Warlock first appears in #18, before his arrival among the students develops into a full encounter in #21. He brings a completely different visual language into the book: a tech…

Warlock first appears in #18, before his arrival among the students develops into a full encounter in #21. He brings a completely different visual language into the book: a techno-organic body that can stretch, reshape itself and refuse to stay inside an ordinary outline. From the class's point of view, there are good reasons to be alarmed. His abilities include draining life energy, and the students don't initially have a reliable way to ask what he wants or explain what they are doing. His arrival can become a fight before either side has understood the other. Doug changes that situation. His gift for language makes communication possible, and both become part of the team. The result gives the school a very concrete test of its ideals. Making room for someone different is easy to talk about while everyone still looks like a familiar kind of person. Warlock asks considerably more of their imaginations. Rahne's sympathy matters too. Fear is something she recognizes, and her willingness to respond to it helps the others see more than an alarming body. The friendship that develops around Warlock depends on people making that effort, rather than expecting him to become ordinary first. By the Karma rescue in #34, he is doing useful work alongside Illyana. His relationship to the class has moved well beyond the first crisis of his arrival. Someone the students struggled to understand helps them reach a friend who has been taken from them. The design gives the artist enormous freedom, but the emotional idea underneath is easy to follow. Warlock needs safety and companionship. The New Mutants are already a collection of children learning how to live with unusual bodies and frightening abilities. They have room to recognize another person going through it, even when he comes from very far away.