I got it for the excellent David Finch sketch covers for the first chapter.
There are other features such as a short story. Lists of trades. Also a Phoenix brief history.
Magik
All posts tagged Magik
Written by Chris Yost
Penciled by Harvey Tolibao
Inked by Sandu Florea
Colored by Jay David Ramos
Lettered by VC’s Joe Sabino
Cover Dated July 2010
Cover by Marko Djurdjevic
The solicit for this miniseries was not promoted as Magik stuck in Limbo and needs rescuing. So I didn’t get the series pulled for me until issue two. Issue one was impossible to find anywhere, for me.
I’m just reviewing this issue as I got it for Father’s Day.
This miniseries takes place during the events of New Mutants Volume Three Issue 12, part three of Second Coming. The storyline that brought Hope and Cable back to the present day.
Magik is only on the first two pages, setting up the miniseries.
New York. Yesterday.
One of the cool things the villains did in this crossover was that they made a huge attack on all of the teleporters.
Magik was about to teleport the team away. Once her stepping disc opens up, demons grab her and pull her in.
Colossus freaks out!
Utopia. Now.
Colossus tells Cyclops that he is going after his sister. He will not lose her and poor dead Nightcrawler, on the same day.
Cyclops tells him that he can’t spare him. Hope is what matters now. I simply love Colossus throwing Cyclops against the window, cracking it. Colossus is leaving.
Scott tells him that he isn’t going but he is sending an away team to rescue Illyana.
The Infirmary.
Cannonball is gathering a team. He must have gone to Cyclops first. During New Mutants, Karma lost her leg on Sam’s watch. He isn’t going to leave Magik behind.
Pixie is on the team, as she can get them to Limbo. She doesn’t want to, as Magik took a piece of her soul. She makes a mistake of calling her a monster. Colossus almost kills her!
Anole is on the team to try to convince Pixie to go. He isn’t sure if Magik should be saved. Last time he was in Limbo, he lost his arm. So he now has a massive arm.
Dazzler is on the team. She’s cool about it.
Northstar is on the team. I like how these two are X-Men, you tell them they are on a mission, they are on a mission.
Trance is going, but she isn’t bringing her body. Her name is Hope, that isn’t good.
Gambit is the big name on this team. This is right after he was an Horseman of Apocalypse, as we are going to see in this story.
Anole convinces Pixie to go on the mission.
The Hangar. Cannonball goes over the best case scenario. Northstar wants to go over the worst but Cannonball doesn’t think that will be necessary.
Of course, in an incredible double splash page, it is the worst case. Pixie has instant regret.
The team starts fighting off a horde of demons.
Gambit disappears and we see his eyes as his Horseman persona is coming out.
Issue ends with who I thought was Blackheath, but the Internet has told me it is N’astirh. Whoever that is.
There is a bonus back up of the origin of Magik’s soulsword – from the excellent fourth issue of Magik’s miniseries from the 80s.
Cover Artist Olivier Coipel
Cover Dated November 2008
To promote X-Infernus, Marvel released this one shot, collecting –
X-Men Divided We Stand 2
I want this so much!
Marvel Chess Collection did a proper Marvel Heroes collection for their first set. Then came Wave Two, which included the X-Men. I read somewhere, that Wave Three is going to be Spider-Man and his Friends and Foes. So that means no Kitty Pryde and Lockheed like I was hoping. I do like how Magik was included. These cost $25 so it might be a while before I own one. Plus, they are not sold in stores, so I will probably not be buying it anytime soon.
Writer Christos Gage
Penciler David Baldeon
Inker Jordi Tarragona
Colorist Brian Reber
Letterer VC’s Cory Petit
Cover Dated August 2012
Cover Artist Mark Brooks
I adore this cover so much! I really like the addition of the recap page being barely visible.
Still working off my Father’s Day present my wife got for me from Mile High Comics. This is the only Legacy issue that I bought from that purchase.
I do own issues 270 and 271, so one day, I will finish this storyline.
This issue takes place between either issues 5/6 of Avengers vs X-men or 7/8, there is no handy footnote nor checklist in the issue itself.
I found this helpful website :
http://philthec.blogspot.com/2012/06/avengers-vs-x-men-reading-order.html
That states that it comes during round eight :
Round 8: The Fall of Wakanda
052 Avengers vs. X-Men #8
053 New Avengers #27 (The Phoenix Prophecy)
054 X-Men Legacy #269
055 X-Men Legacy #270
056 Wolverine and the X-Men #14
So that’s pretty handy!
The final image of this post shows the details better but I noticed this on one of my rereads of the issue. There are two fun costume decisions that were made for this issue. I’m not sure if Baldeon gets the credit or if it was already determined when he got there.
The first one is something that hopefully got attention at the time. Rogue’s shirt can be zipped all the way up to their throat. That’s pretty impressive as that isn’t how most of her shirts fit her.
The second is that she has the same style of boots as Magik does. There must have been a sale or something!
As much as I like Rogue’s look at this time, that does seem to be a lot of Xs. Is it a good idea to have an X right on your chest? It seems too much like a perfect bullseye. At the time, Rogue only had her absorption power, and whichever power she obtained at the time. So she isn’t nigh-invulnerable like she spent most of her superhero career. Then she has Xs on her shoulder pads and on her belt. I also like her scarf.
Inside front cover is for that Amazing Spider-Man game that I still want to play.
