New Mutants 27 review: Back on track

[sunofdarkchild]

The issue opens with a flashback to younger Illyana in the library writing down her adventure to share with the corpse of her brother. No, she's not a creepy child, why do you ask?

Dani, Rahne, and Maddie get separated from Illyana and captured by demons who take them to the Red King,

Magik is woken up by her younger self. While Belasco's prisoner she tried to cast a spell to escape, and instead of escaping she turned Limbo into a literal instead of a figurative Wonderland, with Belasco as the Red King and not remembering anything of his real life other than wanting Illyana. They each promise to help the other and little Illyana has an idea for another spell, though Magik isn't thrilled about it.

A data page describes what's necessary to magically summon a 'savior.'

The Red King visits Dani, Rahne, and Maddie in their prison cells and says they are to be the guests of honor at a tea party. Maddie says they're going to be eaten by monsters, to which Rahne says "not again."

On Krakoa, Piotr is looking forlorn when a portal opens up behind him and sucks him into Limbo.

Dani and Rahne talk with Maddie in a data page and say they agree that Sinister and other villains should not be on the Quiet Council, but there are checks on them since the council has 12 members while Maddie would be the sole ruler of Limbo. They also say while her actions in Inferno could be excused she constantly made the wrong choices afterwards. Maddie wonders if she would have to worship Xavier and the ground he walks on to get their acceptance.

A fairy tale page describes how the 2 Illyanas summoned Colossus, who is described as a knight and dragon slayer. Magik is no longer the 'little goblin' but has changed roles to the Mad Hatter while her younger self takes over as the little goblin. From the description, neither Magik nor Colossus are thrilled with him being summoned like that, and the fact that they have some complicated history is brought up.

They come to the tea party, where Maddie is angry at Magik for knowingly walking into a trap.

The Red King starts monologuing about how little Illyana is more powerful than he had hoped she'd be and then says he'd experiment on the captives. Magik has had enough and wants to beat him up but her younger self says that's what they summoned Colossus for. Magik reluctantly agrees to leave the Red King to him while she frees the others. Maddie says this situation got resolved faster than she was expecting and Rahne says that Belasco doesn't realize what he's up against since he doesn't remember being beaten by Illyana when she was just 13.

The Red King's demons run away as Colossus moves to attack, but the Red King summons a magical arm and defeats Colossus with 1 blow.

Magik frees Maddie and Rahne and starts to free Dani when the Red King moves against the younger Illyana. She screams in fright, prompting Magik to come to her aid. The Red King blasts Magik, saying she's powerful but her power is fractured and leaking, and he has no use for someone so broken. Dani grabs the younger Illyana as it looks like Magik can't hold back the blast anymore, but she manages to conjure and armor and magical sword - still not the soul sword, turning the tide.

The battle is described in a fairy tale page with Belasco taking the role of a dragon. Magik knows she can't just kill him because her past self still needs to face him, but she can ensure he doesn't remember what happened and hopefully do something to give her younger self an edge.

With the Red King's defeat the spell is broken, turning Limbo back to normal. Colossus seems to finally realize where he is, presumably because the spell which summoned him and designated him as a savior also wore off. Rahne tells him why they've been stuck in Limbo all this time.

Maddie and Dani agree that they have to leave since they could screw up the timeline. Piotr and the younger Illyana have an emotional reunion. Little Illyana gives Magik something she created while failing to create an acorn. I'm not sure what it is. She realizes that Magik is her older self. Magik wants to take her younger self with them to prevent everything she's yet to suffer at Belasco's hands, over the objections of her friends, but the younger Illyana decides to stay. Seeing her older self has given her hope that she will be able to escape on her own and she likes who she grows up to be. The ladies, now with Colossus teleport away right before Belasco shows up to ask Illyana where she's been.

The flashback scene is bookended with the younger Illyana writing down the issue's events and reading it to the corpse of the Colossus who S'ym killed. She's also about to forget that it ever happened, preserving the continuity, and she wanted to have a moment with her brother before she forgot completely. She calls Piotr her hero and says that she loves him before dismissing him. The corpse starts to cry before it dissipates away.

My review: This was much better than the previous issue. Just the fact that the Red King/Belasco comments on Illyana being fractured and seems to have her on the ropes for couple of panels before she digs deep to summon the strength to win makes this issue's story superior to issue 26. It demonstrates that she has to overcome something to win far better than a data page after the ballte is already over in the last issue. There's also more emotion and pathos in Illyana meeting her younger self than her older self.

Maddie, Rahne, and Dani are still useless when it comes to the fights, but they are given more to say at least this time, and there's some movement on their relationship. Colossus also proves useless, but the emotional moments justify his inclusion,

I was worried about the continuity, but that was solved by the younger Illyana forgetting everything after a little while.

While the younger Illyana's visit with her dead brother was just as touching as it was disturbing, it was the 616 Colossus' reaction to her that broke me, because it seemed to be set up to contrast whatever problems he and the current Magik are having and suggests that he still prefers the younger, more innocent Illyana who needs his protection to the sister he currently has. Maybe what he says in Russian contradicts that, I wouldn't know, but that's what I got from that scene.

