In the early 1980s, Marvel editor Jim Shooter felt intense pressure from his corporate overlords to maximize profits by multiplying successful series like Uncanny X-Men. He passed that pressure down to writer Chris Claremont, who was instructed to explain Illyana's "lost years" as a child in Belasco's dark dimension. This mini-series, one of several Marvel tried around that time, gave Claremont an opportunity (and indeed an obligation) to write a Conan-type fantasy tale. Over the course of four issues, he showed Illyana's years as a student first of Ororo, then of a feline Kitty Pryde, then of Belasco himself, and finally self-taught.
Issue #3, the "taught by Belasco" chapter, included Illyana's discovery of her pubertal mutant power to create "stepping discs." Claremont borrowed this concept from sci-fi author Larry Niven. In this segment, Illyana experiments with the discs and finds herself displaced into the past, observing from a balcony as the sorceress Ororo seems to defeat Belasco. His right arm has been fried off.
Interior splashes appeared sparingly in this era compared to later times. Magik #1 has a double splash (pages 2 and 3); issues 2-4 each have an opening splash; and the only other splashes in the whole series are this one and the final page of this issue.
The left hand page has a little bit of everything artwise: Two large figures locked in battle, some magical special effects, an ornate background, and the small figure of Illyana huddled behind the railing. Storm sports the Mohawk that had recently debuted in Uncanny X-Men as an expression of her inner turmoil after being infected by the Brood. The alternate reality version of Ororo never had that experience, but Frenz gave her the mohawk anyway since it was getting a response from the fans.
Both Storm and Illyana had their days as Claremont's "fallen woman" of the moment; he returned to that theme repeatedly throughout his X-Men tenure, no doubt inspired by the enormous response to the Dark Phoenix storyline. This issue plays it out with Ororo; as the caption says, she seems to be winning on the left hand page, but on the right hand page is corrupted into a demonic thrall of Belasco, to the shock of onlooking Illyana.
John Buscema penciled the first two issues, leaving the last two to Ron Frenz and Sal Buscema respectively. Tom Palmer inked all four. His strong inking style, inspired by Neal Adams, tends to obscure the distinctives of underlying pencilers. In this case that is a virtue which maintains the look of this series across its three pencilers.