Onto the issue itself :
China. This is during the time when Magik has one fifth of the Phoenix Force. Which was such an awesome moment! She is looking over Iceman and Rogue’s progress. I like the attention to detail to the Phoenix Five’s global plan. One can’t just quickly change the agriculture as it will just collapse under itself. So using Iceman’s ice powers, the ice will gradually melt and not be a shock to the landscape’s system. A very clever plan.
I really do like Baldeon’s art here and Reber’s coloring makes the comic soar as well.
Rogue is happy that the X-Men, together, are making these world changes.
I really like Magik in this issue. Sure the Phoenix brought out some of her inner demons and dark side but she is amazingly blunt and honest. She was confident before but now she has a cosmic fire bird on her side. Her comment about how the X-Men could accomplish more once they are no longer being hunted is spot on.
I like Magik making sure Rogue is doing okay. Thanks to her powers, they can essentially have the same X-Man in two places but Magik worries that it may be taxing Rogue. Rogue can handle it.
You Can tell that those are the same boots there, with that extra flap material at the top.
Iceman calling Magik, boss, makes me smile. She makes a big point about how she isn’t his boss but they are all united and equal. Though, if she was being brutally honest, she is his superior in almost every way. But she does make the point that she has had to tell him a hundred times to stop calling her, boss. So I imagine it does get old after a while. But that’s Iceman for you.
Rogue is on her way to New Orleans and borrows some of Iceman’s powers. He’s far too happy to help as Mardis Gras saved him during his students days, when he was hoping to be an accountant when he grew older.
Then there are a bunch of pages until Magik shows up again.
I like that Rogue is greeted kindly by soldiers. She just froze the large lake that was causing the issue. One of them recognizes a Mississippi accent and she tells him she is from Caldecott County. The solider likes having a local hero helping out even more. So much so, in fact, that he offers her the rest of his catfish lunch. Which is pretty awesome of him to offer and for her to accept.
I adore the page of her just eating the catfish. She really likes it, plus, it must be nice to just relax for once. It doesn’t last long as that same solider, now that he has done something nice for her, informs her that there is a distress call.
Rogue agrees to investigate and creates an ice slide and gets out of there. Turns out it is a flatscan dirty trick and Carol Danvers, as Ms. Marvel, is there to talk to Rogue. Of course, if you once stole a person’s memories and powers, you don’t really anticipate that person just showing up to talk and Rogue punches her in the mouth. To the mouth? I’m not sure.
What follows is a pretty awesome sequence of the two women, with so much baggage, just talking. Sure, they are fighting as well but that’s just because Rogue didn’t listen to Carol at first. Rogue realizes that she is no match against Carol as Iceman’s powers are not so good – or at least, she isn’t experience with them. She gets the idea, as horrible as it is, to just take Carol’s powers – which is pretty mess up. Carol loses her mind for a moment, and starts shouting, how could you do that to me? Which she is completely in the right about. Rogue ruin both of their lives with that and that must have brought so many memories (or lack of memories) to poor Carol. Now that she is Captain Marvel, but not at this point in publication, I feel weird typing Ms. Marvel. I prefer Warbird but she, herself, has distance herself from that codename.
It isn’t until Carol starts using her energy blasts from her hands that I have the thought of why didn’t Rogue get that power? Did Carol only get that power once she was made into Binary by the Brood? My only real experience with her is with her time in Busiek’s awesome Avengers run and then reading the back issue appearances of her time with the X-Men – which was also spectacular. That must be the reason. I just so associate Carol with hand blasting that I never thought about why Rogue didn’t get that power. That must be the reason though, its post-Binary. Ooof, Carol has had a few codenames over the years. People don’t seem to make fun of her for it like they do Kitty Pryde.
There is this great exchange when Rogue mentions that the X-Men have done more for the world’s actual good than the Avengers have ever even tried. Carol rebuts this with how the changes are too fast and too sudden, they have not been earned. Reminds me of Captain America and Superman’s exchanges in JLAvengers – where Cap thought Superman and his universe, did too much for humanity, whereas Captain America thought that the heroes place was just protecting it from harm.
Carol makes a reference to the incredible, It’s a Good Life, episode of Twilight Zone. Which has a decent sequel in “It’s Still a Good Life” when they brought the Twilight Zone back in 2003.
Rogue states that if the Phoenix Five go bad, the X-Men will stop them, which is exactly what they try to do in AvX 11.
The fight ends when Rogue throws Carol into a body of water and keeps freezing it as Carol tries to break free of it. Once she does, she’s exhausted. Then they get a visitor.
Magik has arrived to take Carol as their newest prisoner. Carol comments on how Magik had a dark soul prior to becoming all powerful. As if flattery would get her far.
Carol states that Illyana is her choice for going crazy first (she isn’t). With this, Illyana slaps tape over Carol’s mouth to silence her.
Rogue starts asking if it is a good idea to put all of the Avengers into one prison. The X-Brig won’t be able to house too many Avengers.
Magik tells her that she has made a prison that will hold anyone. Rogue starts to question how she could build a prison when Magik cuts her off. Illyana moved a piece of Limbo into this realm and that is what they are using as a prison. Limbo on Earth sounds scary.
Illyana makes a chilling reference to how Limbo isn’t easy to escape, which is such a sad reminder of Magik’s origins.
Verkhoyansk Mountains, Russia. I adore Magik’s line, of her trying to assure Rogue that she shouldn’t look so worried, the prison is quite secured. It took me until my second read through to realize that Rogue’s worried expression comes from having a piece of Limbo in the Russian Mountain side. Like, this is how far the Phoenix Five are willing to go to not be stopped. If only that was as far as they were willing to go as Namor will later prove, they are willing to go much farther.
