442 NICIEZA, FABIAN
later discovered to be Cyclops’s son who has been sent to the future. With Cable at the
helm, the New Mutants face off against the Mutant Liberation Front, whose leader,
Stryfe, is physically identical to Cable. Cable continues to lead the New Mutants in the
absence of any other X-Men willing or able to take over the responsibility. However,
when the X-Men and Professor X eventually return, Cable is challenged for leadership
of the young mutants, accused of treating them as soldiers, not children. In a fi nal break
that ends the series, Cable and his followers splinter off from the X-Men and Xavier’s
School to form X-Force, with the initial roster consisting of Boom-Boom, Cannonball,
Domino, Feral, Shatterstar, and Warpath—with the rest of the New Mutants quitting
entirely or defecting to other teams such as X-Factor and Excalibur.
Th ough the ongoing series ends with issue #100 in 1991, the concept behind New
Mutants carries on almost continuously in various series through 2009, as in the transi-
tion into X-Force with much of the same team members. By 1994, Generation X was
launched, the third ongoing series of adolescent mutants under X-Men titles. Th ough
the fi rst issue’s title, “Th ird Genesis,” declares it the successor to Giant Size X-Men #1
(the issue’s subtitle was “Second Genesis”), it also fi ts appropriately as a successor to
New Mutants as a third series and class of mutants starting their education at Xavier’s
School. Th e series ran parallel to X-Force until it was cancelled in 2001, with X-Force
canceled a year later (though the original premise of X-Force was signifi cantly altered
for the last 14 issues). During this time, Marvel released a miniseries, New Mutants:
Truth or Death (1997). Marvel also released a second New Mutants miniseries in 2003
that ran for 12 issues and transitioned into New X-Men: Academy X in 2004. Th e series
deals with some of the original members of New Mutants and Generation X returning
to Xavier’s School to become teachers and mentors to another young group of mutants.
Th is series (after dropping the subtitle with issue #19) ran until 2008. It was replaced
by Young X-Men (2008–9) and fi nally by a new ongoing series, New Mutants in 2009.
Th ough the plots, reasons, and actions of the adolescent mutant teams are diff erent, they
often refl ect the social and cultural dynamics of youth culture in specifi c ways that the
adult teams cannot capture. Th e mixture of teenage angst, being accepted by peers, real
world events, and saving the world meshed together well enough to have continued
appeal for readers.
Lance Eaton
NICIEZA, FABIAN (1961–). Fabian Nicieza is a prolifi c American comics writer who
has also held production, editorial, and executive positions in the publishing industry.
Nicieza was born in Argentina and came to the United States at an early age. Best
known for his work on Marvel’s Th e New Warriors , X-Force , and X-Men in the 1990s,
he has written hundreds of comics—mainly superhero stories for Marvel and DC
Comics, but also for other genres and publishers. Recurring features of Nicieza’s stories
include an emphasis on complex, at times convoluted plots; an abundance of references
to back story and popular culture at large; diverse characters; and an awareness of social
issues.
