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X-Men: Black Sun #1
X-Men: Black Sun #1
The demon known as Belasco is burning a path around the globe searching for the legendary Bloodstone. With it, he can rip open a dimensional portal, allowing all of Limbo to pour into our world! Enter Storm, Banshee, Sunfire, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Wolverine and the new mutant who took on the namesake of Thunderbird! But can even this team (that first formed 25 years ago in GIANT SIZE X-MEN #1) stop the fiery fiend from stealing the souls of their most cherished loved ones—the members of the original X-team? All this, plus the return of Magik! But who is the girl in the Eldritch Armor? Is she a friend back from the dead...or a new enemy in disguise?
24 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2001
15 people want to read
About the author
Chris Claremont
3,279 books894 followersChris Claremont is a writer of American comic books, best known for his 16-year (1975-1991) stint on Uncanny X-Men, during which the series became one of the comic book industry's most successful properties.
Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.
Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.
Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.
Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 12, 2024
Illyana is back!
Magyk is here!
That's the best thing that happened this issue.
I never liked kitty pryde this much to enjoy her starring a story.
Magyk doesn't have her refined look yet sadly, i don't like how she looks now.
Hopefully next issue we learn how she is even alive.
Magyk is here!
That's the best thing that happened this issue.
I never liked kitty pryde this much to enjoy her starring a story.
Magyk doesn't have her refined look yet sadly, i don't like how she looks now.
Hopefully next issue we learn how she is even alive.
November 14, 2016
Talking about ruining good villains and once again shoving "US #1" down our throats. It is really astounding that they have such a dumb and badly written story for the X-Men's 25th anniversary.
And I mean it. Early in an illusion or something Kitty sees a dead Captain America and says that someone like him can't be dead…
And it's not as if it makes sense for Kitty to just belief everything is real, as there are several Marvel villains who could create sufficiently realistic illusions.
And it apparently is all a trick, a pretty damn obvious one, but the writing is so bad that Kitty doesn't realise it right away. You see somehow Kurt could know what happened on every continent, because demon caverns opening on every continent or not, there is no way they could have slain that many so fast and also Kurt already knowing about it. Also, the "X-Men" say stuff like "The Rutai are nothing?" and "The N'Garai are all," not to mention that Kurt suddenly somehow knows black magic and tries to explain it by saying his stepmother and sweetheart/sister knew magic. At that moment I was all: "Why don't these guys just say that they are demons?" And at that I realized that this dumb shit was not a dream. Sadly that also means the writers were back to status quo instead of keeping the Rutai around instead of the N'Garai. Because why actually change something permanently right?
But hey, what can you expect from writers who have Kitty's instincts tell her this blood magic is wrong and yet she does it anyway because these are her friends? The friends who are obviously demons or under demonic influence. This is not good writing, this makes Kitty come along as an idiot. And it treats the readers like idiots.
And they really do, as they actually want us to belief that this Magik here is Illyana Rasputin, despite the fact that she is long dead here. It was so obvious that this had to be Amanda Sefton. And Kitty doesn't suspect that right away because then there would be no plot in the mind of the writer.
And the writing is really bad here, as they were sending Colossus after the fake Phoenix (not that the bad guys are any better since they waste Storm to hunt Angel, instead of using her to e.g. capture Polaris), which seems pretty dumb, fitting to this dumb story, but dumb nonetheless. And not even Belasco would be mad enough to ensorcel Wolverine? Strange, I think Wolverine has been possessed, bewitched or generally controlled and manipulated quite often so this claim comes along as garbage. This is probably when they started to completely overpower Wolverine and so make him really lame.
And sure I was at first glad that the Rutai are back, but now this Rutai "hound" talks, and it talks in the same dumb and expository manner comic books are infamous for. This is not a good sign. I remember reading of them many years ago and they stuck in my mind since they came along as quite threatening and competent, but now they got ruined.
Holy shit is this story was boring at 30 % already, no wonder when barely any move makes sense and the villains are such obvious jokes whom the reader is supposed to take seriously. The possessed Storm apparently could have easily taken all of the out with that blizzard but apparently that makes too much sense. Not to mention that the once so cool looking Rutai Pilgrim now looks barely indistinguishable from the N'Garai.
And is there anything more pathetic than an antagonist just blurting out his secret identity so anyone can hear it and the characters are in the know? No wonder these N'Garai lost so often, they are morons. At least the Rutai originally knew how to shut up and get the work done, but sadly that is gone now too, based on Pilgrims sloppy assassination attempts"
These fights were so random and badly executed that they seem more like filler. The weirdest thing about this is that it sometimes knows how to built tension and drama or use powers right, and other times it totally ignores even what it itself established. One time it was a good use of powers, even Pilgrim seems to be a lot better, which of course begs the question why he was such a weakling before. However, it became clear quickly why it suddenly became better: it needed to be going towards the climax. Which means the authors could have written better before but chose not to.
And they directly state at the end in narration that this Magik is Amanda Sefton and not Illyana Rasputin, which makes no sense as she referred to herself as a mutant and Amanda is human. And Nightcrawler just knew who she was because they were lovers? Being siblings was not the reason? And Colossus could not tell from not even 20m away that this was not his sister? And did Kitty knew after all?
