Illyana Rasputin: Magik Appreciation 2019

[WallStreeter]

where has that been shown to be the case for 2.0? We never see Limbo as a transition jump like we used to in the original NM days

They don't really show it for version 2.0. It's been mentioned thought that her mutant powers are tied to Limbo. It's not important to the storyline to actually show it most of the time.

[WallStreeter]

I enjoyed the Secret Warriors line, it was fun and light and still managed to keep Illyana's tough but warm presence. It's on Marvel Unlimited so it's easy to track down if you have a subscription (which you should, as it's a handy tool to track down side issues and crossover events that you might not want to buy at a comic shop). I too didn't think much of the art to be honest, but was just happy she was in a book.

I think for Post-Bendis Yanna, she jumped over as a major fixture in Storm's X-team all the way up to X vs Inhumans. Then she appears in the related material there as mentioned above (Death of X, Secret Warriors, etc). Then she pretty much was relegated to background until Dead Souls came out, and has been off roster since the cliffhanger but is due to return to the recently re-launched Uncanny.

As for the movie, I'm cautiously optimistic. I think it largely depends on what Disney's intentions are for X-Men. We know that the best X films have pushed the PG-13/R range, and they wanted to go that route here. We know that they will be using young Illyana for something in the movie, but I could see them toning down the "kidnapped by the devil" and Limbo wars completely in favor of a "Poltergeist" flavor where the little girl is captured by an evil force. She "fights her way out" and resurfaces as a teen with a knowledge of arcane arts much like Dr Strange. They likely won't go into Belasco and his weirdly icky obsession with her, and instead use a "sensitivity" to things like ghosts and demons. Allows them to keep the emotional struggle with the paranormal she has without having a monster with Satanic features always looming in the background. More Ghostbusters and less Legend.

If they are doing a fresh reboot on all things X we need to consider that this film will be a one-off and that any characters appearing would be re-cast or never revisited. Considering just how important New Mutants are to the larger X-continuity I could see them using them in a tv show or referencing them in stories like with Dr Strange and Magik appearing together in a fight combining powers or something.

Anya Taylor Joy is a good actress and has played similar parts, so whether the New Mutants movie just comes out on streaming services or whether it's actually released, I can see her playing Magik in the future MCU. I could see her appearing in an upcoming Dr. Strange movie, since Strange trained her in the comics.

[WallStreeter]

My expectations for the movie as a whole are not so high anymore, but my expectations for its handling of Illyana are pretty high given what we've heard so far.

ATJ has said that her character is "a bad-ass b- from hell" with "sass."

https://twitter.com/Variety/status/1085351573578907648

And the movie will have a Russian-speaking little kid version of Illyana, meaning her origin and kidnapping as a child is being touched on.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BaPH_ErjLXM/



A trailer that was only shown in Brazil is reported to have shown her armor and soul sword. This is the only thing I have brought that has a chance of not being true since it was only shown there and no footage has been released since then, but no one involved has ever dismissed or disputed the report and both the armor and soul sword appeared in the concept video where she attacks the demon bear. There is also a brief flash of a hell-like realm the moment she stabs the bear in that video.

https://comicbook.com/marvel/2017/12...utants-teaser/
https://www.slashfilm.com/new-mutants-video/

Kidnapped as a child, 'from hell,' bad-ass, and sass are all very important boxes that are being checked, and it seems rather likely that the soul sword and armor are also included. The elements are all there. It's now just a matter of the writing and visuals being up to snuff. I might have been satisfied with her being a badass spouting 1-liners, but the inclusion of the younger version adds a ton of depth already.

It all looks good, and I'm glad they cast a good actress for Magik. As I said in another post, pretty sure she'll carry over to the MCU has Magik.

[Havok83]

Bendis' Uncanny X-Men # 2. Illyana outright states "My mutant power is teleportation. We go from point A to point B through a demonic dimension called Limbo. Fun right?"

thanks for this

[sungila]

Isn't it nearly automatic to associate 'step into the light' with near death experiences?
That light being the afterlife...the crematorium.
So if one was to trick the linear equation...if one were to stay in the hallway instead of obeying the commands of "come hither" and "do not go" to discover that those commands aren't even addressed to her specifically at all...but are just advertising...there is a stairway between the two escalators in Lagurada Airport, I've stood there...it's an odd place to stand...it feels just like moving.

IDK, to me...she isn't going anywhere...everywhere else is doing that...it's not so much destination...as defiance. Okay first you have to take fate as destiny, then, defy it, then echo to it before it speaks its decree...and while big D's back is turned...step around it and past it...wherever you want to go...that's a lonely sort of power to know...to control...who really wants to be able to trick fate...and once you have...imagine that!?

