(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a re-post and re-edit of a review I wrote long before Paint Monk’s Library had a single follower, so it will be new to most readers. A more in-depth version was written for comic review site Comic-Watch during my brief stint as a contributor there in 2017. A link to my review on that site can be found at the end of this review in case you want to read a review with more spoilers!)

By WALLY MONK – Paint Monk’s Library Editor

As a young comic book reader, I exclusively read fantasy and science fiction comics. I was never really interested in superheroes. While my friends read Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and the Uncanny X-Men, I was happy to be collecting Conan the Barbarian, John Carter, Warlord of Mars and Ka-Zar the Savage. 

In issue #11 of Ka-Zar the Savage from the 1980s, I remember the jungle lord fighting with Belasco, the demon based on the character in Dante’s Divine Comedy. So when I stumbled across Belasco on the cover of Magik: Storm & Illyana #1, I had to buy the comic (even if it did have superheroes in it)!

In Marvel’s Uncanny X-Men series, the character of Colossus (Peter Rasputin) has his little sister snatched from him by an entity (Belasco) through a dimensional doorway. Seemingly, that’s the last we see of her, but she pops up again shortly afterward – 7 years older. Where did the time go? 

The Magik: Storm and Illyana mini-series (4 issues) tells what happened to Colossus’ sister after she was snatched away from the world as we know it. This particular Marvel mini series is pretty dark, and it’s not one that I would recommend kids under 12 to read (despite being approved by the CCA) without talking with their parents and families about the theme of the series or the reactions of numerous characters throughout. It’s effectively the story of a little girl who is turned into a demon – and her struggles with good and evil throughout that battle.

It’s written by Chris Claremont, one of many Marvel writers who needs no introduction, and he handles the subject tastefully and well. It’s clear that Illyana Rasputin is good – and she fights the influence of the dark Belasco admirably.

Review: Magik – Storm & Illyana #1-4

In the first issue (Magik #1), young Illyana has been captured by the demon Belasco and taken to his dark realm called Limbo. We soon learn that the young girl’s innocence will be tainted by Belasco and she will be used as a portal by which the Elder Gods (whom Belasco serves) can enter the mortal realms.

Belasco takes a portion of Illyana’s soul and turns it into a “bloodstone,” and it is the first of five such stones the demon will create to fill a pentagram-shaped amulet. When complete, the amulet will summon the Elder Gods to the human realm.

The first two characters we meet are Ororo and “Cat” – twisted versions of the Storm and Kitty Pryde thatIllyana knows from the “real” world. Limbo’s Ororo and Cat come from a reality where instead of Illyana being taken by Belasco, the X-Men were captured instead.

Both X-characters (and many more in the series) have been twisted by the dark magic of of Belasco’s realm. After the demon lord flees from brief conflict, the trio of Ororo, Illyana and Cat head off for Ororo’s “Sanctuary,” a garden in the midst of Limbo’s chaos. It is a small piece of paradise, protected from the raging fires of the foul dimension and maintained by Ororo’s magic (she is a sorceress in this series, on top of being a weather-controlling mutant)!

It is here that Cat suggests killing Illyana. Apparently, this more violent version of Kitty Pryde is still angry that the X-Men were trapped instead of Illyana in her alternate reality. Secondly, she would rather see the youngster dead than as part of a plot to bring evil into the world. Ororo objects, and Cat leaves the sanctuary angrily.

Meanwhile, Ororo learns that evil has spread into Illyana much faster than she had thought possible – so rather than kill her, Ororo makes Illyana her apprentice, hoping to teach her how to use her strength for good instead of evil.

What will become of the soon-to-be New Mutant? And will she succumb to the dark side and Belasco’s influence? Read the series and find out. 

THE GOOD: Chris Claremont is a superstar when it comes to anything X-Men, and the artwork by John Buscema in the first two issues is stellar. Ron Frenz steps in to pencil issue #3, which has by far the weakest art in the series, and Sal Buscema wraps up with solid pencils in issue #4. The story is definitely one that makes you think, and it helps set the stage for Illyana as a character in the New Mutants. Of the many Marvel mini-series from the mid-1980s, this is a solid must-buy.

If you’re a parent of a child under 12, you might want to check the comic out first – it’ll give you a chance to talk about the “temptation of evil” which is an ongoing theme in the series. But for teenagers, Claremont’s writing is clear enough to grasp the horrific goings-on and put them in context of a conflicted character in their own age group.

THE BAD:  So much more could have been done with this particular storyline, but I’m not qualified to second guess an industry talent like Chris Claremont. I find it difficult to understand how Belasco decimated most of the X-Men in Limbo yet got his demonic backside kicked by a blonde-haired jungle lord (Ka-Zar) with no powers. The series makes it clear that Belasco’s powers are greater in his own realm – but that doesn’t explain how Ka-Zar was more formidable than the most powerful mutants in the Marvel Universe. 

WHERE TO FIND IT: X-Men: Magik was collected as a hardcover book and trade paperback numerous times. You can find it on eBay or Amazon, where it averages $9-25, depending on condition. The individual issues can be purchased at many comic book stores for even less.

As always, I am – Wally (AKA Paint Monk)