The Midnight Suns brave the darkest and most horrifying journey imaginable to secure aid from one of the most ancient and dangerous beings in all of existence. What terrible secret from the past is Agatha Harkness hiding? And what does the truth mean for Zoe Laveau’s future?! Written by Ethan Sacks, with art by Luigi Zagaria, colored by Antonio Fabela, with letters by Joe Sabino.
Issue 3 begins back in Transia, 1428 just after Agatha Harkness’ coven summoned Valtorr to fight back against witch hunters. However, their plan seemed to have worked too well as Valtorr claimed coven member Corina as his own. Both Valtorr and Corina seem to exist in another dimension that can be accessed via the large black mirror shown in the previous issue.
Jacquette Leveau, Zoe’s ancestor, insists that Corina’s sacrifice is needed to rid the world of both “those unworthy and untouched by magics”. In other words, both magical and non-magical people can be targeted, which Agatha never wanted. Jacquette, on the other hand, intended this from the start. The previous issue showed she never intended to tell Agatha and the others about the magical living sacrifice needed to summon Valtorr.
At this point, I must reiterate that I do not like how Zoe’s ancestor Jacquette is being written as a villain here. She may be an entirely different person from the real-life Marie Laveau, but I wish they hadn’t bothered using Laveau’s name at all. It feels like they are trying to add weight to Zoe’s backstory by using Laveau’s name minus the historical context. As much as I enjoy a good “buck the evil lineage” story, I would’ve rather had Nico Minoru deal with this since her backstory suits this situation more. Zoe Lavaeu would be better off learning to use her powers from Jericho Drumm aka Doctor Voodoo.
Anyway, Agatha is so desperate to save Corina that she attacks Jacquette and slams her into the large mirror, which is known as the Black Mirror. According to Jacquette, the Black Mirror serves as a conduit to Valtorr’s Realm and damaging it has caused Valtorr’s presence to disappear. The flashback ends as Jacquette harangues Agatha for dooming the coven for nothing, as Corina still isn’t saved from Valtorr.
We then head to the present day to find Agatha and Zoe Laveau in Zoe’s family crypt, where they are going to try and destroy the Black Mirror. Before they can do so, the ghostly spirit of Jacquette Leveau urges them to leave. The story then shifts to the Dark Dimension, where the rest of the Midnight Suns were sent at the end of the previous issue.
As some of them lament how the Sorcerer Supreme Clea managed to distract them, Blade suggests they go through an evil tower in order to get out. Just then, the group finds themselves accosted by giant bats. Kushala, thinking quickly, uses her Spirit of Vengeance to hop onto one of the bats and control it. The result is everyone hitching a ride on a giant flaming skull-faced bat, which looks fantastic thanks to the design of artist Luigi Zara and the vibrant inks of colorist Antonio Fabela.
Unfortunately, their ride is short-lived as they are attacked by giant arrows and crash land into the evil tower. I was expecting vampires to be in it, but it turns out to be occupied by some green creatures who grab Nico Minoru from behind. They look like orcs and they are armed to the teeth with bows and arrows.
Then the story briefly switches back to Zoe Laveau and Agatha Harkness, who are being attacked by Zoe’s ancestor Marie. Marie scolds and nearly attacks her great-granddaughter for bringing Agatha to the family crypt, but is stopped by Agatha. The latter states they only want the Black Mirror before Marie grabs her by the throat.
Marie states that Agatha only wants the Black Mirror’s power for herself, saying she knows Agatha’s true intentions. I’ve personally been a smidge suspicious of Agatha from the moment she whisked Zoe away. She and Marie Laveau didn’t see eye-to-eye in the past, so I’m concerned Agatha is manipulating Marie’s great-granddaughter out of spite and a desire to try and save Corrina.
Speaking of Zoe, she gets a nice bit of dialogue when she zaps Marie Laveau with a magic staff and says, “Destroying the world will not be our family legacy. I will not let that happen.” For Zoe’s sake, I truly hope she lives up to this declaration. She has been through a lot, even before the evil apocalyptic vision happened.
