84 – MAGIK
8 Aug
Subject: Magik
Real Name: Illyana Rasputin
Height: 5’5″ Weight: 120 lbs.
First Appearance: Giant-Size X-Men #1, May 1975 (as Illyana), Magik Limited Series #1, December 1983 (as Magik)
Power Ratings:
- Energy Projection: 2/7
- Mental Powers: 2/7
- Strength: 2/7
- Fighting Ability: 5/7
- Intelligence: 2/7
I will admit: my first memory of Illyana Rasputin was in X-Men #20, when it was being revealed that she was the first victim of Stryfe‘s Legacy Virus. Even the concept of New Mutants and Magik was quite foreign to me at the time. Of course she was involved in a storyline right before then (in issues 17 and 18), which I never had (and continue to not) have access to. X-Men #20 was published May 1993, a month after I first arrived as a 9-year-old in the United States. And since comics take a while to have reached the Philippines back then, that explains the gap in my childhood collection.
Magik is again one of those peripheral characters that kind of led the way for the X-Men to get themselves into non-earth non-mutant related adventures, this time around to the realm of dark sorcery with the devil-like villain Belasco. I just recently read this first adventure, wherein a seven-year-old Illyana was kidnapped and returned to Colossus (her brother) having doubled in age, presumably having been confined in the dark realm the entire time and raised to be a dark sorceress. What a terrible way to go through your tweens (okay, the normal way is also pretty terrible).
The card biography refers to the fact that by this point in the continuity Magik had reverted to her 7-year-old self after effectively martyring herself for her fellow New Mutants, so it’s somewhat odd to see portrayed as her Soulsword-wielding, teleporting teenage self. Then again, this section IS called “Ex-X-Men” so I guess it’s okay.
The art in this is satisfactory, with a strong pose (that luckily doesn’t over-sexualize her) making up for the otherwise sparse detailwork. There’s a just-barely comical use of 90′s computer-generated imagery with the coloring of her teleportation disc, which really could’ve been much much worse.
Finally her Power Ratings are confusing; I can’t tell if it’s supposed to be representative of her “current” 7-year-old state, or her teenage state; if the former , a 5/7 in Fighting Ability seems to be stretching it, but if the latter, her Energy Projection rating seems paltry, at least if you’d consider her Soulsword and teleportation discs to be energy projections (I would).
tags:
Her ratings definitely don’t make sense. Her level of fighting ability implies that A.) This was her level before she reverted back to her original age or B.) She retained that knowledge after reverting (Like you, I don’t know enough of the character.) BUT as a sorceress and ruler of an entire dimension, I would imagine that her mental powers and intelligence would be MUCH higher.
I actually think the card makes sense in that her magical powers were limited to Limbo. With the location of her teleportation endpoint being unknown (and with magical powers never really fitting into the X-Men mythos that well), I think her energy projection and mental power ratings were limited to her teleportation power. Magical power doesn’t necessarily mean Intelligence or Mental Powers would be high. After all, she gained her powers after years of study in Limbo – she’s never been depicted as a wunderkind or a genius. Her fighting ability makes sense, as well – this is the girl that held her ground and then some against Captain America, Black Knight and Thor during Secret Wars (http://www.comicvine.com/magik/29-8303/all-images/108-214540/secret_wars_ii_9__magik_versus_captain_america/105-1042698/), and she’s been consistently shown as being one of the New Mutant’s foremost fighters even without being in Limbo or using sorcery.
This is actually one of the cards I think makes sense. A 1 for Havok’s strength, though, is completely strange.