PS. Nightcrawler said "Leibchen" here, which means shirt but I guess they meant "Liebchen", meaning this is so far the most recent issue with that anachronism. You see, he clearly means that in a positive meaning, but that meaning was pretty damn rare, if existent at all, at the time this comic was written, out of date by 40 years at least.
And I mean it. Early in an illusion or something Kitty sees a dead Captain America and says that someone like him can't be dead…
And it's not as if it makes sense for Kitty to just belief everything is real, as there are several Marvel villains who could create sufficiently realistic illusions.
And it apparently is all a trick, a pretty damn obvious one, but the writing is so bad that Kitty doesn't realise it right away. You see somehow Kurt could know what happened on every continent, because demon caverns opening on every continent or not, there is no way they could have slain that many so fast and also Kurt already knowing about it. Also, the "X-Men" say stuff like "The Rutai are nothing?" and "The N'Garai are all," not to mention that Kurt suddenly somehow knows black magic and tries to explain it by saying his stepmother and sweetheart/sister knew magic. At that moment I was all: "Why don't these guys just say that they are demons?" And at that I realized that this dumb shit was not a dream. Sadly that also means the writers were back to status quo instead of keeping the Rutai around instead of the N'Garai. Because why actually change something permanently right?
But hey, what can you expect from writers who have Kitty's instincts tell her this blood magic is wrong and yet she does it anyway because these are her friends? The friends who are obviously demons or under demonic influence. This is not good writing, this makes Kitty come along as an idiot. And it treats the readers like idiots.
And they really do, as they actually want us to belief that this Magik here is Illyana Rasputin, despite the fact that she is long dead here. It was so obvious that this had to be Amanda Sefton. And Kitty doesn't suspect that right away because then there would be no plot in the mind of the writer.
And the writing is really bad here, as they were sending Colossus after the fake Phoenix (not that the bad guys are any better since they waste Storm to hunt Angel, instead of using her to e.g. capture Polaris), which seems pretty dumb, fitting to this dumb story, but dumb nonetheless. And not even Belasco would be mad enough to ensorcel Wolverine? Strange, I think Wolverine has been possessed, bewitched or generally controlled and manipulated quite often so this claim comes along as garbage. This is probably when they started to completely overpower Wolverine and so make him really lame.
And sure I was at first glad that the Rutai are back, but now this Rutai "hound" talks, and it talks in the same dumb and expository manner comic books are infamous for. This is not a good sign. I remember reading of them many years ago and they stuck in my mind since they came along as quite threatening and competent, but now they got ruined.
Holy shit is this story was boring at 30 % already, no wonder when barely any move makes sense and the villains are such obvious jokes whom the reader is supposed to take seriously. The possessed Storm apparently could have easily taken all of the out with that blizzard but apparently that makes too much sense. Not to mention that the once so cool looking Rutai Pilgrim now looks barely indistinguishable from the N'Garai.
And is there anything more pathetic than an antagonist just blurting out his secret identity so anyone can hear it and the characters are in the know? No wonder these N'Garai lost so often, they are morons. At least the Rutai originally knew how to shut up and get the work done, but sadly that is gone now too, based on Pilgrims sloppy assassination attempts"
These fights were so random and badly executed that they seem more like filler. The weirdest thing about this is that it sometimes knows how to built tension and drama or use powers right, and other times it totally ignores even what it itself established. One time it was a good use of powers, even Pilgrim seems to be a lot better, which of course begs the question why he was such a weakling before. However, it became clear quickly why it suddenly became better: it needed to be going towards the climax. Which means the authors could have written better before but chose not to.
And they directly state at the end in narration that this Magik is Amanda Sefton and not Illyana Rasputin, which makes no sense as she referred to herself as a mutant and Amanda is human. And Nightcrawler just knew who she was because they were lovers? Being siblings was not the reason? And Colossus could not tell from not even 20m away that this was not his sister? And did Kitty knew after all?
PS. Nightcrawler said "Leibchen" here, which means shirt but I guess they meant "Liebchen", meaning this is so far the most recent issue with that anachronism. You see, he clearly means that in a positive meaning, but that meaning was pretty damn rare, if existent at all, at the time this comic was written, out of date by 40 years at least.
October 27, 2025
I don’t wanna call this a “fun” series. (I don’t think it’s meant to be fun). But compared to the main series with the X-Men fighting the Neo, and the over exposition, and verbose writing style of Claremont over there, this was a welcome change of pace. I couldn’t imagine reading this if it was in the main series and taking it too seriously. There wasn’t an awful motivation to have hero vs hero, …wasn’t great.. but I went along with it. I don’t usually like stories involving magic but this didn’t go over the top.
Vs N’Garai, Pilgrimm, Belasco.
Vs N’Garai, Pilgrimm, Belasco.
August 2, 2024
Similar to a lot of Claremont's late-period X-work, it would probably be fine as s quick ark in a continuing series but doesn't live up to expectations as a special anniversary event.
August 13, 2023
Actually liked this quite a bit, but maybe I'm just happy to see a comic about Amanda Sefton.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews