Chris Claremont

[biaothanatoi]

I saw Jeff's images from The Invisibles in the "pictures" threat, and it made me think about:<br><br><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c5/Magik4.jpg" style="border:0;"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END--><br><br>Chris Clairmont wrote the Uncanny X-Men during the 1980s, and his run is basically what has made X-Men the brandname it is today. He appears to have been involved in the occult scene in New York at the time.<br><br>He came up with the character "Illyana", a young girl with magical powers. In one story arc, she recounts her abusive childhood under the tutelage of an evil sorcerer - and it is inferred that this "learning process" included sexual abuse by demons. There are a number of really odd parallels between her story and ritual abuse:<br><br>- The sorcerer needed the soul of a child as part of his ritual activities.<br>- In the process, he turns a part of her soul "demonic" and so she develops two personalities - one her own, the other her "darksoul", which has been implanted by the sorcerer. <br>- The sorcerers intention is to make her wholly evil, and to further this goal, he turns her closest friend against her and forces Illyana to kill her. <br>- After her escape, she speaks about how tainted she feels about what was done to her, what she was forced to do, that evil is a part of her nature and she cannot escape her destiny. <br>- She experiences an ongoing struggle between her multiple personalities and the rage she feels about what was done to her as a child. <br>- Later, the demons who abused her as a child try to "win her back" claiming that they "know what she really is" etc.<br><br>I'm not claiming Clairmont was into anything dodgy, but I do think that the character was living out a metaphorical journey around sexual abuse. This character's struggle between her two personalities, and her sense of being "tainted" by her abuse, is dealt with very empathically. <br><br>At the same time - the ritual/DID elements are a bit odd, particularly considering that his wife at the time was working for an occult store and the base for the OTO in New York. <p></p><i></i>

[anotherdrew]

wondering if anyone would pick this up and run from the pic hints.<br>I need to ask for references on your info about Claremont<br>thanks <p></p><i></i>

[biaothanatoi]

Have a read of <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.nypress.com/print.cfm?content_id=8374" target="top">Alan Cabal's tribute to his deceased ex-wife</a><!--EZCODE LINK END-->, who was also married to Claremont. <p></p><i></i>

[starroute]

It's been a while since I read those comics, but I did go through a considerable run of them when my son was collecting them. (We even had a cat named Illyana after the character at one point, though she never lived up to her name. Most boring cat I've ever been associated with.)<br><br>My recollection is that whatever was going on there seemed pretty deliberate. I asked my son just recently if he though they'd ever bring Illyana back -- Marvel is notorious for not allowing their characters to stay dead. He said he didn't think even Marvel was prepared to mess with Illyana.<br><br>A lot of Marvel's mutants were abused and/or exploited children in one way or another -- but I think that with Illyana, they tapped into something a lot heavier than they were prepared to handle. <p></p><i></i>

[professorpan]

Nice find, biao. <p></p><i></i>

[Attack Ships on Fire]

