Magik Appreciation

[Moondoggie]

When Bendis sent her to Strange to fetch the Amulet, it seems like a Crime Against Literature that that outcome was never explored.

BENDIIIIIIISSS! He really is the king of story ideas that he either just forgets about or never finishes up. The whole Doctor Strange idea was actually a good one it just never really went anywhere. Suppose at least Magik was one of the better characters Bendis wrote in his books. She was never whiny or annoying. Though if you compare it to how much of a bad ass she was before he started writing her in Uncanny then it's not really that great.

[dhalpin]

For those who like fanfic, here are my latest Illyana stories


https://www.fanfiction.net/s/1114849...-Lazy-Saturday
I decided to re-read the original New Mutants in order to write some vignettes. . I first started collecting the comic when Illyana joined the team and stopped at the end of Inferno (God that was a horrifically bad ending to quite a few bad issues). I feel NM was at its best starting at issue 14. Frankly the writing went significantly downhill starting at issue 50 and beyond, although the decay was already present in earlier issues. Marvel take a hint, good writing of Illyana=good sales, bad writing of Illyana=weak sales. This story takes place after Dani comes home from the hospital, between New Mutants 20 and 21.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11060857/1/Repentance
In New Mutants 20 Sam tried to kill Illyana when he thinks that Illyana has just stabbed and killed Amara. It turned out that Illyana was just using her soul sword to free Amara from the Demon Bear's magical enslavement. Kind of puts a damper on relationships when somebody tries to kill you, yet Illyana and Sam appear to get along quite well in subsequent issues. Subsequent issues also show that Sam now trusts Illyana and actively seeks out social interaction with her. So I wrote this little story to explain how that came to be.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11164770/1/Magik-Meltdown
In New Mutants issue #39 the kids are now at the Massachusetts Academy due to their Beyonder trauma. The intent is that Emma Frost (the Hellfire Club's White Queen) would be able to telepathically help them recover. Sometimes I wish the readers of the Beyonder fiasco could also have their memories fixed, God that was bad. Anyway Emma had good success with the team; except for Illyana as we see slipping more and more to her darker side. But, in Issue #40 we see Illyana much more recovered. So what happened between issue 39 and Issue 40? This is my take. This is a very dark story folks, Illyana has a lot of baggage and I explore most of it in this story (yikes the girl has issues).


https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11159832/1/Top-Gear-X
Decided I wanted to write another funny Illyana story. As I tried to come up with an idea I hit upon using British Top Gear as the framework (yes alcohol was involved). This story takes place before Illyana regained her soul. Ahh, combined two of my favorite things. Now if only I could find an illustrator. I actually wrote the ending before Clarkson was "fired" by the BBC.

[244]

When Bendis sent her to Strange to fetch the Amulet, it seems like a Crime Against Literature that that outcome was never explored.

I don't see it as a big deal. Magik was probably going to do the same as Strange does with the Eye of Agamotto.

[G0RM]

I don't see it as a big deal. Magik was probably going to do the same as Strange does with the Eye of Agamotto.

I just mean the story of the Truth of Malloy could have been fascinating. I've read Dr. Strange for many years, and as several of us pointed out, having Malloy's destruction of the Jean Grey school etc be an illusion of the Eye showing the danger, and escorting him to a planet in another galaxy to hatch as a Phoenix Egg would have seemed sweet to me. (Maria Hill ordered him to leave Earth, so following up on that would have pleased her as well.)

(As opposed to the cop out of Tempus, which actually leaves the original timestream completely unchanged and unresolved. All it means is Tempus traveled to a new timestream, not that the other was destroyed.)

[G0RM]

@dhalpin

I really appreciate the fanfic!
Thanks!

Ever since Kid Dynamo I've been hungry for New Mutants fanfic that branches from the moment Claremont left. The New Mutants / Hellion rivalry, the Hellfire Club, Magus/Magnus and many other plot threads were set up to run fast and hard. But we got Bird Boy instead (Though Cypher dying of gunshot by a trivial villian predated Tara/Willow by a decade.)

***fanfic spoiler***

I would have ended Magik Meltdown with something along the line of:

Emma realized someone was leaning over her shoulder.
Hot breath in her ear whispered:
"You should write either 'appears successful' or 'completed successfully'; 'appears successfully' is all wrong.

Emma gasped, but successfully held back the screaming that crawled up her throat and filled her mind.

Screaming is so undignified.

[dhalpin]

@dhalpin

I really appreciate the fanfic!
Thanks!

Ever since Kid Dynamo I've been hungry for New Mutants fanfic that branches from the moment Claremont left. The New Mutants / Hellion rivalry, the Hellfire Club, Magus/Magnus and many other plot threads were set up to run fast and hard. But we got Bird Boy instead (Though Cypher dying of gunshot by a trivial villian predated Tara/Willow by a decade.)

***fanfic spoiler***

I would have ended Magik Meltdown with something along the line of:

Emma realized someone was leaning over her shoulder.
Hot breath in her ear whispered:
"You should write either 'appears successful' or 'completed successfully'; 'appears successfully' is all wrong.

Emma gasped, but successfully held back the screaming that crawled up her throat and filled her mind.

Screaming is so undignified.

Yep, bad editing on my part (fixed). The start of the "drama" is in the next chapter, likely post this weekend. I have been reading Kid Dynamo off and on. The author is quite skilled, just wish that the NM were less of a backdrop to the story. Yes Bird Boy was about as low as you could go (gads!). Hot breath comment is interesting, but Illyana was looking more to slightly startle, not panic her. Hope you injoy the next chapter.

[juan678]

autumnrose83

[G0RM]

@dhalpin

In the scene with Empath that issue, and one or two afterward, Illyana seemed to have the ability to hear her name spoken of when she was in Limbo, and appear immediately after by stepping disk.

As a Hell Lord, that sort of ability is commonplace, and acts as the basis for much of magic use in the multiverse, through petitioning Power Beings for assistance. ('By the Flames of Faltine', 'I Summon the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak', 'Call 1-800-FLOWERS Now!' being equivalent transactions.)

Magik has also clearly spent time in Limbo scrying on events on many occasions, so reading over Emma's shoulder from Limbo when she felt Herself being written about is far from impossible.

[244]

I just mean the story of the Truth of Malloy could have been fascinating. I've read Dr. Strange for many years, and as several of us pointed out, having Malloy's destruction of the Jean Grey school etc be an illusion of the Eye showing the danger, and escorting him to a planet in another galaxy to hatch as a Phoenix Egg would have seemed sweet to me. (Maria Hill ordered him to leave Earth, so following up on that would have pleased her as well.)

(As opposed to the cop out of Tempus, which actually leaves the original timestream completely unchanged and unresolved. All it means is Tempus traveled to a new timestream, not that the other was destroyed.)

I love Magik but I'm not interested in seeing her as a "god mode sue" character.

[somacula]

I love Magik but I'm not interested in seeing her as a "god mode sue" character.

Me too, deus ex machina characters tend to get the axe or the nerfhammer, Magik is very powerful, maybe too powerful but she's all about personality. A little nerf to her powers wouldn't hurt too much, and keeping her ties to limbo as always

[244]

Me too, deus ex machina characters tend to get the axe or the nerfhammer, Magik is very powerful, maybe too powerful but she's all about personality. A little nerf to her powers wouldn't hurt too much, and keeping her ties to limbo as always

I'm sure Magik can be written as an interesting character even without the Limbo demon-y stuff. I just want to see some new territory explored with the character. Her status quo has been changing a lot these days.

[somacula]

I'm sure Magik can be written as an interesting character even without the Limbo demon-y stuff. I just want to see some new territory explored with the character. Her status quo has been changing a lot these days.

Next issue of uncanny will most likely explore his friendship with kitty, apart from that I hope the next writer of uncanny uses her as more than the magikbus, although every line of her during uncanny has been pure gold. I'd imagine her voice as playful but a bit serious, don't know what else to add, I just hope she's a main character if there's an x-men cartoon ant time in the far future (very unlikely)

[244]

Next issue of uncanny will most likely explore his friendship with kitty, apart from that I hope the next writer of uncanny uses her as more than the magikbus, although every line of her during uncanny has been pure gold. I'd imagine her voice as playful but a bit serious, don't know what else to add, I just hope she's a main character if there's an x-men cartoon ant time in the far future (very unlikely)

That depends on how she's written. From Magik: Storm and Illyana and her initial appearances til #20 from New Mutants classic, she was written as mostly serious.

[G0RM]

That depends on howshe's written. From Magik: Storm and Illyana and her initial appearances til #20 from New Mutants classic, she was written as mostly serious.

In terms of to the Illyana's humanness and character, I always think of UXM v1 #168, shortly after her aging seven years in a second returning from Limbo in UXM v1 #160, but before she "came out" as a mutant and a sorceress to the New Mutants in TNM v1 #14 & 15.

Kitty: "Professor Xavier Is A JERK! He's the cruelest, meanest, most heartless man on EARTH!"
Illyana: "He's doing what he thinks best, Kitty."
Kitty: "It isn't FAIR, Illyana! I've earned my place among the X-Men, all of them say so - why won't the professor listen?! Why is he treating me like a CHILD?!?"
Illyana: "Because you're ACTING like one?"
Kitty: "Some friend you are."
Illyana: "I AM your friend, dummy. That's how come I can talk to you like this. You've been ranting non-stop - making everyone's life miserable - ever since you were shifted from the X-Men to the trainee team, the New Mutants. It's getting BORING! And don't tell me what is or isn't fair. You didn't spend half your life in a daemonic Limbo."
Kitty: "Oh, Illyana, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."
Illyana: "What's done is done, Kitty. Wishing - or griping - won't change a thing."

Reading it at the time it came out, I was close to their age of around 13yo, I took it as about the purest example of friendship I'd ever seen... Illyana really IS the nice one, which includes being honest, firm, and kind.

Some people object to Illyana's shift to mischievous starting with the 'Slumber Party' TNM v1 #20, but I see the whole period from her return to Earth through Inferno as a denial of the responsibility she took on when she defeated Belasco and became Hell Lord of Limbo. Some Hell Lords like Nightmare are mischievous, but I see it both as an attempt to recapture childhood irresponsibility, to fit in, and general chaotic aftereffects from PTSD from her experiences.

As Strange said after helping Illyana to use her powers to reverse Kulan Gath's transformation of NYC, Illyana didn't need more magic, she needed to learn humanity from people who loved her.

[dhalpin]

Added chapter3 to https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11164770/3/Magik-Meltdown. Emma and Illyana have a talks and things get interesting.