New Warriors 37 page 3 splash by Darick Robertson & Larry Mahlstedt

My very first Darick Robertson page and a memorable splash to boot.

Darick got his humble beginnings at Marvel on New Warriors and several other titles before branching out to higher fame on Transmestropolitan and other independent ventures.

His art is probably the most attached to New Warriors this side of Bagley and having reread those runs not so long ago, I find they still deserve their fan/cult favorite status.

This emotion heavy title splash comes from the Family values arc in which a simple street gang goes after the Warriors by targetting their family members. Here, Rage's Grandma pays the ultimate price of his choice at super heroism.

I find that Darick captured the intensity of the scene perfectly here. She was his only relative in the world and he lived with her, Not anymore.

His pure pain radiates from the splash. From the flooding tears to the fact that he is oblivious to the flames eating at him (invulnerability or not) and his super tense body (look at his veins), The sense of chaos of the destructed house around him enhances said intensity. Lastly, there is no doubt that grandma is dead here. From the lump position of her body, the fluids coming out of her face, the flames burning at her and the subtle angles of her finger bones which appear to be broken in multiple way.

That is a very painful scene expertly drawn. Emotionally shilling.

I've always loved Larry Mahlstedt's smooth inks on Giffen and Lightle on LSH and Bagley as well and he delivers top quality here as always.

Let's also compliment Nicieza's script as I find the repetition of the dialogue of Rage calling to a higher power in this time of need and to plead for it to take his life instead to be particularly spot on and again very emotional.

2024 update: I met Mr Robertson during the 2024 Heroes con in Belgium and when I mentionned I owned that page, he told it was his absolute favorite of his New Warriors run for the emotional value it carries within the story. A very cool trivia :)