I wonder if I'll be buying this UXM soon...I didn't plan on it...but...it's...do you think there will be an arc after this one sometime that will be something other than or more than...Scott and Logan? I mean...is it really worth buying these issues if I'm only getting them for the Magik ingredients? It doesn't always have to be a lot of story or panel time to be potent. Hmmm...no I don't have or use digital subscriptions...I mean...um, in some ways isn't that...I don't know...like giving in to destiny? Stepping into the light...like, hmmm...stepping away from yourself in the hallway...like abandoning your options...your defiant self...and for what?

[WallStreeter]

Isn't it nearly automatic to associate 'step into the light' with near death experiences?
That light being the afterlife...the crematorium.
So if one was to trick the linear equation...if one were to stay in the hallway instead of obeying the commands of "come hither" and "do not go" to discover that those commands aren't even addressed to her specifically at all...but are just advertising...there is a stairway between the two escalators in Lagurada Airport, I've stood there...it's an odd place to stand...it feels just like moving.

IDK, to me...she isn't going anywhere...everywhere else is doing that...it's not so much destination...as defiance. Okay first you have to take fate as destiny, then, defy it, then echo to it before it speaks its decree...and while big D's back is turned...step around it and past it...wherever you want to go...that's a lonely sort of power to know...to control...who really wants to be able to trick fate...and once you have...imagine that!?

I wonder if I'll be buying this UXM soon...I didn't plan on it...but...it's...do you think there will be an arc after this one sometime that will be something other than or more than...Scott and Logan? I mean...is it really worth buying these issues if I'm only getting them for the Magik ingredients? It doesn't always have to be a lot of story or panel time to be potent. Hmmm...no I don't have or use digital subscriptions...I mean...um, in some ways isn't that...I don't know...like giving in to destiny? Stepping into the light...like, hmmm...stepping away from yourself in the hallway...like abandoning your options...your defiant self...and for what?

This month Disney completely it's buyout of Fox and a lot of people get fired. Shall we say things will drastically change in the comics.

Captain Marvel, Marvel/Disney's first female superhero movie, brought in 160 million on FRIDAY. The Dark Phoenix trailers are getting great reviews. Trends in pop culture mean that people like strong female characters and heroes. So long term Magik will do FINE. Though I cannot say what the next few issues of Uncanny may hold.

[sungila]

This month Disney completely it's buyout of Fox and a lot of people get fired. Shall we say things will drastically change in the comics.

Captain Marvel, Marvel/Disney's first female superhero movie, brought in 160 million on FRIDAY. The Dark Phoenix trailers are getting great reviews. Trends in pop culture mean that people like strong female characters and heroes. So long term Magik will do FINE. Though I cannot say what the next few issues of Uncanny may hold.

I'm not entirely sure how your post replies to my post you quote...but, okay..I guess. I don't watch these movies, or follow sales...or trends in pop culture...I am aware of these things. I just don't follow them.

I'm happy that trends suggest that Magik will be fine and that people like strong female characters and heroes. That's great. And the success of Captain Marvel at the box office is powerful, it's awesome really what Kelly Sue DeConnick and the Carol Corps and comics can be and can do and can change - but I don't know if Magik is that character...maybe in an indie film way. But not as a blockbuster...or maybe, again, I just don't go the movies, and I don't have a television or streaming service or any of that.

Dark Phoenix could be maybe? It should be. It was written on that sort of huge cinematic scale. But it'd need to changed now...a lot...it'd have to...well...obviously...and that transformation if realized could be all the more powerful for the conflict and growth.

[Andru]

Just re-read UXM # 160 & the Magik mini-series as it was next up in my Uncanny X-Men read through.

Every time I read it I fall more in love with it and Magik herself.

[244]

Just re-read UXM # 160 & the Magik mini-series as it was next up in my Uncanny X-Men read through.

Every time I read it I fall more in love with it and Magik herself.

I just wish current Magik is more multi-faceted than being “I’m grumpy and mean because of my messed-up childhood”.

[sungila]

Just re-read UXM # 160 & the Magik mini-series as it was next up in my Uncanny X-Men read through.

Every time I read it I fall more in love with it and Magik herself.

Me too Andru, me too. It's amazing how often that mini makes its way into my immediate life...I find it everywhere...as if by magik.

