He's out there, the Demon Bear that murdered my parents.
The comic that turned New Mutants into Darker and Edgier fare. The definitive New Mutants story.
Running from New Mutants #18-20, in which the tone of the series shifts dramatically as Bill Sienkiewicz comes on board, Danielle Moonstar confronts her demons, and the New Mutants are forced to overcome self-doubt and distrust and unite to save the life of their teammate. The Demon Bear had been a presence in New Mutants since the earliest issues. A Cheyenne whose mutant abilities manifested at puberty, Danielle had a horrifying vision of her parents being killed by a demonic bear.
Sooner or later, the Demon Bear actually starts haunting the New Mutants...
The last outing of the original X-Men Film Series, The New Mutants, partially adapts this storyline.
Tropes:
- Aborted Arc: We never find out who created the Demon Bear, or why. Claremont loved leaving plot threads that were never really picked up on again.
- Animalistic Abomination: The Demon Bear takes the appearance of a larger-than-life demonic bear with enormous claws. Its very presence corrupts everything around it.
- Body Horror: This storyline marked the first appearance of Illyana’s armor beginning to appear on her body.
- Credits Gag: For issue #20, the credits are the normal stuff, save for Editor In-Chief Jim Shooter's, which says he's bigger than everyone else, "and therefore the chief".
- Cross Through: Rachel Summers makes a brief appearance, which has nothing to do with the storylines going on in New Mutants, but is more tied to the events in Uncanny X-Men.
- Darker and Edgier:
- In both art and plot, this arc turned New Mutants from lighter teen angst superhero-style stories into something with (demon bear) teeth. Sienkiewicz debuted on this arc with his signature scratchy, stylized art. Rachel Summers arrives from the future and has a flashback to her childhood when the US Army destroyed the X-Mansion, killed Professor Xavier with a rocket, and found her beside his corpse. Dani faces the creature she believes killed her parents, is mauled nearly to death when it demonstrates it's not just a psychic threat.
- Rahne’s lupine form takes on a more bestial appearance, with her more complacent to it.
- Deus ex Machina: Dani's grievously injured by the bear, so much so it's figured even if she survives she'll be crippled for life. In the last issue, Storm brings in Healer of the Morlocks to heal her, with no mention or build-up to this beforehand.
- Freak Out: Rachel Summers, having just arrived at the mansion from her own Bad Future, is met by Illyana. Since in her timeline Rachel saw Illyana die when the mansion was attacked by the government, and she was much younger than this Illyana, she panics and runs off.
- Healing Shiv: Turns out Illyana's Soulsword works like this.
- Hope Spot: Dani seemingly kills the Demon Bear. She walks over to its fallen form, proud that she has avenged her parents. The Bear opens its eyes…
- Hospital Gurney Scene: Issue #19 opens with a full page of Dani getting rushed into a hospital on a stretcher, followed by lots of yelling about units of blood and a list of injuries as they take her straight to the operating room.
- Love Makes You Crazy: Seeing Illyana stab a corrupted Amara with her Soulsword, Sam immediately rams at her, convinced she has killed his unrequited crush. He is then immediately yelled at by a very much alive Amara who explains Illyana cured her of the Demon Bear’s magic and that his stupid action is helping the Bear. Sam looks like he wants to crawl into a hole and die.
- Magical Native American: Apparently Dani's grandfather could cast magic, and it was this that had been keeping the Demon Bear at bay from Dani. Of course, once he died those spells wore off...
- Mr. Exposition: Dani's dad, once freed from the Demon Bear, helps fill in a lot of details about just what the heck's up with the bear.
- Race Lift: In-universe; Officer Tom Corsi and Nurse Sharon Friedlander, both white, are unlucky enough to be caught by the Demon Bear as it hunts Dani. Part of its magic transforms the two of them into Native Americans, and unlike the rest of the Bear's magic, this is not undone when it is defeated.
- The Reveal: Illyana disenchants the Demon Bear. It turns out to be Dani’s parents William and Peg, magically cursed by the Bear’s creator to hunt and kill their daughter.
- Spreading Disaster Map Graphic: For issue #20, there's the occasional inset of a board representing the dimension the New Mutants are fighting the bear in, which gets increasingly blotchy to represent the bear's spreading influence.
