New Mutants #9

History

New Mutants (2019) #9 was written by Ed Brisson with interior art and inks by Flaviano Armentaro, colors by Carlos Lopez, and letters by Travis Lanham; it was edited by Annalise Bissa and Jordan D. White under editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski. The issue carries a March 11, 2020 on-sale date with a May 2020 cover date, placing it squarely within the Dawn of X publishing initiative — Marvel's sweeping 2019 X-Men relaunch built on the foundation of Jonathan Hickman's House of X/Powers of X. The series had launched with Hickman writing one storyline (the Starjammers space adventure) and Brisson writing a parallel Earth-bound storyline; by issue #9, Hickman's arc was complete and Brisson assumed sole authorship of the now-unified cast. The story title, 'Something Rotten In…,' is an overt Hamlet reference, as noted in contemporary issue annotations. Two covers were published: a standard cover by Mike Del Mundo and a variant by Marcos Martín designed as a homage to the classic Marvel graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of Tashi Repina (later codename: Cosmar), a 13-year-old mutant from the fictional Eastern European country of Carnelia, whose oneiric reality-warping power traps people inside her nightmares.
• Written by Ed Brisson; art (pencils, inks) by Flaviano Armentaro; colors by Carlos Lopez; letters by Travis Lanham; edited by Annalise Bissa and Jordan D. White.
• On sale March 11, 2020; cover date May 2020; part of Marvel's Dawn of X publishing initiative (the Krakoan Age's first phase).
• Two covers: standard cover by Mike Del Mundo; variant cover by Marcos Martín, styled as a homage to the God Loves, Man Kills graphic novel.
• Opens the 'Carnelia arc' (issues #9–11), which introduces the fictional nation of Carnelia — a Marvel microstate with roots in late-1970s Iron Man stories — as a country that refuses to recognize Krakoan sovereignty, blocking the team from using Krakoa's teleportation gates.
• The issue represents the first issue where both the Hickman-era space cast (Mirage, Karma, Magma, Wolfsbane, Chamber, Mondo, Cypher/Warlock) and the Brisson Earth cast (Armor, Boom-Boom, Glob Herman) appear together as a unified team.
• Boom-Boom leads the mission to Carnelia without authorization from the Quiet Council — a plot thread that escalates the tension between the New Mutants and Krakoa's governing body.
• Tashi Repina went on to become a recurring and thematically significant character, particularly during Vita Ayala's subsequent run on New Mutants (starting issue #14), where storylines centered on her body image, identity, and efforts to control her powers became some of the era's most discussed character studies.

Full credits

Variants (1)