Magik (Illyana and Storm)

Magik (Storm and Illyana Limited Series)
Illyana fights a corrupted Nightcrawler.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Limited series
Publication date	1983–1984
Number of issues	4
Main character(s)	Magik Storm Cat Belasco S'ym
Creative team
Writer(s)	Chris Claremont
Penciller(s)	John Buscema, Ron Frenz, Sal Buscema
Inker(s)	Tom Palmer
Colorist(s)	Glynis Wein
Collected editions
Magik: Storm and Illyana

Magik was a four-issue comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics in 1983–1984, starring the fictional characters Magik and Storm. The series title is consistently displayed on the covers as Storm and Illyana: Magik, but the official title as listed in the indicia is the reverse: Magik: Illyana and Storm. It was written by Chris Claremont and illustrated by John Buscema, Ron Frenz, Sal Buscema, and Tom Palmer.

Because of the popularity of the Uncanny X-Men during the 1980s under Chris Claremont, a number of mutant related properties were created, most notably The New Mutants from which this series spun off of.

The main plot takes place in mere seconds of canonical Marvel time, but covers seven years of Illyana's life in Limbo. The events occur between panels of The Uncanny X-Men #160 (August '82), with a very brief cameo in The New Mutants #14 (April '84). In X-Men #160 Illyana is kidnapped by Belasco at age 6 and returns in the same issue at age 13.

Magik tells the story of Illyana Rasputin from a six-year-old child to a thirteen-year-old mutant/sorceress. The narrative is framed by Illyana reflecting on these events on her fourteenth birthday.

Belasco, demon lord of Limbo, wants to use Illyana to help the Elder Gods destroy Earth. To do this he has to place five bloodstones in a pentagon locket he has given to Illyana. When he first captures her at age six, he takes part of her soul and remakes it in his image, creating a bloodstone which he places in the locket. An elderly sorceress version of Storm (a former apprentice of Belasco) and an elderly, part beast version of Kitty Pryde (codenamed Cat) rescue Illyana. Storm transports them to her garden sanctuary in Limbo. Unable to remove Belasco's corruption from Illyana, Storm decides to help her combat it by taking her on as an apprentice. She spends a year showing Illyana how to separate her astral body from her physical form, while showing her a massive oak that grew from an acorn she created. Disapproving of Illyana being trained in sorcery, Cat kidnaps her.