The New Warriors 9 page 17 by Mark Bagley and Larry Mahlstedt

New Warriors was the outsider series that nobody expected and took the 90s by surprise, surfing on that Teen Titans, New Mutants vibe. A title that would likely die after 10 issues in today’s market that ran for years with memorable storylines.

It also launched Mark Bagley’s career as his first success for him to soar on Spidey and T-Bolts later on.

This issue sees the fight between Night Thrasher and Bengal. I’ve loved Bengal’s design since his first appearance under Ron Lim in a memorable fill in issue of Daredevil (of which I’m lucky to own a page) so this made this page a desirable one.

And Bagley draws him well, lean, athletic and bouncing around while fighting. His choreography of the fight also stands out as does their respective fighting styles. One is elegant and aerial, the other pure dirty street fighting.

Bengal’s flying kick in panel one is as good as Thrasher’s avoiding it in this establishing shot on NYC’s tops.

Bengal then leave himself wide open for a retaliating punch that makes him lose one of his sai swords.

I remember thinking that the next two panels were particularly brutal at the time. Bengal shatters Thrasher’s visor in the 3rd panel so hard that he is blinded by his own blood in the next as his foe is closing on him to secure his victory…

…only to be stopped by a nasty spray to the face.You have to love the technique on that spray as we get see Bengal vaporous features under it.

The last one sees the enemies catching their breath, with shared word balloons subtly indicating the stalemate between them.

A truly great pure fighting page from a memorable series that was always fun at the very least and often more profound that expected. Bagley stayed the first 25 issues to make a name for himself and the series remained enjoyable long after his departure.

And Fabian Nicieza is to be commended for that and particularly here for his use of sparse dialogues that feel natural while giving you the exposition you need to understand what is happening.

Lastly, let’s note those Mahlstedt slick inks. He already did wonder for me over Lightle and a younger Giffen on LOSH at DC but his work over Bagley was really enjoyable.