Magik Vol. 1: Unleashed

by Ashley Allen

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, X Men

120 pages, Paperback

First published September 9, 2025

Reviews

[MrGlassWontBreak · Rating 3 out of 5]

After Magik originally lost her childhood when she was kidnapped and takes to a hellish dimension for years, she finally managed to escape and got a second chance at a normal life when she joined the X-men and new mutants, but that life also came to an abrupt end when the darker half of herself that was implanted in her by her demonic captor was unleashed.

She’s now left battling to keep her evil persona in check, and feeling like she doesn’t belong anywhere. So she goes through a journey of self discovery that involves stopping an ancient evil demon from being released from his prison and wreaking havoc upon the earth. A basic and okay story with okay art, nothing special but worth the read for any Magik fan or X-men Stan.

[Molly™☺ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story of self acceptance and fighting your inner demons (quite literally). It is pretty predictable with its plot beats, and whilst the flow isn't always as fluid as one would like, it is nice to see a side character get a chance to shine. Given Magik's past, it would have been interesting to see more risks taken regarding a darker tone, but it all feels very safe. Not one that really cements an air of hype for the series, it is surface level fun and nothing more.

[Khurram · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book with lots of action. When you have a character with a giant glowing sword I was not expecting anything less than an action-packed book.

Ilyanna/Magik was kidnapped and raised in the demon realm of Limbo. She vowed never to be imprisoned again. She must also keep her darker side, Darkchild, under control. All this whilst on a side quest to save mutants being sacrificed to the mysterious Liminal who has an obsession with Magik or is he after Darkchild?

A good book, and a great guest star, who in my opinion outshone Magik. The story was a bit all over the place. Deals will be made, trust tested and a lot of mutant and demon blood spilled. The book finishes with a variant cover gallery.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.1 stars

Magik is one of my favourite characters, since she first joined the New Mutants back in the day, and I always go into new books featuring my faves with equal parts excitement and trepidation.

With this in mind, I wasn’t surprised to find there was as much I disliked about the story as stuff that I liked. The artwork, on the other hand, left me with no doubts at all; it was absolutely beautiful. If I was rating this book on the artwork alone, it would be 5 stars all the way. (Apart from the godawful cheesecake covers, which were not done by the artist who did the interiors.)

I’m looking forward to seeing where this book goes in volume two.

[Gabriel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm glad others online had a blast with it, but this was just fine for me.
I really enjoyed the first issue, but the story got predictable very fast and I just didn't vibe with anyone else other than Magik. I enjoy the message of self-acceptance and seeing how it played out in the end, but I'm not too sure if it was enough for me to read the rest of the series despite the cliffhanger.

Standard fun, but doesn't take away my enjoyment from Magik in Marvel Rivals lol

5.5/10 from me

[Sarospice]

Does Magik deserve a solo series? Why not. Does she have to settle that Darkchyld stuff? Why not. Does she need a better costume? Most definitely. She also needs to be aged. watch a 16 year old in thigh high boots is somewhere between disturbing and boring.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Five seals across the world stand threatened, and if they all break, then a demon named Liminal will break free and ravage the Earth. Not if Ilyana Rasputin has something to say about it.

I haven't read much Magik solo stuff, which isn't really saying much as most of the X-Men don't have a lot of their own individual stories unless your name rhymes with Schmolverine. That said, I feel like even I might have read this kind of story before. Yes, we know, Magik's got a dark side, yes, she's struggled with it before, etc. It's been done, and while this is a decent attempt at it, it's just kind of okay overall. The stuff with Dani Moonstar in the later issues is better, giving Ilyana someone to bounce off of, but otherwise I didn't feel like I learned anything about Magik in her solo book that I hadn't already learned in previous adventures.

I think the art probably doesn't help matters. German Peralta's pencils here feel really flat, or it might be that the colours are too muted, so there's no real depth or impact. There are some cool monster designs, like the crow guy, and Liminal himself, but they kind of get lost in the mush of colour, which is a shame.

Alright, I guess, but I wanted more. There are better solo X-books out there at the moment.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25
Good story. Good art.

The resolution was a little muddled to me. But I like the general direction.

