About a year after the last event, the UXM.Net ran the Magic Month from mid-October to mid-November 2003. So far, the biggest concept with 25 different articles and features, it also marks the first time that site founder Dean Clayton did not participate in the preparations. In his stead, several other capable contributors joined the cast, the overall list including newcomers Daytripper, Dreamawake, Morpheuz, Redguard and old crew Iceman (Trevor Cates), Douglas Mangum, Milleniumcyke, Monolith, Ruth and, of course myself, Peter Luzifer.
Spotlight On...
Just like during the Summers Month, the many Spotlights were somewhat the focus of the event, every third day another character’s entry being released. Overall, there were six of them: Magik I (Illyana Rasputin), who died way to early, her successor as Limbo’s ruler and former girlfriend of Nightcrawler, Magik II (Amanda Sefton), the always-at-odds father and daughter pairing from Alpha Flight Shaman and Talisman II, our biggest spotlight entry ever, the Scarlet Witch, and, last but not least, former X-Factor leader and genius inventor, Forge.
Merging Minds
Besides this sheer, overwhelming number, we had two almost-spotlights in the form of our Villains – What makes them tick? subsection, focusing on the X-foes’ motivations and their histories, sometimes including the author's personal opinions and speculations. Learn more about Selene in Ruth’s article La Belle Dame Sans Merci and The Ballad of Belasco was scribed by Douglas Mangum.
Over the years, the X-characters came into contact with quite a number of magical artifacts, several of which we wrote articles about to be featured in the Objects section of Merging Minds. The Juggernaut’s power source, the Gem of Cyttorak and Illyana’s famous Soulsword were part of the Event. Also, re-released in an updated version, was the piece on the Siege Perilous.
Additionally to all that, there was yet another Merging Minds topic, fitting into none of the other sections, therefore being placed in the Miscellaneous part. Spells and Sorcery – a guide to Marvel Magics is Monolith’s detailed description of how magic works within the Marvel Universe. Regular visitors of the site are familiar with his scientific power descriptions and his work here is of the same quality.
X marks the spot
Not only were there mystic artifacts but also lots of magical places that the X-Men traveled to. Some of these were mentioned with rather detailed entries in our “Atlas” section of the UXM.Net. The biggest one, divided into several sub-entries like Characters, Chronology, Questions, etc., is the feature on Limbo / Otherplace. Other than that, there is the Bermuda Island, which served as temporary headquarters for the X-Men, the strange place within the Gem of Cyttorak, the Crimson Cosmos, not to be confused with the pocket dimension that is named after the elixir that gave Psylocke her shadow powers, the Crimson Dawn.
Alien Races
Several times, the X-Men encountered demonic races, capable of magic and other things. Two of the most important ones are the N‘Garai and the Ru‘tai, who happen to be arch-enemies.
Crossover Entries
It wouldn’t have been a real Event Month if we didn’t find at least one crossover to summarize for you... and we even managed to do two. During the Asgardian Wars, Alpha Flight, the New Mutants and the X-Men all found themselves dealing with Loki, the Asgardian God of Lies. The Fall of the Mutants is not a crossover in the classical sense, the three participating books not interacting at all, but with Forge, Roma and the Adversary in there, it sure fits the theme of the event.
Issue Summaries
During the Magic Month, our Issue Summary Section grew by 35 entries. Besides the ones belonging to the two Crossovers, which are listed further down, the following issue summaries were released:
Avengers (3rd series) #1-3, 28-30
Excalibur #83-85
Excalibur #minus 1
Uncanny X-Men Annual #4
X-Men (2nd series) #74-75
X-Men: Black Sun #1-5
X-Men: Magik #1-4
Crossover related summaries:
New Mutants (1st series) #59-61
New Mutants Special Edition #1
Uncanny X-Men #225-227
Uncanny X-Men Annual #9
X-Factor #25-27
X-Men & Alpha Flight (1st series) #1-2