Peralta – German

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Magik & Colossus 1

Posted by John Klein III on February 9, 2026
Posted in: Review. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Writer Ashley Allen

Artist German Peralta

Color Artist Arthur Hesli

Letterer VC’s Ariana Maher

Variant Cover Skottie Young

I love this comic so much!  If any X-Man needed a redemption arc, it is Colossus.  Ashley Allen, German Peralta, Arthur Helsi, and VC’s Ariana Maher brought me my favorite comic of 2026, well, until X-Men United gives it a run for its money. 

Issue opens with Colossus having a bit of a nightmare.  Once again, Illyana tells Piotr that she hates the “Snowflake” nickname, but it sticks this time – which I really appreciate. 

Screenshot

Nightmare ends with Colossus in a grave with the great loves of his life – Kitty Pryde (in her Exceptional outfit, which I love), Domino (huge shout outs for remembering her!), Nightcrawler, so his Excalibur crew, a guy in a trench coat, maybe Black Tom?  Then two lady skeletons I don’t recognize. 

Colossus is being hunted by some magical threats in Russia, which seems like what he should be doing is going to ghost towns instead of currently habited farms, as people are getting hurt.  Magik finally locates him, she hasn’t seen him since the Hellfire Vigil, and they do a quick catch up. 

I do like how this comic hits the highs of Colossus, that he will be the one to make the sacrificial play, and break a neck if he has too.  More on that later.

This does feel like Magik’s ongoing, but now with 100% more Colossus.  I do like how this first issue opens with a dream sequence, just like Magik’s first issue.  Also, we saw a dead Kitty Pryde there too.  Oh, Ashley Allen, why are you having German Peralta do this to Pryde Nation?!

They go back to their parents’ farm house, and it is so charming that Piotr immediately starts thinking he can live here again with Magik.  Like buddy, that hasn’t been her home in years.  And I’m sure whenever she tries to conjure a childhood memory, it is always ALWAYS tainted by her thoughts immediately going to Limbo soon after.  That, or her parents were murdered there, while she hid under a bed scared out of her mind. 

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They come across a child who freaks out as Colossus is covered in blood.  Magik makes Colossus more presentable, but at the cost of his glorious beard.  Which is my sole criticism of this issue.  Why did we have to lose his beard?! 

We learn the current threat is Lady Midday, she, of course, has a bigger boss.  There’s always a bigger fish.  A proper legend, which is fun pull.

Lady Midday allows Magik to defeat her in the first round, as now she knows Illyana’s strengths – of which, she has many. 

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To combat her fully, she creates four elemental versions of her.  I am such a sucker for elemental threats.  We get Earth, Wind, & Fire, with Water.  Wind immediately takes Magik’s breath away, and as a verbal spell caster, prevents some moves on Magik’s part. 

Magik comes up with a plan.  Colossus makes for good bait, they want him anyway.  She essentially gets the elements to take each other out.  Proper Lady Midday arrives, to taunt them, and Colossus is just done.  

Screenshot

Colossus Riptides Lady Midday.  Magik sees her magic signature float away, but allows Colossus to think he got this win. 

Issue ends with the Big Bad, and the editorial page refers to him as The Immortal.  I imagine we’ll learn more about him next issue as we go to St. Petersburg. 

What. A. Great. Comic!  I love this. 

BlueSky amigo, and great follow, Project Legacy X informed me that the blonde with the headbane is Kayla from Krakoa. 

Would have been good to see Nereel in there, or Zsaji. 

Magik V2 1

Posted by John Klein III on January 10, 2025
Posted in: Review. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Magik’s first issue of her first ongoing came out on January 8, 2025.

Writer : Ashley Allen

Artist German Peralta

Color Artist : Arthur Helsi

Letterer : VC’s Ariana Maher

I treated myself to the David Nakayama cover.

Ashley Allen wrote the incredible Blood Hunt : Magik ongoing (thus, earned the right to write Magik’s ongoing).

German Peralta drew the Age of X-Man : Prisoner X is where I recognize his work from, and Cable 155 – 159.

Issue opens with someone chasing someone else down a street in Juneau, Alaska.

