But Gaby, chainsmoking Gaby, would hear nothing of this...Even though it seemed clear she wasn't telling Xavier the whole truth about David...

Meanwhile, in the closing pages of New Mutants # 26, Moira McTaggert was finally having a long overdue heart to heart with her adoptive daughter Rahne 'Wolfsbane' Sinclair when they discovered an unexpected visitor...

Ending an issue with a big BWHOOM! of an explosion only raises interest in the sequel, so check back next time for, spoiler alert, Legion Lost Part II: Charles Xavier You *ARE* The Father!" 

Demon Bear's Beckoning Control

Ever had an epiphany?

A sudden, all encompassing moment of absolute clarity that made you see a certain matter in a totally different light?

Yours truly experienced one when rereading the Demon Bear storyline from New Mutants. What was the revealed truth, you wonder? Well... quite simply put: Bill Sienkiewicz *is* a great visual storyteller.

Sienkiewicz joined Claremont on New Mutants with issue # 18, which was also the start of the Demon Bear threeparter. Bill's heavily inked, at times almost abstract and extremely imaginative style was a far cry from the more conventional look of his predecessors Bob McLeod and Sal Buscema. For instance, this is how Buscema drew the Demon Bear on the final page of # 17.

"None can save thee, little Cheyenne... Neither God or Man!"

Poor Dani... suddenly being confronted by the demonic creature that killed your parents is pretty horrific. And even though he looks like little more than a whisp of cloudy smoke with a heavy voice, knowing something evil is out there gunning for you is rather unsettling. Still, how bad could fighting a cloud with teeth be, really? Let's see how Sienkiewicz imagined the Demon Bear...

"He's out there. The Demon Bear that murdered my parents. Watching. Waiting. For me."

... Holy sh*t. Are you sure there's no monsters under my bed, mommy?

So that's what the epiphany was all about. As a younger reader, I absolutely hated Sienkiewicz' style. It totally destroyed the established bright, happy cartoonish vibe of the book, the characters didn't look or feel anything like the ones I'd read about in the past year and a half. This just wasn't New Mutants anymore.

How wrong I was. Yes, the art was a bit more challenging to grasp and had added layers and depth... Yes, the atmosphere was dark and moody and plain weird at times... But upon re examination, I realised how much Sienkiewicz' style added to the story ánd stimulated Chris Claremont to explore new territories as a writer. 

Because, let's face it, the Demon Bear plot is basically the plot of every teen horror movie... A band of pubescent protagonists are chased and slowly picked off by a big, unbeatable baddie. Yet, this boilerplate storyidea gets elevated through Bill's work. His raw and powerful compositions, at times Kirbyesque in their sheer power, turn the pedestrian a true work of art.

Ow, and of course there was mind control!

# 18 was mostly set up, as Dani Moonstar felt the approach of the bear and spent hours in the Danger Room preparing for its arrival. She refused to involve her fellow New Mutants, because she felt honor and duty bound to deal with this threat to her family alone. That's why she went out to face it all by herself.

What are you worried about? She's got a bow and arrow!

Not to mention her mutant powers. When she used them to manifest the bear's greatest fear, she was shocked to learn the demon feared her most of all. But despite that apparent anxiety, the creature callously crippled her, leaving a mortally wounded Dani to die in the snow.

Of course, the New Mutants found her before it was too late. Still in the dark about what had happened to their teammate, they rushed Dani to Salem Center's emergency room where a team of doctors immediately wheeled her into the OR in a desperate attempt to save the 14 year old girl.

Blaming themselves for not picking up on Dani's weird behavior sooner, the team vowed to at least protect her from whatever evil she'd faced... Just in case it came back to finish the job. Only problem is, what or who do they have to be on the lookout for? That's where Rahne Sinclair came in... In her wolf form, the young girl shared a psychic bond with Dani, so even when comatose she should be able to tell Rahne what they needed to know...

"It's not simply m'looks... I c'n feel a wild power within me tha's frightening... yet natural an' right!"

Affected by the Demon Bear's influence on Dan\ni, the prim and proper ultra religious Rahne had been transformed mind, body and soul into something far more feral. But the fun didn't stop there. Dani had told Rahne about the bear and his approach, which forced the team to scramble and create defenses.

With a codename like Magik and having 'ruler of Limbo' on your resume, Illyana was the go-to-gal for this operation. She used part of her life force to create mystical wards around the operating theater where Dani was fighting for her life. Despite all that, the bear still barged in and # 19 ended with this far from encouraging cliffhanger...

"The bear couldn't defeat us on our own turf, so he transported us to his."

Just look at that... the sheer symbolism of the giant black bear towering over the New Mutants while Illyana's protective wards shield the operating room from the creature's wrath... But who are the cop and nurse?

Meet Tom Corsi and Sharon Friedlander, two hapless and innocent bystanders who just happened to be at the hospital when the Demon Bear made its move. After the New Mutants beat him back, he decided to yank Corsi and Friedlander into his realm along with Xavier's youngest students...

But for what purpose?

"The monstrous avatar strikes...its claws doing no harm to the bodies of his helpless captives..."

Ow, go on... we all know what's coming, Chris...

"Only to their souls."

Corsi and Friedlander, mind controlled by the Demon Bear, tried to kill the New Mutants so the Bear itself could focus on re-entering our reality and finish the job he'd started. The team was valiantly trying to hold their own against the Native American nasties... when this happened...

Just look at that page from New Mutants # 20... the visuals are so strong, all you really need to understand the story is watch the panels. The Demon Bear managed to get its claws into Magma, turning her into third mind controlled minion, while trying to claim Illyana as well... but thank heavens for her spellbreaking  soulsword. 

"And Amara's soul will be free."

Of course, seeing a teammate who parttimed as a demon queen stab the girl you love tends to make one act a tad irrational... And Sam Guthrie is no exception. Rocketing Magik away from Magma's 'corpse', he proceeded to call her every name in the book until Magma showed up to set him straight...

"The bear was possessing me.. enslaving my soul..."

Ow boy, is Sam's face red or what...?

These panels clearly show how Sienkiewicz's appoach to a scene was totally different from the way Buscema or McLeod would have handled it. Most likely, they would have shown Magma berating Sam, with him on panel looking properly embarrassed and/or chastised. 

By seperating the two reactions, Bill is able to give both emotions weight and relevance, while reminding everyone about the threat... A demonic bear with lower teeth shaped like piano keys.

In the end, Illyana managed to use her soulsword to disrupt the Demon Bear's form and that, as they say, is that... Well, sort of... As everyone returned to Earth, Tom and Sharon discovered being kidnapped by the Demon Bear had turned them from Caucasian to Native American...

And as for the Demon Bear...

"We weren't killed, but enslaved... transformed into the demon bear you fought."

Remember the Little Red Riding Hood fairytale? At the end, the big bad wolf is cut open and Riding Hood and her grandma pop out alive and well. The Demon Bear had room for two people as well: Dani's parents.

A while ago, an ancient Cheyenne evil (eventually revealed to be the Adversary) claimed ma and pa Moonstar. They were turned into the Demon Bear and forced to kill their own family. But now they were fine, so all's well that ends well

Unless of course, you remember how the bear's biggest fear was Dani. And if the bear was actually her parents, doesn't that mean?

... Awkward!