We seem to be going through some focus issues right now in the current story line of Uncanny X-Men. Last issue the focus was primarily on Emma and how she’s lost the majority of her control over her powers. It’s still truly fascinating to see how they’ve made her such a more dynamic character compared to her original roll as the White Queen. Moving forward we’re going to see the problems of another Phoenix touched mutants have, specifically in this issue we’re going to be taking a look at Magik.

The focus isn’t completely about her though so I’ll do a quick touch upon everything else before the horrors of her rule over limbo start falling apart at the seams. We do start with Scott questioning her about what is going wrong but quickly take a look elsewhere. We see S.H.I.E.L.D wondering about how things are going with the mutants Cyclops is putting together and I have a feeling this is going to be either an ongoing side plot or have it’s own story bloom from it.

The new students finally notice that the Stepford Cuckoos are triplets and one of them decides to introduce himself, only there’s a problem – he’s forgotten his name. They all make it clear that he will be forgetting much more if he doesn’t leave them alone in the future while Emma teases that they should learn how to take a compliment. Emma’s not having the best day of her own though as their new time stopping mutant appears to be developing a crush on Scott Summers. This should prove to make some interesting side drama down the line as well – specially if her powers remain so unstable and she decides to be, well, herself.

Now the true meat of the issue and where everything completely stands out, Magik’s problem. With how much time is spent focused on Magik and her mutant ability to deal with magic and Limbo it’s only fitting that the art here is absolutely top notch. Interestingly enough we see Dormammu of all characters pop up and try to take Limbo for himself. He’s sick of Magik and that her broken powers are tearing portions of limbo apart. Each scene reflects this perfectly as you can see that Hell within Limbo is apparently falling apart at the scenes. Dormammu’s attempt to take power doesn’t work out well though as Magik is turned to her Darkchilde persona which I don’t recall seeing in some time.

As Darkchilde she appears to have her destructive powers in check and drives Dormammu vowing she needs to find a way to kill him. The battle isn’t over yet as she returns home and while Cyclops says that they should pay a visit to Dr. Strange the entire team is transported to Limbo. With Dormammu over them in the background she apologizes and says she isn’t doing this right as she reverts to her Darkchilde persona once more. While it’s not fully clear as the issue ends it would appear as if Dormammu has found a way to control that persona in ways that actual demons were unable to.

Next issue? We’ll see the X-Men in Limbo once again though this time the team will consist of a combination of both broken and untrained mutants.

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Frazer Irving