Variant Cover Alexander Lozano, as soon as I saw that plush Lockheed, I had to have this 80s Magik variant cover.
This was such a great comic!
It looks gorgeous too, Daniel, Morales, and Hesli really brought it this issue.
I really appreciate that we got to see how Magik interacts with this 70s Beast, as I don’t feel like they have too much character history together. She hung out with Teen Beast during Brian Michael Bendis’ All New X-Men / Uncanny X-Men tenure. Nothing else really comes to mind.
Screenshot
I really love Magik bringing Magneto to a temple in Merle, Alaska. That was very kind of her.
Maybe a reference to Kitty Pryde would have been too much to ask for?
Screenshot
Magik is such a great character, that we can establish where everyone is with her portals, Such a clever use of her power, and we get a quick glimpse of how she interacts with her team, as she’s looking for 70s Beast.
Screenshot
70s Beast is still unraveling his interaction with Krakoa Beast, the Chairman of 3K. He’s not used to seeing a personification of his inner darkness, so who else to ask but Magik, who has her own personal Darkchild.
Screenshot
Is this Magik learning about Krakoa Beast’s involvement in 3K?
No, Cyclops must have told them when he updated them on the Age of Revelation.
But always good to reestablish plot points.
Screenshot
Age of Revelation Darkchild did look cool, and I love that her and Juggernaut are Best Friends Forever.
Screenshot
Apparently, Cyclops has kept the Krakoa Beast a secret, and only Beast, Animalia, and now Magik know who they are truly up against.
Screenshot
70s Beast is so vulnerable here.
And I just love the softness of the colors here.
Screenshot
Magik tells 70s Beast that seeing her darkness personified is a gift.
Screenshot
It is interesting how living in a comic book universe, that one is treated to seeing what their worst selves look like. That must be such a trippy experience.
Screenshot
Magik must give the best hugs. The absolute rarest of gifts is a hug from Magik.
The panel of her saying she’s a big softy, and just thinks spikes and swords are cool is a panel that will live on forever. It is a shame she’s not seen saying it inside the panel, but might as well include the hug and the quote when reposting it.
There, I did it for you. You are so welcome.
Screenshot
Issue ends with an explosion at The Factory.
This probably is my favorite issue of this series thus far. It is so great!
I got the Marvel Snap Magik Beach variant cover, but resisted paying the $25 for the card in the game itself.
Magik is part of the cast list, so I can just relax and enjoy the comic.
Greg Land doing interior art, feels like forever since he did an X-Men comic.
This is the Juggernaut issue.
Juniper, Pennsylvania. Someone jerks put up a Bolivar Trask statue. So gross.
O*N*E Agent Lundqvist is back! Possibly not by popular demand, but I like what he brings out of Cyclops.
Juggernaut is also there, in a very nice brown suit. He definitely shops at a Big & Tall store.
I like Juggernaut not missing a step to comment on how Lundqvist used to be on the big X-Men assignment, and now he’s watching a statue. I mean, it makes sense, he wasn’t very good at the X-Men issue, getting Cyclops’ to reveal his Hellions team, and wrecking several Sentinel factories.
Juggernaut tells Lundqvist that he can go home early today, as he’s going to wreck the statue, except . . . he can’t. It is being protected somehow.
Two hours later, it is still not wrecked. I would have stopped after the second attempt. Not only are there cameras seeing Juggernaut be literally stopped from his mission, but also, two hours is such a long time to fail at one activity.
I sort of wished this entire issue was just Juggernaut and Lundqvist chatting, as what were they talking about during the last two hours. They are getting real here. Lundqvist knows he’s at a transition in his career, but is confident he’ll get his career back on track. Juggernaut recognizes, sadly, that he can’t trust his judgment anymore, and is just trusting Cyclops to make all of the right decisions for him.
Three more hours later. This is just getting silly, as Juggernaut keeps trying to wreck the statue. This is hard to watch. Not entertaining like the end to Tin Cup. I love that movie.
Chris Coleman, a human who wants the statue down, is now Juggernaut’s pal to chat with. Juggernaut is the human ally who is also on the X-Men, which is good to point out for new readers who may think the Juggernaut is a mutant. Sometimes he is in other media.
It is around now, that I’m wondering when Magik is going to be seen, or even mentioned.
Juggernaut promised Cyclops he’ll handle the statue, and he’s not happy with himself.
