Magik #7 // Review
Dani Moonstar knows that there is somebody who has been following her. They have been trailing her for the past mile. She's in the badlands of South Dakota. There aren't many people who would be following her through there. She's right to assume that it is somebody who is angry. But she's not going to actually turn around and see who it is that’s following until she gets to where she's going in Magik #7. Writer Ashley Allen continues a very satisfying series with Illyana Rasputina. The story comes to the page courtesy of artist Germán Peralta and colorist Arthur Hesli.
Dani wouldn’t have assumed that it was Illyana who was following her. The two our friends and Helen, who go way back. Granted, they haven't been on the best terms of late. However, there's no reason why she wouldn't have approached her to ask her about the whole situation. After all, it's kind of a mess. Dani is going to visit the vast underground complex of The Society of the Eternal Dawn. Illyana is concerned about a friend of hers who is incarcerated there. There’s a good reason for him being imprisoned, though. He’s being possessed by an eldritch being who Illyana already defeated...
Allen is working with a rich tapestry of different elements that all find a deep rooting in the Marvel Universe that goes back quite a ways. And as complicated as it all is, Alan makes it really easy to follow for anyone who might not be all that familiar with what it is that's going on. It remains a relief fun story. And this is pretty remarkable given the fact that so much of it just happens in a very small room in a stereotypically, sleek and metal futuristic science fiction underground bunker. There's really no reason why it should be anywhere near as entertaining as it is. Alan does a good job of delivering attention in a way that makes it all seem interesting.
Of course, a vast underground bunker that's sleek and made of metal and very clean. Looking is scarcely something that would be all that visually interesting at this stage. However,Peralta has a way of rendering drama that brings more than enough gravity to the page to make it all feel almost breathtaking visually. Of particular note is the semi radiant, supernatural drama, that hits the page during tense moments of standoff between powerful forces somewhere beneath the badlands of South Dakota.
It's been a long and winding saga for Illyana over the course of the past half year. It's been fun seeing Allen explorer this particular character in this much detail. As tight, a close-up as it is, the character still remains such a mystery on so many different levels. That much is really impressive given the nature of everything. Allen maintain an impressive balance between a revealing a lot of deep emotional reality to the page and keeping enough shadow around the edges of Illyana’s mind to keep her reasonably mysterious.