We see Magik was having a nightmare. I love that Kitty Pryde and Dani Moonstar are there. I imagine Beast is there as he’s currently on X-MEN with her. Cyclops and her are best buds, so that makes sense too. Illyana has a closer tie to the Storm who existed with her from her origin mini series, Magik & Storm. Events that occur there are the main reasons I like to think of why Magik & Storm are not that close. Even though they served together on Kieron GIllen’s Uncanny X-Men Volume Two, as part of Cyclops’ Extinction Team. Cannonball represents the boys of New Mutants.

Illyana wakes up, and I absolutely love that she is wearing a, Magneto Was Right shirt. He is her greatest teacher from her original New Mutants days. I also like how she could have easily worn a, Cyclops Was Right shirt but this is a more fun option.

I also adore how she has a New Mutants, original recipe, class photo, and a photo of her and Kitty. So we get that Kitty and her are still close. I thought the picture of Kitty came from Uncanny X-Men 600, because of the gray in her suit, but I think that is something else now.

Be nice if Kitty had a picture of Illyana in her room, but she barely has an origami Lockheed on her shelf, so she’s not decorating her current room with pieces of her past – which is a real shame.

That is further added by the fact that Kitty had called Cyclops to tell him that today is Magik’s birthday.

I also love how this is her birthday, Kid Omega implies she is having a quarter life crisis, so if she’s about 25, that feels right to me. Though Exceptional X-Men Kitty Pryde strikes me as a gal into her 30s, but Illyana could easily be in the 25-28 age range.

Comics disclosure is complicated, but also, Illyana has been de-aged and aged, that she could be floating anywhere from mid-twenties to early-thirties.

So it is her birthday, but also 2025 marks her 50th year in publication, so it works on a meta level as well.

This surprise party goes over better than the one Nico throws her in Midnight Suns.
(Starts around the 18 minute mark)

All of the attention is too much for Illyana, and she overhears a news report about missing kids, and like we learned from one of my favorite Uncanny X-Men Volume 3 stories, issue 33, Magik likes to rescue mutants when she’s not busy saving the world.

I do love how quick Cyclops is to explain her quick exit. He completely gets Illyana, and her intimacy issues.

In Juneau, we are introduced to Cal and Ren Isaacs, and their grandmother, Anges – the perfect grandmother name. Someone is hunting mutants, and there are jerk protestors who want these two mutants to leave the city.

Magik arrives, and any new readers are immediately shown Magik’s public persona, as well as get an explanation for her soulword.

Magik deals with the demons, and introduces herself to the Isaacs family. She gets her mission statement to protect the other mutants, and deal with the protesters.

Magik misses one of the students, who turns out to be our big bad, the Crow Demon. Who actually is working for the Liminal – a mysterious new organization.

Allen has set up so many threads to pull for future stories that it is bonkers.

The Crow Demon and Magik get into an intense fight, that we see Magik use her other magical skills, and not just swats at him with her appropriately sized sword.

Unfortunately, while Magik is trying to get her bearings, Crow Demon kills Ren. Agnes is trying her best to create a protection spell.

Unfortunately, we lose Agnes as well.

Magik and Cal have Agnes’ spellbook, and they are going to pursue the Demon Crow.

I like how Cal is aware of his grandmother’s abilities, so it isn’t like Magik has to explain to him how mutants and magic work, separately or together. Magik tells him she will pursue the threat, but he insists on coming along.

And that is the first outstanding issue of Magik’s first ongoing.

I’m excited to see Cal be part of, hopefully, her ever growing supporting cast.

Issue ends with someone prophesizing about Magik’s Darkchild persona, that is on the edge’s of Illyana’s mind.

I can’t wait for issue two. I treated myself to the Mark Brooks cover.

as bitter of a pill as it is 😀

. . .

My only goals for this series is that we get 50 issues of it (at least), and a crossover with Exceptional X-Men, that doesn’t necessarily have to also crossover with X-MEN. Though I can only imagine we will get a Magik – X-MEN – Psylocke crossover eventually, as those are three easy enough books to crossover as they share the same cast members.