New Mutants #28
Magik, Madelyne, Moonstar, Wolfsbane, and Colossus make their move on S’ym in New Mutants #28, by writer Vita Ayala, artists Rod Reis and Jan Duursema, colorist Ruth Redmond, and letterer Travis Lanham. This issue ends Magik’s tenure in New Mutants and serves as a fitting ending for this story.
After debating what they should do, Magik decides to hit the castle and end S’ym’s rule. She and Madelyne do the ritual that will keep Pryor from attacking Krakoa when she’s queen, and the attack begins. The group cuts through the opposition like a knife through butter, but S’ym isn’t working alone. An alternate reality Magik has been leading the demons, and she has her other self beat until Pryor steps in with her own Limbo forged weapon, defeating the alternate Magik and taking up rule of Limbo. Later in Krakoa, Magik and Colossus have a heart-to-heart while Madelyne cements her power and shows how she means to rule. In the flashback back-up, the origin of the book Magik was reading is revealed, as a wizard she saved from S’ym has the little goblin write it for her after hearing her talking about it when she and Cable traveled through Limbo at a future time.
So far, this story has dug into who Magik is as a character, and this last chapter shows her as readers have never seen her before. Queen of Limbo Magik is powerful, foreboding, and arrogant, speaking in Sun Tzu quotes as if she has the whole thing won. It’s an interesting look at who Magik could have been and what accepting life as Queen of Limbo would have made her into. The power makes her arrogant, something she shares with the mainline Magik, which allows Pryor to beat her. It’s an apt metaphor as well. Magik is giving up that aspect of herself and what it means to her, and Pryor is taking it.
Ayala makes this issue about letting go of traumas of the past with a monologue from Pryor and an info page letter from Magik to the Quiet Council. That’s always been the heart of this story: two women trying to let go of the damage done to them by powerful men in two different ways. For Madelyne, going to Limbo and being away from Sinister, becoming powerful enough to never be afraid of his influence, is why she wants to be Queen of Limbo. For Magik, letting go of the terrors of the past in that realm, a place where she learned to be powerful and was a huge part of her, is why she wants it to be done with. Each is giving something up - Pryor is giving up Krakoa and Magik, Limbo - in order to let go of the pain. Ayala’s writing is so good at this kind of emotionally resonant storytelling, and it’s one of many reasons it’s sad to see Magik go to the lackluster X-Men: Duggan doesn’t have Ayala’s writing chops.
Reis’s art is different than before, more solid and less abstract. His lines are heavier in places, but it doesn’t interfere with the detail, which can sometimes happen when an artist switches to darker lines. The character acting and action are key to this issue, and as usual, Reis delivers there brilliantly. In the back-up, Duursema and Redmond put this little fairy tale to bed in a wonderful way. The ending wouldn’t work nearly as well if it wasn’t for their art.
New Mutants #28 is a beautifully crafted comic. Ayala is brilliant with these types of stories, layering character beats and action adroitly. The art by Reis, Duursema, and Redmond is top-notch, selling everything they need to get across. New Mutants is never anything short of amazing, and this issue is another example of that.