A team of teenage
mutant superheroes that first appeared in an eight issue
limited edition comic book miniseries produced by
Marvel Comics. The Fallen Angels first appeared in
Fallen Angels #1, April 1987. Created by
Jo Duffy and
Kerry Gammill, the entire series saw print during the reign of
Jim Shooter as
Editor in Chief at Marvel. A relatively short-lived
experiment by Marvel, the team is noteworthy for its
unconventional story line and
bizarre characters. It also features the first appearance of
Jack Kirby's beloved
Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy in the regular Marvel
continuity.
The Fallen Angels miniseries was a very
strange move from Marvel. A
ragtag band of runaway teenagers with superhuman powers
spontaneously forms and jumps about
reality while struggling against each other in
angsty teenage ways, fighting with those that don't understand them (
society), and those that are trying to use them (
supervillains). It is a
disjointed angst filled tale, loaded with surprise developments and surreal
plot twists. It also features one of the more
permanent deaths in the
Marvel Universe in the accidental crushing of
Don the
Cyborg Lobster.
Strange days for the New Mutants
The
New Mutants, a
second generation team of teenage mutants created by
Professor X, creator of the
X-men, are involved in a heated game of
soccer. The resident hothead of the team, Roberto Da Costa, known as
Sunspot, accidentally injures Sam Guthrie, his teammate called
Cannonball. Greeted with anger from his friends, the
moody Sunspot stomps off. At the time,
perennial X-Men foe
Magneto had turned over a
new leaf and was tending to the
Xavier Institute in Xavier's absence. Sunspot attempts to turn to Magneto for help, but he discovers a
note penned by Magneto that contains a
critical evaluation of his performance at the school and concern about his
former ties to the
Hellfire Club. Friendless and angry, he runs away from the Institute to the streets of
New York City, turning to
petty crime.
Concerned, some of his fellow
classmates try to find Roberto.
Multiple Man,
Siryn and
Warlock find Roberto has fallen in with some strange new mutants working for the villainous
Vanisher. Far from grand
supervillains, the small group commits
petty street crimes to survive. They hide out in an
abandoned warehouse they dub the
Beat Street Clubhouse.
Ariel, a teleporter, retrieves
Boom-Boom, a mutant in the care of
X-factor. New comers Siryn and Multiple Man meet
Chance and
Gomi, a nerdy teenager that has cybernetic implants that give him uncontrollable
telekinetic powers and a psychic connection with his two cyborg
lobsters,
Don and
Bill.
Ariel, seemingly on a mission of her own, transports the new group to a strange
prehistoric planet. They battle
dinosaurs and fight for their lives until they are aided by
Moon Boy and
Devil Dinosaur! Adopting the pair into their group at the insistence of Ariel, they return to New York, bright red
T-Rex and fuzzy
monkey man in tow.
The ragtag band begins to get into each other's faces, having no real goal except
survival. The conflict within the group is also made worse by the increasing random nature of the group's
superpowers, which
fail and
double in strength at a moment's notice. The Vanisher's
laissez faire approach does little to bind the
group as a whole.
Multiple Man loses a
duplicate of himself who rebels, wanting his own
life. The gigantic
Devil Dinosaur,
ill suited to the confines of the
Clubhouse, accidental steps on Don, killing him. Ariel eventually exposes her motivation for bringing them all together. Her people have lost the ability to
mutate, and she traveled to this world to gather a team that could help solve the problem.
Fights,
frictions and
crushes continue, and one particularly explosive
tussle spooks the Vanisher. He has Ariel transport the team away from the fight. Ariel takes the opportunity to take the group to her
home world of
Coconut Grove.
On Coconut Grove, the group of
mutants find a
planet wide party that seems to be the
perpetual state of the world. The group also discovers why their powers have been
out of control: Chance's mutant power modifies the powers of those around her in
random ways. Unipar, leader of the Coconut Grove civilization, discovers his
unwitting agents Ariel and Chance have returned and quickly captures the team.
Unipar now has his test subjects, and he conducts
painful experiments to isolate the
x-factor that causes mutations. The experiments
kill one of Multiple Man's duplicates, but the
diversion allows Bill to rescue the team. The Fallen Angels, assisted by
Chance's newfound control over her
double-or-nothing ability, fight against Unipar. Multiple Man's
renegade duplicate sacrifices himself to help the team and Ariel helps them all escape back to
New York. Back at the Beat Street Clubhouse, the team parts ways.
The Vanisher disappears to parts unknown,
Sunspot and
Warlock return to the New Mutants, leaving
Siryn and
Multiple Man behind to help the remaining Fallen Angels move away from a life of petty crime.
Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy eventually settle in the
Savage Land, hidden away in
Antarctica.