A piece of gorgeous fanart by artist M. Lee Lunsford pays homage to the classic X-Men character Magik by recreating Bret Blevin's beloved cover to Magik #4 (1983) with a modern artistic style. Illyana Rasputina has been around the X-Men since the 1970s, but in the last decade has risen to become one of the franchise's most beloved characters of all time, a powerful young woman known as Magik who has spent her life dealing with and overcoming terrible trauma and abuse.

Illyana is the younger sister of Piotr Rasputin, the iconic X-Man known as Colossus, and was first introduced in 1975's Giant-Sized X-Men #1 as the young, innocent sister of Piotr who he rescues from a runaway tractor on his family farm, prompting the first manifestation of his mutant abilities. Since then, Illyana has become a major part of the New Mutants and then the X-Men, dealing with a horrible childhood imprisoned in the Hell dimension Limbo by the demon Belasco, before finally breaking free of her chains and becoming the Queen and Sorceror Supreme of Limbo herself.

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M. Lee Lunsford is an incredibly talented artist currently releasing their webcomic Nix of Nothing, but in their spare time draw and post truly gorgeous art to their Twitter, including a recreation of Bret Blevin's cover for the 4th and final issue in the Storm and Illyana: Magik limited series from 1983. Magik's character history is long and complex, but much of her early childhood in the dimension of Limbo is told in the Magik limited series - written by X-Legend Chris Claremont with art by Tom Palmer - that focuses on her abuse at the hands of Belasco and his second-in-command S'ym, before Illyana wrestled control of Limbo away from Belasco and became its new ruler. After years of being tortured by the two demonic villains, Illyana was trained in combat and magic by multiversal versions of Storm and Kate Pryde, eventually manifesting one of Marvel's most powerful weapons, the Soulsword, for the first time and using it to banish Belasco. However, as can be seen in Lunsford's recreation, the use of her Soulsword corrupts young Illyana, causing her to grow horns and start her journey into becoming the demonic Darkchylde.

M. Lee Lunsford's art adapts Blevin's classic cover using a more modern style, highlighting the power of Magik's Soulsword while paying close attention to details from the original cover, like the small scorpion standing atop the row of books. Magik represented a turning point for Illyana, as it ended with her using her stepping disks to return to Earth a decade older, although barely anytime had passed in her home dimension. Back on Earth, Magik joined the New Mutants, run by Dani Moonstar and Cannonball, and became an important member of the X-Men while constantly dealing with the dark side brewing inside of her and her increasingly complex relationship with her brother Colossus, who simply could not understand the demonic path his sister had been placed on. This storyline culminated in the beloved 1980s crossover event Inferno where Illyana fully allowed the Darkchylde to come out, using her immense powers to send the demons of Limbo back, before seemingly dying, later revealed to have reverted back to her innocent 7-year-old self. Thankfully the current arc on Vita Ayala and Rod Reis' New Mutants is directly dealing with the trauma that Illyana suffered in Limbo and during Inferno, by having her travel to the dimension and give control of it to Madelyne Pryor, the former Goblin Queen and ruler of Limbo.

M. Lee Lunsford's gorgeous fanart depicting the young Magik just as she created her infamous Soulsword and frees herself from the clutches of Belasco is the perfect homage to Bret Blevin's classic cover from Magik #4. 

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Source: M. Lee Lunsford