I feel like I've been waiting forever for this second volume to pop up! I'm in a bit of a state of impatience at the moment as most of what I have been reading recently is between volumes, wanting to read something new but struggling to find something to stick along with that hasn't already finished. I'm incredibly busy at the moment with starting to teach English, as well as travelling between cities and countries. Not to forget the constantly struggle of juggling family time. But that comic book itch continues to remain throughout all of it. With reading a few volumes being one of the more simple ways for me to wind down and get immersed into a world without investing too much time into it in one. The last I saw of the upcoming Magik volume was another post here on Hive in which the alternate art for the comic volume was released, and that instantly had me excited for it. I remember reading the first volume of Magik and finding it quite an exciting read, it was a character I had seen art of from the comic book artist David Finch, but my knowledge of the X-Men was incredibly thin, and still somewhat is. Magik's first volume was an interesting introduction of the character for me, it showed a previous villain turned into character of good. It wasn't a volume that massively stood out, but enough to get me engaged.
The last volume ended with Magik finding a new companion that she was tasked with protecting, one that was implied to have significance importance. This second volume picks up a little later where Magik is still getting to know the young man. Though Magik isn't really one to be taking care of another person, where she has more of a lone wolf status and prefers to jump into things by herself. It's an interesting dynamic that has unfolded, now giving her responsibility over another where she just really doesn't want it. This seems to be quite a common theme within the realm of comics, where characters are established as ones that often reject help and company from others, but are thrown into situations in which another person's life becomes within their hands, and it's their obligation to keep them safe. I'm not particularly a big fan of this setup, but I can find it interesting from time to time providing there is a reason to really get immersed and care for the characters. I do prefer when stories instead rely on a stronger cast rather than the babysitting narrative, however. But Magik is still a relatively new character to me, she's one that I want to explore a bit more given she seems generally less important in the grand scheme of X-Men things, but has a particularly interesting design and backstory.
In terms of environments and story, this second volume was a tad underwhelming, it didn't really speak to me like the first one did, and I think much of that is due to the volume's majority environment which felt a bit too boring. Comics for me tend to thrive in worlds that have quite deep backgrounds, where you really get immersed into the environment and world that these stories take place within, though I didn't really feel that here. With much of the story taking place at a concert in which Magik detects something off. And that thing being a demon that ends up being on the stage. Nothing spectacular. Nothing that stood out all that much. A little bit of the message earlier on from Marvel that also made me roll my eyes a little bit, but I overlooked that. It's a little bit disappointing given the strength of the first volume, and it felt like it dropped the ball a little here. With this limited background and environment, it didn't feel like the art really popped out, each panel felt a bit too similar to the previous. Not something that really has a punch when it matters the most, though that doesn't mean the art was bad, it was alright, I'd say.
I do think I would've preferred this volume had the art had a bit more detail. I do enjoy when the action panels stick out a bit more. And I do enjoy when the backgrounds have enough detail to really describe the environment the characters are in, whereas this volume relied a bit too much on just basic colour schemes. I think that made the volume feel a bit boring, even terms of action, where too much of the comic stayed within a club environment where a concert was taking place. A little too much of it had that reliance on carrying of the torch where Magik handled much of the action and then got saved from the weaker accomplice at the last moment, a bit too cliche for me. I do hope the next volume picks up from here, and this one didn't feel like it was all worth the long wait. I did see that others found the covers to be engaging but the story within to be a bit boring. I can relate to that.
This one was definitely lacking a bit. I will continue reading the comic but I wouldn't say I'd have the excitement I previously had. It's not something that I feel really caught my attention. The first volume was great, but this one just fell a bit too flat for me. Ah, well, onto the next one!