Magik #5 annotations
MAGIK vol 3 #5
“Fate Unbound”
Writer: Ashley Allen
Artist: Germán Peralta
Colourist: Arthur Hesli
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Editor: Darren Shan
MAGIK
She’s upset and passive-aggressive about Mirage going behind her back last issue and asking Cal to keep an eye on her. She privately accepts that Mirage is right to be concerned about the threat from Darkchild, but she’s still hurt by their distrust and by not being told about this “back-up plan”.
The three weeks that Liminal gave her in issue #3 to endure the Darkchild without her mental blocks have elapsed – this must have happened between issues #4-5.
When Liminal escapes into Earth, the wards that Magik placed as holding measures in issues #1, #2 and #4 are broken, causing her pain. (These are the locations at the bottom of page 6.) She claims the pain is normal when a magical spell breaks, particularly a complex one. This allows Darkchild to briefly take control, until Magik uses literal self-harm to focus on the pain and suppress her.
In her own mindscape, Magik then confronts Darkchild and reconciles with her. The basic idea here is that Darkchild is not a possessing demon, but an (admittedly corrupted) aspect of Illyana herself, who developed as a protective response to her childhood trauma in Limbo. Darkchild considers herself to be trying to protect Magik, albeit rather aggressively. The upshot of all this is that Illyana needs to come to terms with her past and embrace her Darkchild side instead of rejecting and suppressing it. Things like “Inferno” are presumably being attributed to the Darkchild persona taking over altogether, instead of integrating.
This all fits quite nicely with the previous issues. With hindsight, Darkchild’s speech in Magik’s dream in issue #1 is a clumsy pitch for the two of them to work together (“We can become something more”). Also, what the Darkchild actually does in the previous issues is to continue fighting Liminal on Magik’s behalf. Cal gets scenes in both issues #1-2 where he points this out, in the face of everyone insisting that the Darkchild is a massive threat, but nobody listens to him, including Illyana.
Having reconciled with Darkchild, she returns to Earth in partial demonic form, thus enacting the “Darkchild Unleashed” prophecy image that Cal’s grandmother had in issue #1.
She refuses to let Cal sacrifice himself to stop Liminal, claiming that Cal is a “child” who lacks “the capacity to make this decision” – all of which ties back to her wanting to shield him from the sort of childhood that she had after getting dragged into the world of magic. When Cal sacrifices himself to stop Liminal anyway, she seems genuinely upset about this.
Mirage argues that Magik has been neglecting Cal’s need for a mentor, and carts Cal off to the Society of the Eternal Dawn. She gives Mirage a lecture about responsibility (in implied contrast to her own leadership). She has a point – Illyana sort of took him on as a trainee in issue #1 but has effectively done everything she can to marginalise him in the name of keeping him safe, and offer to solve the problems for him. As she said in issue #2, “I have a mission – stop the demons attacking mutants. You are tagging along.”
Her spells include the “Arm of Phorcys”. Phorcys is a primordial sea god in Greek mythology.
Her one line in Russian – глупый – means “silly”.
SUPPORTING CAST
Cal Isaacs. He tries to fight Liminal to avenge his bloodline, but his magical skills don’t extend beyond casting spells by reading them from a book. His auxilium manus spell (helping hand) works, but has no meaningful effect on the likes of Liminal.
He offers his blood (and by implication his life) in order to restore the seals, on the logic that the magic involves his bloodline. When Magik tries to stop him, he forces his way in and traps Liminal inside himself. He remains unconscious for the rest of the issue, so we don’t see what that means in practice. Magik reads Cal as wanting to sacrifice himself, while Mirage reads him as trying to protect her. Mirage takes him off to the Society of the Eternal Dawn to recover.
