I love so much Dani Moonstar coming to the same conclusion that I (and many others) did. That if Kyron is looking for the tablet, and took her parents, most likely, he’ll keep her parents near where he is, which would naturally be, near the tablet.
I like how Dani had a little moment to herself, collected herself, and came up with the plan. She knows where the tablet is, and doesn’t know where her parents are, so the best plan is to go after the tablet.
Dani and Kian Mir (thanks to the credit page, nice to have these K names ahead of time), discuss the plan, he seems concern about her parents safety, but recognizes it is Dani’s call.
We get two Illyana references this issue, so I love that.
First one was about how Illyana had an interest in the Valkyrie’s powers.
We learn Kian’s origins, of how he became blind.
We get the second Illyana reference, that maybe she or Doctor Strange could use Kian, but he likes the reminder that magic comes at a cost.
I love seeing Brightwind, as I am a sucker for an animal companion.
I like how Dani and Kian have chemistry together, but there’s no time to see where it goes, and Dani’s headspace is properly elsewhere, but there are signs here.
They get to where the tablet is, they have to fight off some undead animals, and learn more about the tablet. When Wilson Fisk had it, it was the size of what you’ll imagine a tablet would be. But now, now it is gigantic, and part of the ground.
Kyron shows up, with Dani’s parents, and begins to cast his undead spell, as the issue ends.
Variant Cover Benjamin Su, I really got lucky and was able to get all of the solo Magik covers.
Final issue!
Issue opens with Magik & Colossus fighting Koschei (a character name I can’t keep in my head).
Magik doesn’t have access to her magical abilities, and Koschei is on the attack. She is going to fight him off with her sweet s-words, as Colossus & Count Kaoz go around breaking up Koschei’s soul coins. Which will only make him stronger, but then Magik, and all of the Russian magic folks, will have their powers restored.
We get a lot of great fight scenes between Magik and Koschei.
Colossus & Kaoz are successful. Koschei is at full power, and the Rasputins regroup.
We get another great moment of the siblings talking about their feelings.
I like them addressing why Magik can’t just leave, and get the X-Men, they don’t have the time for that. Koschei would surely defeat Colossus in that time.
I also like them addressing how Magik won’t let Colossus make the sacrificial play here either. He does have a plan though, a beginning of a plan.
Koschei shows up to stop the nice moment we were having
Colossus defends his sister, which I absolutely love. He trusts her to make the right choices, and she does the Rasputin name proud (which, really, isn’t that hard of a task).
Magik comes back in full Darkchild mode. So, they are definitely going to win this fight. She’s no longer ashamed to show her brother her true self, and with that confidence, they start attacking Koschei.
We get Magik’s side of the argument about how he wouldn’t trust her soul in her brother’s hands.
Magik definitely trusts her soul in Colossus, as we see him wielding her soulsword, which is always a cool visual. We saw it during Battle of the Atom, and we got a version of it recently in Uncanny X-Men’s Who Has Been Sleeping in My Bed arc.
Like almost every boss fight in a video game, it all ends with a knockout, that looks pretty cool.
Are there video game final boss encounters that don’t end in a fight? I would like to play that game. I’m just not into battles in video games. Which is odd, as I just spent a lot of money on PS5 Wolverine. Maybe I’m into the smaller fights, but the six part battle sequences, those I’m just tired of, but also, I’m old, and just want to experience a great story.
Issue ends with Magik tying up Koschei, and Colossus makes a bad joke. Illyana can’t think of a better one.
They leave Koschei with his sister, Lada, who appears to not have his best interests in mind.
Colossus is going to stay in Russia, as he has some business to take care of, and we get another great hug as our sweet conclusion.
We finally get a letters page again! I thought maybe we’ll be getting letters every issue, as I sent one every issue, but they went with my first one. Lot of us really want a Katyana miniseries, which makes sense, and a few of us really want Colossus’ beard back.
Variant Cover German Peralta, drawing Magik for a cover? Yes, please.
Nice to see Sean Parsons as an Inker. In this age of digital art, inkers are hard to fine, and I worry about the professional inks of the world.
Danger’s Room. Maxime Danger is congratulating everyone for how easy they killed the X-Men. Be nice if Colton C. Colton would do his part to get Quintin Quire and Oya to kill the flatscans of Merle, Alaska, but he’s sure that’ll be happening. Soon.
I just love the Psylocke butterfly effect that we see, things are not going to go well for Danger.
The Factory. Merle, Alaska.