[Jesús De la Jara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este cómic de Magik me generó mucha expectativa ya que era un cómic dedicado a ella por sus 50 años de creación. Ya hubo una serie que trataba de Magik pero dentro del cómic de New Mutants de hace algunos años. Allí también fue una historia exclusiva y muy importante de ella. Esta prometía ser más.
En este primer volumen la verdad que las expectativas se cumplieron en cierta medida. Lo más impresionante fue la cantidad de portadas y variantes que tuvo este volumen. Aunque las portadas principales fueron de Scott Campbell, creo que las alternas de diferentes artistas como Iván Talavera fueron extraordinarias. Esta historia ha empezado bien. Ilyana empieza a cuestionarse sobre su camino en la vida, cómo fue más fuerte por el Limbo pero a un costo alto. Tiene un gran momento con Cyclops inolvidable que solo alguien que entiende al personaje de Magik puede crear.
En medio de un rescate, cae en una trampa del poderoso Luminus quien necesita mutantes para romper un hechizo

[Sophia · Rating 3 out of 5]

More magic occult stuff in X-men comics plz straight up 80s style thank youuu

[Owen Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like the resolution of this arc.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I haven’t been overly impressed with a lot of the new X-Men series and spinoff series comic books recently been coming out. I have to admit I’ve gotten kind of tired of the repeats of everything starting to go good and then it fails and oh my God racism it’s back again. I get that that’s an important part of the X-Men storylines and it’s important to help audiences to realize that racism comes in many forms, but at the same time they have a army of amazing characters that they could do so much more with than what they do.

Because of that, I was both excited and feeling, but nervous when I realize that Magik had been given her own comic book line. She was a character that I kind of came to know late into her creation, but she’s one that I’ve really enjoyed reading about. She has cool powers and a really intriguing background story and like the Scarlet witch you can go both in the direction of magic and the direction of mutants and dealing with racism. So there’s a lot of storyline opportunities with this.

The artwork was fabulous. The actual cover artist is a different artist than who actually was drawing the comic excel, but that’s OK that didn’t really bother me at all. I do think this kind of right as a set up story like a prologue to a novel. So it wasn’t the greatest story but I feel like it’s set a good foundation for where they could take it. So I’m hopeful that volume two and any further volumes will be better than this one. Do I wish that they would age her up a little bit. Yes, her age is still a bit ambiguous, but if I’m understanding the flow of time and comic books she’s still supposed to be somewhere around 16 or 17 years old, which makes it a little bit on the creepy end that she’s basically in bondage gear when she’s fighting. But she is overall very cool character and I look forward to seeing where they go with her.

[K G · Rating 4 out of 5]

One thing that immediately sticks out to me is that the cover artist did this book so, so dirty - it looks like a poorly done bargain basement find from the early 2000's, complete with uncanny valley faces and weird bodies that would make Escher weep. The art inside is much, *much* nicer. Really, I'd even say this book is worth picking up for that reason alone (to be clear: the art isn't revolutionary with show stopping set pieces, but it is very solid and nice to look at with nearly impeccable consistency).

The story is also pretty solid, and I felt like it stayed true to Magik's personality while exploring her character and giving her a real challenge. I have to say, though, that the beginning and end of the storyline had some of the weakest writing. Don't get me wrong - the premise is plenty interesting, and the start is still pretty good, but at first it seems like it's going to be a generic "travel the world and do generic quest stuff", but immediately pivots into a different direction (and then shortly thereafter, pivots back). The end also has one character seemingly blame another for something that really wasn't their fault?? It just felt jarringly out of place, like I'd missed a page of context.

I will also say that probably the entire story did seem rather rushed, and I think the biggest thing that would have helped this story is just more time and space to let everything breathe and allow plot points to develop naturally and flow from point A to B.

TL;DR - one of the strongest comics I've read recently; recommended reading for fans of Magik.

[Martinio · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story didn’t do it for me. The evil antagonist was so shallow and didn’t really stand out. Also Magik had lots of issues. And it didn’t feel like she was really “unleashed”. Lots of ramblings and a story that wasn’t cohesive. It felt disjointed. The artwork was okay at times, but didn’t impress too. 2,5 stars for the effort.

[Nate Deprey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite X character and not really my series either. Ilyanna Rasputin is a great side character throwing shade and cutting people places and things in half with her soul sword rather than the focus other than that great mini series in the 80s.

[Mateusz Nowowiejski · Rating 3 out of 5]

2025

[Saltea · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.90 || review cooking

[Robyn . · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stunning art, I love the focus on Illyana's trauma and how she handles it.

[Xroldx · Rating 4 out of 5]

Magik is one of the most interesting and cool X-men characters and this book sees her struggling with her dark side.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm hooked now that I've read it

[chloe yomama · Rating 4 out of 5]

that’s my goat

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

A deep look into Magik’a mind. I don’t know if that’s the story I needed.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5


I love Illyana Rasputin