The long-awaited reunion of Magik and Shadowkat arrives this week in X-Men #32. Titled “From Emma With Love,” this issue’s creative team is made up of Gerry Duggan, Phil Noto, VC’s Clayton Cowles, and Jordan D. White. Some of us X-fans joke that all the best X-Men are women, and X-Men #32 is a fun side mission with some beloved mutant divas.
X-Men #32 marks the third issue of the series now that the entire line of X-books has shifted their focus onto Fall of the House of X/Rise of the Powers of X. With that context in mind, a clearer pattern has emerged as to the role of this book in the Krakoan Age’s final days. Where FoHoX moves at a breakneck pace, Duggan and his collaborators are using X-Men as the staging ground for incoming plot elements and addressing what’s already happened with a bit more breathing room. Issues #30 and #31 were tasked with resolving Synch and Talon’s plot as well as the tainted Krakoan medicine, and this installment switches our focus to the return of Illyana Rasputina.
The issue opens on the Mykines, where Lockheed has laid in respite with Jumbo Carnation’s lover the Lighthouse Keeper since the attack on the Hellfire Gala. One little dragon is plenty of defense against Orchis’ assassination attempt on the Keeper, but Lockheed is then telepathically beckoned to battle. With a majority of mutant telepaths indisposed elsewhere, Emma Frost remains the primary communication hub for the X-Men’s resistance in this final escalation against Orchis. Her time in the issue is spent killing fascists, redirecting resources across various battlefronts, and keeping tabs on all of the X-Men at play. To her delight, one of these X-Men is Magik, who until now had been stranded in Vanaheim alongside her Realm of X co-stars.
The woman of the hour here really is Magik. The essential plot move that must be made is fixing her powers, especially since the nano-tech Orchis developed to suppress Illyana’s powers have progressed to a fatal saturation in her body. Even at death’s door, she still kicks serious ass and manages to help destroy one of Orchis’ mutant prison camps. On top of all the action, X-Men #32 takes time to address Magik’s emotional state, specifically the survivor’s guilt she feels as a Krakoan War Captain. Considering the Gala Massacre from the POV of one of Krakoa’s military leaders is new territory, and Magik is one of the few characters through which this reflection can occur.
Marvel Comics
Thankfully, Illyana does not have to face this physical and emotional turmoil alone. Nearing the end of her rope, Shadowkat steps in to help Magik get the job done. Having been close since childhood, this is the first two these women have seen each other since the tragedy at the Hellfire Gala. More than one moment is given for Illyana and Kate to gratefully embrace one another. Shadowkat isn’t the only one here to back Magik up, either. The Orchis agents have been killed and the mutant prisoners freed, but Polaris’ arrival heralds a solution to Illyana’s nanite problem. Following the gleeful entrance of Lockheed and Emma Frost, Cyclops telepathically asks Magik for assistance, signaling that the issue is complete and the character is sufficiently prepared for whatever role she is sure to play in FoHoX #3.
Despite the emphasis within the issue, on its cover, and in the advertising solicit from Marvel on Kate Pryde and Illyana Rasputina’s reunion, there’s a layer of it that feels hollow. The Krakoan era has seen the queer coding around these characters move closer than ever into explicit text. Magik candidly offered sex to another woman, and Kate flirted with a woman who conspicuously resembled Illyana and later kissed her. The latter confirmation of Pryde’s queerness even occurred under the same writer as X-Men #32, so it’s not illogical that some readers looking forward to this issue expected the two heroes to share a kiss in their reunion. It’s not like there weren’t plenty of opportunities either: they fall into each others’ arms about three times throughout the issue. In all other ways, the issue executes what it set out to quite well, which makes this missed opportunity stand out.
Noto’s art strengthens the issue. He’s the first artist since Illyana was infected with nanites to intentionally portray how ill the process has made her: as an artist who specializes in faces, he deliberately renders Magik’s as weary, even as she perseveres. Magik’s golden armor and Polaris’ newest redesign look lovely in Noto’s style, and Lorna in particular looks so damn cool as she destroys Orchis’ nanotech. Noto also subtly redesigns Emma’s new Hellfire brass knuckles, shifting their look to more diamond-centric rather than gold, and it’s a good choice.
Sword-wielding women slaughter fascists and so much more in X-Men #32. In one fell swoop, Magik’s mutant gift is restored and she’s reunited with two of her oldest friends. Though balking not once, but thrice at bringing Illyana and Kate Pryde’s intimacy to the next stage, the issue as a whole is still quite a lot of fun.
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