New Warriors

Okay, I promised a post this week about the New Warriors, so here we go!

Over the holidays, I read pretty much every issue of the original volume of New Warriors, excluding 2 regular issues and the annuals.  I wasn't in a position to purchase the New Warriors when it first came out, but I am assuming they were a fairly big deal based on the all of the spin-off titles (Night Thrasher, Nova, Speedball, and I think Justice got his own too).

To be honest, I'm surprised the Warriors lasted as many issues as they did.

The team's origin was, well, pretty lame.  Batman Night Thrasher wants to exact revenge against the criminal underworld for the murder of his parents, so he bullies teenage superheroes into working with him.  I mean, he tosses Nova off of a building to jumpstart his powers, and says he didn't really care if Richard Rider lived or not (for a guy who's mission is motivated by the death of loved ones he sure doesn't have any concern for anybody else's feelings).  I really didn't understand why the rest of the Warriors didn't kick the crap out of Thrash and turn him over to the cops.  I also don't get why the angry and brooding Thrasher has a skateboard that doubles as a shield and stabbing weapon; seems kind of whimsical for a character to focused on his mission.

The team doesn't really have a real reason to exist until around #50ish, where they start trying to effect more change in the world than just reacting to super-menaces that might pop up.  A superteam needs a reason for being, a mission statement if you will.  The Avengers have banded together to face the menaces no single person can face, the X-Men are about equal rights, the Fantastic Four are primarily explorers, etc.  The Warriors have no such reason to exist.

The series produced no memorable villains other than the Sphinx (and I suppose Hindsight Lad, if you read the Civil War tie-ins), the rest were, well, characters created in the 90's.

That being said, I love these characters, so I stuck with the reading.  The banter between the team was fun.  I absolutely loved the storyline about Marvel Boy/Justice and his abusive father; I've long known that he killed his father in self-defense and served time, but unlike a lot of times when I go to read the backstory on such an event this was very well done, definitely my favourite arc in the series.

The addition of the Scarlet Spider was fun while it lasted, though it felt weird to have a veteran hero (at the time I believe Scarlet believed himself to be the real Peter) on a team of lesser-knowns like the Warriors.  Full credit to the writer though, he acknowledged that and worked it into the story, with Justice feeling Scarlet wasn't respecting his leadership.  It was well done.

I can't quite nail down why I have such a soft spot for these characters, but I do.  Whenever the trio of Justice, Firestar, and Nova get together now it feels special, they're the Big 3 of the Warriors (despite Night Thrasher's creation of the team) and with good reason.  I saw glimpses of the hero Nova would become during and after the Annihilation event, witnessed first-hand the moral conviction that makes Justice the man he is today, and absolutely loved Firestar as the team powerhouse.

It's not the best superhero comic series I've ever read by a longshot, but the seeds were certainly planted for the later evolutions of the characters and the name of the New Warriors.  If you're a fan of the team it's worth checking out to see the team's origins.