The school is wrecked, Illyana is a little girl again, and the New Mutants have had enough of Magneto. That is the situation surrounding their move aboard X-Factor's living head…

The school is wrecked, Illyana is a little girl again, and the New Mutants have had enough of Magneto. That is the situation surrounding their move aboard X-Factor's living headquarters, Ship. After Inferno, even finding somewhere to sleep comes with complications. New Mutants #74 brings the two groups of youngsters together aboard Ship. The break with Magneto follows in #75, and the older X-Terminators become part of the New Mutants in #76. Cannonball, Sunspot, Wolfsbane, Mirage and Warlock gain four teammates in Boom-Boom, Rictor, Rusty Collins and Skids. Everyone arrives with friendships, habits and problems already in progress. Artie, Leech and Wiz Kid belong to the younger circle around these characters. They should not be counted as members of this New Mutants field team. Ship belongs in the picture too, as their living home and support, rather than another costumed recruit. There is barely time to settle in. Dani's illness pulls much of the group toward Asgard, while Rusty and Skids get stranded in a very different kind of crisis back on Earth. The story keeps cutting between a fight involving gods and a fight involving police, prisons and people who refuse to believe two mutant teenagers. The dates need a small qualification. This is the Ship-era grouping usually associated with 1989, but #85–86 carry January and February 1990 cover dates. Dani's actual decision to remain in Asgard comes in #87, just beyond this thread's main window. That unevenness is part of the group's identity. These are children combining households after a disaster, then discovering how quickly circumstances can scatter them again.