Mirage. She claims that Darkchild terrifies her, but admires how Magik has persevered with her; she says that she only doubted Magik last issue because Magik was doubting herself. It’s unclear how far Mirage is really on board with the idea of Magik reconciling with Darkchild; she seems pretty negative about the demon persona in this and the previous issue, but did also have a speech last issue about how Illyana was a good person because of her past, rather than in spite of it. In other words, Mirage seems to have basically the right idea about Magik needing to embrace her past, but not to appreciate that Darkchild itself falls into that category.
Cyclops. He tries to be supportive to Illyana when he finds her crying at the Factory, in a call back to the pancake scene from issue #1.
VILLAINS
Liminal. As usual, he wants his generals to sacrifice mutants in order to access their life energy and break his final seal, allowing him to return to earth. Unfortunately, they don’t manage to draw enough blood from the single Irish mutant they capture, before being interrupted.
Liminal’s solution to this is to remotely kill the two generals. Once again, he claims not to remember much of his past, but he knows that they were responsible for turning him into who he is and seems happy enough to get his revenge.
He describes this issue’s location as “the very place I was born”. A caption identifies it as the Causeway Coast, which is a real area on the coast of Northern Ireland. The “causeway” in question is the Giant’s Causeway. The ruined castle shown in this story is possibly meant to be Dunluce Castle. Once again, mutants are so abundant in this area that there are three of them hanging around feeding sheep on the local farm. Maybe it’s some sort of outreach project, because the chances of there being that many mutants randomly working on a rural Irish farm is kind of bizarre.
He describes his prison dimension as “a hollow copy of this world”, which it clearly was when we saw it in issue #3. In that issue, he seemed confused at Magik’s reaction to him, but contact with the real world seems to alter his perspective.
When Magik shows up in part-demon form after reconciling with Darkchild, Liminal initially thinks that he’s achieved his goal. He’s not entirely wrong: in issue #3, he said that she was “resisting your true self” and “I want you to be your true self on Earth”. Where he seems to have gone wrong is to read Darkchild (alone) as Magik’s true self, which is the same mistake Illyana was making.
His generals. We saw two mages who were responsible for creating Liminal in his origin flashback in issue #3. One appeared in the present day as one of his generals in the previous issue; both appear in that role here. They still don’t get names – they’re referred to simply as the flame demon and the gravity demon.
The fact that their blood works for Liminal’s sacrifice might suggest that they’re mutants. But we were told that mutants merely worked better for the spell, because they generated more power. So it’s also possible that Liminal was just close enough to being free that any old blood would tip the balance.
“mutants are so abundant in this area that there are three of them hanging around feeding sheep on the local farm. Maybe it’s some sort of outreach project, because the chances of there being that many mutants randomly working on a rural Irish farm is kind of bizarre”
Maybe they’re all relatives?
Once more we hear that Limnal doesn’t remember his past- that’s got to be significant somehow.
Cal’s grandmother said in issue 1 that there were two prophecies and neither of them can be fulfilled. I guess that one of them was the Darkchild being unleashed and another was Limnal escaping?
Dani blaming Illyana for Cal’s decision was a bit harsh, especially considering that she could have kept an eye on Cal herself and made sure he didn’t interfere with illyana’s spell.
I wouldn’t mind if they further developed the idea of like, really really minor mutants. No real powers to speak of, just enough mutant gene to register as such. Like the concept of deuces in Wild Cards. Someone with light blue skin or an extra finger but no powers to go with it. That way you might have a slew of extra generic mutants who juuuust qualify.
I know we’ve seen some before but it’s always an idea worth exploring if just to explain how many randos are out there. Not everyone gets to have cool powers…
Wasn’t that the point of the short-lived Muties series from 2001 (I think), but it was just done very badly? I’d like to see a series like that, focusing on mutants living everyday lives whose X-genes don’t offer much in the way of powers, with a talented writer, like Gillen.
I seem to remember a boy who was smart, like athletically gifted, but nothing beyond being able to do really well at school, and that was his mutant power. A kid with a third eye, but no powers. A kid in Japan who could make toys move, but that was it. A young woman who was strong, but only like a normal person’s strength, she just didn’t have to work at it.
