Writer Ashely Allen
Artist German Peralta
Color Artist Arthur Hesli
Letterer VC’s Ariana Maher
Variant Cover Nimit Malavia
The Rasputin Household. UST-Ordynsky Collective. Russia. Then.
Young Piotr is getting super bullied, which I don’t care for. Mama Rasputina, who we never really got much of before, needs to toughen up her middle child.
Possibly the youngest we have ever seen Illyana?
Now.
Illyana is in an arena, being run by Koschei, who is trying to absorb magik.
I like how smart Illyana is, that she knows that’s the plan, so she’s just punching and kicking goons, and doing quite well for herself.
Then Magik has to fight . . . Count Kaoz, who seemed very familiar with me, and I wasn’t sure if we were going to get an editor note telling us where we know him from. He made his first appearance in Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo’s Doctor Strange V4 7, part of the Last Days of Magic arc, that I own many issues of. Which I’m sure whenever we get Doctor Strange 3, would be the storyline I’ll cover on the pod.
The Lucky Bear. St. Petersburg, Russia. Piotr is hassling some goons in hopes they’ll lead him to where Illyana is. I like that we get a Mikail reference here, that’s how Piotr knows who to talk to in the Russian criminal underground.
Colossus, one of the few guys who can headbutt a fool, and not also take damage doing so.
I love Magik & Kaoz’s chemistry so much! They are in danger, but they’re not in serious danger, so they are having fun.
Colossus breaks through the barrier, and starts helping out. Did I need four pages of Colossus getting closer to Magik? No, show us that he’s on the right track, and then surprise us with the reveal. That’s such great pacing.
Colossus rips off a demon cow’s head, that’s pretty intense. Anyone start watching Primate now on Paramount Plus? We thought the trailer looked good, and been eager for it to start streaming somewhere. We got to the first scare, a gorilla ripping off some dude’s face, and Walker D noped out. I should try to go back, but it is hard to watch a movie by myself. The demon cow wasn’t as intense as that.
Magik does not want to end up back in Florida.
The trio leaves, and Koschei takes it pretty well.
I love so much the three pages we get of Illyana and Piotr sharing their feelings, I just love them communicating. It was worth the effort.
I also love so much that Illyana takes after her mother. If this entire miniseries was to make us love Mama Rasputina, then mission accomplish!
Count Kaoz is leading the Rasputins to his ex-girlfriend’s house. His ex-girlfriend being . . . Baba Yaga. Who is NOT happy to see Kaoz.
Next issue should be very fun!
Shadow and Flame with Magik 