Juggernaut can wobble the statue, so shouldn’t he just lift the thing and take it somewhere else?
Coleman lets us in on the fact that Trask lived in Juniper, so he’s unfortunately their local celebrity.
Two more hours later, so five total from the beginning of this awkwardness. Angela Harmon, the free speech advocate is now Juggernaut’s pal. So now we have to “both sides” the issue.
Angie, as she prefers over Trask fan, gets to say, “Magneto was right.” Which is always nice to hear.
Aw, Juggernaut mentioning how he eats dinner with Magneto, that’s cute. Imagine Magneto, Juggeranut, and Magik all sharing a meal? I want to see that page.
Dang, Angela, we’re no longer friends, calls Juggernaut out. Magneto is a dog, and Juggernaut is the X-Men’s pet sapien.
Juggernaut as since removed his helmet, so any telepath could be giving him better direction at this point.
He doesn’t care for Angela’s “points”. She has a real them vs us, and he’s one of us.
One hour later. This is getting beyond sad. Now the statue is talking to Juggernaut.
I apparently can’t spell Juggernaut, I keep swapping the “a” and the “n”.
The statue claims it is actually a mirror, reflecting Coleman’s shame, Harmon’s fear, and Marko’s weakness. It goes on to claim it is the Mark of Cain (get it?), the Stain of Sin, all sins.
Screenshot
His best bud, Magik, finally checks in with him, and has brought Cyclops along as well.
I love so much that she’s quick to try to comfort him.
Screenshot
Juggernaut is muttering to himself how much of a failure he is.
I appreciate so much Cyclops calling him an X-Man. That’s nice, especially after the nonsense he’s had to hear.
Cyclops thought it was a simple mission, but turns out, it is a puzzle. Magik says they’ll figure it out together. I really like these three together.
Magik makes a Godzilla in Ginza reference, which is odd, as she’s battled Godzilla. Did they make a Godzilla attacks Ginza, a district of Tokyo, after Godzilla attempted to destroy the Marvel Universe? That must be it.
Screenshot
Dang, Juggernaut is still taking the “lost” hard.
Cyclops is such a great leader, the mission wasn’t a failure, the parameters were changed. Juggernaut gave more than anyone can expect, which is why Cyclops’ can count on him, that’s what makes him an X-Man.
But also, punching it the fifth time, clearly, nothing was going to happen, he wasn’t weakening the force field. He did waste six hours, but also, waste it instead of doing what? I guess enjoying himself, but if he wanted to spend six hours doing this, sure. His manager clearly was okay with it.
Next issue is a Beast spotlight, which I feel like we just got with the Science arc, but also, we have to now set up DNX, as we compare and contrast the Tale of Two Beasts.
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 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.
I had to get the German Peralta New Mutants cover.
Screenshot
Issue opens with a flashback sequence with Dani and the New Mutants – Magik, Warlock, Warpath, two other people, one being a green lady. Dani is fighting / training with Anole.
Dani’s mind then goes to a battle of the Valkyries. One she wasn’t present for. Turns out she is in the mind of Hildr, someone who died at the blade of Dainsleif, the same blade that Kyron stabbed her with last issue.
Kian is doing his best to keep Dani from dying in the present time.
Dainsleif is taking the form of Hildr to try to get some information from Dani’s subconscious. Thankfully, Dani is a telepath, so she can control this memory road. Dani also keeps referring to herself as an empath, and I’m not sure about that, but sure. Maybe that explains her side of her bond with Wolfsbane?
Dani is now fighting Dainsleif / Hildr at Xavier’s Mansion, so we get an awesome sequence of the original New Mutants fighting the threat. I could have easily gone for an entire issue of this setting.
Hildr finally finds what she is looking for, Dani’s parents location. Dani can now access Kyron’s perspective, as he makes his way to her parents’ house. A real shame these two have been secretly safe for decades, and as soon as we remember they exist, they are in danger. Someone should probably be routinely checking in on Havok’s adoptive parents. But then again, someone would have to think of Havok to then think to threaten them.
Kyron is hoping that Dani leaves his mind soon, as no child should see their parents get murdered.
Kian finally gets Dani to wake up, and he uses a teleportation disk to get them to Colorado. We learn his body isn’t built for magic, but he never expected to live long.
Dani’s parents, of course, are not there, and issue ends with poor Dani having to make a cruel choice, stop Kyron, or save her parents.
