Magik (Storm and Illyana Limited Series) #4

"Darkchild"
Published March 1984
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Sal Buscema
Inker: Tom Palmer
Cover Artists: Bret Blevins and Tom Palmer

What's Going On?
Picking up where last issue left off, Belasco intends to corrupt Illyana's soul a little more to generate the third Blood Stone; after that is done, Illyana (at Belasco's behest) will strip the soul from the dying Storm and offer it as a sacrifice to the Dark Gods.  At the last moment, Illyana rebels and kills Storm to save her soul.  This upsets Belasco, who renounces her as an apprentice and proceeds to corrupt her soul to make the third Blood Stone.

He casts her into the wilderness of Limbo to suffer, all the while knowing that as long as she is in Limbo, he can summon her to his side in an instant and force her to do his bidding.  Separated from Belasco and without either Cat or Storm to help her, Illyana endures harships, but continues to train herself until she is ready to battle Belasco as an equal.

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- After having her soul corrupted by Belasco and acting as his nemesis, Storm finally dies.  Thanks to Illyana, though, she dies with what remains of her soul intact.

- Illyana realizes that she can use her mutant power to teleport back to Earth.

- Illyana returns home to her parents, only to be shunned by them because she is far too old to be their daughter, thanks to all the time she spent in Limbo.  So in case you ever wondered why Magik and Colossus never visit their family in Russia, here's your answer.

Writing!
The good news: Illyana finally battles Belasco.  The bad news: it is not an all-out, drag-out fight where two sorcerers make use of their most bizarre magics.  Instead, it's a sword fight (and not a very exciting one, either).  What makes this such an unsatisfying conclusion to the series is that Illyana spends half of the issue trying to figure out how to challenge Belasco, and then she is suddenly extremely powerful. 

Art!
The art, once again, is not terribly impressive.  It tells the story well enough, but there's nothing exciting or cool to be seen in this issue.  I would have loved to see some cool artwork to accompany Illyana's magic spells, but this is not the kind of art team to make cool, weird stuff happen.

Retrospectively Amusing:

- In case you ever wondered at what age a young woman is considered ogle-worthy by Marvel Comics, the answer appears to be thirteen years-old.  Consider these two images taken from this issue.  Here is pre-pubescent Illyana...

...and here is teenage Illyana:

Woo!  Fur bikini in inappropriate weather!  In case you're wondering about her age, the climax of this issue occurs one year before Illyana's framing sequence at the end of the issue, which takes place "now"/1984, and she stated that she was aged fourteen back in issue #1.  

- Belasco calls Sheena the She-Devil a slut.  Aside from being inappropriate for both this era of comics, as well as for the intended audience (which back in the 80s was younger than today), it's just an odd choice of an insult for this situation, which is not at all sexual.  What makes it even stranger is the fact that Belasco is insulting a character that isn't even a part of this series.

- Belasco's demonic power is the inverse of Illyana's, apparently.  As she gains power, he loses his.  Does this ever come up again?

- The last panel proclaims "An ending...can also be a beginning."  That would make a lot more sense if they teased her upcoming appearances in New Mutants or if she interacted with them at all in this series.

Worth Noting:
- This cover was drawn by Bret Blevins (who also drew the cover to New Mutants this month, too), who will eventually be the artist that drew the climax of Illyana's narrative in the Inferno crossover.

- The title of this issue, "Darkchild," refers to Illyana's corrupted demon-ish potential, and will become a major part of her character arc through the years...except that in just about every future mention of the title, it is spelled "Darkchilde."

- While Illyana drew her Soulsword first in Uncanny #171, this is the first time we see any explanation of what it is.  It is also worth pointing out that this design will change over time.  Here it is in this issue:

Here it is in its first appearance:

Notice that Walt Simonson drew a much thinner blade, with a heavier-looking hilt design that featured a guard.

- I am 99% sure this will be the last mention of the Bloodstones until after Magik's mid-2000s revival.  I could be wrong, but I'm not seeing any other 80s appearances listed in the Marvel Database.