Then, the final issue stopped following the format by featuring an Irish kid in northern Ireland who caused explosions joining the IRA, and Spurrier brought him back when he was writing Legion.
It was a great idea for a series but terribly written and executed.
I imagine that after Krakoa, mutants would clump together out of necessity. Xavier and Magneto would have burned a lot of their bridges for them. Like, even if a young mutant didn’t think they were in any way superior, the mere fact that they went to live on Krakoa means there’d potentially be a lot of bad blood with former friends and neighbours. They might not have homes to go to. So if word gets out that there’s a farm that houses mutants not too far from your old home, you’d likely join up.
Note that Magik has previously felt pain when her wards were broken, most notably in the Demon Bear saga. Also, I’m very happy that Darkchild isn’t a Mister Hyde-type deal, because the whole war-within-myself thing has been done to death.
Props on the cover art being only slightly sexualised this week.
ISTR that the early miniseries “Beauty and the Beast” featured a community of mutants with “useless” powers.
I’m sure it’s not a coincidence that this leaves Illyana with a cool Darkchild combat form like in Marvel Rivals. Not that I mind – this was a well-done story, all in all.
The seeming prevalence of background mutants is surprising, but I suppose you could handwave it as magic-induced coincidence or Magik and Liminal both going after the biggest cluster of mutants. Or maybe this is secretly taking place on Earth X or House of M.
Mutants with useless powers were a big thing in District X, as well. Generally speaking, the ‘let’s follow what Morrison’s doing’ era in the early 00’s had many such characters.
For some reason the timeskip between issues 4 and 5 was jarring for me. The way this issue opens, I was wondering if I missed an issue. But maybe that’s more of a ‘me’ issue than this issue’s issue and now I’ll stop using this word for at least a fortnight.
I maintain my position that Magik is, surprisingly, the best solo series in the X-line right now.
Darkchild has – to my knowledge – never been a “possessing demon”, but Illyana’s own demonic personality which she developed under the influence of Limbo and Belasco’s training. The idea that it is a kind of protective response is new (as far as I know), but makes perfect sense. Allen really understands her and is able to write a new story that also values her past.
There was an issue from the ’80s where Illyana said, in tears, “I’m only good because I want to be!”. She considered that a damning indiction of her own inherently evil nature, but it came across quite differently.
And Mirage is used very well as the friend who believes in Illyana but is also wary of the danger she poses.
@Krzysiek: Seconded.
Your last line, I mean :-).
If they have no homes, that raises the question of why they didn’t stay on Krakoa.
Well maybe they never made it back to Krakoa after Xavier marched everyone through the gates, or maybe they were on Krakoa but decided to return when it briefly touched Earth again, only to find out too late their families hated them now. Or they straight up preferred Earth and decided to stick together because they knew each other on Krakoa.
@neutrino- It’s not clear that these mutants were even IN the White Hot Room, as opposed to hiding on Earth during Orchis’s takeover. They might not have even known the Krakoans were leaving until after they left Earth.
Besides, Krakoa isn’t completely safe now either- it’s currently being menaced by Not-Legion.
Maybe they were comic collectors. They had a chance to escape persecution and hatred, but they’d have to give up buying their comics each month. It’s just too much to ask them to give up.
Anyone else forming the idea that the Generals had a more friendly relationship with Liminal than he remembers, and he will come to regret having sacrificed them?
@Luis- I was wondering about that- Liminal says the spell that the mages used SHOULD have backfired onto one of them. And in issue 3, there seemed to be at least 4 mages besides the Generals in Liminal’s flashback. It does seem like that’s where Allen’s going with this- Liminal thinks he’s the boy but he’s really one of the mages that tried to sacrifice the boy.
@Michael: X-Men #700 seemed to imply every mutant on earth was offered the choice to go with Krakoa.
“I’m very happy that Darkchild isn’t a Mister Hyde-type deal, because the whole war-within-myself thing has been done to death.”