See from that angle how much Rogue and Magik’s boots are the same?
Look how frightening Carol’s new prison cell is! No wonder Rogue will spend the next issue or so trying to bust Carol out of there. We’ll get to those eventually.
. . .
Happy Thanksgiving!
Writer Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils Billy Tan
Inks Matt Banning
Colors Justin Ponsor
Lettering RS & ComiCraft’s Albert Deschesne & Jimmy Betancourt
Cover Art Billy Tan, Matt Banning and Jason Keith
Cover Dated July 2009
Search for the Sorcerer Supreme, Part Three of Four
I feel like, at this point, my time with Bendis’ was fading away as I was just feeling disconnected from it.
After Secret Invasion, Tony Stark was no longer in control of SHIELD. Instead Norman Osborn was, so that’s how we are in the Dark Reign era. Osborn rebranded SHIELD to HAMMER. The Avengers are on the run and are living in BuckyCap’s safe house in Brooklyn. During World War Hulk, Doctor Strange overtaxed himself trying to stop the Hulk. He hasn’t been seen since then. He’s been looking for his replacement. I was excited at the aspect of Magik being a shot at the title but that was clearly never going to happen. I do get the feeling that Bendis has been trying to correct that ever since. Meanwhile, Dormammu has chosen the criminal, The Hood, to also seek out who the new Sorcerer Supreme is. Last issue, in New Orleans, The Hood shot Daimon Hellstrom.
New Orleans. We get some classic Bendis dialogue in the Quinjet. Hawkeye, who is dressed in his Ronin gear, as we’re at that point in history. Clint can’t land the Quinjet as all of the rooftops have air condition units on them. Spider-Man tries to talk to Luke Cage about Jessica Jones’ confession about how much she loved Peter back in high school.
That happened in New Avengers 51. I don’t own issue 52 but do own 54, but we’ll review that issue some other day in the future.
Spider-Man jokes that he will stay away from Jessica, as he respects the institution of marriage. Since Luke is with Jessica now, that leaves Iron Fist available so Spider-Man si going to check on him. Luke does not take kindly to this.
The other Avengers are – Spider-Woman, Captain Marvel (Carol, who may be still Ms. Marvel at this point), BuckyCap and Wolverine.
The Eye of Agamotto shows the candidates for the next Sorcerer Supreme. We see that Magik is in the running, but that’s a false promise.
The Eye of Agamotto disappears, as it may have found the next Sorcerer Supreme.
Madame Masque blows the Quinjet out of the sky. Wolverine jumps out and attempts to attack her but she unleashes so many bullets at him. Spider-Man swings by and saves Wolverine. Spider-Woman gets close enough to start fighting Madame Masque. I like how the fight is done in a middle of smoke, very fancy. BuckyCap throws his not-as-mighty shield and Spider-Woman kicks Madame Masque off the rooftop.
Clint updates Strange that the Hood is in town, as Hood is dating Madam Masque. Strange is concern as that means Hood could have killed the next Sorcerer Supreme and taken the Eye for himself.
Five Minutes Ago. Daimon Hellstrom’s New Orleans Apartment. Turns out, bullets don’t hurt Daimon Hellstrom, as he’s the flipping son of Satan, himself! Daimon doesn’t want to talk to Hood, instead he rather Dormammu speak directly to him. The Eye appears before both of them and disappears immediately.
There is a full page house ad Runaways 11, One will Live Again by Kathryn Immonen & Sara Pichelli with covers by David LaFuente, coming June 2009.
There is another house ad for Captain America 600, Girl Without A World.
BuckyCap starts handing commands. He tries to give Spider-Man a gun but he doesn’t want one, no one wants guns. This confuses BuckyCap, and he really wants to stop being called “BuckyCap.”
Hellstrom and Hood’s fight breaks out in the streets, that are now on fire. Dormammu has taken over Hood’s body, so he’s like 95 percent demon now.
Carol and Spider-Man catch up to Madame Masque, who has a nice lady at gunpoint. Carol is giving Whitney until the count of three but then Whitney starts counting to three as well. Spider-Man offers that everyone should be counting to a hundred.
There is an house ad for Skaar, Son of Hulk 12, by Greg Pak, Ron Lim and Dan Panosian. Covers by Ed Mcguinness. Planet Skaar, Father vs Son.
BuckyCap head shots Whitney, but her mask takes the blunt of it. For some reason, Spider-Woman isn’t wearing her mask. Spider-Man hates guns. Down the street, a giant explosion occurs. Strange is confused, if both Hood and Daimon don’t have the Eye, then who has it?
Last page gives us the answer – Jericho Druhm, Brudder Voodoo, is the new Sorcerer Supreme! It won’t last that long.
Writer Brian Wood
Penciler David Lopez
Inker Alvaro Lopez
Colorist Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover Dated September 2012
Blank Generation, Part Three of Four
This is the only issue of the storyline I own, so any questions we have or what happens next, is beyond me.
The X-Men are – Storm, Psylocke, Pixie, Colossus and Domino
So this is the series where Colossus and Domino first meet. There is no sexual tension that I can see. That must come later in Cable and X-Force.
Previously, the team has been chasing monsters across the globe. Once they confront one of the monsters, they die. Colossus punched one in the head and Domino shot another one. Storm hasn’t been informing Cyclops about anything that is going on with the team. This has been annoying Colossus. Storm is concern with what Cyclops will do with the information. Storm got a human researcher involved. The monsters are really proto-mutants. In Quebec City, a giant proto-mutant has been located. With each step, he grows!
