Warlock’s understanding of human life has always been incomplete, and Doug’s death brings that difference into the most painful possible focus. His best friend is gone, but the…

Warlock’s understanding of human life has always been incomplete, and Doug’s death brings that difference into the most painful possible focus. His best friend is gone, but the way humans talk about death, souls and resurrection does not give him a clear explanation he can use. New Mutants #64 follows the consequences of that misunderstanding. Warlock tries to restore Doug through life energy and carries his body around in an attempt to reach the friend he believes might still respond. It is disturbing for the people who see it. It also comes from an attempt to help, using a model of life that does not fit Doug’s human body. Rahne recognizes something familiar in his desperation. She has been replaying the death in the Danger Room, trying to produce a version where Doug survives. Their methods are different, but both are struggling to accept an outcome they cannot repair. Warlock’s shape-changing usually makes him the most visually playful person in the class. Here, that same flexibility cannot solve the problem. He can imitate forms and move through extraordinary transformations, but rearranging matter is not the same thing as restoring the particular person he has lost. He continues to support the surviving team afterward, including through the space adventure and Inferno. Transporting or shielding friends can look like a practical use of his body, yet those actions also come from the attachments he has formed. The distinction between alien biology and emotional connection is what makes this period so important for him. Warlock does not have to become human to love Doug. He does need help understanding what Doug’s death means. The New Mutants are still his community, and now learning to live with them includes learning how they mourn.