Uncanny X-Men Annual #7

"Scavenger Hunt"
Published December 1983
Writer: Chris Claremont
Pencillers: Michael Golden and Bret Blevins
Inkers: Michael Golden, Tom Mandrake, Bob Wiacek, Terry Austin, Brett Breeding, Joe Rubinstein, Steve Leialoha, Sam de la Rosa, Al Milgrom, Bret Blevins
Cover: John Romita Jr.

What's Going On?
The X-Men are enjoying an uneventful day off when their baseball game is interrupted by a cosmic-level threat, Galactus, because he must...steal Xavier's mansion?  That is not the planet-eater's typical M.O.; it soon becomes apparent that the thief was only disguised as Galactus.  For reasons, probably. 

The X-Men chase his energy signature across the world, where the thief steals all sorts of super-hero memorabilia (Nick Fury's eye patch, Ka-Zar's sabre-tooth tiger, a Fantasticar, etc.).  Eventually, Rogue realizes that this must be some sort of bizarre scavenger hunt.  But who would be involved in such a ridiculous and unlikely quest?  The Impossible Man.  It's not really a mystery.

Sub-Plots, oh the Sub-Plots!
- The White Queen, last seen in Uncanny #169, is still comatose.  The Hellfire Club is apparently keeping her under close observation...in a Sleeping Beauty-esque mausoleum.  Sebastian Shaw vows to settle the X-Men/Hellfire conflict sooner, rather than later.  

In other White Queen news, it is revealed that her condition is due to something Mastermind did to her off-panel.

Writing!
Well, it's an Impossible Man story, and this was Claremont's main contribution to Assistant Editor's Month.  Impossible Man exists to add cartoonish comic relief to otherwise typical superhero comics.  Assistant Editor's Month had most of the Marvel titles do silly things or get meta by involving the Marvel Bullpen staff.  Neither has aged particularly well with time.

That said, this issue is fun, in a nonsensical fluff sort of way.  It's not great, it doesn't add much to Claremont's current storyline, and can be pretty easily forgotten.  On the other hand, it also ends with this head-scratcher:

Wait...what?!?

Art!
Most of the pencils in this issue (except for a bit of the Marvel Bullpen part) were by Michael Golden.  Golden's comics career is a strange one --- from what I can tell, he is best known for runs on Bucky O'Hare, Micronauts, and The 'Nam.  Despite none of those being what you might call classics, he also co-created Rogue and was clearly an inspiration for Art Adams.  Check out this Adams-esuqe scene:

Golden did a good job drawing Wolverine, too.  This is probably the best Wolvie cowl I've seen since Byrne left.

One of the best moments in this issue, though, is when Golden is paying an obvious homage to Jim Steranko:

Those dialogue-free scenes feel straight out of late-60s SHIELD comics.  Good stuff.

Now, I don't think Golden's art is great in this issue --- some pages are cool, some are kind of awkward or ugly --- but it should be noted that *ten* different people inked this issue.  I'm going off on a limb and saying that there was a deadline crunch.  I will also irresponsibly speculate that Golden (like Art Adams) is a bit slow with his pencils.

Retrospectively Amusing:
- The cover art (and the corner box) features Cyclops joining in the fight, but he left the team in issue #176 and does not appear in this comic.

- Hey, look, it's a Claremont-ism!  The X-Men are playing baseball!  Even though Claremont only wrote this into the script four times in his 20+ years with the characters, it is a trope that feels unique to him.  This time around, you have to give him credit for adding a new layer; having Rogue and Nightcrawler as the only fielders on a team is a pretty efficient idea, given their powers sets.

- Kitty mentions that the X-Men captured Mastermind in Uncanny #175.  Then what happened?  I love that the resolution to his scheme failing is not examined.  I guess he went to mutant prison or something?

- The editor's note regarding when the Avengers last faced Rogue is wrong.  It should be Avengers Annual #10, not #7.  

Worth Noting:
- The Iron Man in this issue is James Rhodes.  From the context, it seems like this is his first interaction with the X-Men.