Magneto is talking to Ben and Animalia, he needs a ride to town. Oh, how far the mighty have fallen. She can’t drive a stick, so Ben has to take them.
Quintin is simply losing it, as he can’t find any trace of the Glob Herman’s shooter. One would think he’ll figure it out, but instead of not finding the shooter, he wants to hurt everyone who is hiding the shooter.
Deep in the Gulf of Alska.
Nice to see how tangled Magik and the X-Men are.
We enter 70s Beast cyber mind scape. If the AI was looking to feed on data, he has all of the data it needs.
Magneto has enter Quintin’s mind scape. We all learn a very valuable lesson that if we look at an entire group of people and declare them fit for punishment, that isn’t right.
Quintin finally calms down.
70s Beast teaches the AI the values of life – dignity, freedom, safety, and respect. You know, the classic Teach AI about Humanity plot.
Diaz finds a clever way to draw Weapon X for a panel, so this page should resell nicely.
Oya isn’t thrilled with Magneto’s interference. He’s a nazi hunter, so they need to still hunt for the shooter. He’s all for hunting the right person.
A bit of a cop out that Quintin has erased everyone’s memory of him running through the city’s minds and memories, but honestly, what would that story follow up be with this? Quintin publicly apologizing? Actually, maybe that would have been nice for a page.
Just in case us readers are concern the X-Men are losing a full day to this exercise, it is most likely only minutes that are passing.
70s Beast poses an exam question, is this AI a weapon or a person?
Danger’s Room. I love Maxime referencing her own psych file, she doesn’t handle disappointment well. Before she can kill Colton, Psylocke, Xorn, and Greycrow enter the room.
I love Greycrow stating the room’s guns like him more than Maxime, so the room’s auto defenses are not going to work.
Like a boss, Maxime teleports away, this exercise was a real waste.
Which is what I always say, if you are a villain, and you must know the X-Men are going to win in the end, the best you can do is try to hurt them real badly, OR, get all of your personal goals done by mid plot, as once the X-Men come together, they clean up pretty quickly after that.
Psylocke is going to teach Maxime’s goons a real lesson in empathy. The hard way.
The AI ship comes to the surface. I love Magik stretching out. She’s so real, and was very cramped.
Scott is such a delight here. The Tantum Twins is such a silly name for Magik and Juggernaut, who I simply adore together as besties.
70s Beast should know Cyclops always has a plan, but he missed out on the Utopia era (an era I like), and Cyclops doesn’t just have 26 plans, he has all of the plans.
Xorn is taking care of Glob.
I love so much seeing Illyana eat, and taking care of herself. Juggernaut and her are eating the biggest sandwiches of all time.
Poor Animalia, she isn’t getting far with 70s Beast. Unless those are bedroom eyes, but they look more sad to me.
Epilogue. Military Housing. Location REDACTED. (Such a good visual gag).
The Residence of Frank Bohannan. Director of O*N*E.
Such a cool image of the field team confronting Bohannan.
Cyclops tells Bohannan that he knows he put Maxime up to this, but Bohannan has full deniability.
This is his final warning, Psylocke will end him next time. This is a threat.
Magik teleports the team away at issue’s end.
Next arc, the Science Team investigates a Cerebro alert. The Science Team consists of 70s Beast, Animalia, Magneto, Xorn, and Ben. A nice little arc before we ramp up to DNX.
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.
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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.
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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.
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Magik does not want to end up back in Florida.
The trio leaves, and Koschei takes it pretty well.
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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.
Such a great issue! Well, besides that clear cliffhanger final page, but we’ll get there. I thought I misremembered Allen’s tease of Dani maybe getting a love interest in this series, and we only have Kian as an option right now. Yanisa is dead, though maybe she can come back? Kyron is definitely not an option.
Dani and Kian are looking for an artifact that Kyron probably will need if he needs a larger container to keep souls in. Kian says some hurtful things about wishing Dani had died instead of Yanisa, which seems a bit much, but he is grieving. I love so much that Dani doesn’t take it. She understands it, but she sets a real boundary.
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As they approach the alter, he zombie goon grips Dani’s ankle, and we get a very fun insert panel with a “grip” sound effect. I love this so much.
Kian embarrasses himself but not regrouping with Dani, causing himself to almost fall to his death, but Dani catches him. He’s completely silent, as he’s very embarrassed.
Then in very quick succession, Kian saves Dani, and she blushes when he accuses her of being embarrassed. So, maybe I like these two just a little bit? I wouldn’t say they have fun chemistry, or any chemistry, but sometimes intense experiences creates a relationship. They never work.