Hallelujah. So happy this storyline ended with a cooperation/integration instead of more war-within-myself, because Illyana’s been saddled with that same story for almost her entire existence. Eventually some writer will go back to that well, but I’ll cross my fingers that it’s a long time before that happens. At least there will be new types of stories about Magik as long as this series lasts.
I’m with those who say this is the best solo title of the X-Line.
Finally, I think there’s a typo: “She gives Mirage a lecture about responsibility (in implied contrast to her own leadership).” I think it’s Mirage giving a lecture to *Illyana*.
@neutrino- Xavier wasn’t offered the choice because he was in prison. It’s clear that all the mutants that were on Krakoa at the time were offered the choice but it’s not clear about the mutants that were off Krakoa.(The fact that none of the Outliers appear to have been contacted suggests the offer was limited to mutants on Krakoa.)
[…] #5. (Annotations here.) End of the first arc, though we’re obviously not finished with Liminal, since the […]
@Michael: Supposedly, there was a telepathic message for the entire world. Krakoa was on earth for at least a day. The trouble is the FtA titles were proposed and written without knowing the fate of Krakoa.
@neutrino- There was no mention of a telepathic mention for the whole world. The gates were reopened for a day but some people don’t live near the gates.
Actually Ben Percy’s successive Hellverine series and the Astonishing X-Men Infinity Comics already revealed that a lot of mutants DIDN’T live on Krakoa for various reasons , after all , even during the First Krakoan Age , there were mutants like Paulie Provenzano (he said he was depowered but I believe he was lying*) and his wife Stinger didnt live on Krakoa because he insisted on remaining in his human neighbourhood close to his human parents in Brooklyn, New York City.
* the only way this could have happened if he was alive during M-Day , but he was shown executed alongside Maggott with other “Red M” mutants (Bulwark, TarBaby) at the Weapon-X NeverLand , so either A) he somehow managed to survive that mass execution (it was never shown how they were executed) and so was alive on M-Day for him to be depowered, or B) he was indeed dead before M-Day but was still depowered anyway on M-Day (as was revealed in Beast’s experience during the Endangered Species storyline , when he checked Sinister’s genebank archives of dead mutants pre-M-Day) and was resurrected during Necrosha (its canon that a number of mutants refused to sacrifice themselves to Selene , so they remained alive* after Necrosha, but those who were depowered and resurrected in Necrosha , like Unus and Tarot , were canonically re-powered in their resurrection , which is where Hickman got the idea for the Krakoan Crucible , as literal physical death neutralized Wanda’s then**-mutant-magick spell) , so Paulie P being both alive yet depowered in the present era makes little sense (unless you take “A” as the canon explanation , but that still has a plothole because could Weapon X (then under Malcolm Concord) be so careless as to not account for Paulie’s invulnerability power (which actually seems to be exactly the same as fellow NeverLand prisoner (but “Blue M” group w/ Cecilia Reyes) Diamond Lil’s [their very cells are empowered by bio-aura] down to their only weakness being the need to still breathe oxygen) allowing him to survive getting executed?