I'll raise my hand and admit that I'm a geek and still own those issues, somewhere in my comic boxes.<br><br>As I recall, Illyana was never sexually abused by the demon S'ym or Belasco. She was, however, physically and emotionally abused while she lived a few years in the demonic realm before returning to our world.<br><br>I can't speak for the origins of the character or how Claremont came up with her background, but based on who Illyana was in the comic book world of Marvel mutants, I can understand why Claremont might have infused her with magical powers and abilities.<br><br>For those of you that were too busy kissing girls and watching "Knight Rider" to care, Illyana was the little sister of an X-Man named Colossus. In the Marvel Comics universe, most siblings of mutants develop mutant powers themselves when they approach puberty. Whereas Colossus' power was to transform his skin into organic steel, Illyana's ability was to create circular discs of energy that could teleport people. It turns out that she could teleport not just around the world but to other realms as well as in time. During one of the X-Men's adventures, Illyana fell into a disc. A moment later she reappeared but instead of being a little girl she was now a teenager. It turns out that while she was away from our reality for just a few moments, in the other realm of Limbo she was there for years. While stuck in this realm she was tutored by a demon who turned part of her soul demonic, resulting in her having dark magical abilities.<br><br>Now, to a comic book writer like Claremont who was writing "X-Men" as well as the teenage version "New Mutants", having a 6-7 year old girl whose mutant ability is to teleport people on the team isn't that exciting. Having a 14-15 year old girl who can conjure a mystical "soulsword", cast spells and may or may not have a dark side to deal with makes for a much more interesting character to read about, and probably write about too. The problem with Magik, as Illyana came to be called on the New Mutants team, is that her character didn't develop any further than being at war between her good side and her dark side. After the "Inferno" crossover the Marvel people decided it was best to de-age her back to 6-7 and thereby remove her "dark" side. The weird thing is that they would up killing the character a few years later when they needed a death to inspire Colossus to sacrifice himself to stop the Legacy Virus. Eh.<br><br>Writing magical characters is an extremely hard thing to pull off in the Marvel universe. Witness the lack of memorable storylines for Marvel's sorcerer supreme, Doctor Strange; that guy's been around for 40 years and can anyone name one memorable storyline of his? At least Thor had the Beta Ray Bill saga. Another character that they don't know what to do with is the magician Amanda Sefton, who for a brief while was on "X-Men" (written by Claremont at the time) and again, she was used as a deux ex mechina. For whatever reason magically powered characters don't make for good reading as comic book superheroes/heroines.<br><br> <p></p><i></i>

[biaothanatoi]

There is a trade paperback where the demon that sexually abused Illyana comes back for her. Her alternate personality come to the fore and there is a prolonged struggle in which she is forced to confront her past and decide whether to become what he wants her to become.<br><br>I'm not down on Claremont for this at all - I think he wrote about young women in a powerful and <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>em</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->powering way, given the comic book medium. And the manner in which she was forced to come to terms with what happened to her was very realistic.<br><br>I guess that's what I'm wondering about - it <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>was</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> very realistic.I'm wondering what was behind the connection he created between child sexual abuse and black magic. <br><br>I really liked the Illyana character when I was a kid. The graphic representation was pretty dark and there were pentragrams and knives and red glowing eyes all over the place, but it was a metaphor for the truth - adults don't always have your best interests at heart, and trauma and betrayal create overwhelming emotions that serve a protective function but are hard to control. <br><br>Ultimately, the story was redemptive - the things she was forced to do (like murder) were not her fault and she was able to regain her lost childhood.<br><br>Before, you know, they gave her the Marvel equivalent of AIDS and killed her off ... but that was a decade later. <p></p><i></i>

[biaothanatoi]

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>As I recall, Illyana was never sexually abused by the demon S'ym or Belasco. She was, however, physically and emotionally abused while she lived a few years in the demonic realm before returning to our world.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br>I'm recalling a panel in which S'ym bludgeons the six-year-old Illyana into unconsciousness and drags her off to "teach her a lesson" ... I don't think the sexual abuse issue is cut and dry.<br> <p></p><i></i>

[Attack Ships on Fire]

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>I'm recalling a panel in which S'ym bludgeons the six-year-old Illyana into unconsciousness and drags her off to "teach her a lesson" ... I don't think the sexual abuse issue is cut and dry.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>It's been a looooong time since I read the "Magik" mini-series, but I don't remember pick up any sexual violation kind of vibe from it. Remember, this was the early 80s and Marvel was anything but cutting edge when it came to violating the Comics Code Authority regs. For example, remember all those issues where Piotr and Kitty were a couple? Never once got the hint that it was sexual on panel, but I assumed they did the deed off-panel. Then just this year Joss Whedon finally has them do the deed and acknowledge their relationship has been consummated -- this took, what, 25 years?<br><br>I'd have to re-read the books again to see how it comes across to my adult perspective, but yeah, I didn't get that vibe from the series at all. This thread made me get all nolstagic and I took a look at a couple of New Mutants/Magik fansites out there and I didn't read anyone else taking about Illyana having sexual trauma while in Limbo.<br><br>As a sidenote, now that I look at that cover of Illyana looking like a demon Britney Spears, I wonder if that character was the inspiration for all the "bad girl" comics that followed in the early/mid-90s... <p></p><i></i>