#47: “My Heart for the Highlands” (January 1987)

Theme and Focus Character: Bobby does Braveheart

The Story: This story divides nicely into three acts:

Act 1: The kids are all sprawled unconscious on the ground in Limbo after escaping Magus. A pack of demons carries off Illyana, and Bobby attempts to rescue her, then finds that the demons actually serve her. Everybody wakes up and talks about their dilemma.



Act 2: Magus somehow appears in Limbo and attacks. Illyana teleports everybody back to Earth, leaving Magus behind to do who-knows-what in Limbo.



Act 3: The kids arrive in 14th century Scotland in the middle of a battle between the forces of Robert the Bruce and King Edward’s English army. Robert takes a shine to Rahne and lavishes her with compliments and presents. Illyana is afraid to use her stepping disc power to return everyone to Limbo, because Magus is waiting on the other side. But after a while, Warlock pokes his head into Limbo, and the coast is clear, so the kids bid farewell to medieval Scotland.



My Two Cents: Awwww. I was all set for this to be another multi-part historical jaunt like the adventure in Nova Roma. A New Mutants story in old tyme Scotland has real possibility, especially for poor neglected Rahne. Illyana could hang out with Merlin. Maybe work in Captain Britain lore somehow. But nope, the whole adventure is just a few pages long with no moral dilemmas and only one brief battle. Seems like a big missed opportunity, and I wonder whether Claremont has been bored with the New Mutants for a while now. Denying Illyana access to Limbo would have been a nice way to ratchet her power way down, but Claremont doesn’t seem to be doing that either.

It’s sort of a focus issue on Roberto, who shows his gallantry in trying to rescue Illyana and then later wanting to make the best of their Scotland experience by fighting for a noble cause. Bobby thought that Illyana was in danger from the demons. She’s genuinely touched by his concern, moreso because he’d previously been so leery of her demonic aspect.

This is the end of my New Mutants collection! I got a CD player for Christmas 1986, and by January 1987, I was spending all of my spare change on music instead of comic books. So I have no idea what happens next to either the X-Men or New Mutants or Fantastic Four, etc.

Meanwhile in X-Men (#213): Psylocke ponders Doug Ramsey’s love for her. When Sabretooth infiltrates the mansion and attacks her, she gets an image of his shadowy boss, who will turn out to be Mr. Sinister. All the injured mutants are evacuated to Muir Island, setting the stage for the X-Men/Fantastic Four mini-series.

Meanwhile in X-Factor (#12): Angel’s wings are ruined from his torture by a Marauder. Jean and Scott, seeing a news report about the bombing of Karma’s apartment, try to protect Jean’s sister Sara, a pro-mutant activist, from terrorists. Boom-Boom is convinced to come live with X-Factor instead of The Vanisher.