Though I imagine her parents are with Kyron, so it isn’t like she has to choose two different locations.
Actually, maybe they are, as Kyron’s map has two locations. One of them being a tablet that we saw in Giant-Size Amazing Spider-Man : King’s Ransom, a great editor note from Darren Shan. That is one long title.
We get Magik continuing her origin story. One day on Earth equals one week in Ultimate Limbo. When she went missing, her father was utterly broken. Colossus, on the other hand, was determined to find her. When he couldn’t, he assumed she was taken by dark forces.
Screenshot
Magik had become a Dark Child, which is just cool to work all of her monikers into this story.
Screenshot
I love so much that Colossus took care of her, she wasn’t a monster to him, but his sister. Also, sleeping is such a great cure for so many ails.
Balga Castle, E.R.
Logan and Jean Grey are trying to find a way into Limbo. A find a person who can open and they both enter it. They locate the missing people, and Jean starts getting them all to safety. Logan is going to head off by himself to confront Magik. He comes across a dreamscape, and sees Colossus chopping wood.
Screenshot
Logan finds Magik sleeping on her bed, with her giant souldsword out. A younger Illyana shows up with her little teddy bear.
Screenshot
Little Yana wants Logan to read her a story, just one story. My heart is breaking reading these pages.
Screenshot
I love so much that Logan, the killer that he is, still read her a story. There’s always time for one last story.
But! He didn’t forget what Magik did to him, with the mind control, turning him into the Ultimate Winter Soldier. Logan kills Magik.
Jean rescues Logan, and they are ready now for Ultimate Endgame 5.
So this new Ultimate Universe killed both Katherine Pryde and Magik. We never got Lockheed introduced, or even teased. I would love to say this is me being done with the Ultimate Universe, but I can’t as I already preordered Ultimate Endgame 4 & 5, and I’ve been searching every panel for Magik, but that’s not going to be necessary anymore.
I imagine we might see them as characters we lost along the way. I also preordered Ultimate Finale, and the first issue of the Miles Morales Ultimate Reborn miniseries, but I am definitely done with this Ultimate Universe. All of my enthusiasm for it is gone.
It is nice that with four bonus issues, we got Magik’s origin story, and also, her last story.
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.
Screenshot
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.
Screenshot
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.
Screenshot
Magik does not want to end up back in Florida.
The trio leaves, and Koschei takes it pretty well.
Screenshot
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.
The Airspace Near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Danger’s Room goons shoot down the Marauder, with Psylocke and Xorn aboard.
The Danger Room. Danger is updated that there are no survivors, which seems super silly not to actually triple check.
The Factory. Merle, Alaska. Quinten Quire wants blood from whoever shot Glob Herman. Magneto is telling him to calm down, and I like Quire’s retort of “you need to get angry!” Oya also wants revenge as the two of them head out.
The Danger Room. Danger is annoyed she hasn’t heard of any destruction in Merle yet, but Colton assures her, it is coming.
Screenshot
The Spirit of St. Augustine. Currently a living biomechanical monster.
Such a cool team shot.
Screenshot
I love so much Magik casting spells.
Screenshot
I also love so much what such besties Magik and Juggernaut are. Juggernaut is stopped by the wires of the ship, and brought underneath them, and Illyana immediately dives in after him.
Screenshot
Cyclops tries to get her to focus, but now the wires have her. Then Scott also gets tangled up.
Screenshot
Danger is excited about how they monetize this technology now.
Quire and Oya have made it to Merle, so stuff is going to happen next issue.
70s Beast and Sheriff Robbins are trying to figure out what the ship is made out of, and Hank can only think of one way to figure it out, dive into its center. I guess she is maybe safer with him than being tangled up on her own? Seems like a conversation he could have had with her.
Screenshot
Agent Jackson wants to kill Greycrow, and Danger tells her she can do that. Jackson gets confirmation that Greycrow is dead, which I feel like, even if he’s in a bed, he’ll put up more of a fight than that.
Turns out, Kwannon has gotten to him, and has taken out the goon squad. So next issue, the X-Men start fighting back, which is always the exciting part of the story.
Variant Cover Todd Nauck, the Doctor Doom Homage Cover
I’m on record that I’m a huge fan of a villain spotlight issue, which was true for X-Men V7 24. Is it too soon for another villain spotlight issue? For me? No, I’m on record for being a huge fan of a villain spotlight issue. This time, we get Ms. Danger’s Danger Room.
