I own the first two issues of this series. I own this for the Magik appearance, which is part of the flashback to the first two issues and if you can make out Magik on that page, you are better than me.
As I guess she is one of the nameless faceless ones but they are all accounted for, if you count their heads.
So I feel pretty foolish for buying this but I am the fool who is collecting all of Magik’s appearances, so that is on me.
This issue is so weird!
Issue opens with Chance about to undergo a forced makeover. The Fallen Angels, including Sunspot and Warlock, coming running to her rescue. Sunspot makes some chauvinist comments, whoever thought the worst New Mutant could carry a book, should have their head examine. It makes complete sense that this book will be has all over the place, as it has to be.
Boom Boom shows up and throws a little spark bomb down Sunspot’s pants, which explodes and exposes him. Sunspot is all ego so he is highly embarrassed.
We get that flashback sequence from above.
Ariel and Chance have a conversation that implies that they are setting up the Fallen Angels. Boom Boom is confused but walks away.
Siryn and Multiple Man (but not the real one, a rogue dupe who can make other dupes) arrive.
Some little dude start talking to Boom Boom, she hints that Ariel may be a mutant and not an alien. Two guards overhear this.
Jack Kirby’s Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy are also on this spaceship, I love these two so much! They are not as fun here as they typically are. I think they are mostly confused why they are there.
I guess Ariel’s plan was to sell the mutants to a space warlord. Now that the guy knows she is a mutant, they take her as well, as the issue ends.
I only bought this for the final page tease of future storylines.
Which this title got cancelled before it could get to the three exciting concepts. Which goes to show that you should always do the great ones first.
If you have these bullets in your gun – Y-Men / Spider-Man / Magik / Doug Ramsey, why would you even waste time with the Y-Men?
This is what happened before that final page :
The Young X-Men team realize that the Cyclops that sent them to attack the New Mutants, was really the Hellfire Club’s Donald Pierce, as he is unhappy with Sunspot being a member.
The heroes fight then team up, they go after Pierce. Wolf Cub dies, that’s pretty much it. Dani Moonstar is there, so that’s good.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Shadow and Flame with Magik 