Most recently in some erroneous research involving archetypical psychology, death, dream, mediumship and the underworld in literature. Anyway there's this post-Jungian dude named James Hillman who wrote a pop psychology book called Soul's Code in which he uses THE ACORN to re-establish Plato's myth of destiny is fate...Hillman is pompous, presumptuous and pretentious but that book was a kinda big deal to lots of people...and I wonder...well, if the concept of "man" being born with the seed of his fate (his fully formed oak tree) already within...well to make a long thing short...

No matter what CC intended...somehow in the telling of Magik's mini-series...that acorn, that theory, that damned character is fate and fate is destiny and blah blah bullshit...well, it goes splat in the mini and she MAKES A SWORD out of all that...she doesn't pull it out of some stone or forge it in a "one must stand within the fire to be made strong trial'...nope...she needs a sword...she doesn't need a metaphor or fairy tale...she needs a sword.

But Claremont is a thief, he is, in a good way. Storytellers and thieves. But the trick in the trade is really the one in control (or out of control)...

SO CC tries to say she tries and tries to fit the molds she's given but they don't work...they don't have a prefabricated perfect fit for her soul...and something weird happens...and in that weirdness...a flaw...a gap...this curious imperfection...and that's vital.

So she makes something (out this something) and that something is something she shouldn't have...a sword.

I feel like if CC knew exactly what he was doing he couldn't have done it...he himself had this acorn...and it went splat...spectacularly and forever...miraculous poverty. (Kitty eats Kurt...wha?)

Umm, okay...

She uproots the tree...she plants seven years of formative psyche, her personal generative store in Limbo...and establishes an 'absence' only her as a darkchylde can fill...it's amazing!

It equates more than a koan or proof because it doesn't and fate is matter, material goo stuff, primal...there is no memory...it's not a fact and can't be fiction...it's 'something else'...

And the she makes a sword! That's just, well, sometimes the huge souldsword she was carrying for awhile when she was more or less hardly speaking...I mean it makes sense...she's carrying this big huge soulsword! And even her outfit (remember when she wears that wild cat skin leotard)...well, she's...anyway.

A sword is before a fire...like an axe is before an axe handle...lol, I'm so bad at forum posts...but anyway!

One reason I really love 'Dead Souls' and the last "What If' is that - that's Illyana. That's not only Illyana, but Illyana in the foreground. That's Illyana with emotion and trying responsibility and handling her 'great power'... and...

YES, what you said Andru

Me too

[Uncanny X-Man]

I think that original Magik miniseries is very underrated - it really should be hailed as a classic and be held up as how comics should be written.

[WallStreeter]

I think that original Magik miniseries is very underrated - it really should be hailed as a classic and be held up as how comics should be written.

I agree. It's very underrated. It was until recently she moved towards being an A lister.

[sungila]

7e2b3224727bf25b53d8991a5bb1f920.jpg

I just finally read this! Hooray for Rosenberg!
I'm not saying I'd like this all the time...but this and this:
tumblr_pgj2uo4t6i1qf66cro6_250.jpg

that's Ya'mazing

[G0RM]

Just re-read UXM # 160 & the Magik mini-series as it was next up in my Uncanny X-Men read through.

Every time I read it I fall more in love with it and Magik herself.

After having avoided writing fanfic up to this point, I'm now compulsively doing a "behind the scenes" graphic retelling of Magik #4, titled "Illyana/Magik: Frozen Hell"

I just can't help myself

[G0RM]

I agree. It's very underrated. It was until recently she moved towards being an A lister.

Just UXM #160 by itself was incredible.
Also remember, "Days of Future Past" was originally just 2 issues.

Back in the day of Hostess Fruit Pies, Sea Monkeys, and $0.25 comics, some absolutely mind bending work was being done...

Dark Phoenix Anyone?

(For example, for those who think bringing back Jean Grey the first time for X-Factor was unjustified... in #101, the first thing she said coming out of the water was ‘Hear me, X-Men! No longer am I the woman you knew! I am Fire and Life incarnate! Now and forever - I am PHOENIX!’... She said it outright, but no one took Phoenix literally when she said she wasn't Jean, plus with the name, resurrection is implied... Now that's ballsy comics, like Mastermind's shadow on the wall from "Jason Wyngard"...

Apparently I wasn't the only one to write in about that shadow back in the day, but my letter published in TNM v1 #78 outlining Illyana 1.0's survival wasn't picked back up until Zebb Wells & other Magik lovers took the reins to bow before Our Lady Of Darkness, although her untutored cross-time cousin was tapped to end the Age of Apocalypse etc...

Magik & Legion share deep roots... I hope they get to play together again soon, maybe concerning the Elder Gods, Dormammu, God Doom, Lightbringer Galactus, or the truth behind cake.