That cover is from when WARRIORS was way past their prime. I was a big fan of the series when Nicieza was still on it, although his last year was a lot rocky. But the initial two years with Bagley is great, leading up to a wonderful climactic court case. There's a bit of a stumble after that before Darick Robertson came on to lend a strong visual to the series.

By the time Hindsight Lad showed up, though, the series' number had come up. It just took Marvel a little bit longer to realize it.

Oh, and Bagley drawing Namorita in a different bathing suit every issue? Very cool...

Now that I'm ten years older, I wonder if I'd still form an attachment to the series so easily. It was definitely aimed at the younger set, with lots of teen angst and "Why won't the world listen to its young people" type of crap...
Augie De Blieck Jr. | Email | Homepage | 10.05.04 - 10:59 am | #

Yeah, NEW WARRIORS was my favorite comic at the time (I was in my early-to mid-teens at the time, probably). There were actually some decent stories in there (Vance Astrovik accidentally killing his abusive father and then facing the consequences for it, etc.) and it actually made pretty good use of some characters that I'd have otherwise written off (Speedball for one, and I liked when they made Namorita stand on her own as Khymaera, a change that has since been undone I think).

Of course, there were also some missteps (example pretty much anything having to do with Night Thrasher's father and the secret conspiracy he belonged to, or whatever, or the time that brought in a bunch of new members to set up a spinoff series, and then decided not to do the spinoff and quickly got rid of the new people) but on the whole it was a pretty decent series and not the joke that people make it out to be now.

But yeah, like Augie, I'm not sure it'd hold up as well if I looked at it today.
Steve Pheley | Email | Homepage | 10.05.04 - 11:05 am | #

I bought New Warriors for a little while, when it was revived in the late 90s, mostly 'cause I've always had a soft spot (right on top of my head) the non-blue-skinned Namorita character and the artist who started doing the book drew her very well. I got kinda bored after a few issues, so I bailed. I wouldn't touch those late-80s early 90's with a mylar snug on each hand.
Johnny B | Homepage | 10.05.04 - 11:13 am | #

I'll agree with Augie and Steve, here. Nicieza was basically handed a flop of an idea from Defalco: all the second string teen Marvel characters, plus the EIC's new crap character concept. I think you have to realize that to appreciate that Nicieza took the ball and ran with it. And, for half a second there, even the damn skateboard worked (then sensibly disappeared).

And if I may be a horrible geek here: the character in the earlier post actually isn't forced perspective. His power was, sadly, that he had a humongous, super-strong right arm. That was post-Nicieza.
Jason Kimble | Homepage | 10.05.04 - 11:39 am | #

The first 25 issues of the New Warriors are actually fairly terrific. I hate to sound like a fanboy here, but Fabian Nicieza took the basic Marvel-style superhero story and gave it very smart characterization, a lot of funny throwaway lines, and cleverly interweaving plotlines. Darick Robertson's first year or so was also pretty darn good (he managed to make the ridiculous notion of "Dark Speedball" not only plausible but creepy).

The book did get sluggish in its fourth year and beyond-- you could tell Nicieza was losing steam, big-time. But, all Spider-Man Clone Saga nonsense aside, I think it really got a shot in the arm when Evan Skolnick and Patrick Zircher took over the writing and art, respectively. It ended right about where it needed to, with a very satisfying final issue.
Nathan | 10.05.04 - 12:01 pm | #

Oh, and if I recall correctly, the guy with the giant arm in the picture you posted wasn't a bad example of forced perspective; the character really did have one huge, misshapen arm.
Nathan | 10.05.04 - 12:03 pm | #

Remember: Evan Skolnick (sp?) took over from Nicieza by the end of the fourth year, if not sooner.
Augie De Blieck Jr. | Email | Homepage | 10.05.04 - 12:05 pm | #

Hey, New Warriors rocked... for about the first 25 issues. Night Thrasher was cool once you got past the name.

--m4
mojo_iv | Email | Homepage | 10.05.04 - 12:55 pm | #

Hindsight Lad was actually a good idea for a character. Of course, once he came on the end was near for the Warriors... but still.

That's another cool thing about the book: the New Warriors was a lame title, but pretty much everyone in the Marvel Universe just called them the Warriors, which made a lot of sense.

Plus, they had Darkhawk as a member, and Darkhawk was another initially-cool character with loads of intapped potential. I liked Darkhawk because the concept was that the guy who became Darkhawk was kind of a screw-up who didn't always do the right thing. He was occasionally violent and angy and tentative and just an all around normal guy, and not in the Peter Parker "here let me invent this webbing and these spider-tracers with my spare time" kinda normal.
Tim | Homepage | 10.05.04 - 8:54 pm | #

Now y'all have got me curious about Hindsight Lad. Damn, this whole New Warriors thing has backfired on me!
Mikester | Homepage | 10.05.04 - 11:06 pm | #

Hindsight Lad had a rear view mirror attached to his costume.

No, I'm not kidding.

It is kinda funny, actually.
Augie De Blieck Jr. | Email | Homepage | 10.06.04 - 5:24 am | #

Hindsight Lad was deliberately intended to be a spoof of stupid comics fanboys-- a guy with a big brain but zero social skills who, to the embarrassment of everyone around him, blackmailed his way onto the team and proceeded to tell everyone what they'd done wrong... after the fact. The costume he whipped up was MEANT to look ridiculous and obnoxious. Considering this was all taking place in the middle of the "kewl" '90s, it was actually a fairly canny bit of parody. (Downright preiscient, when you think about the state of 'net comics messageboards today.)

Later in the run, the character shortened his "code name" to "Hindsight," ditched the ridiculous getup with apologies for his own idiocy, and actually proved to be reasonably brave and useful.
Nathan | 10.06.04 - 11:31 am | #