Back in the Dark Dimension, Nico briefly faces off against one of the green creatures by blowing “the raging sands of Ascobar” in its face. She is soon grabbed and slammed against the wall before Blade casually comes down the stairs. I like how he confirms they are vampires and calls them stupid in the same breath. Just as the green vampire starts monologuing, Blade stabs it with a wooden stake and it crumbles to dust.
Of course, this causes more green vampires to show up but the other Midnight Suns appear too. We get some lovely panels of Wolverine and Magik hacking and slashing green vampires, with their actions enhanced by VC’s Joe Sabino’s lettering through sound effects like, “WHACK!”
A more impressive feat is when Kushala manages to take out the rest of the vampires all at once with a mighty wave of hellfire that goes, “WOOOSHHH.” Even the others look impressed afterward, except for Nico Minoru who is still recovering from being suddenly attacked.
Although Nico is physically fine, she still feels pretty useless without her Staff of One, which she sent into space during the most recent Runaways series. Without it, her magic isn’t as strong as it used to be. Magik asks why Nico jumped in to help Zoe at Strange Academy since no one would’ve judged her if she hadn’t.
In a moving moment of empathy, Nico explains seeing Zoe judged because of the apocalyptic vision and the evil in her family reminded Nico of herself. Nico’s parents were secretly evil warlocks & she was expected to fall in line once she found out. This is why I stated that Nico would’ve been better as the central figure in the apocalyptic vision. It would’ve been an interesting way to flesh out her magical lineage more and maybe see Nico discover a new source of power. Anyway, Magik says that Nico is still magical because she puts her life on the line to help Zoe and her friends. I can’t help but go “Awww” as Magik says this and puts her head on Nico’s shoulder.
Following this brief moment of downtime, the Midnight Suns gather in front of a magic-proof door the vampires were guarding. Wolverine picks the lock on the door with a claw and the door opens to reveal Tony Stark chained to a wall. Not the Tony Stark we know as Iron Man, but a version of Tony Stark that is a Sorcerer Supreme. Whether he is Sorcerer Supreme of the Dark Dimension or another Earth entirely isn’t confirmed, but Stark wants to help our heroes in return for freeing him.
Going back to Agatha and Zoe, we see a sinister scene take place. Zoe asks if they are finally going to destroy the mirror but something comes over Agatha and her eyes glow white. As Agatha looks into the mirror, a sinister voice speaks from beyond the mirror. Zoe repeats her question and we see the hooded skull-faced figure from the vision. He speaks with Agatha’s voice and says, “Oh child, there has been a slight change in plans.”
At this point, I wish we could get a specific name for the hooded skull-faced guy so I don’t keep thinking he’s Valtoor. Not only that, but the hooded guy’s magic power seems to be powerful enough to influence others beyond Valtoor’s realm. Perhaps when Agatha’s coven attempted to summon Valtoor all those years ago, Agatha was somehow affected by Valtoor’s power when she damaged the Black Mirror fighting Marie Laveau. Regardless, my suspicion about Agatha was proven correct and I fear how it will affect Zoe in future issues.
Back in the Dark Dimension, the others are waiting for Sorcerer Supreme Tony Stark to finish crafting something. This something is a magical black and red gauntlet which will provide protection in Valtoor’s realm. The gauntlet is one part of a bad-ass black and red wardrobe upgrade for everyone that is seen on the final page of the issue. Magik, Nico Minoru, and Kushala look especially cool, and I hope Zoe Laveau gets a new look in the next issue. Hopefully, the Midnight Suns can reunite with Zoe since things are looking dire for her.
Latonya Pennington
Latonya Pennington is a freelance contributor whose comics criticism can be found at Women Write About Comics, Comic Book Herald, Newsarama and Shelfdust, among others.
