“Pacts”
Creative Staff:
Story: Ashley Allen
Art: German Peralta
Colors: Arthur Hesli
Letterer: VC’s Ariana Maher
What They Say:
Demons have been hunting mutants abroad. Magik finally meets leader of the demons. Who or what is LIMINAL? And will Magik be able to suppress her darker impulses?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
This limited series comes from writer Ashley Allen as she expands on what she started touching upon with the character from the Blood Hunt one-shots that the character was in. I have very fond memories of Magik from when I picked up that first limited series on the newsstand back in the 80s and the character’s journey into the New Mutants but also within the larger X-Men family, so I’m always game for more stories. The book makes out well with German Peralta on the artwork as we get some good action sequences and a good sense of style and design out of the characters and settings. Hesli’s color design definitely works well here with the heavier and darker ones but also the lighter interiors and some of the semi-daylight sequences we get. Ariana Maher covers a lot of good ground here with several styles of dialogue and it all feels cohesive.
Illyana being trapped in Liminal’s zone is what dominates this issue and it certainly works well both as an explainer for people unfamiliar with the character but also setting up our current villain better. Illyana is doing her best to handle being in this pocket dimension as she’s been going at it for weeks in keeping her distance from him and the constructs he’s sending at her. A lot of that is because her powers feel weaker here and she’s unable to do as much as she normally can. It’s a familiar layout in that she’s trying to figure out why her powers aren’t working right or to find a way out on her own. But Liminal is a regular and constant presence with even just his voice out there trying to get her to stop running and face him because, for the most part, he just wants to talk.
What finally does move things forward is that we get a couple of rounds of her past being plucked from her mind, including from her time in Belasco’s realm. Seeing the dark versions of Shadowcat and having Sym there definitely helps to draw on that area, but it’s something where Liminal slowly reveals that his upbringing was similar. A boy drawn into the magics of others, a body turned to sacrifice, and one that gained a lot of power that was used against those who tried to sacrifice him. It’s familiar in that he views her as the same as him and he’s just looking for someone to not be lonely with while not understanding how very different their outcomes were, especially since he went on a killing spring and dominated a time and place before he was bound by other magicians. He’s trying to free her from her bonds, namely with Darkchylde, so she can be free to be who she truly is as he views himself and he’s willing to let her go he believes in her so much – if he’s allowed to remove the blocks in place that keeps Darkchylde in check. Illyana being Illyana, she’s game since she believes she can do just that…
In Summary:
This installment does some good work in laying out both who Liminal is so they feel like a more realized villain while Illyana’s past is explored in a way that’s not just straight recap or newly illustrated while recounting the same thing. It’s pulled well in order to serve what Liminal is after while he doesn’t understand it in the way that Illyana does. It makes for people that are similar but chose very different paths at a certain point but one of them can’t understand it. It’s fun to watch Illyana being underpowered for a bit here since someone as overpowered as her has to often deal with similarly powered people and this is the only real recourse for an interesting opponent. We do get her back in the real world by the end as part of the ongoing story she’s working through, which means some awkward and problematic reveals for Cal when she catches up to him, and that’s going to make things fairly difficult to work through in the short term for them. They’re plucky kids though, I’m sure they can get through it.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: March 19th, 2025
MSRP: $4.99
