Illyana Rasputin gets her first solo series in decades, and it’s unfortunately a middling effort. Magik #1 takes the Soulsword wielding mutant away from the X-Men and in Juneau, Alaska, which has some kind of Hellmouth situation and a limply named Big Bad called Liminal being bound by a family of magic users. (The Chosen One/Watcher figure is a blond male named Callen though.) I love how Ashley Allen writes Magik, especially in combat and when she’s saving the day, but the setup for the series is something out of a CW show despite a horror movie worthy intro complete with scratching nails sound effects courtesy of letterer Ariana Maher.
I also didn’t hate the art by German Peralta and Arthur Hesli. Hesli especially uses a deep, dark palette to show the forcefields, runes, sigils, and various magic energies flowing throughout the book. He and Peralta do a two page horror story masterclass to the start the comic before Magik #1 collapses under its own derivative, unwieldy world-building. However, even if the story feels like a Xerox of a Xerox, the art team makes everything look cool, especially when Magik is struggling with her shadow self, Darkchild and is dueling with Liminal. The baddie doesn’t have much personality, but would make a great Fortnite or Marvel Rivals opponent. Honestly, the scenes between Magik and Liminal have a 1990s energy to them, but are, of course, less demeaning to women. I feel like Liminal is someone Sara Pezzini would fight.
A solo superhero book lives and dies by its supporting cast, and Allen and German Peralta take a bold swing and introduces a completely new one in Magik #1. And then they kill everyone off except for a young determined scion of an apocalypse destroying line. Magik teleports into a funeral, and then the rest of the characters start dropping like flies. There’s nothing wrong with starting with a dead character ; it’s practically a genre fiction right of passage a la Watchmen, Twin Peaks, or Umbrella Academy. However, Ashley Allen and Peralta just keep offing characters we know nothing about to “raise the stakes”, which are Liminal trying to break through different force fields like The Master in Buffy Season 1 with a side of a video game fetch quest.
From the teaser for Magik #2, it looks like the title will be a globe trotting one with Magik and Callen fighting various supernatural threats in different locations. This means a rotating cast of characters, but just because they don’t appear in the next issue doesn’t mean they have to be one dimensional. One small human moment like the X-Men throwing Magik a birthday breakfast would have made the new characters in Magik #1 more endearing, but okay, magic, pink and purple explosions are cool too. The change of location from Juneau to Tokyo is enticing, but a last page teaser for an upcoming issue shouldn’t be more compelling than a full comic.
With her badassery, traumatic past, and connection magic and demon dimensions, Magik is an objectively cool comic book character. However, Magik #1 lacks a hook and supporting cast to let her spotlight shine going for recycled versions of supernatural/fantasy/horror hits of the past instead of something fresh and easy to latch onto. German Peralta and Arthur Hesli do make her look good while kicking demon ass and teleporting ungrateful Alaskans though.
Story: Ashley Allen Art: German Peralta
Colors: Arthur Hesli Letters: Ariana Maher
Story: 5.8 Art: 7.3 Overall: 6.2 Recommendation: Pass
Marvel Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: TFAW – Kindle
