New Warriors #39

Consider helping keep the site ad free by using our Affiliate Link!

Return to Volume 1 Issue Listing.

This issue opens with Elvin Haliday (Rage), Dwayne Taylor (Night Thrasher) and Andrew Chord in court. The judge quickly finds Elvin free of any criminal charge, as he acted in self defense, after being stabbed with the shard of glass. However, with no known next of kin, the judge assigns Elvin to Dwayne Taylor and Andrew Chord as his legal guardians, until a suitable next of kin is found, or until his eighteenth birthday.

After the verdict, Dwayne walks out alone, without saying anything else.

The scene shifts again to Robbie Baldwin (Speedball) painting his parent’s house. His father arrives and the two of them talk briefly, and seem to have a far better understanding of one another, as they begin to work on fixing up the house after the “evil clone” of Speedball (back in issue #27, remember?) tore up a small portion of the house.

Another scene shift brings us to the Essex General Hospital, Wing Morris, where Angelica Jones (Firestar) is on the phone with the love of her life, Vance Astrovik (Marvel Boy) who remains in prison. While talking to her, Firestar shares her fears about her father’s condition, just as her friend Jupiter walks in. Jupiter and Angelica talk, and finally embrace.

Another touching scene shift brings us to Rich Rider (Nova) landing next to his brother, Robert Rider, who is still sporting a bandage on his hand after losing a pinky. Rich tries to apologize for the fact that Robert was hurt because of who he was; but Robert quickly shuts him down and tells him that he has saved hundreds, if not billions of lives as Nova, and he would gladly give a finger for every life he has saved.

Another switch brings us to Namorita. Ashu had hoped to ruin Night Thrasher, but his plan devastated another life instead. That of Namorita. Feeling so full of guilt and insecurity, Namorita has found that she’s reached a point now where she is afraid to making any choice at all. In the end, she realizes there is only one thing left to do. To leave the New Warriors and rethink her life.

One more shift, and we find Elvin at Granny’s grave. Through this touching two page panel, there isn’t a single word said. Every emotion is conveyed through incredible pieces of art.

Once more shifting scenes, we go to the Crashpad where Nova is wandering around in a hat wore backwards, his boxers and his socks. As he flies into a room, he stumbles into Namorita. After a few quick witty remarks about one another’s attire, she lets Nova know that she is there to say goodbye. When Nova says that she can’t and she asks why; he kisses her in a beautifully drawn panel. After the kiss, she puts her fingers on his lips and says, “I’ll miss you too, Rich” and proceeds to fly off, leaving a shocked Rich Rider to stand there and stare.

One more scene shift, and we see Rage at the Office of the FBI. As he goes in to confess that his actions were deliberate, Night Thrasher appears behind him and informs the FBI that in a legal court of law, Rage was found innocent of any guilty charges and that the case is officially closed. When Rage asks why he did it, when he knows how furious Dwayne is with the choice he made in killing Ashu, Dwayne merely says to follow him.

But before we learn that reason, we get another scene shift to the hospital where Angelica cries at her father’s bedside, only to have him touch her and utter the words, “Angel… don’t cry…”

We then shift over to Dwayne and Elvin in Paris standing on the Eiffel Tower. Dwayne explains that he too has to live with the empty feeling of losing both his parents, and killing the one responsible (Tai). But he makes it clear that for ten years, Tai trained Dwayne to live off the hate and need for revenge on those who murdered his parents. So that’s all he knew for those ten years, and it’s made him a hollow man. And he explains that he doesn’t want the same thing for Elvin. He wants him, while he still can, to choose love over hate, compassion over anger and life over death. He then hands Elvin an envelope with pictures of Granny. When Rage asks what that has anything to do with it – Thrash reminds him that Elvin purchased a Eiffel Tower Statuette and how she had commented how she always wanted to see it. So with that, Elvin released the pictures into the wind, and allows the photos to fall and wrap themselves around the one thing she had always hoped to see one day.