We finally got this comic!

and it is going to be very hard to beat this comic this year for Comic of the Year!

Gerry Duggan, Phil Noto, and Clayton Cowles finally reunites the Shadow, the Flame, and the Magik!

Plus, Joshua Cassara and Marte Gracia treated us to such a fantastic cover.

I thought it was two years since Kate and Lockheed were together, but it has been a full year to the month since Marauders Volume 2 Issue 12. Which is still way too long for my taste.

Then immediately after the third Hellfire Gala, in X-Men V6 25, we get Kate Pryde’s concern for Lockheed :

Which clearly was Duggan setting up that we as Lockheed fans, can expect Lockheed to return . . . eventually.

Well, that eventually, turned out to be seven long long months.

Issue 32 has my favorite cast of characters :

So much so that I’m reorganizing my top ten X-Men to move Emma way up the list.

1. Kate Pryde with Lockheed
2. Magik
3. Nightcrawler
4. Emma Frost
5. Storm
6. Rachel Summers
7. Cyclops
8. ForgetMeNot
9. Wolverine
10. Rogue

Which I’m still not too thrilled with my last three there, but I think its a solid list. I almost had Emma at three, but I still have to keep my love for Kurt pretty high. Thankfully Uncanny Spider-Man was a delight.

Emma was at a solid six, then I swapped Storm and Rachel around.

Issue opens with exactly where Lockheed has been staying safe :

Lighthouse Keeper Bill (as I’ve been referring to him as) makes a terrific stealth Excalibur reference which I adored.

Next, we catch up with Magik who is invading an Orchis stronghold, looking for a scientist that infected her with nannobots which prevent her from using her powers. Which I did not read X-Men 24, but I read all of Realm of X, including those datapages / lore journals, and not once did they referenced Magik having nannobots inside her – they implied it was the Asgardian land / Saturnyne’s doing that was preventing Magik from using her powers. So I guess it was both?

So Magik finds the scientist, who wants to just kill her instead of helping so. Magik looks exhausted and in so much pain, so she isn’t quick enough to stop him.

Thankfully someone else is!

We get the first of two hugs, which I share twitter friend @GraysonMaximoff’s desire for the Katyana ship to move up to the kissing phase, but that hug is so well earned. The two of them have been separated since the Hellfire Gala.

Polaris comes in for the grand rescue, she removes the nannobots from Magik, and a Stark Sentinel arrives, and the trio has to destroy it.

Emma Frost arrives, and tells them that there is so much to do, but first, she has a gift for Kate :

Which I adore not only this page, and I would love a poster of this page as well, but that Lockheed was able to find Emma, or that he sought her out first, as she would know where Kate is – as they grew extremely close during Marauders Volume One – by far my favorite ongoing series of the Krakoan Era. X-Men Volume Six would probably be my second favorite, I’ll have to think about that, but I can’t think of what would come close.

So that would be the second hug of the issue as well.

There isn’t enough hugging in comics.

I also covered this on the podcast, if you want to hear how much I loved this comic :

Spotify –

Apple Podcast –

https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/115-x-men-2021-32/id1653932419?i=1000648726895

I also now have a linktree, that I’m hoping makes it easier to share all of my content

https://linktr.ee/JackalsIII

Thank you, dear reader, for reading, and listening, and for watching.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=1h1iyw73GTs%3Fsi%3DrTC-qcOhCNJs4EUn

I started playing Midnight Suns, and been uploading my progress, as of this writing, I have 13 episodes to be enjoyed.

It has been such an enjoyable game, and I’ve been loving hanging out with Illyana, and she even considers my Hunter to be friends, which thrills me beyond belief.