Shadow and Flame with Magik

This is a Young Readers novel, written by Barry Lyga.  From doing some quick research for the image above, apparently this had a subtitle of, Worst Day Ever – but that doesn’t appear on the indicia or the cover of my copy.

The fun aspect to this book, is that it is written as if it is a printed blog.  I like how the images used in the book are explained away.  There are panels from comics throughout the book, so that it isn’t just text.  The panels are pulled from various titles and artists, and it is explained that the main character is an artist and likes to use various styles.  That is some clever writing, with production in mind.

The main character and his power is what I really want to discuss in this review.  Before that, the main reason why I bought it was two reasons.  I flipped through it and saw that Kitty Pryde made a few appearances and it was used at Hastings, so it was only $2.49.

The main character of the novel is, Eric Mattias.  He is writing his blog as he is a student of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.  He is writing the blog as he has the worst mutant power of them all.  His mutant power is, as it described on page ten – people don’t notice him.  If he concentrates really hard, he can get people’s attention.

This book came out in 2013.  In May 2014, three guys got together and write X-Men Legacy 300 – Mike Carey, Simon Spurrier and Christos Gage.  Together, they created . . . ForgetMeNot.  Who, in comparison to Mattias, has it so much easier.

ForgetMeNot’s power makes you forget about him, once he is out of your line of sight.  Mattias’ power is that, even if he is in front of you, you still can’t see him.  Xavier knows both of them, but it hurts his head, concentrating so hard, to be able to register Mattias.  Mattias tries to make his hero name, Nowhere Kid or Nowhere Boy.

Mattias, early in the novel, causes Colossus to trip over him in a Danger Room scenario.

My main issue with this novel is this, does Lyga know that ForgetMeNot exists and is essentially a middle aged man version of his 13 year old character?  His novel came out first, so do any of the three ForgetMeNot creators know about the book?

Eric, Wolverine and Angel go on a mission where they rescue Cannonball from Unus the Untouchable, so it isn’t in continuity but it is a fun book.  A very fast read.

There is an intense battle with Wolverine and Sabretooth, towards the end.  Kitty Pryde shows up too.