Some of you younger readers might find this hard to believe, but at one time there was only a single X-Men book for a fan to read off the stands. For years Uncanny X-Men was the only place to get your monthly does of mutant goodness. So after introducing readers to the New Mutants in the pages of a Marvel graphic novel, the team got its own monthly book and became the first X-Men spin-off title. And nothing would ever be the same.

Written by Chris Claremont and drawn by Bob McLeod, New Mutants #1 further fleshed out a brand new team of mutants that Xavier had brought together to replace the X-Men, who were thought dead. It’s still hard to believe this was the first appearance of what are now X-Men mainstays such as Cannonball, Mirage (who went by Psyche for the first few issues), Sunspot and Wolfsbane.

The first issue (and all the later ones that he also wrote) have Claremont’s signature style all over them. That was probably why the book was such a hit; it read and felt much like the regular X-Men book. The only difference between the two being that these characters were younger and still learning how to use their powers. It offered a different side of the X-Men universe and of Professor Xavier; the “School” part of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters was on full display.

There aren’t really that many adjectives I could use to describe the brilliance of Bob McLeod that hasn’t already been used. The man just knows how to tell a story and is a master of the craft. He only stayed on the book for the first year or so, but he set the look and the tone of the characters that is still being used today.

Issue #1 was mostly an introductory issue that set up the situation, established the characters and showed what they could do. But there were definitely glimpses of the potential this team had and showed why it was so cool that there was finally a second monthly X-Men book.

Recently the New Mutants name has been brought back and is now firmly a part of the larger X-Men family of books. But back in 1982, New Mutants #1 was something new and fresh and really exciting. It’s available in the first New Mutants Classic trade paperback or is well worth looking through a longbox or two to find.