Mighty World of Marvel (Vol. 2) #11

"Foolsmate"
Published April 1984
Writer: Alan Moore
Penciler: Alan Davis
Inker: Alan Davis


What's Going On?
The Fury finally catches up with Captain Britain and starts attacking him.  Cap doesn't have much fight left in him after the whooping he took from Jim Jaspers last issue, so he essentially plays the part of a rag doll here.  In the process of beating the life out of the good Captain, The Fury accidentally runs into Jaspers.  Jaspers doesn't like The Fury because he didn't create it, and The Fury doesn't like Jaspers because it struggled against its original programming (which kept it from killing the Jim Jaspers of Earth 238). 

The two near-omnipotent villains begin to battle.

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- Jim Jaspers, playing the part of a bored godling, decides to create life from dirt.  The end result is the Crazy Gang.

- Saturnyne and Captain UK arrive on the scene, just in time to witness the Jaspers/Fury fight and take cover.

- Meanwhile, while overseeing the battle, Roma despairs, thinking that the multiverse is doomed.  When she tries to get her father to explain things to her, Merlin falls dead.

Writing!
This is essentially an extended fight scene, so there isn't a whole lot of "writing" to look at in this issue.  That's not a knock; Moore has clearly been building to this since he started his run, and it's pretty satisfying to see it come to fruition.  I am starting to realize that we won't be seeing the traditional heroic ending to this story.  Captain Britain seems almost incidental to the overarching plot of Jaspers v. Fury, and it seems unlikely that he will be the deciding factor in a story that is ostensibly about him.

Art!
Alan Davis clearly enjoys the reality-defying possibilities of the Jaspers/Fury fight, and that is fun to see on the page.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- Here's an evocative and bizarre set of captions that would never get past the editor nowadays:

Worth Noting:
- This is the first appearance of the Earth 616 version of the Crazy Gang.  Since my only exposure to them had been through Davis' Excalibur runs, I never realized what a batshit crazy origin they actually have.  I mean, they're Alice in Wonderland-themed villains, so I didn't think their origin would be "forced into a life of crime" or anything like that, but geez...

- Saturnyne uses the name of Mitras as a blasphemous expletive.  So what?  Well, Mitras is one of the various gods mentioned in old Conan comics, set in the Hyborean Age.  I'm pretty sure that Conan (being a licensed character and all) was not set in the Earth 616 Marvel Universe, so the existence of one of the Hyborean gods on an alternate Earth (Saturnyne is from Earth 9) is a cool little Easter egg for an alternate reality that Alan Moore (and no one else, really) ever chose to explain fully.

New Mutants (Vol. 1) #14

"Do You Believe in -- Magik?"
Published April 1984
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Sal Buscema
Inker: Tom Mandrake
Cover Artist: Tom Mandrake

What's Going On?
Remember Illyana?  She's been lurking in the background of the occasional issue of Uncanny X-Men and New Mutants for a while, and she just starred in her own limited series: Magik (Storm and Illyana Limited Series).  Now, her nemesis Belasco has sent his demonic henchman, Sy'm, to bring Illyana back to Limbo.  Can the New Mutants help defend their teammate this relative stranger against this demonic thug?  Short answer: not really, she can defend herself just fine.

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- The kids decide to throw Professor Xavier a surprise party (with the help of Illyana and Stevie Hunter) to distract him from the fact that his alien girlfriend is a galaxy away.

- Instead of killing S'ym, Illyana has him swear loyalty to her.

- Professor Xavier surprises everyone by standing up and dancing with Illyana; apparently, this comic was released before Xavier was playing basketball in Uncanny X-Men #180.  

- Douglas Ramsey tells Kitty Pryde that he's been offered a scholarship at the Massachusetts Academy, which is run by Hellfire Club member Emma Frost.  He asks her to come along for his school visit.

Writing!
This issue tries something different by having Illyana narrate.  It isn't a revelation or anything, but it's a nice change of pace.  It is interesting that this issue was scheduled to be published after the Magik (Storm and Illyana Limited Series), since you would imagine that raising her profile in this issue would generate interest in the limited series, but whatever.  As far as the story goes, it's decent, but I still get the feeling that Claremont does not know what direction he wants to go with these characters; it feels like he's tossing out ideas, just to see what sticks.  That's not terrible --- here, it is just the degree that Magik is supposed to frighten people --- but it is a recurring theme in this book.  A more troublesome bit of writing involved the motivation for S'ym in this issue.  S'ym states that he was sent to bring Illyana back to Limbo by Belasco --- and yet, S'ym later tells us that Belasco has fled Limbo and has not returned since Illyana defeated him.  So...why and how did S'ym come to Westchester?

Art!

Nice erection, Stevie.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- One of the plot points in Magik (Storm and Illyana Limited Series) was that Belasco wanted to escape Limbo and return to Earth.  I like that it's not a big deal for him to send S'ym to Earth, though.

- Xavier wonders what horrors Illyana experienced in Limbo (subtle nudge for readers to pick up the limited series).  Too bad he hasn't bothered to ask her in the entire year she has been back.

- The New Mutants discuss how scary Illyana is.  Let's try to keep track of how often this is brought up.  I'm guessing not at all, after her first year on the team is complete.

- I know this isn't S'ym first appearance, and he is supposed to be a tribute (of sorts) to Dave Sim's Cerebus, but I just love his costume design: vest and undies.  Nice!  Also, how ridiculously over-powered is S'ym?  I know, he killed some alternate reality X-Men, but still...he just shrugs Cannonball and Sunspot off like they were nothing!  In their own book!  I'll take bets as to how tough S'ym will be to defeat in his next appearance...

- Don't worry, kids!  Stevie Hunter will save you!  Until her knee gives out (again).

- Illyana casts a spell to alter Stevie's memories so no one will know she is a sorceress.  I don't think this type of spell comes up again in this series.

Worth Noting:
- Remember the New Mutants cameo in Magik #3?  This is the tie-in.

- While it is not explicitly stated in this issue, S'ym mentions that Belasco's "mantle" is Illyana's by right of her victory.  This is the first allusion to Illyana being the ruler of Limbo.

- Again, this is not explicitly stated in this issue, but this is the issue that Illyana joins the New Mutants.  Aside from the fact that she seems to be accepted as one of the students and having the issue's narration told from her point of view, the cover shows her in a New Mutant uniform.  Despite the issue's title, she still has not been called "Magik" by anyone yet.