New Mutants Special Edition #1 (1985) Page 10: Now in color

The original art I have for this page is one of my favorites, both from childhood and now. Even as a kid, I never felt that the original coloring job rose to the high standard that Art Adams' work called for. No offense to original colorist Christie Scheele; it's just that the limitations of newsprint coloring processes were painfully evident.

I'd love to see the whole book recolored in a modern style, as opposed to just reprinted on nicer paper with the original colors. So here's my contribution toward that end. Fittingly, I was able to get it colored by Laura Martin, whose work on Astonishing X-Men played a role in getting me back into comic books as an adult.

In case anyone is alarmed: No, I didn't have Laura color over the original art. I scanned it, and she printed and colored it. And color it she did! Dani Moonstar, the central figure on the page (and arguably in the series at this point), particularly benefits from the opportunity for colors in both higher detail and more variety. (The Adams and Austin signatures at the bottom of the page are part of the scan too.)

Unfortunately, my scanner habitually renders images as more pink than they really are. I have used my novice-level Photoshop skills to try to fix that, but then Dani's magenta bathing suit loses the "pop" that it should have.

So if you want to see what Laura really did, you'll have to look at the photograph in the "additional images" section. In case you're wondering about the Ditko and Wrightson pieces hanging behind her: Yes, they're original, and no, they're not mine or hers. She delivered her work to me at Dragon Con 2025, and I took the photo at the booth where the Atlanta area Comic Art Collectors jointly display pieces from their collection every year. Not bad company for her work to keep, is it?