Onto the issue :
Quebec City, Canada. Storm has created a giant thunderstorm so people stay in their homes. The news reports that it is an isolated storm. Which is odd, as by now, with how long Storm has been around – wouldn’t people just assume Storm is the reason for any odd or freak weather conditions? Is that racist?
We get two pages of how Storm is maintaining no one being outside. Then Psylocke sees the giant man. Turn the page, the man is human sized and wearing an X-Men shirt (do they just keep a hundred on board the X-Jet?) and surrounded by the rest of the X-Men. That is resolving the problem post haste!
Which, and I’ve notice this about myself with television shows and movies, I don’t really need to see or hear certain conversations or see a big fight scene. If the next scene is a quick recap of what happened, I’m okay with getting to the events that matter.
Psylocke is on Storm’s side that they should know all of the information before involving Cyclops.
X-Jet, over the mid-Atlantic. Colossus admits that he isn’t very good at medical duties, he only has field training. Which harkens me back to the good ol’ days when Nightcrawler was the resident healer. Maybe Colossus picked up a thing or two from Kurt.
The X-Jet is pretty large as they have a room for the proto-mutant and an office for Storm to sit. She tells Pixie to speak and keep the stranger calm. Colossus and Storm go to her office.
Now this scene, would probably benefits the longer readers but I get the jist of it. Colossus really wants to inform Cyclops with what is happening. Storm doesn’t and she is being super vague about her reasons. Which doesn’t really help the tension between the two. What really doesn’t help? That Storm threatens to have Pixie teleport Colossus over 500 feet above Utopia. Which seems highly unnecessary.
I really like the visual of the massive Colossus standing tall and with his arms crossed and Storm sitting in her chair, he’s trying to physically intimidate her but she’s Storm and isn’t even bothered by him as he’s Colossus – the worst X-Man.
Before Colossus can respond to that horrible threat (did Storm really just say that?) that research student, Ms. Hunter, is called via Storm’s computer. Hunter reveals that their camp site was ruined and their hard drives were stolen.
Storm asks where Hunter is and she tells her she is in an Internet cafe. This sends Colossus into a rage and he can’t believe she is calling them from an unsecured site. As if the X-Men couldn’t defend themselves. But I guess it is nice that Colossus knows enough about the modern world, to be worried about someone tracing them. Though they are in a plane, so I imagine that tracking them wouldn’t be that easy.
Once that call is over, Colossus tells Storm that if she threatens him again, that he will be a bigger problem to Storm than whatever she thinks Cyclops will do. Why does Storm want to keep Colossus on the team? To smash stuff? Psylocke can do that and Pixie can teleport them beyond any walls. He really isn’t necessary at all, except that he is the sole male on the team, thus, he is holding the team back. Domino can destroy walls as well. Maybe Cyclops made Storm keep Colossus on the team and she was able to choose anyone else?
Pixie enters the room, informs the two of them that the proto-mutant only speaks Russian. I guess Xavier quit inserting languages into students’ heads prior to her joining the school. Probably something to do about students at a school and learning, or some silly thing like that.
Colossus is thrilled to hear the guy speaks Russian but wants his sister to be brought to the plane. The man speaks an old fashion dialect of Russian, it is very rural. For some reason, Illyana should be able to decipher it? Maybe because she spent more time in Russia than he did? He’s been too Americanized? Or he wasn’t very smart at learning? There are many reasons. I wonder, once Magik gets there, if Storm wondered if she could swap the Rasputin siblings. Though then she wouldn’t need Pixie around as much. Except to teleport at greater distances.
Pixie still isn’t comfortable around Magik, as she hesitates before retrieving her. Magik took a piece of her soul (hence why she can do magic now) but did give it back. But it was a pretty traumatic experience.
Later.
Magik has been able to speak to the proto-mutant, whose name is Ister. He is roughly 665 years old. He is most likely 666 years old but doesn’t want to be viewed as relating to the devil.
His story reminds me of One Tin Soldier song by
Thanks to YouTuber Soheil Koushan for hosting the video!
Such a great song! It is one of the songs my wife knows every word of so she sings it a bit around the house.
Pixie wonders how Ister has all of these memories. Colossus is somehow the brains of the team, and he explains that it must be Ister’s power.
These poor proto-mutants are victims of genocide.
In a nice artist choice, Psylocke is present via her telepathic powers.
http://xmen-supreme.blogspot.com/2012/07/x-men-32-secrets-lies-and-awesome.html
Thanks to my pal from over at the X-Books forum, MarvelMaster616, and his great blog – for having the Magik pages! That was pretty handy!
I like how quickly Magik comes to the instant conclusion that they have to call Cyclops and figure out how to save the proto-mutants. Storm doesn’t want to do that, just yet.
In an odd choice, Magik has the idea that she should go back in time and save them. Storm doesn’t want that as it could change the present too much. It is odd because why Magik doesn’t always have this plan. Especially now that she has a better grasp of her powers.
Also, nice to see Magik in her New Mutants uniform. Makes me appreciate her current uniform more. She wore that uniform far too long. Just like her dear friend, Kitty.
Colossus told his sister earlier about the conflict between Storm and Cyclops.
In the cockpit, Psylocke and Storm talk. Psylocke is concern about the tension of the team. Storm relieves Psylocke so she can get some rest.
Storm wonders about where Ister came from. Just then, she gets a vision of the mad scientist who is experimenting on the proto-mutants. Of course, he is harassing Ister’s sister. He tells her that he is about to kill her brother.