*Canonically confirmed in various stories : Cypher , Unus , Tarot , Maggott , Pyro 1 , Fabian Cortez , Shinobi Shaw / Shinobi Leland , Sienna Blaze , maybe Trevor Fitzory (he dissolved into pure chronal energy in the alternate-future finale of Bishop:The Last XMan after Bishop disrupted his ascendion to time-god status , but so did Shard( who turned into her bio-photon form to charge her brother who then fired his sister at Fitzroy , so if Fitzory managed to return alive and normal to the 616 in The Last Days of the XMen, why not also Shard too?***)
**the retcon is pure BS , and as I’ve said before here , Remender and Robinson themselves already left “outs” in respectively the Uncanny Avengers series (Vision discovered all on his own a “secret” about Wanda and Pietro in the High Evolutionary’s personal computer files that shocked him so much he swore to himself never to reveal it to them ever) and the Scarlet Witch solo-maxiseries (Ghost Magda revealed to Wanda that she was murdered by the Twin’s bio-dad/Magda’s baby-daddy in a fight/confrontation but she never admitted just who He was exactly)
*** it was implied that 616-Shard was actually secretly resurrected in the Age of X’Man in the Age of XMan’s Bishop series but chose to remain in Nate Grey’s pocket reality rather than return to 616
IIRC the Neverland Camp was closed with the implication that all its occupants were massacred. But a number of those mutants popped back up way before Krakoa anyway – Cecilia Reyes and Maggott among them (I guess they could have been raised during Necrosha…)
My point being, the Neverland Camp was sort of memoryholed, anyway. And it’s a good thing, too, because – again, as far as I remember – there were character with actionable intelligence about the camp, who, after the Weapon X series got cancelled, didn’t act. Which is understandable from a publishing standpoint – it was a plot from a cancelled book, no point in moving it to a completely different book – but becomes lunacy if we’re trying to pretend it’s all in continuity.
To provide some examples – Chamber was infiltrating Weapon X at the time and was trying to find the camp. Except then the book finished and Chamber disappeared, only to reapper as an intubated victim of M-Day, who then got fixed by the Akkaba clan in a Frank Tieri written fill-in in Claremont’s New Excalibur – who then went on his merry way to become a New Warrior in The Worst New Warriors, death camp all forgotten.
Another would be Cecilia Reyes, who was a prisoner of the camp at the time of its closure. Next time we see her, she’s living the quiet life with a private practice in New York. In NYX, of all places. And she has Beast on speed dial.
There was a mutant death camp. Except it would be a drag on future books, so not really, let’s forget about it.
My long-winded point being… it doesn’t matter at all that Paulie Provenzano was there.
@Krysziek- It wasn’t just the camp that was forgotten about. The series ended with Sublime making a deal with Sinister to acquire “rejects” from Sinister and boasting that he got the better end of the deal because Sinister’s rejects aren’t as useless as Sinister thinks and they should enable him to advance his plans. And then Sublime disappears for years. I guess Sinister was right about the rejects being useless?
@Michael: They said the only ones going to earth were the ones who wanted to reunite with their families or wanted the dopamine hit of living on earth. The X-Men were staying for the next generation of mutants. No one was mentioned as being left behind. They’d used a telepathic message to get mutants to come to Krakoa in the first place, and Emma kept in telepathic contact with the mutants during Fall of X. It makes sense they’d use something like that when they had the time in #700. If mutants were living away from the dates, they weren’t heavily involved in Krakoa and had there own lives outside.
Actually all the plotholes in Frank Tieri’s Weapon-X series were explained years later in his 5-part Weapon X: Days of Future Past series (which shockingly believe it or not was the apparent inspiration for a number of later plot points in the X-franchise , such as 1) Kyle & Yost giving Warren the ability to shift between Angel and Archangel , and arguably for 2) Cullen Bunn pairing M and Sabertooth as teammates & lovers in a team led by Magneto.) Examples : 1) Tieri revealed that after Sublime got his own personal army of Sinister’s customized chimeric mutants (arguably where Gillen & Hickman got their ideas), there was a huge 3-way battle royale between the forces of John Sublime va Malcolm Colord vs Brent Jackson , until M-Day suddenly hit , and most everybody on the battlefield died (or at least the countless nameless chimeric mutants) when they lost control of their powers except Chamber (and of course the other prominent long-time x-characters) who also became depowered too. 2) Tieri revealed that after the mass execution of the Red M group , Colcord spirited away the Blue M group (which had both Cecilia Reyes and Diamond Lil as the known characters with the rest being Tieri’s all-new OC’s) for training as NeverLand enforcers (heavily implied to involved brainwashing) , No-Prize : Cecilia Reyes doesn’t (and Diamond Lil didn’t) remember NeveLand because they wererepeatedly mindwiped