It's still not perfect. There are moments where the little Illyana sounds too grown up to me. It's been established that she was forced to grow up far too young and speak in an abnormally formal manner, but so maybe it was intentional, but there are moments where she did not seem like a little kid.

There's also still nothing on some of the subplots like the demon that stole Illyana's hair brush. Maybe the goblin who was writing the story in the previous issue is meant to be little Illyana writing these things down and then forgetting about them, but that's still very unclear.

But overall this is much more of what I wanted from The Labors of Magik than the previous issue was, and makes me more hopeful the final issue will wrap everything up in a satisfactory manner.

[Dante Milton]

This was a great issue. The contrast between the menacing nature of Belasco and his treatment of Illyana with the innocent fairytale Wonderland setting is an interesting juxtaposition and also acts as a parallel to the duality of Illyana's character. Bringing Colossus into the story was a good idea, and I really loved seeing how Young Yana felt about her big brother, including the creepy but heartbreaking corpse play. One thing that was a little off for me though was that I thought Adult Yana and Piotr had already worked through their issues, but they were shown to have a fragile relationship. Reis' art is beautiful, as usual. Looking forward to the conclusion.

[JB]

The Piotr/young Yana moment hit me right in the heart. Visually stunning issue and definitely an improvement from the previous issue. I've always loved the Mad Hatter's tea party motif so this was a treat. I'm also looking forward to the conclusion and hopefully seeing more done with Maddie.

[SanityOrMadness]

While the younger Illyana's visit with her dead brother was just as touching as it was disturbing, it was the 616 Colossus' reaction to her that broke me, because it seemed to be set up to contrast whatever problems he and the current Magik are having and suggests that he still prefers the younger, more innocent Illyana who needs his protection to the sister he currently has. Maybe what he says in Russian contradicts that, I wouldn't know, but that's what I got from that scene..

They did walk back far too quickly on that AvX period where Magik got so sick of Colossus she turned him into Juggernaut (with Cyttorak driving him nuts) as a FU to him calling her 'snowfake'. (Not to mention Phoenixlossus trying to force Kitty to marry him)

[Saithor]

Overall a good issue but

“ Sinister and other villains should not be on the Quiet Council, but there are checks on them since the council has 12 members while Maddie would be the sole ruler of Limbo.”

Hahahahahahaha

That is all

[Master of Sound]

So is the Red King Belasco?

[Krakoa]

Overall a good issue but

“ Sinister and other villains should not be on the Quiet Council, but there are checks on them since the council has 12 members while Maddie would be the sole ruler of Limbo.”

Hahahahahahaha

That is all

I mean, where is the lie here lol

[Kingdom X]

This was a great issue. The contrast between the menacing nature of Belasco and his treatment of Illyana with the innocent fairytale Wonderland setting is an interesting juxtaposition and also acts as a parallel to the duality of Illyana's character. Bringing Colossus into the story was a good idea, and I really loved seeing how Young Yana felt about her big brother, including the creepy but heartbreaking corpse play. One thing that was a little off for me though was that I thought Adult Yana and Piotr had already worked through their issues, but they were shown to have a fragile relationship. Reis' art is beautiful, as usual. Looking forward to the conclusion.

Regarding the tension between Yana and Piotr, it was probably a trauma response to a younger version of herself still holding onto hope that he’d be her knight in shining armor. A) He wasn’t and she had to save herself. B) She felt like he never understood her after she changed to survive limbo. C) she did some pretty shitty things to him down the line. Having a physical reminder of who you used to be and what you used to have might raise the tension in the room.

[rcaguy]

Regarding the tension between Yana and Piotr, it was probably a trauma response to a younger version of herself still holding onto hope that he’d be her knight in shining armor. A) He wasn’t and she had to save herself. B) She felt like he never understood her after she changed to survive limbo. C) she did some pretty shitty things to him down the line. Having a physical reminder of who you used to be and what you used to have might raise the tension in the room.

It has more to do with Peter not being able to really accept that Illyana would eventually drift away from him as she grew older no matter what.

[rcaguy]

The issue opens with a flashback to younger Illyana in the library writing down her adventure to share with the corpse of her brother. No, she's not a creepy child, why do you ask?

Dani, Rahne, and Maddie get separated from Illyana and captured by demons who take them to the Red King,

Magik is woken up by her younger self. While Belasco's prisoner she tried to cast a spell to escape, and instead of escaping she turned Limbo into a literal instead of a figurative Wonderland, with Belasco as the Red King and not remembering anything of his real life other than wanting Illyana. They each promise to help the other and little Illyana has an idea for another spell, though Magik isn't thrilled about it.

A data page describes what's necessary to magically summon a 'savior.'

The Red King visits Dani, Rahne, and Maddie in their prison cells and says they are to be the guests of honor at a tea party. Maddie says they're going to be eaten by monsters, to which Rahne says "not again."

