{"id":7888,"date":"2022-05-20T22:42:24","date_gmt":"2022-05-20T21:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=7888"},"modified":"2022-05-20T22:42:24","modified_gmt":"2022-05-20T21:42:24","slug":"new-mutants-25-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=7888","title":{"rendered":"New Mutants #25 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>NEW MUTANTS vol 4 #25<\/strong>
\n“The Labors of Magik, part 1: Best Laid Plans…”<\/strong>
\nWriter: Vita Ayala<\/strong>
\nArtists: Rod Reis (main story) & Jan Duursema (flashbacks)<\/strong>
\nColourists: Rod Reis (main story) & Ruth Redmond (flashbacks)<\/strong>
\nLetterer: Travis Lanham<\/strong>
\nEditor: Sarah Brunstad<\/strong><\/p>\n

COVER \/ PAGE 1.<\/strong>\u00a0Magik doing magic.<\/p>\n

PAGE 2.<\/strong> Data page. This is indeed a quote from\u00a0Heracles<\/em> by the Greek dramatist Euripedes (c.480-c.406 BC), as translated by EP Coleridge<\/a>. The story takes place after the twelfth labour of Hercules (the capture of Cerberus), and involves Hercules being driven mad by Iris and the personification of Madness, and killing his family in a frenzy. In the passage quoted, he’s lamenting what he has done and observing that he is now a social outcast. The ellipsis makes this rather obscure. The full passage reads:<\/p>\n

Last, ah, woe is me! I have dared this labor, to crown the sorrows of my house with my children’s murder. I have come to this point of necessity; no longer may I dwell in Thebes, the city that I love; for suppose I stay, to what temple or gathering of friends shall I go? For mine is no curse that invites greetings.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A more modern translation<\/a> has it as:<\/p>\n

“And this – ah, this! This here is my last labour! This bloody deed I performed and crowned the miseries of my house with the death of my own sons! And so, here I am! I have now arrived at this sorry state! Piety forbids me from living here, in Thebes, the city I love, because if I do stay here, to which temple or to what friends could I turn? The horror of my curse will not allow for friendly greetings.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

PAGES 3-4.<\/strong>\u00a0S’ym produces a mace.<\/em><\/p>\n

S’ym<\/strong> was Belasco’s henchman in Magik’s origin story, and served as Magik’s own highly untrustworthy henchman in\u00a0New Mutants<\/em> until he eventually turned on her. He was originally a nod to Dave Sim’s\u00a0Cerebus the Aardvark<\/em>, hence the waistcoat.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The “master” that he’s answering to isn’t identified. The obvious candidate would be Belasco, except that the silhouette clearly has two arms in the final panel of this scene, and Belasco only has one. It doesn’t seem to be the guy who’s rifling through Illyana’s room later in the issue, either, because that guy has a huge beard, and the silhouette here has a clearly defined chin. It’s also curious that this guy gets S’ym to mix his own potions, suggesting that for some reason he can’t do it himself.<\/p>\n

Having S’ym produce the mace from within his own body has echoes of Magik’s Soulsword.<\/p>\n

PAGE 5.<\/strong> Recap and credits.<\/p>\n

PAGE 6.<\/strong>\u00a0The first page of the Little Goblin’s story.<\/em><\/p>\n

The first of several pages of this story, which are explained towards the end of the issue as coming from a story book that Illyana found in Belasco’s library as a child. There are obvious echoes in here of Illyana being trapped in Limbo as a child and being pursued by Belasco during the period before she fell completely under his control (though again, the silhouette figure shown here has two arms). However, the “little Goblin” apparently represents Madelyne Pryor, the Goblin Queen.<\/p>\n

PAGES 7-9.<\/strong>\u00a0Magik, Dani and Rahne spar before taking Madelyne to Limbo.<\/em><\/p>\n

Madelyne Pryor<\/strong> was resurrected at the end of\u00a0Hellions<\/em> and was approached by Magik in the previous issue (before the season break). She was already wearing her Goblin Queen outfit again in that issue, but seemed mainly to be sulking around the Green Lagoon bar. Magik offered her “a shot at getting everything you’ve ever wanted”. Since Madelyne has been predominantly an insane villain for years now, the other New Mutants are understandably sceptical about putting her in charge of anything.<\/p>\n

I’m not sure what the blue thing is that Madelyne brings with her, and hands over to Illyana. But it must have some significance, since it’s such an odd thing to draw for no reason.<\/p>\n

PAGE 10.<\/strong>\u00a0The second page of the Little Goblin’s story.<\/em><\/p>\n

This is rather more obviously Madelyne with the three companions who’ll accompany her into Limbo – Wolfsbane, Magik and Mirage. The narrator tells us that they “saw the truth of the Little Goblin” (which is a bit therapy-speak for a fairy tale narrator, if you ask me) and “agreed to stand by her side”, but there’s little sign of that from Rahne and Dani in the previous scene. Not so far, anyway.<\/p>\n

PAGES 11-15.<\/strong> Illyana takes the group\u00a0<\/em>to the Limbo library.<\/em><\/p>\n

