The apocalypse is finally here, and Zoe Laveau’s at the center of it all. Agatha Harkness will sacrifice everything, including herself, to stop it. What does Zoe dare risk? There’s a terrible secret at the heart of Zoe’s vision, a secret that threatens to change the Marvel Universe forever. Meanwhile, the Midnight Suns race across all of time and space to get back in this fight…with a little help from the mysterious new powers granted by their magic-forged extradimensional armor! But if they return, who will be friend and who will be foe?!
The issue begins in the past when Agatha attempts to enter Valtorr’s dimension to rescue Corrina. Unfortunately, the vapors soon start to hinder Agatha’s efforts despite her putting up a good fight against Valtoor’s shadow creatures. I like Valtorr’s little speech here, because he knows that Agatha is on his turf and is clearly outmatched now.
At this point, I genuinely feel sorry for Agatha because she is truly desperate to save Corrina to the point where she is willing to risk her life and face overwhelming odds. Agatha is probably in love with Corrina and I have to respect someone willing to face darkness to save the one they love most.
Sadly, Agatha’s rescue attempt isn’t successful. The vapors soon exhaust her and Agatha is nearly overwhelmed by shadows, forcing her to conjure a portal to retreat. Agatha’s apology and Corrina begging Agatha not to leave her is heartbreaking.
Before moving on, I want to take a moment to appreciate Antonio Fabela’s colors throughout the Agatha and Valtorr confrontation. The contrast between the purple of Agatha and Corrina’s clothing, Agatha’s magic, and Valtoor’s darkness is visually striking and heightens how overpowering Valtoor’s presence and magic is.
Back in the present day, The Midnight Suns minus Zoe Laveau are trying to leave The Dark Dimension and head to Valtorr’s. However, blocking the exit portal is a giant one-eyed stone beast, which gets a neat double page spread courtesy of Luigi Zarga’s intimidating character design. At least The Midnight Suns get to kick some ass with their new magic armor made by Sorcerer Supreme Tony Stark at the end of the previous issue.
Furthermore, Ethan Sack’s dialogue on these pages is amusing. Sorcerer Supreme Tony Stark says, “Careful, I spent a lot of time on that armor!” when the giant “WHAPS” Blade aside. Speaking of “WHAPS”, this fight wouldn’t be nearly as epic without Joe Sabino’s blocky yellow sound effect lettering.
Another enjoyable aspect of this fight is seeing Illyana step up as a leader. When the stone giant fires a laser from its eye, Illyana swiftly teleports to its head and takes out the eye with her sword. Then she tells Wolverine to “aim for the gaps between the rocks” and he ends up taking out one of the giant’s hands. Yay for magic armor that increases damage!
My absolute favorite part of this fight is Nico Minoru’s role. As you may recall, she had been feeling pretty useless without her Staff Of One, especially in the previous issue. However, she manages to make do with the magic she has. After accidentally summoning lightning in place of butterflies, Nico summons a bunch of red marbles that cause the monster to slip, allowing Kushala to summon a chain made of hellfire to make the monster fall through the portal back into The Dark Dimension. I’m sure Sorcerer Supreme Tony Stark will have no problem finishing it off. Even Illyana says he will probably “talk the giant stone statue to death.”
In the meantime, The Midnight Suns soon encounter a young woman named Zoric, who you might recall meeting in issue 1. Zoric is a shell of her former self now and seems to already The Midnight Suns, especially Nico Minoru. Before fading away, Zoric says that she and Nico are “connected by sins of the past and the absence of the future.” Even more ominous is when Zoric says that they are too late, that the end is already here because a certain “she” has already started it.
The story then goes back three hours as Zoe Laveau and Agatha Harkness stand in front of Valtorr’s Black Mirror at the castle of Agatha’s old coven. Zoe tries to get Agatha to destroy the mirror, but she won’t do it due to being under Valtorr’s influence. Zoe soon realizes this but is helpless as Valtorr claws his way through the mirror, ripping off Zoe’s necklace to activate her zombie form. Then Valtorr takes off their mask and reveals their identity.
While this is going on, the rest of The Midnight Suns storm Valtorr’s dimension weapons blazing. Magik attempts to kill Valtorr with her sword, but the team soon realizes that Valtorr is already dead and they’ve been on a wild goose chase.
If you haven’t already figured it out, the comic soon shows that the true Valtorr everyone has been looking for is actually Corrina. When Agatha left Corrina behind, Corrina rescued herself by stealing Valtorr’s powers and killing him. Unfortunately, Corrina also ended up hating Agatha and pretty much the entire world. After swatting Agatha aide, Corrina dons her mask once more and steps towards Zoe Laveau in order to use her powers to end the world.
The comic ends on a horrifying double page spread of almost all The Midnight Suns and various magic users dead on the ground under a blood red sky. Only Nico Minoru is the sole survivor, tearfully cradling Magik’s head as she cries, “We were too late!”
Whenever superheroes end up dead due to a prophecy or some out of control power, it usually takes an even bigger power to stop it from occurring, like time travel. If Zoric’s words are to be believed, then Nico may have to either return to the past or investigate it in the next issue in order to save her friends.
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.
