Thoughts

It’s worth noting at this point that the Magik miniseries headlines two characters in the titles. Not just Illyana but Storm.

There would undoubtably have been good commercial reasons to do this – Storm was a popular figure in the bestselling X-men title by this point.

But it also highlights another important aspect of this story. That it presents another aspect to the ‘Illyana as victim of abuse’ reading of the series. Which is the idea of a support network.

Faced with an overwhelmingly powerful abusive individual, characters create support for each other. There are no police here that could be trusted to enforce justice, and the universe itself seems set up to favour the abuser. And yet within the confines of what they can do, Storm and Kitty try to help Illyana get out of the situation she is in.

This assistance is presented as dangerous, and it effectively destroys both characters such is the power of the abuser. But Storm’s actions in this miniseries – to do what she can to protect Illyana – are presented as heroic even in their failing.

Storm’s maternalistic and protective instincts have been part of the character even since she was first presented as an African Goddess. But here they are applied on a smaller scale – about one person struggling against an abusive all-powerful father figure. And it’s a story about the heroism of protecting a single child.

Fun Panel

The tightly packed storytelling of this mini series doesn’t give John Buscema much scope to really draw expansive art on the big panel. So when he gets the chance at the end of this issue he takes it.

None More Claremont

Claremont treads a very fine line throughout this miniseries. Between presenting a tale of child abuse – an absolute No No under the comics code at the time – and that of the temptation of evil. He’s left with hints of the darker reading such as this one.