The New Mutants #66

Name: The New Mutants #66
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Aug 1988 · Marvel · 1.00 USD; 1.25 CAD; 0.50 GBP

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“Sorcerer's Duel!”

★ 1st appearance — Gosamyr★ 1st appearance — Spyder

About this Issue

New Mutants #66 is the gateway issue to one of the most consequential arcs in the series' history, simultaneously delivering the debut appearances of two significant new characters — the alien slaver Spyder and the empathic insectoid alien Gosamyr — while pushing Illyana Rasputin's Darkchilde transformation to its most dramatic point yet. The Magik-vs-Forge confrontation in Limbo, resolved only by Dani Moonstar projecting Illyana's worst fear back at her, crystallizes the moral and psychological stakes that writer Louise Simonson had been carefully escalating on the road toward the 'Inferno' crossover event. That the scrying glass shatters mid-battle — a symbol of Illyana's diminishing self-awareness and magical control — is a detail that resonates all the way through New Mutants #73, when the Darkchilde fully consumes her before she sacrifices herself to end Inferno. The issue thus sits at the exact hinge between the team's grief-filled post-'Fall of the Mutants' period and the space-voyage/Inferno escalation that defines the Simonson-Blevins run's closing chapters.

In "Sorcerer's Duel!", Magik faces off against Forge in a high-stakes clash that takes them from the streets of Dallas to the twisted realms of Limbo. As her scrying glass shatters and her demons urge her to kill, Magik confronts the darkness within—just as Spyder sends Gosamyr to reclaim Lila Cheney. Written by Louise Simonson and brought to life by Bret Blevins' dynamic art, this pivotal issue explores power, temptation, and the thin line between hero and villain. Cover by Bret Blevins and Terry Austin.

writer Louise Simonson · artist Bret Blevins · inker Terry Austin · colorist Glynis Oliver · letterer Ken Bruzenak · cover Bret Blevins, Terry Austin

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History

Louise Simonson had inherited the New Mutants from Chris Claremont with issue #55 (September 1987) — originally as a temporary fill-in while Claremont launched Wolverine and Excalibur — but Claremont stayed with his new projects, leaving Simonson to write the series for over three years. By issue #66, she and penciler Bret Blevins (inked throughout this stretch by Terry Austin) had settled into a close creative partnership, with Simonson threading Illyana's darkening arc through standalone adventures while simultaneously seeding the Spyder/Gosamyr subplot that would fuel the team's outer-space detour. The issue was edited under editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco, with Bob Harras serving as the book's direct editor, and was colored by Glynis Oliver and lettered by Ken Bruzenak.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of Spyder, the alien slaver and antagonist who drives the Lila Cheney kidnapping plotline running through New Mutants #66–71 (Marvel Database, eBay/Grand Comics Database attribution).
First appearance of Gosamyr, the empathic insectoid alien who becomes an uneasy ally to the New Mutants; created by Louise Simonson and Bret Blevins, she was written out of the series with issue #74 (Wikipedia, Marvel Database, marvunapp.com).
Story titled 'Sorcerer's Duel!' — written by Louise Simonson, penciled by Bret Blevins, inked by Terry Austin, colored by Glynis Oliver, lettered by Ken Bruzenak; cover by Blevins and Austin (Marvel.com, mycomicshop.com).
Magik drags Forge to Limbo to fight on her turf; her scrying glass is shattered mid-battle, a narrative beat that underscores her accelerating loss of magical self-control in the build toward Inferno (Marvel Database, mycomicshop.com).
Dani Moonstar (Mirage) projects Illyana's greatest fear — her own full demonic form — to pull her back from killing Forge; Rahne Sinclair's emotional appeal afterward causes Illyana to dismiss her Soulsword and drop the Darkchilde armor, one of the clearest 'almost lost' moments in the character's pre-Inferno arc (Marvel Database).
The issue exists within the direct prologue to the 1988–89 'Inferno' crossover event; Simonson and Blevins' New Mutants run across issues #62–73 constitutes a core component of that event's build-up (Comic Book Herald Inferno Reading Order, New Mutants Omnibus Vol. 3).
The issue was released on April 12, 1988, with an August 1988 cover date, and was published in both Direct Edition and Newsstand Edition formats (Marvel Fandom Wiki, mycomicshop.com).
The broader Simonson-Blevins run that contains this issue is collected in New Mutants Omnibus Vol. 3, which gathers New Mutants #55–85 along with related tie-in material from Power Pack, X-Terminators, and other titles (Amazon, Barnes & Noble).