Kyron finally arrives, but makes a foolish mistake of taking the form of Dani’s beloved grandfather. She would have been in shock, but Kyron is talking complete nonsense, and she starts attacking him. Kyron does share his origin story, and his sister’s death, which is motivating his current actions.
Since he has to take a soul before he can sheathe is sword, he takes Dani’s. I don’t like that. Great issue besides that little detail.
No Magik references, but we did get Dani thinking about the X-Men.
A real shame this came out the same week as X-Men United, as it would have won any other week for me.
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Lake Baikal, Russia. Then. Illyana and Piotr are fishing with their father. Pitor isn’t very good at it, and Illyana wants a turn. She says he’s being mean, and he starts crying. So, they have always been this way.
I like her father calling her, sunshine, a nice contrast to Piotr’s snowflake.
Lake Baikal, Russia. Now. Magik explains to Colossus why they can’t just teleport. Magik is tracking the magical signature of whoever is Lady Midday’s boss.
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I could have gone an entire issue of just these two on the train together. I like how, even with her brother, Illyana is calculated enough to make sure she’s only being surface level. In a game of Eye Spy, she’s going to pick literally the first thing she sees. She’s always been this way.
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Once again, if there’s any character that needed a refresh, it is Colossus. He’s still carrying his Krakoa baggage. Illyana tries to soothe him, one can’t keep living in the past. She mentions Belasco, and her lack of a childhood, which will pay off expertly later in the issue.
St. Petersburg, Russia. I like Piotr stopping for some halva. He hasn’t had any in a while. He’s still not one to talk, and she matches his energy. These siblings are fun to watch.
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The two of them are attacked by mermaids. They take Magik into the water.
They keep gabbing at her, and I like the attention to detail that she can’t respond to them, as she’ll get a mouthful of water. But, how do the mermaids talk? Are they not getting mouthfuls of water? I get the water goes into their mouths, and out through the gills, but would they still be able to talk? They must, as they always do, but that’s a thought I hadn’t had until now.
Magik comes up for some air. She heads back down, and takes out a mermaid with the Wraithsword, one of her two options for a pickaxe in Fortnite.
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She comes back up for some more air, and asks Colossus to give her a rope. He thinks it is to pull her up, but she has other plans.
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I like how she knows enough magik spells, that she has access to non verbal ones, and takes out all of the mermaids.
Colossus is upset that he thought he lost her, but there wasn’t time to discuss the entire plan. Also, he’s a bit slow.
They come across a Bannik. He informs them that they are up against The Immortal. A character name the Legal department must have loved to clear. Marvel’s The Immortal. The Immortal is making deals with the magik folk, and once the siblings are taken care of, they won’t have to live in hiding anymore. Which is a bit odd in the Marvel Universe, where people of all types and sizes exist on the surface level, is a mermaid that much more to ask about?
They are directed to a nearby church. Colossus makes the poor decision to guard the front, like, okay pal. Magik goes inside, to look for a relic that will help them locate The Immortal. There’s a cloaked old man, who is quick to bind Magik, and Colossus finally comes in.
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But he’s too late as Magik falls down into a portal. Which has to cause Colosuss, and me, a bit of anxiety as the last time he witness her going down into a portal, she came back aged by seven years.
I love this issue so much! I treated myself to the Benjamin Su variant cover, with Dani (and a giant wolf I don’t recognize), reading Stephanie Phillips’ first issue of her Daredevil run.
Issue opens with a history of the Dainsleif sword, created by dwarves of Nidavellir. Its curse is it demands a kill before it can be sheathed.
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We get a nice recap of Magik’s ongoing series that Dani was a co-star of. We get quite a bit of Magik in this series, which I was hoping for, but I was sold on this series regardless.
Present day, we see Dani riding Brightwind, and I just love that we get a mutant powered, and Valkyrie powered Dani Moonstar. She’s not powerless here.
We get a recap of her New Mutants days. We see her parents, who I would have sworn were dead. Their spirits were trapped in the Demon Bear, and I thought they were released, as I never see her talk to her parents, or hear from her parents, or even discuss them. I was expecting a final page reveal that they were figments of her imagination, but nope, they’re alive and very well.
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I like Dani referring to Illyana as her best friend. It definitely feels like her and Rahne haven’t been as close since . . . forever, maybe?
