Shadow and Flame with Magik

Writers Simon Spurrier, Mike Carey and Christos Gage

Pencilers Tan Eng Huat, Steve Kurth and Rafa Sandoval

Inkers Craig Yeung, Allen Martinez and Jordi Tarragona

Colorists Jose Villarrubia, Rachelle Rosenberg and Ulises Arreola

Letterer VC’s Cory Petit

Nice cover by Clay Mann!  I really like how Xavier is at the forefront as when Legacy was added to the X-Men title, it was his solo book then it became Rogue’s then David’s.  Which is why they are position in the forefront.  Very clever!

I am calling it now, ForgetMeNot is the character debut of the year!  If not, has to be in the top three.

This was a fun issue.

Issue opens with a gal, who isn’t named at all in the issue, is trying to break into the Jean Grey School.  The school’s defenses have her locked in place.  ForgetMeNot is the X-Man that shows up to try to free her.

His real name is also not revealed.  I suppose the reason these two are not named, is so that this tale is forgotten in a matter of time.  That is my theory.

She doesn’t recognize her rescuer.  That is because his mutant ability is to make or have people forget about him, as soon as they take their eyes off of him.  The X-Men’s answer to Doctor Who’s The Silent.  He can’t control it, as he can’t get anyone to train him for any amount of time.

ForgetMeNot has been on the team for six years.  I like how he has the Morrison era uniform motif.  That was probably the last time anyone saw him long enough to get him a uniform.

He makes a fun reference to how his place in the official X-Men roster history is always forgotten.

The gal is wearing a motorcycle helmet.  He takes it off, as there are no masks at the school.  Which, when you think about it, no one besides Wolverine wears a mask these days.

She was wearing the helmet due to the scarring on her left side of her face.  Her origin is pretty tragic.  A stupid football player boy tried to rape her, his friends just laughed, she finally punched her way free.  On her way home, the jerk found her.  He threw chimcals at her, causing her lost of vision in the eye and the scars.  She has had seven operations, and her face isn’t getting better.

The football player was only in jail for six months.  Five thousand people signed an online petition to get him freed, while she is forced to be the town freak.

Her parents can’t stand to look at her, and everyone else can’t help but stare.

Heartbreaking

She has always been a fan of the X-Men.  She is hoping to join the school, so she wouldn’t be the most interesting person in the room.  I get the impression that she isn’t a mutant, not that it matters.

The more she struggles with the force field, the more it tries to trap her.

He decides to take her mind off her current situation by telling her about his tenure with the team.

These pages were drawn by Huat, so I imagine Spurrier wrote this section.

This next section deals with ForgetMeNot’s time during the Age of X storyline, so this section has to be written by Mike Carey with art by Kurth who was the other artist.

The main thing is that it is nice to see the Age of X character designs again : Basilisk (Cyclops), Berserker (Warpath), Legion (no real redesign but nice to see him make an appearance in this issue), Legacy (Rogue), Magneto and of course, the Tempo Cadre – Frenzy and Nightmare (Pixie with those bad arse bat wings!)

Even here, ForgetMeNot isn’t remembered past the initial moment of being seen.  He gives Magneto the idea of having someone go to the border of the battlefield.  Which is what Katherine Pryde does in the original story.  But she doesn’t do it for Magneto and gets in trouble for the pictures she takes, which were all blank as there is nothing that exists beyond the border.

Back in the present, ForgetMeNot is trying to free the gal by wiggling her free.  He then starts the tale of how he tried to actively lose his powers.

This section is drawn by Cage and Sandoval.

First we get a moment where he explains away any X-Men victories that seem to have come out of nowhere or whenever a dumb happenstance occurred and the X-Men turn things around at the last minute or come back from behind.  It was all before ForgetMeNot took charge of the situation or got behind enemy lines.

ForgetMeNot, there has to be another name for him!  Reveals that Xavier made a big point to mentally remind himself, once an hour, that ForgetMeNot exists and is living at the mansion.  Once Xavier died, ForgetMetNot is sad as now no one remembers him past the initial moment.

We see Kitty and Storm at Xavier’s tombstone.  Sandoval draws a nice Kitty.  That tombstone, instead of a fancy one, they should have added some security so that Red Skull wouldn’t have such an easy time to steal Xavier’s body.

ForgetMeNot recalls Weapon Omega’s ability to steal mutant powers (and absorb them enough to kill them – most of the time).  Weapon Omega and Mimic are helping some hurricane relief efforts (doing some actual good, which I like to think that most mutants – when not fighting other mutants or on some X-Team – this is what they do).  ForgetMeNot shows up, has a nice conversation with these two heroes.

They bring up the point of the difference between having the power of not being seen and the sad reality of not being noticed.  At least he knows he isn’t being seen due to his power.  How will he feel that once his power is gone, after a lifetime of having no one notice him, once they can see him – they still don’t pay him any attention.  What is a worst situation?

While thinking about it, the Uncanny X-Men show up and we get Sandoval drawing Magik, which is also pretty nice.

Once the X-Men forget that Mimic and Weapon Omega are there, they leave.

Weapon Omega and Mimic try their best to keep their eyes on ForgetMeNot as he is debating if he wants to risk his life to lose his power.  But since he is only sitting there and thinking – it is hard to keep their attention and eventually they look at each other and forget about him.

Which is an odd aspect of his powers, wouldn’t they remember seeing him once their eyes see him again when they look around the room?

Back to the present, ForgetMeNow finally gets her out of the flypaper and gets himself stuck.  She wants to go get help and as soon as she turns around, forgets about him.

On a better note, she calls her mother, and tells her she is coming home.  She feels better about her life and is ready to restart fresh.

Issue ends with him stuck on the fly paper defense grid.  Which, really, there has to be a second protocol and someone needs to walk that parameter.  I really want to see ForgetMeNot in a panel after this issue as that is one horrible way to die!