The Last New Mutants Book
For the most part, this annual was well done. The first story is the main event, the beginning of a four-book crossover. It's told well enough, but the best part is the drawing. Not all of it, mind you, but it does have its moments. When Cable briefs the team, that's a moment. When the New Mutants whoop on some Genetechs, that's a moment. So, no complaints about the first story.
The second story deals with Freedom Force and it is also a crossover. The art is much better in the sense of consistent quality, but it seems to lack any real coolness until the last scene of this part of the story. What is nice is actually seeing a whole story devoted to this team and to see that they were legitimate agents for the government. Corrupt, yes, but agents nonetheless. So far the story has little to do with anything going on elsewhere in the X-books, so the story should just be read as a nice distraction from all the team's past misdeeds.
The third story is pure filler. The young mutants Artie, Leech, and Whiz get into some trouble. Sure, it may be a way to show how the youth can get into trouble, especially being mutants, but the story is told in a way that makes the tale too flippant. "Oh, we're doing this and this happens, but we're mutants so it's okay." I'm not convinced. If the purpose was to simply fill another couple pages then they succeeded. If the purpose was to get me as the reader interested in checking out more of their adventures, then they failed miserably. As it stands, I would be fine only paying for the 54 pages of good work than the whole 64.
Lastly, the pinups in the back are great. Old team, new team, they both look great. And this annual also includes an organized chart of who has been a New Mutant and where they have gone since. A nice supplement which helps get the nasty taste of Artie and Leech out of one's brain.