Comic 10: The Death of Mata Nui

"What's--What's happening?? I never felt anything like that...it felt like...no...the Mask of Life...it's gone dark. It's over, all of it, I know...it's over. The Great Spirit Mata Nui is dead!"

- Toa Mahri Matoro

Comic 10: The Death of Mata Nui was the tenth comic in the relaunched BIONICLE: Ignition comic series and the fifth in the Sea of Darkness sub-series. It was originally mailed with the September/October 2007 edition of the LEGO Club Magazine, and was later collected in the graphic novel BIONICLE 6: The Underwater City. This comic saw the Toa Mahri retrieve the Mask of Life too late to save the life of Mata Nui.

Plot
Hydraxon readies, aims, and fires his Cordak Blaster at the Kanohi Ignika, intending to annihilate the mask once and for all. Before it can hit, a sudden riptide sends the bullet off-course, slamming into the seafloor. Hahli and Mantax confronts Hydraxon, demanding he turn over the mask. As the Toa of Water threatens the jailer, he fires another explosive round at the seafloor, throwing them apart. The Mask of Life is blown right into the hands of Mantax, who suddenly gains the ability to drain the life-force of others. When Hahli recovers from the blast, she reunites with the other Toa Mahri. Matoro shares with them the knowledge he learned: the Stone Cord connecting Voya Nui and Mahri Nui needed to be destroyed to help save Mata Nui. However, doing so would endanger all the Matoran of both islands. The Toa team makes sure to evacuate the villagers, entrusting them to Axonn. The Order of Mata Nui member provides the group with the Toa Terrain Crawler to help speed them back to Mahri Nui. There, the team splits up: Jaller and Matoro go after the Mask of Life, while the others engage in interference. Hewkii, in particular, goes after the wild Rahi Gadunka. The animal simply chomps the boulder that the Toa of Stone hurls at it, so the hero simply electrocutes it with his Electrified Chains. Elsewhere, Jaller attacks Mantax, knocking the Mask of Life from his grasp. When the stubborn Barraki pursues the mask again, the Toa shoots a blast of Fire at him, superheating the water around the villain. Nearby, Matoro spots the Makuta-controlled Maxilos robot heading toward the now-unclaimed Kanohi. Fed up with the mastermind's endless scheming the Toa freezes the villain solid. Jaller makes his move for the Ignika, Hydraxon stops him with a strangle-hold.

The angry jailer hurls Jaller aside, but the Toa of Fire will not give up that easily. The hero generates a wall of flame in front of Hydraxon, who remains unmoved. Before he can swim around the fire, the jailer is assaulted by a rogue Spinax, who is under the influence of Makuta. The Maxilos unit frees itself, thanking Jaller for the unexpected assist. As the two Toa escape, Jaller wonders who the robot really is, while Matoro wonders why Makuta isn't pursuing them. The schemer has his reasons, though...Finally, the Toa reunite and use their Cordak Blasters to vaporize the Stone Cord, freeing the island of Voya Nui and sending it back to its original location. The Mask of Life pulls Matoro in the wake of Voya Nui, guiding him to where they need to go. The Barraki return with reinforcements, and they are angry. Out of desperation, Matoro outpaces even Hali and flees after the retreating island. In the midst of his desperate flight, the world goes cold and grey, and he realizes the horrifying truth: the Great Spirit Mata Nui has died!

To be continued...

Credits

 * Greg Farshtey - Writer
 * Stuart Sayger - Artist
 * Alex Bleyaert - Colorist
 * Travis Lanham - Letterer
 * Jennifer Redding - Asst. art director
 * Toby Dutkiewicz - Art director/design
 * Jessica Numsuwankijkul - Asst. editor
 * Michael Wright - Editor
 * Ryan Noble - Cover design

Characters

 * Axonn - Mentioned only
 * Carapar
 * Ehlek
 * Hahli
 * Hewkii
 * Hydraxon
 * Jaller
 * Kalmah
 * Kongu
 * Mata Nui - Mentioned only
 * Mantax
 * Matoro
 * Nuparu
 * Pridak
 * Takadox

Locations

 * Mahri Nui
 * The Pit
 * Voya Nui
 * Stone Cord

Objects

 * Cordak Blaster
 * Kanohi
 * Great Arthron
 * Great Faxon
 * Great Garai
 * Great Tryna
 * Great Volitak
 * Great Zatth
 * Legendary Ignika
 * Toa Tools
 * Aqua Warblade
 * Electrified Chains
 * Power Sword
 * Protosteel Talons
 * Razor-Edged Protosteel Shield
 * Twin Cutter
 * Shark Tooth Blade
 * Squid Launcher
 * Tri-Talons
 * Twin-Bladed Black Fire Sword
 * Twin Knives

Organizations

 * Barraki
 * Great Spirit - Mentioned only
 * Matoran
 * Makuta
 * Order of Mata Nui
 * Rahi - Mentioned only
 * Gadunka - First appearance
 * Spinax
 * Toa Terrain Crawler - First appearance
 * Toa
 * Toa of Air
 * Toa of Earth
 * Toa of Fire
 * Toa of Ice
 * Toa of Stone
 * Toa of Water
 * Toa Teams
 * Toa Inika/Toa Mahri

Miscellanea

 * Elements/Elemental Powers
 * Fire
 * Ice
 * Stone
 * Water
 * Matoran Language
 * Protosteel

Quotes
"Some call this mask a curse...but it weakens my enemies and makes me stronger. Now no one can take it from me."

- Mantax is overconfident

"Wow. You make Kongu look handsome. You're almost as friendly as he is, too."

- Hewkii taunts Gadunka

"Makuta! It ends here and now! One thousand years of fear, and danger, and darkness even in the day...it all ends now, if I have to freeze you for all time to do it."

- Matoro

"My thanks, Toa for that well-timed wall of fire. Not that I couldn't have freed myself, but I was curious to see how far Matoror would go."

- Makuta/Maxilos

Extra Features

 * Comic middle: Titans of the Deep! section discusses the Maxilos & Spinax, Hydraxon, and Gadunka sets.
 * Rear cover: Advertisement for the special edition Toys"R"Us Karzahni set.

Continuity

 * This issue picks up immediately after the events of the previous comic and resolves the cliffhanger presented there.
 * This issue also sees the first comic appearance of Gadunka, an animal enlarged off-panel by the power of the Mask of Life.
 * This issue sees the only comic appearance of the Toa Terrain Crawler, a giant bio-mechanical worm used as a vehicle by the Toa Mahri.

Errors

 * On page 2, Hahli and Hydraxon's dialogue bubbles are accidentally switched around in one panel.

Trivia

 * The cover for this issue was based on Ryan Noble's fan-submitted design in the "BIONICLE Comic Cover Contest" from the March/April 2007 edition of LEGO Club Magazine.
 * This issue was originally released without a title. The name "The Death of Mata Nui" comes from the end tag of the previous comic.