Despite an aesthetic shift from teenage girl to cigar- chomping demon, the character of Illyana Rasputin has a great deal in common with the character Hellboy, and exhibits a lot of the attributes for which Hellboy was praised, years ahead of its release. #xmen @TalkingMagik 1/6

Hellboy debuts in 1993 and would quickly become one of the greatest comics of all-time thanks to a dense mythology, a compelling hero’s journey, and, most of all, Mike Mignola’s artwork - some of the finest and most innovative draftsmanship in comics history. 2/6

Magik debuts in 1983 with a mini-series. Like Hellboy, she is a demonic being choosing to live amongst humans within a found-family, whilst working with them to fight her ilk, hiding her true form in fear of fulfilling a prophecy that will open a portal to the demonic realm. 3/6

On a smaller scale, both hide their horns, both battle sorcerers determined to open said portal, and both carry enchanted weapons in their right hand (OK, technically it IS his right hand in Hellboy’s case) that hold the key to the power balance between the two worlds. 4/6

Interestingly, Mignola did a lot of work for the X-line during the late 1980s, when Illyana’s demon storyline was culminating. He even illustrated the cover of the “Classic X-Men” issue that portrays the first encounter with Limbo (and S'ym looks very Hellboy) 5/6

I’m not accusing Mignola of a swipe here, though perhaps there is some influence. More importantly, I think it’s worth noting that a lot of the character attributes that make Hellboy’s story so compelling were likewise exhibited by Magik, a great character in her own right. 6/6

Some footnotes: Illyana debuted in 1975 with GSX#1, and technically she was Magik in UXM before the mini-series (we just didn't know it). Finally, apologies for posting this later than usual - we had a power outage here.