Magik & Colossus #3: Duality Broken & Repaired

So far, Magik & Colossus has been a story about the two siblings forming some kind of understanding while pushing each other to get past the things in their pasts holding either of them back. This kind of story serves Illyana, aka Magik, and Piotr, aka Colossus, particularly well. Especially considering how much baggage both characters have been given over the years.

Issue #3 is less about the two titular characters understanding one another and more about putting their contrasting personas into practice. Piotr is measured, with more controlled rage, while Illyana is all rush in and risk it all. This practically plays ping-pong with the storyline; Colossus is afraid Magik will get hurt, while Magik is focused on the here and now of her scenes.

Ashley Allen’s dialogue for both characters is perhaps the issue’s greatest strength. Not only does either character have a distinct voice, but their motivations are layered into every line of dialogue. A conversation between Piotr and a bartender is more about what’s not being said rather than what is, and it’s immediately clear to the reader what’s going on. Magik, on the other hand, is used as a contrast to her brother, throwing around casual banter and mocking her opponents, which is actually what ends up evening out the pacing so that both stories feel simultaneous, and you’re all the more excited to see the reunion because of it.

The issue handles pacing like a pendulum, tossing the momentum from one side until it inevitably comes crashing back into the other. Quiet scenes either serve to prep a stoic character like Piotr for what comes next or for two characters with opposing personalities like Piotr and Illyana to get on the same page, sometimes literally. But once those quiet scenes are over, they cascade neatly into the action sequences that have made superheroes the dominant genre in comic books for decades.

For that action, Germán Peralta brought their A-game for the third issue. No two scenes carry the exact same ambience, and different angles are used to frame the emotional layers that Ashely Allen is putting on display. A heated fight is cluttered and chaotic, with objects in the way of the page’s focus that add to the mess of the scene and different panel arrangements that don’t quite go together, showing how perspective shifts from one character to the next in a fight.

There is one spectacular full page that’s a perspective shot of Colossus falling through a roof, but Peralta gets creative and splits the scene with the panel lines without actually dividing the page into separately drawn pieces. This shows the bit-by-bit motion of Colossus’s landing and gives the reader a full page of incredible artwork to look at. Peralta goes even further to pack the scene with extra detail, such as bits of debris falling from the roof into one panel and then the next.

Arthur Hesli’s colors are also kicked into overdrive here. At one point, a previously unopened roof bleeds light from the night sky into the room; a magical barrier breaking down somehow accentuates the sheen of Colossus’ steel skin; and the snap, crackle, and pop of magical spells all have unique textures to them that also light certain scenes dynamically from different angles relative to where the page’s focus is.