On Krakoa, Piotr is looking forlorn when a portal opens up behind him and sucks him into Limbo.

Dani and Rahne talk with Maddie in a data page and say they agree that Sinister and other villains should not be on the Quiet Council, but there are checks on them since the council has 12 members while Maddie would be the sole ruler of Limbo. They also say while her actions in Inferno could be excused she constantly made the wrong choices afterwards. Maddie wonders if she would have to worship Xavier and the ground he walks on to get their acceptance.

A fairy tale page describes how the 2 Illyanas summoned Colossus, who is described as a knight and dragon slayer. Magik is no longer the 'little goblin' but has changed roles to the Mad Hatter while her younger self takes over as the little goblin. From the description, neither Magik nor Colossus are thrilled with him being summoned like that, and the fact that they have some complicated history is brought up.

They come to the tea party, where Maddie is angry at Magik for knowingly walking into a trap.

The Red King starts monologuing about how little Illyana is more powerful than he had hoped she'd be and then says he'd experiment on the captives. Magik has had enough and wants to beat him up but her younger self says that's what they summoned Colossus for. Magik reluctantly agrees to leave the Red King to him while she frees the others. Maddie says this situation got resolved faster than she was expecting and Rahne says that Belasco doesn't realize what he's up against since he doesn't remember being beaten by Illyana when she was just 13.

The Red King's demons run away as Colossus moves to attack, but the Red King summons a magical arm and defeats Colossus with 1 blow.

Magik frees Maddie and Rahne and starts to free Dani when the Red King moves against the younger Illyana. She screams in fright, prompting Magik to come to her aid. The Red King blasts Magik, saying she's powerful but her power is fractured and leaking, and he has no use for someone so broken. Dani grabs the younger Illyana as it looks like Magik can't hold back the blast anymore, but she manages to conjure and armor and magical sword - still not the soul sword, turning the tide.

The battle is described in a fairy tale page with Belasco taking the role of a dragon. Magik knows she can't just kill him because her past self still needs to face him, but she can ensure he doesn't remember what happened and hopefully do something to give her younger self an edge.

With the Red King's defeat the spell is broken, turning Limbo back to normal. Colossus seems to finally realize where he is, presumably because the spell which summoned him and designated him as a savior also wore off. Rahne tells him why they've been stuck in Limbo all this time.

Maddie and Dani agree that they have to leave since they could screw up the timeline. Piotr and the younger Illyana have an emotional reunion. Little Illyana gives Magik something she created while failing to create an acorn. I'm not sure what it is. She realizes that Magik is her older self. Magik wants to take her younger self with them to prevent everything she's yet to suffer at Belasco's hands, over the objections of her friends, but the younger Illyana decides to stay. Seeing her older self has given her hope that she will be able to escape on her own and she likes who she grows up to be. The ladies, now with Colossus teleport away right before Belasco shows up to ask Illyana where she's been.

The flashback scene is bookended with the younger Illyana writing down the issue's events and reading it to the corpse of the Colossus who S'ym killed. She's also about to forget that it ever happened, preserving the continuity, and she wanted to have a moment with her brother before she forgot completely. She calls Piotr her hero and says that she loves him before dismissing him. The corpse starts to cry before it dissipates away.

My review: This was much better than the previous issue. Just the fact that the Red King/Belasco comments on Illyana being fractured and seems to have her on the ropes for couple of panels before she digs deep to summon the strength to win makes this issue's story superior to issue 26. It demonstrates that she has to overcome something to win far better than a data page after the ballte is already over in the last issue. There's also more emotion and pathos in Illyana meeting her younger self than her older self.

Maddie, Rahne, and Dani are still useless when it comes to the fights, but they are given more to say at least this time, and there's some movement on their relationship. Colossus also proves useless, but the emotional moments justify his inclusion,

I was worried about the continuity, but that was solved by the younger Illyana forgetting everything after a little while.

While the younger Illyana's visit with her dead brother was just as touching as it was disturbing, it was the 616 Colossus' reaction to her that broke me, because it seemed to be set up to contrast whatever problems he and the current Magik are having and suggests that he still prefers the younger, more innocent Illyana who needs his protection to the sister he currently has. Maybe what he says in Russian contradicts that, I wouldn't know, but that's what I got from that scene.

It's still not perfect. There are moments where the little Illyana sounds too grown up to me. It's been established that she was forced to grow up far too young and speak in an abnormally formal manner, but so maybe it was intentional, but there are moments where she did not seem like a little kid.

There's also still nothing on some of the subplots like the demon that stole Illyana's hair brush. Maybe the goblin who was writing the story in the previous issue is meant to be little Illyana writing these things down and then forgetting about them, but that's still very unclear.

But overall this is much more of what I wanted from The Labors of Magik than the previous issue was, and makes me more hopeful the final issue will wrap everything up in a satisfactory manner.

Those little kids who saw their friends and teachers gunned down by those gun-toting nutcases will have moments when they will not seem to be little kids either. Rember that.