With Immortal Thor’s 25th issue, no one remembers Asgard, which seems odd as isn’t Thor flying around? Or part of Avengers history? I’m sure Mortal Thor is handling all of these questions. I’m curious, but not curious enough to look into it. I’m sure time will be restored.
Yanisa and Kian from the Society Dani was working with, and who Dani and Magik brought down, arrive. They need Dani’s help with retrieving Dainsleif.
It was teased that we were going to get a romantic interest for Dani in this series, so I immediately thought it might be Yanisa.
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Yanisa asks if Dani still has access to the teleporter mutant. She’s so much more than that!
Instead of enlisting her, Brightwind seats three.
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We get another flashback to Magik & Dani fighting the Society.
We meet the threat of the series, Kyron, who has a mystical artifact that he’s trying to bring this cities dead to him, to power up Dainsleif.
Yanisa and Kian rush into battle with Kyron, leaving Dani with only a poor decision to get into the fight sooner than she would have liked to. Yanisa sacrifices herself so that Dani and Kian can get away.
Which leaves Kian as the guy who will be having feelings for Dani, but that doesn’t mean Dani is going to return those feelings.
Kyron needs a new artifact, and Dani has an idea of what he will need, so they have a next step to follow.
I love this comic so much! If any X-Man needed a redemption arc, it is Colossus. Ashley Allen, German Peralta, Arthur Helsi, and VC’s Ariana Maher brought me my favorite comic of 2026, well, until X-Men United gives it a run for its money.
Issue opens with Colossus having a bit of a nightmare. Once again, Illyana tells Piotr that she hates the “Snowflake” nickname, but it sticks this time – which I really appreciate.
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Nightmare ends with Colossus in a grave with the great loves of his life – Kitty Pryde (in her Exceptional outfit, which I love), Domino (huge shout outs for remembering her!), Nightcrawler, so his Excalibur crew, a guy in a trench coat, maybe Black Tom? Then two lady skeletons I don’t recognize.
Colossus is being hunted by some magical threats in Russia, which seems like what he should be doing is going to ghost towns instead of currently habited farms, as people are getting hurt. Magik finally locates him, she hasn’t seen him since the Hellfire Vigil, and they do a quick catch up.
I do like how this comic hits the highs of Colossus, that he will be the one to make the sacrificial play, and break a neck if he has too. More on that later.
This does feel like Magik’s ongoing, but now with 100% more Colossus. I do like how this first issue opens with a dream sequence, just like Magik’s first issue. Also, we saw a dead Kitty Pryde there too. Oh, Ashley Allen, why are you having German Peralta do this to Pryde Nation?!
They go back to their parents’ farm house, and it is so charming that Piotr immediately starts thinking he can live here again with Magik. Like buddy, that hasn’t been her home in years. And I’m sure whenever she tries to conjure a childhood memory, it is always ALWAYS tainted by her thoughts immediately going to Limbo soon after. That, or her parents were murdered there, while she hid under a bed scared out of her mind.
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They come across a child who freaks out as Colossus is covered in blood. Magik makes Colossus more presentable, but at the cost of his glorious beard. Which is my sole criticism of this issue. Why did we have to lose his beard?!
We learn the current threat is Lady Midday, she, of course, has a bigger boss. There’s always a bigger fish. A proper legend, which is fun pull.
Lady Midday allows Magik to defeat her in the first round, as now she knows Illyana’s strengths – of which, she has many.
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To combat her fully, she creates four elemental versions of her. I am such a sucker for elemental threats. We get Earth, Wind, & Fire, with Water. Wind immediately takes Magik’s breath away, and as a verbal spell caster, prevents some moves on Magik’s part.
Magik comes up with a plan. Colossus makes for good bait, they want him anyway. She essentially gets the elements to take each other out. Proper Lady Midday arrives, to taunt them, and Colossus is just done.
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Colossus Riptides Lady Midday. Magik sees her magic signature float away, but allows Colossus to think he got this win.
Issue ends with the Big Bad, and the editorial page refers to him as The Immortal. I imagine we’ll learn more about him next issue as we go to St. Petersburg.
What. A. Great. Comic! I love this.
BlueSky amigo, and great follow, Project Legacy X informed me that the blonde with the headbane is Kayla from Krakoa.
Would have been good to see Nereel in there, or Zsaji.
Magik’s first issue of her first ongoing came out on January 8, 2025.
Writer : Ashley Allen
Artist German Peralta
Color Artist : Arthur Helsi
Letterer : VC’s Ariana Maher
I treated myself to the David Nakayama cover.