The old guy in Illyana’s bedchamber seems to be a new character, and presumably we’ll find out later in the arc what he’s up to. He insists that he’s helping, but doesn’t explain, and Illyana seems to dismiss the possibility that he might be telling the truth out of hand.<\/p>\n

I don’t think the library is given any particular prominence in the\u00a0Magik<\/em> miniseries (though it is the first place that Illyana teleports to). However, there’s a lengthy break in the action between\u00a0Magik<\/em> #2-3, during which Illyana ages by several years, and much of what this issue is describing seems to happen in that period.<\/p>\n

Inferno<\/strong> was the main crossover of 1989, in which Madelyne went mad after the kidnap of her son, wound up making a deal with the demon N’Astirh to become the Goblin Queen, and ended up participating in an insane scheme to merge Limbo with New York. That brought a lot of things to life, hence the sentient mailboxes and flesh-eating elevators. Magik interprets all this behaviour as a mental breakdown.<\/p>\n

Reading between the lines, Magik seems to be looking for someone to palm Limbo off on, and only someone with an sufficiently traumatic back story will do. Apparently she thinks Madelyne qualifies. Strictly speaking, we’ve seen people without that sort of history run Limbo (Amanda Sefton did it for a time), but they didn’t last very long, so fair enough. Magik claims to be binding Madelyne to terms that will keep her in line, but there’s a definite sense here that her primary goal here is to unshackle herself from Limbo and that what happens next is secondary.<\/p>\n

PAGE 16.<\/strong> Page 3 of the Little Goblin.<\/em><\/p>\n

This time the narrator is referring to the Limbo versions of Storm, Shadowcat and Colossus from\u00a0Magik<\/em>; Madelyne knows all of those characters, but the Goblin seems to be representing Illyana more closely here. Or it might be foreshadowing future chapters.<\/p>\n

PAGES 17-18.<\/strong>\u00a0Dani voices her doubts, and S’ym attacks.<\/em><\/p>\n

Madelyne died in\u00a0Hellions<\/em> #4.<\/p>\n

The child-abduction stuff is, again, part of the plot of Inferno.<\/p>\n

The “monster who made me” is Mr Sinister, who created Madelyne as a clone of Jean Grey as part of a plan that Madelyne herself was never privy to.<\/p>\n

Magik is pretty explicit here that her primary aim is to get away for Limbo, which is part of a traumatic back story that she wants no part of. Madelyne has a point that she’s meant to benefit from the amnesty like any other resurrected mutant, but “Why is Krakoa’s promise not for me?” is pushing it a bit. Krakoa does not offer all citizens their own dimension.<\/p>\n

PAGE 19.<\/strong>\u00a0Page 4 of the Little Goblin.<\/em><\/p>\n

This seems to be foreshadowing future events in the arc.<\/p>\n

PAGES 20-26.<\/strong>\u00a0The big fight.<\/em><\/p>\n

Madelyne’s reaction to the demons (“Filthy. Disgusting.”) doesn’t exactly suggest that she’s the perfect choice to run this place.<\/p>\n

“Resurrection may be warped here, like in Otherworld.”<\/strong> Mutants who die in the magical dimension of Otherworld can only be brought back as blank slates, as established in “X of Swords.” Dani is (understandably) unsure whether this is specifically an Otherworld thing or whether it applies to magical dimensions in general.<\/p>\n

“You can call me Boss.”<\/strong> This is how S’ym used to address Magik and Belasco.<\/p>\n

The Soulsword<\/strong> being shattered is a fairly big deal, since it’s, well, linked to Magik’s soul. It’s also linked to her control over Limbo, which presumably explains why she isn’t able to teleport back to Earth as normal – though control over Limbo’s stepping disks is meant to be her mutant power rather than an aspect of her magical abilities.<\/p>\n

PAGE 27.<\/strong>\u00a0Page 5 of the Little Goblin.<\/em><\/p>\n

Again, this feels like it’s signalling the direction of Madelyne’s arc. Presumably we’re going on a quest to find a way home.<\/p>\n

PAGE 28.<\/strong> Data page. The quote is from\u00a0Macbeth<\/em> Act 3 Scene 2.<\/p>\n

PAGES 29-33.<\/strong>\u00a0Flashback: Illyana reads about the Little Goblin.<\/em><\/p>\n

This takes place between\u00a0Magik<\/em> #2-3; the splash page is basically recapping the first two issues of that series, as well as\u00a0Uncanny X-Men<\/em> #160 (where she got abducted to Limbo in the first place). The X-Men who get corrupted by Limbo are from an alternate timeline where they didn’t make it back to Earth after\u00a0Uncanny<\/em> #160.<\/p>\n

At the end, we see the actual Little Goblin apparently writing the book for Illyana to read.<\/p>\n

PAGE 34.<\/strong> Trailers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition. NEW MUTANTS vol 4 #25 “The Labors of Magik, part 1: Best Laid Plans…” Writer: Vita Ayala Artists: Rod Reis (main story) & Jan Duursema (flashbacks) Colourists: Rod Reis (main story) & Ruth Redmond (flashbacks) Letterer: Travis Lanham Editor: Sarah Brunstad […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annotations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7890,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7888\/revisions\/7890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}