I’m also on record about how if a villain knows the X-Men will win, the way to get your agenda done is by making sure your end goal happens toward the middle of your plan, so even when you get optic blasted, you still got your goal accomplished. The X-Men are notorious for not locking their villains up.
Maxine Danger, who is between a high functioning sociopath and a narcissistic solipsist. Which I had to look up. Apparently they believe that the only thing they can guarantee is the existence of their own mind – which seems interesting, but also, other people do exist, but I guess not from their point of view. Which I know I’m the type of guy, once someone passes me on a highway, I do consider that person. Where are they going? How did they catch up to me on the highway to pass me by? Are they thinking about me right now? Probably just in terms of “get out of my way!”
We meet former SHIELD Agent Jackson, in Arbfield Women’s Prison. She has the ability to make people sad enough that they kill themselves, so that’s not great, please seek help before hurting yourself or others. She knew she had this within herself, so knew once she was a SHIELD agent, she’ll have to get her body count as high as possible.
Ms. Danger works for the Beyond Corporation, who I’m pretty sure Spider-Man also worked for, so is that the same corporation?
Screenshot
We get the group shot of everyone together, as they are pleased with themselves. I do love seeing a plan come together.
I do appreciate that they planned to take Psylocke out first, by separating her from the rest of the team. One always has to take out of the telepaths first, then the speedsters.
Psylocke is with Xorn in the Marauder, as it gets blasted out of the sky. This new Danger Room is full of killers, who, of course, won’t be killing the X-Men. A real shame that we don’t have resurrections anymore so these new villains can be established as a new lethal force. I supposed that could make them deadlier, but there is a world of a difference between killing regular humans, and elite mutants.
We next meet Colton Colton in Calford Penitentiary. We all know a person with the same name, right? Or know a person who knows a person? In high school, my Life Science teacher was Thomas Thomas, and I’ll never forget him. In my jobs over the years, I have mailed letters to people with the same name. Those poor nurses having to bite their tongues to not want to request double confirmation on the name.
Fun fact, my college friend Susie, is a Leap Day baby, so she’s only nine now.
Colton is a Machiavellian, which I’m starting to think my understanding of some of these words are not exactly what I think they are. He lived in a trailer park, and turn everyone against each other, to the point they were killing each other, and then he killed everyone else.
We catch up to the X-Men at the Factory. Glob Herman is bleeding out on the table, which is odd they didn’t take him to a hospital, especially as they know they don’t have Xorn NOR 70s Beast. Which is very clever planning on the Danger Room’s part. I really do wish it was simply called, Danger’s Room, that’ll be fun, plus distinguishes her group from the actual room, or the robot gal. But like they mentioned in the issue, the X-Men and Merle, Alaska, don’t quite trust each other. Quintin Quire is mad enough to make some poor decisions.
Screenshot
We see Magik on a screen in the back, which is fun, as we head towards the main event.
I was thinking, isn’t there two more bad guys, how many pages are left of this comic? So, the solution is, time to double up. We meet Grigos and Marquez, thanks to the podcast, I might have a chance at remembering their names, or thanks to the website, I can at least refer back to this. These are two guys who think they have depowered Skrulls, thanks to that cursed Reed Richards! I think it would be a lot of fun if it turns out that she’s wrong, especially being a solipsist, and they actually are depowered Skrulls. Why not? They created a giant fire, which brought the firefighters, who they murdered, so they hate infrastructures.
Screenshot
We see the X-Men fighting off the ship. Even if they win the day, and we know they will, without Magik’s teleportation abilities, they’re still stranded deep in the ocean.
Screenshot
More fighting of the ship.
Screenshot
Magik’s “Cyclops, what’s the plan” reaction meme drop!
I do love Cyclops being “I knew there was a trap, so of course, I sprung it.” He brought along a slew of sledgehammers, and they’re going to wreck their way out.
Screenshot
He’s going to make whoever this is pay.
Screenshot
Then, to my wonderful surprise, I got my 11th letter published! I didn’t think a letter for Age of Revelation Book of Revelations 1 would ever get printed, but it is nice to see it was received, plus, I guess we’ll be picking up on Apocalypse’s kids eventually. Hence the publishing of the letter. I see you.
Shadow and Flame with Magik 