Shadow and Flame with Magik

Writers Chris Claremont and Bill Mantlo

Penciler Butch Guice

Inks Bob Wiacek

Letters Rick Parker

Colors Julianna Ferriter

Cover Dated April 1984

I was wrong, there was no two page recap of the previous issue.  There is fallout from the previous issue, but no narration or long thought bubble sequence.

Essentially what happen previous, that I can gather is this – Kitty and Karza are still in each other’s bodies, but now Kitty has control over the armor.  The X-Men and the Micronauts are have a rough go as the Entity spanked them hard.  Speaking of which, it was revealed that the Entity is the negative part of Xavier’s personality.  Also, those two have switched bodies with Entity in Xavier’s body on Earth and Xavier in Entity’s in the Microverse.

Dani is sleeping at her desk, wearing a brown shirt and a pair of white panties.  Not that questionable as it is nighttime and her own room.  Unfortunately, the Entity is feeling feisty.  We learn he is every dark thought Xavier ever had, and apparently, Xavier has been suppressing a slew of desires for his young female students.  This is only the beginning that will eventually lead to Onslaught – which I don’t think this miniseries is ever referenced in that regard.  Probably as Marvel doesn’t own the Micronauts rights any more.

So Entity rolls into Dani’s room and gives her ‘throes of indescribable … pleasure” by force, so this issue has her essentially raped by her professor.  And people wonder why I don’t miss him at all.

He then gets her to agree to turn the rest of the New Mutants, if she wants more and to be a good girl.  I’m sure that at one point, her memory of this must be erased, off panel.

In the Microverse, we learn that the Entity’s body is dying.  The comic keeps referring to the teams as the Uncanny X-Men and the Mighty Micronauts, even having the characters state it too.

Karza, still in Kitty’s body, slayed the Entity.  Now he wants to finish the heroes.  His choice of weapon?  A sniper rifle.  Wolverine notices the glare of the gun and warns the teams.  Has Wolverine’s time as a soldier been stated before this?  With his warning, Colossus armors up and takes the shot.  Kurt sees the glare and teleports over there.

Kurt finds the shooter, he is surprised to see Kitty holding the rifle.  What I find surprising is that Karza took the time to change into a pink bikini.  Can we agree that if you switch bodies, that you should try your ever loving best to not change clothes or do anything perverted?  It isn’t right.  I wonder if we are given a proper motivation in the previous issue.

Kurt suspects that Kitty is only being manipulated by the Entity, they still don’t know about the switch.  Karza phases away.

Meanwhile at the battlefleet, Kitty (as Karza) is controlling the army of Dog Soldiers.  With her is her second in command, Degrayde.  Degrayde is one of those second in line types who is always planning on taking out the top guy.  He has been noticing a change in Karza, he’s been caring about the soldiers and worried about the cost of battle.  He plans on taking advantage of this.

Xavier mentally reaches out to Kitty.  She orders Degrayde to stop the attack and teleports away.  Of course, he chooses to not stop the attack, as they are winning.

Karza wishes he knew more about the X-Men, so that he can kill them.  Kitty also shows up in the same room where the Entity’s body is dying, if it died while Xavier is still in it, then he dies with it.

Kitty attacks Karza with that detached glove move.  Karza is pinned to the wall.  Of course, this is when the heroes come in and want to protect ‘Kitty.’  She tries to explain.  Luckily, Xavier gets a chance too.  Wolverine also confirms the switch happened, as Kitty would have phased through the glove by now.  Karza curses his elementary control over her powers.

Meanwhile back on Earth, the Entity has found Celebro, and plans on destroying Microverse altogether.

Bioship, who is dying, picks up the heroes to head to Earth.  Getting there drains even more of its life force.  The X-Men learm it is alive, making a reference to the Acanti, who look like whales and not like robots.  Both races are used for transport.

Karza has switched into a new outfit that looks pretty stylish.  Kitty is afraid she will never get her body back.  Storm tries to comfort her.

Bioship, who is man sized now, is attacked by the New Mutants.  The heroes exit but are all toy sized.

Xavier explains to Kurt that he needs two things.  One, distract the Entity for as long as possible.  Two, once he says so, let the Entity’s body die – either naturally or by killing it.  Kurt killef his adopted brother, so he is no stranger to that.  Then he dated that guy’s sister, Amanda.

Dani is wearing hipless chaps, a fashion choice that doesn’t catch on.

I’m not the only one to have the Bishop / Bioship problem as while Kurt is looking for a safe spot to stashed the Entity’s body, in a thought bubble, refers to Bioship as Bishop.  I had to look at it twice to make sure I saw that right.

Xavier’s astral form is looking for his body.  He comes across an unconscious Illyana, who Lockheed is protecting.  Guice draws him more as a purple lizard with wings, which sort of works for me.  Lockheed notices Xavier in astral form, surprising the professor.

Lockheed flies off, Kitty must be in trouble.

We see how Xavier’s mind looks like to himself, mirrors upon mirrors.  Guice gets a chance to draw the Original Five, original Brotherhood and Dark Phoenix.  The battle for his body begins.

Lockheed comes across Kitty and Karza.  He senses something isn’t right.  He feels that he understands the situation.  But his instincts kick in and spits hot fire at Kitty in Karza’s armor.

Marionette’s song finally makes it possible to switch Kitty and Karza back.  Now Kitty is wearing a green bathing suit.

Xavier causes a stroke to his own body.  This scares the Entity to leave for its original body, but it has died so he dies.  Bioship has also died from its injuries.

The Micronauts head home and this adventure comes to an end.

There is an ad for Secret Wars, with the original cover that includes Kitty surrounded by Kurt, Rogue and Cyclops.  There is a Marvel Age cover that uses this image, so I will show that once we get around to that issue.