New Mutants 65 - Inferno Prologue

Illyana begins her descent into the darkness as she seeks revenge for the death of the X-Men.

New Mutants #65

Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Bret Blevins
Inker: Terry Austin
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Editor: Ann Nocenti
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

After the X-Men seemingly gave their lives to save the world it's inevitable there would be a fallout amongst the New Mutants especially given the presence of Colossus's sister on the team. The last few issues have shown Illyana (Magik) dwelling on the events and concluding that Forge is responsible; now she sets out to get revenge upon him and lashes out at anyone who doesn't share her desire - which turns out to be just about everyone she turns to from her fellow New Mutants to Magneto to Kitty Pryde.

As this issue reminds us Illyana did not have a normal upbringing even by the standards of her fellow New Mutants. Instead she spent many years growing up in a dark dimension and eventually coming to command to magic and rule the realm despite being only in her early teens. So it's not so surprising that her reaction is one of fury and she refuses to listen to the others who point out that the X-Men gave their lives voluntarily or that Forge doesn't appear to be as evil as she assumes. But this has far reaching consequences when she enters Limbo and it reflects her angry state as her "Darkchilde" persona increasingly takes over. Worse still she takes the Soul Sword out of Limbo with her, leaving it vulnerable to mutinous demons such as S'ym who prepares to open a portal to extend Limbo's power and thus set the seeds for Inferno.

There's further foreshadowing as Illyana arrives in Dallas and finds Forge protected by Freedom Force. Destiny immediately foresees catastrophe for the world that hinges on these events. As battle commences she further sees demons invading our world and Illyana at the centre of destruction. But despite her warnings Illyana refuses to listen, believing this to merely be an attempt to protect Forge with words after a battle with Freedom Force has not ended overwhelmingly.

The rest of the New Mutants reluctantly decide to help Illyana if only to protect her from both Freedom Force and herself but it has little impact. however the battle itself brings some strong action and a great moment of humour as Destiny calmly explains how she foresaw Sunspot bringing a wall down on Avalanche, the Blob and Spiral and did nothing to warn her teammates as the first two are invulnerable whilst she finds Spiral insufferable and deserving a humiliation. Mystique impersonates Forge and nearly gets killed for her troubles but then the real Forge appears and an even darker Illyana turns to confront him.

This is quite a strong issue showing how rage and anger are consuming Illyana with devastating effects not merely for her but for all around as we get one of the earliest hints of the destruction to come. There is far more at stake than one girl's desire to avenge her brother and the apocalypse that is coming out of this is clear for all to see.