Storm wakes from the horrible vision.
There is an ad for New Mutants Volume Three issues 47 and 48, the covers combine to make a larger image. I own issue 47.
Colossus tells Storm that Pixie has returned Magik to Utopia. Magik isn’t afraid of Storm, why would she be?, so she will probably tell Cyclops what is up.
Psylocke also had a vision.
Pixie has Cyclops on the phone, Storm tells her to take a message.
Ister’s head starts losing blood from every orifice. He is dying.
Storm tells Psylocke to download his memories, something I’m surprised doesn’t happen more often.
Ister sadly dies but Psylocke was successful. She also knows the scientist’s name and location. David Michael Gray is his name.
As I have never heard of him nor the proto-mutants, I imagine they all die and the X-Men fail but learn an important lession. Or Gray dies and the proto-mutants find a small piece of land to claim as their own, that isn’t on Utopia.
Pretty good issue!
Writer Simon Spurrier
Artist Paul Davidson
Colorist Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer VC’s Cory Petit
Cover Dated June 2012
We Do Science, Part Five and Five
Good thing there is the Previous page! I have issues three and four on my wishlist, but this issue starts right off in the thick of it.
Let me see if I can recap what happened previously from the page and throughout the issue. There is a Nazi spirit like guy, Schragesturm, and he has this other techno god like being as his captive.
The X-Club members are – Dr. Nemesis, Kavita Rao, Danger and Madison Jeffries.
There was a chemical spill that affected the Atlanteans and Rao is trying to cure them. She didn’t have much success with a priestess.
Danger is pregnant by the captive god via an energy blast.
Jeffries isn’t up to much except that he has romantic feelings for Danger.
Also, for some reason, they built an elevator from Utopia to space.
Onto the issue :
“Stringstar” Anchor Base. 0.000. 42.837.
Jeffries is carrying Danger, who is in labor. The would-be father is able to speak to them via a pink computer image.
Danger faintly tells Jeffries that she needs him. He tells her that he doesn’t got a socket-thingy for her. I’m sure she meant she wanted his support. This isn’t the time for sexual tomfoolery.
Meanwhile, the priestess has mutated to a full on sea monster has gone to the base to die fighting Nazis.
Rao has retreated to inside the base. Dr. Nemesis is laying on the ground.
This is my first introduction to the winner of the Best Breakout Character of 2012 (from the X-Books forums), the Starfish on Doctor Nemesis’ head who reveals all of his secret desires and thoughts. He doesn’t get as much screen time here but he has some great lines, regardless.
Doctor Nemesis, the charmer that he is, refers to Doctor Rao (they are all doctors, except for Danger – who I can imagine can become a doctor pretty easily as Jeffries isn’t a doctor either) as “Petri-Girl.” The Starfish reveals that Nemesis finds her to smell nice. Nemesis wants to know if she has any of the Terrigen Mist left. Which I only know that to be an Inhuman item, so that’s nice to see it outside of that title and those characters.
Nemesis wants to be injected with the Terrigen serum, so that he can have his mind widen and enter a new realm of being. Thus, he can fight Schragesturm as a quasi-equal.
We learn that Schragesturm’s big plan is to rewrite history. Rao is worried as the serum will kill Nemesis. Nothing short of saving the universe, is worthy of a death of a character of Nemesis’ caliber. Or so he says.
Nemesis seems to be the star of the series, as he gets some of the best lines – which makes sense as he is the most charismatic of the group.
Meanwhile, Jeffries has been cybernetically linked with Danger, so he is within her mindscape. Programscape? I don’t know. He’s in her mind’s eye. Optical interface? He’s there for her, and he’s in the form of a program as well.
In a splash page that looks cool, Danger delivers her baby. It looks cool but it is confusing with what is actually happening there.
The Between. The Beyond. The Abstraction of Exoversality. Doctor Nemesis is about to confront Schragesturm. Schragesturm isn’t that concern with Nemesis as he has been in this state longer than Nemesis has and thus, more skilled at being close to godlike. Schragesturm reveals that he was the reason why the X-Club originally built the space elevator.
Doctor Nemesis belittles Schragesturm with a guess of how lame his master plan is. He’s going to rewrite history so that Hitler won the war and that ol’ story will happen. Schragesturm thinks very little of Hitler (who doesn’t) and wants to rewrite history so that Hitler died rather early on and Schragesturm became the leader of the Nazi party.
That is the nice thing about Hitler, you can say all sorts of horrible things – as long as it is about Hitler, no one will bat an eye at it.
Doctor Nemesis sees only one problem with that plan. It is hard to lead an army with a man’s fist down your throat and he punches Schragesturm to the face!
There is a double page ad for the Honda Civic!?! Honestly, is this a good use of one’s marketing budget? Probably kept comics at $2.99 for a while.
Doctor Rao is thinking of what she can do to be productive. She looks out at the waves and an idea comes to her. She leaves and in a fun sequence is gone for a panel and comes back and says, thanks. Great use of a comic page.
Over at Danger and Jeffries, the new baby emerges from the pink image of the father. It rips the father in two, releasing him. It reminds me too much of the whole Carol Danvers, stuck in Limbo, and forced to have Marcus’ baby – who was really just Marcus but now he could be born and return to Earth. Not a great story to harken back too.
http://carolastrickland.com/comics/msmarvel/
While trying to remember if that guy’s name was Marcus, or not, I found this very interesting website. Figured I would share it. Such a dark moment in that character’s history. It makes sense that Marvel would constantly go back to the whole Rogue stealing her powers and her memories thing and not also keep going back to the Marcus situation as that whole situation is a real mess. Mess, being the nicest word to use. Claremont tries to ratify it a little with Avengers Annual 10 but ooof, the only way to get away from it is to just forget about it.
Sorry for the random thought there, but Danger’s whole baby situation seems odd. Maybe if I had read issue four, it may have made sense.
So the reason why Danger got impregnated was that the god that Schragesturm has captured, is locked behind a program it can’t figure out so it sent a request to work around it and that got into Danger and she had to release it. They use ‘pregnancy’ to put it in terms we would understand. That’s my understanding of it.
Back in the In-Between. I sort of like how we keep just checking in on the team. The team is divided, so our interest is divided.
Doctor Nemesis is loving the situation he is, it is a giant achievement in science and I also could not be happier along with him.
Schragesturm is going on about how powerful he is and Nemesis just wants all of the exposition to stop.
Doctor Nemesis pulls the ol’ ‘look behind you’ trick and of course, Schragesturm doesn’t want to fall for it. Which I like how the new thing with the trick is to actually have someone be behind the person. Behind him, is the entity that impregnated Danger and Schragesturm only knows as ‘the entity.’ To the entity, time has no real meaning but he knows that he was held prisoner for quite some time and now, it is pay back. Schragesturm disappears along with the entity.
Doctor Nemesis returns to his earthly body, shouting, win! He wins at all science. He goes on and on about how much better he is than others. He wants a larger tombstone than Darwin.
Not being content to just say the words aloud, he looks for an audience. He begins to call Rao “Petri-girl” again when she shushes him. She just saved his life. He’s surprised by this as she (being a microscope monkey – maybe the worst insult of all time?) isn’t suppose to have access it grown-up physics toys. She had the cure for the Terrigen but it wasn’t set to the right frequency, or wave.
If Warren Ellis wrote science like this, I may be a bigger fan of his.
Before injecting him with the cure, he wants to tell her something. If he had more time, he is sure that he could have grown to tolerate her company. Such a charmer! She shoves the syringe into his neck stating, you romantic devil. They were not this much fun during their time in Uncanny X-Men, so I’m glad they were given this miniseries. I really must seek out issues three and four.
There is an house ad for Rick Remender’s Uncanny X-Force storyline, Final Execution. I own most of them.
Four days later. Still at the Anchor Base. Cyclops is trying to give a speech to some gathered reporters. Behind him are the X-Men and the members of the X-Club. Did the reporters really have to be flown to the base? Couldn’t the presentation be done closer to shore? I guess the X-Men couldn’t be on shore so this was the next best thing.
Cyclops makes the mistake of stating that he can’t really explain all of the complexities of what happened. This gives Doctor Nemesis the opening he wanted and he pushes Cyclops aside.
His explanation of what happened is genius –
That an extra-conceptual entity which was held captive by their secretly fascist allies has now returned to its native plane, taking with it all trace of existentially problematic pollution and sealing the dimensional fracture behind it. ‘Just another boring day at the office’.
Thanks to UncannyXMen.net for the paragraph assistance!
http://uncannyxmen.net/comics/issue/x-club-5
He has more to say but since people are taking the mic, Rao wants to add that she had divine inspiration.
Cyclops tries to reclaim the press conference but the word ‘divine’ sets off Nemesis. He and Rao start having a conversation behind Cyclops that can be picked up by the microphone. Clearly, Cyclops did not rehearse what was going to happen today.
I wonder why it took four days? Do reporters wait for all of the bodies to be taken from a site before agreeing to go to a location? That doesn’t sound right.
We learn that Rao’s cure did work for all of the Atlanteans. She cured all of Neptune’s divine realm. A line that I sort of read and moved on from but now I get her divine comment. The God of Freshwater and the sea, Neptune, inspired her with the waves.
Doctor Nemesis tells her that he doesn’t believe in any of that sentimental nonsense. The starfish pipes up next, stating that Nemesis wishes he could believe in that as science can be scary.
Rao finds it cute that Nemesis has decided to keep the starfish. He claims it is so he can study it but then the starfish reveals that Nemesis gets loney. Or Roney, as we say at Klein Manor.
Cyclops tries to reclaim the press conference again but Danger takes the podium. She has decided to claim the base in the name of all inorganics. The base shall be a sanctuary for artificial life. Sounds like a case for Matt Murdock!
Danger states that her child is the Stringstar (which I’m sure the reporters have ceased recording at this point).
Cyclops can’t say anything but to mutter that this isn’t what he agreed too.
Jeffries goes to Cyclops that they have an Utopia and AI should have one now.
Cyclops tries to remidn Jeffries that the entire project was about breaking down communication barriers. Cyclops isn’t sure how they will do that with machines.
Which is a silly question in a world with Danger and the Vision. Jeffries, instead of saying all of that, just gives Danger a sweet makeout session.
I like how happy Magik is there.
Do Jeffries and Danger have a relationship? I know, now, that Warlock is trying to flirt with her in All New X-Factor but I’m not quite sure what happens to X-Club after this.
I know Doctor Nemesis leaves to join Cable’s X-Force after Schism.
So that’s two of the four members.
Writer Mark Waid
Artist Emma Rios
Color Artist Val Staples
Letterer Todd Klein
Cover Tomm Coker & Daniel Freedman
Cover Dated April 2010
Part Four of Four
This seems like a very brief recap page. Doctor Strange apparently broke his hands, or something. He took on a new student, Casey. A wish-granting demon, Laroximous Boneflayer, has Casey’s soul. Also, and this is key for this issue, magic is having a stroke. Which seems like what is happening in the current comics, that the world is magic is breaking apart. I suppose that it is an easy story to come back to.
Outside of Strange’s home, magic is flaring up everywhere. Strange and Casey are safe, as long as they stay at home. Outside – Brother Voodoo, Ghost Rider and Damian Hellstrom – are trying to fight back magical forces. Strange realizes what magic needs is a surgeon.
Strange needs to stop the hemorrhaging, so he sends out a signal to his fellow heroic magic users. One of those users, is Magik! Which is pretty cool! Strange wants everyone to stop using magic for an hour. I’m just now noticing that Doctor Doom got the message as well, I’m sure he took the suggestion well.
While talking back, like a dman fool, Damian Hellstrom gets taken out by some tree limbs.
Strange explains to Casey that Eternity, who contains the entire universe, his magic gland is leaking. While Strange is dealing with that, he gives Casey a gem so she can find Larry, so she can get her soul back.
While Casey is looking for Larry, she sees Magik and Brother Voodoo. Strange’s body is vulnerable during this operation. Without her soul, Casey is internally aging.
Some old guy, who I’m pretty sure isn’t name checked in this issue, is approaching Strange’s home, he has a dagger so he’s up to no good.
Larry finally appears in the gem and tempts her to release him from his prison by offering to return her soul to her. While she’s across the room, the old guy (who has an eye patch) steps closer to Strange’s limp body.
oh, he does name himself, as he mutters his name to Strange. He’s Isaiah Curwin, The Silver Dagger. Casey finally recognizes she’s not alone in the room and actually debates taking the few seconds to grab her soul sphere but in those seconds, Strange’s throat would be slashed. She tackles Silver Dagger.
Silver Dagger flings Casey across the room. Magik and Doom look like they are trying to be proactive, but without using her magic.
Silver Dagger is choking Casey but a giant pink foot squashes him. Strange’s astral form returns to his body. Silver Dagger is super dead, and Strange isn’t happy that Casey used magic in such a big way. This was her final act though, as she fades away. Once she is gone, Larry comes out of the portal. Larry gives Strange’s Casey’s soul sphere and this encourages Strange that Casey is still out there as she can’t be dead when her soul is in a globe.
http://comicbookdb.com/character_chron.php?ID=37073
Apparently, she only appears next (and finally) in Girl Comics 2, which I own and will review, one of these days.
Which came out two months after this issue, so that’s not too bad.
There is a preview of X-Factor Forever’s first issue, at the back.
Writer Peter B. Gillis
Penciler Rich Case
Inker Randy Emberlin
Letterer Janice Chiang
Colorist Bob Sharen
Cover Dated January 1989
Technically, this title is “Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme” so websites such as Marvel Database refers to it as such. I find that a little silly, as it is clearly Doctor Stange’s third self-titled ongoing. So that is why I call this Volume Three.
I like how this issue has several editorial footnotes, I miss those. There are so many, that Carl Potts, the editor, comments that one of them is the last one, then another shows up!
Speaking of editors, Tom DeFalco is credited as, Editor Supreme.
This is due to the series, Strange Tales, ending and the two features both get their own bi-monthly series that spin out of it. Doctor Strange and Cloak & Dagger, one rotating with the other. Which is why Cloak and Dagger get the Marvel 25th Anniversary cover treatment in November of 1989. If it was October or December, it would have been Doctor Strange getting that cover treatment.
Doctor Strange, a character I don’t have much experience with. When Marvel Knights first launched, he was given a miniseries, that I really liked. I also like that he is an original member of the Defenders.
I would not say I am a huge fan of Marvel, or any company’s, magical characters – besides Magik, of course.
I will always be confused by Marvel’s decision to not make a Doctor Strange film at the height of the Harry Potter craze. That would have worked out nicely. I would have always made a Spider-Man verses Morbius during the whole Twilight phenomenon.
Issue opens with who we believe to be Doctor Strange but quickly, we and Wong (and some gal named, Sara Wolfe) discover that Dormummu has taken control over Strange’s body! They are powerless to do anything as now he has unlimited power.
Doctor Strange, unfortunately, had no body to go to while out enjoying his Astral Self (hence, how Dormummu was able to take over his body) and had to find a nearby rat to jump into.
Dormammu updates us on what has been happening to him since last we saw him in Doctor Strange 81. Next, he was in Strange Tales, second series, issue 14. He took over Strange’s body at the end of last issue. Which I do own and will review it sometime. Most likely if a Doctor Strange film is made, some day.
When Dormammu left the room, he threw several trinkets onto the ground. Wong picks up the Wings of Needless Sorrow, last seen in Strange Tales 4.
Rat Strange wants to find Clea, his old girlfriend and Dormammu’s niece, as she helped stop him the last time Dormammu tried this plan. It happened in Doctor Strange 73.
Strange thinks about those who can help him, which he thinks of the novice Magik – which is insulting but he does place her in the same sphere as – Doctor Druid, Talisman, Thor, Hercules, Doctor Doom and Scarlet Witch. Thor and Hercules are mostly for the brute strength to fight Dormammu and the others are those who can attack them magically.
None of these heroes can help Strange as he cast a forgeticus spell in Strange Tales 2, so they think him dead.
Dormammu locates the Four Freedoms Plaza and uses the portal to the Negative Zone to bring forth his fellow dark lords.