Ashley Allen wrote the incredible Blood Hunt : Magik ongoing (thus, earned the right to write Magik’s ongoing).
German Peralta drew the Age of X-Man : Prisoner X is where I recognize his work from, and Cable 155 – 159.
Issue opens with someone chasing someone else down a street in Juneau, Alaska.
We see Magik was having a nightmare. I love that Kitty Pryde and Dani Moonstar are there. I imagine Beast is there as he’s currently on X-MEN with her. Cyclops and her are best buds, so that makes sense too. Illyana has a closer tie to the Storm who existed with her from her origin mini series, Magik & Storm. Events that occur there are the main reasons I like to think of why Magik & Storm are not that close. Even though they served together on Kieron GIllen’s Uncanny X-Men Volume Two, as part of Cyclops’ Extinction Team. Cannonball represents the boys of New Mutants.
Illyana wakes up, and I absolutely love that she is wearing a, Magneto Was Right shirt. He is her greatest teacher from her original New Mutants days. I also like how she could have easily worn a, Cyclops Was Right shirt but this is a more fun option.
I also adore how she has a New Mutants, original recipe, class photo, and a photo of her and Kitty. So we get that Kitty and her are still close. I thought the picture of Kitty came from Uncanny X-Men 600, because of the gray in her suit, but I think that is something else now.
Be nice if Kitty had a picture of Illyana in her room, but she barely has an origami Lockheed on her shelf, so she’s not decorating her current room with pieces of her past – which is a real shame.
That is further added by the fact that Kitty had called Cyclops to tell him that today is Magik’s birthday.
I also love how this is her birthday, Kid Omega implies she is having a quarter life crisis, so if she’s about 25, that feels right to me. Though Exceptional X-Men Kitty Pryde strikes me as a gal into her 30s, but Illyana could easily be in the 25-28 age range.
Comics disclosure is complicated, but also, Illyana has been de-aged and aged, that she could be floating anywhere from mid-twenties to early-thirties.
So it is her birthday, but also 2025 marks her 50th year in publication, so it works on a meta level as well.
This surprise party goes over better than the one Nico throws her in Midnight Suns. (Starts around the 18 minute mark)
All of the attention is too much for Illyana, and she overhears a news report about missing kids, and like we learned from one of my favorite Uncanny X-Men Volume 3 stories, issue 33, Magik likes to rescue mutants when she’s not busy saving the world.
I do love how quick Cyclops is to explain her quick exit. He completely gets Illyana, and her intimacy issues.
In Juneau, we are introduced to Cal and Ren Isaacs, and their grandmother, Anges – the perfect grandmother name. Someone is hunting mutants, and there are jerk protestors who want these two mutants to leave the city.
Magik arrives, and any new readers are immediately shown Magik’s public persona, as well as get an explanation for her soulword.
Magik deals with the demons, and introduces herself to the Isaacs family. She gets her mission statement to protect the other mutants, and deal with the protesters.
Magik misses one of the students, who turns out to be our big bad, the Crow Demon. Who actually is working for the Liminal – a mysterious new organization.
Allen has set up so many threads to pull for future stories that it is bonkers.
The Crow Demon and Magik get into an intense fight, that we see Magik use her other magical skills, and not just swats at him with her appropriately sized sword.
Unfortunately, while Magik is trying to get her bearings, Crow Demon kills Ren. Agnes is trying her best to create a protection spell.
Unfortunately, we lose Agnes as well.
Magik and Cal have Agnes’ spellbook, and they are going to pursue the Demon Crow.
I like how Cal is aware of his grandmother’s abilities, so it isn’t like Magik has to explain to him how mutants and magic work, separately or together. Magik tells him she will pursue the threat, but he insists on coming along.
And that is the first outstanding issue of Magik’s first ongoing.
I’m excited to see Cal be part of, hopefully, her ever growing supporting cast.
Issue ends with someone prophesizing about Magik’s Darkchild persona, that is on the edge’s of Illyana’s mind.
I can’t wait for issue two. I treated myself to the Mark Brooks cover.
as bitter of a pill as it is 😀
. . .
My only goals for this series is that we get 50 issues of it (at least), and a crossover with Exceptional X-Men, that doesn’t necessarily have to also crossover with X-MEN. Though I can only imagine we will get a Magik – X-MEN – Psylocke crossover eventually, as those are three easy enough books to crossover as they share the same cast members.
Shadow and Flame with Magik 