Rat Strange wants to summon Gaea, Mother Earth herself, plus mother of Thor, also the lady who kept giving the Planeteers things to do. She helped Strange fight back Dormammu in Doctor Strange 8.
He doesn’t need actual magic to call her, he just needs some water and sticks.
Strange seesca pond in Central Park. Once he approaches it, this gang of frogs see him and attack! During Inferno, rats were attacking everything. Poor Rat Strange takes quite a beating, until he can croak a ribbit.
Rich Case reminds me of Ig Guara, the Pet Avengers artist, in that he puts a lot of personality into Rat Strange and the frogs. The animals look like the actual animals, but very animated. Just because he was drawing animals, he didn’t half arse it.
One of the green frogs is constantly talking about their ‘mysterious champion’ who we know to be Thor. Though Thor isn’t named by the frogs. I wonder if this frog is the human who was turned into a frog, next, found a shard of Thor’s hammer and then became Throg? Also, if I added this to Throg’s list of appearances over at comicbookdb, if anyone would be disappointed that it is an unconfirmed appearance. His coloring and obsession of Thor, makes me feel like he is that frog.
The frogs agree to help Strange, they move some sticks around. Strange summons Gaea but all he senses is that she is weak. The footnote states to see recent issues of the X-Men. I wish they named the issue as well, as now that it is 25 years later, I am not sure which issue that is referencing. This is also the footnote that this will be the last footnote.
Dormammu summons his fellow dark lords. One of them is a Dire Wraith, who hates this planet. The footnote states the reason why is chronicled in ROM and the X-Men.
The dark lords will follow Dormammu. We are on page 14, and I start getting the impression that this is the beginning of a multi-part story.
The frogs say their farewell to Strange. Which is, Cool Water and Shade to You. I need to incorporate this into my goodbyes.
Rat Strange heads back to his sanctum. Along the way, a woman wants her gentleman companion to kill the rat. He asks her with all the crazy things that has been happening in the city, her concern is about a lone rat. She states she doesn’t care about any of the nonsense in the sky.
Rat Strange continues on his way. He does wonder about how the citizens of New York City can cope with all of the dislocations that they have to deal with on a regular basis. I too have wondered about the day to day living of New Yorkers.
Poor Strange gets hungry and has to eat garbage, as that is what his body is craving.
He is across the street from his home when he gets picked up by Topaz. Before he recognizes her, he bites her hand. She is not effected by the bite. I do feel bad that Topaz got bit, she isn’t hurt by it but her hand is bleeding from the bite. Which one would think it would be one or the other. That it would hurt and bleed, or she would have just shaken it off and there be no blood.
The two of them come up with a plan. Rat Strange is small enough to squeeze his way into his house. The roof was damaged back in Strange Tales 2.
Once there, the two old enemies duke it out.
Due to some trickery on Strange’s part, Dormammu’s magic only makes Strange stronger. Clea shows up, and distracts so that Topaz can do her thing.
Since Dormammu is technically a virus in Strange’s body, Topaz can heal him away.
Strange is given back his body and even his eye has been healed.
Topaz will keep the female rat. I wonder if we ever see her again.
I wouldn’t say that the story wrapped up quickly, everything is earned but the way it felt at the midway mark, I thought this was going to be the start of a new status quo.
Next issue, the New New Defenders show up! Which I like Gillis’ idea here, start a new Doctor Strange ongoing, start it with a tie in to the big X-Event at the time, have the New Mutants show up for a bit, second issue, have Strange’s greatest enemy show up, and now, have his friends the New Defenders show up in the third issue. That would make for a great and exciting way to launch the title.
I can’t even imagine current Marvel even trying a bi-monthly book but back in the late 80s, they didn’t have any qualms about doing so.
There is an house ad (actually several) celebrating some anniversary issues of some Avengers titles – Avengers 300 (which I own and will review as it also has a New Mutants cameo), Thor 400 and Captain America 350. Back cover has an ad for a Punisher graphic novel, Assassin’s Guild. Alpha Flight, Wrath of the Dream Queen, is a four part story starting in issue 67.
The letters page has some good letters. It is how I learn how Strange and Cloak & Dagger got their new ongoings.
Thanks to a letter written by The Unnamed Few, we get to see how Marvel officially pronounces certain characters and items in Doctor Strange’s world. It ends with the letter responder, either Carl Potts or Assistant Editor Marc McLaurin, stating that the names are essentially pronounced how one would imagine. But it is nice to have it be official. Comics are interesting like that, it wasn’t until my time at Hastings when I had conversations with fellow comic book fans that I actually experience how other people pronounced certain words. They just look like a grouping of letters that my mind associates with that one thing and I move on. Sort of like people’s screen names on message boards, I don’t really think of how to pronounce their names, I recognize that is their screen name and continue on with my posting.
Stephen – yew-jeen
Dormammu – Dor-mali-moo
Agamotto – Aga-mot-to
Vishanti – Vih-shahn-tee
Watoomb – Wah-toomb
Faltine – rhymes with saltine
Clea – Klee-uh
Oshtur – Osh-tur
Dyzakk – Dye-zack
Balthaak – Ball-thahk
Hoggoth – Hah-gath
G’uranthic – Car-uhl Pahtz
Other letters are from Michael Hanley McNamara from Millerton, NY, Kevin Hall from Carson, VA, John Traver from Philadelphia, PA, Tina Reno from Anaheim, CA and A. Quigley of Palo Alto, CA.
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Post 1,225!
Shadow and Flame with Magik 