Magneto #18

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undeadpool

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Edited By undeadpool

The Good

From where Magneto was left, contemplating his life and his legacy on the shores of Genosha after making one of the most horrific decisions of his rule, he is immediately thrust into the consequences of the final Incursion event. While ruminating with his daughter Polaris, he also flashes back to critical points in his life relating to his tumultuous relationship with the Atlantean King (and mutant) Namor. The flashbacks delve deeper not just into the relationship the two men had, but how Magneto has changed across the years, often as a result of whomever was writing him at the time, and it’s here that the greatest insight is gained: Magneto is one of the most fascinating characters in comics. Beginning existence as a one-dimensional villain for the X-Men to hurl themselves against, Chris Claremont redesigned him as a villain in name only. A lifetime of persecution at the hands of the Nazi party, as well as humanity in general, had left little room in his heart for sympathy or even nuance as he fell into the same trap as those who wronged him: demonizing everyone who wasn’t like himself. Cullen Bunn writes this as a grandiose finale, bringing a giant sense of scale to both the external and internal events of the issue, and leaving the master of magnetism with only one ultimate act to finally accomplish.

Paul Davidson steps in on visuals and, for the most part, does a fantastic job. When he’s on point, the characters have an amazing amount of detail and the action is bombastic and explosive without becoming too confusing or hard to follow. The characters look great across all their incarnations, and the ways that they change, both great and small, are well represented and look generally fantastic. The colors by Paul Mounts are dark and grim, and a little bit hazy in the flashbacks, but not without their sense of light and hope as well as bringing a sense of realism to the often weird visuals.

The Bad

As a tie-in to Secret Wars, this book’s core conflict is ultimately undone. It stands alone as a good story, particularly in how it characterizes Magneto, but even without reading the core title, there can’t possibly be any way for him to succeed, rendering the core of the issue's conflict and driving force mostly moot. There’s also a jarring sense as the issue begins, throwing the reader into completely unfamiliar territory considering where Magneto was left off last issue. Overall, being a part of the massive crossover does this issue no favors, rendering it toothless and asking far more questions than it answers.

As mentioned before, when the visuals are on-point, they are wonderful, but they falter more than a few times, and it’s massively to their detriment with characters looking unusual or unlike themselves, creating moments of unintentional comedy.

The Verdict

This issue could have been a classic had it stuck to what this series has done best: framing critical, important action around the kind of person Magneto either is or wishes to be. As it stands, it’s still a fantastic read for fans of the Master of Magnetism, and seeing him interact with his often neglected child is great, but needing to adhere to a certain set of rules and limitations imposed by an outside story ultimately hurts it.

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jmc247

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Its the end of the world as we know it... and I feel fine.

It seems as good a time as any for a family reunion which provides some of the more heartfelt scenes Magneto has had in quite some time. It shouldn't have taken 15 years in the 616 comics since the last emotional reunion between Lorna and Magneto to have another full fledged one that actually deals with issues between them, but its good to finally see it take place before the end. Bunn really manages to so far nail what had made Lorna and Magneto's relationship interesting and unique from his historic ones from the twins whose family connections to Magneto and Lorna were rendered defunct for the time being which is certainly something in the background likely also weighing on both Lorna and Magneto.

The Magneto deals with his back story with Namor going back to the Silver Age Brotherhood days to the modern era. Namor acts the catalyst for how Magneto feels he must see this war as one where the other worlds are genocidal foes.

Continuity points: For this issue there are plenty and handed out for this issue for references to Lorna and Magneto's time on Genosha as well as Lorna's Malice era affiliation with the Marauders close and of course seeing the original Brotherhood meeting Namor.

Lorna mentions to Magneto she would have like to have seen this time where the new Genosha could have gone... and Magneto mentions you still can. The masses stand around as virtual spectators basically putting their hopes in Magneto to save their world. Magneto plans on basically going on a suicide mission to save the Earth by destroying the other and in the end we see rather advanced sentinels appear from the alternate Earth.

This issue was on fire by in large and we get to see Magneto in a role this time as defender of the whole world mutants and humans. The artistic visuals were for the most part quite well done in getting down the emotion and the gravity and scope of the situation as well as depicting the emotional filled scenes early on. Yes, some are unevenly done, but it didn't take away from the comic that much from me. The seven pages of flashback with Namor were perhaps one too many, but they still added to the story and gave it its background. The public response to Magneto was interesting as the old saying goes people will latch onto anyone to save them and their family and historically that has been the case.

We see Magneto's legacy playing out in this final arc... is this all leading to an end for Magneto or a new beginning? We don't know yet.

In all this was a great issue, a must buy for the week and if the next few issues lives up to what in my view is its current potential it could go down as one of the top Magneto mini story arcs in quite a few years.

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JasonBriggs

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I'm tired of this series being interrupted by crossovers I don't care about.

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deactivated-5a04a566e9ae3

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*sigh*

Secret Wars completely derailed this book.

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JewishDork

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#4  Edited By JewishDork

Crossovers killed this series from being great.

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wowlock

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I'm tired of this series being interrupted by crossovers I don't care about.

''Magneto is getting interesting ? Lets bring him into AXIS ! ''..

''Oh it was just getting good ? LETS DESTROY THE WHOLE UNIVERSE ''

Pretty much.

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MadeinBangladesh

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oh darn it. Here comes the tie ins --_--

~MiB

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JasonBriggs

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@wowlock said:
@jasonbriggs said:

I'm tired of this series being interrupted by crossovers I don't care about.

''Magneto is getting interesting ? Lets bring him into AXIS ! ''..

''Oh it was just getting good ? LETS DESTROY THE WHOLE UNIVERSE ''

Pretty much.

Exactly. Axis really killed the series for me. I wish they would've left him out completely, especially since nothing in the event seemed to matter. I feel bad for the authors and artists...they were just trying to tell a good story and keep getting their stuff interrupted.

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Aeroman

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#8  Edited By Aeroman

just wondering is his series going to continue after secret wars or not?

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XxKnightFlamexX

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@aeroman: From what G. Willow Wilson said "Every series will be (Re)launching at #1 in September" If Magneto continued it will start all over from issue #1 and may have a different creative team

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batarangbamz

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@jasonbriggs: You and me both. I still wish he'd been left out of AXIS, or atleast left his title out.

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rg56

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I didnt buy axis and I thought this was a great issue!?..

cant wait to see what he can do with the Incursion!

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superior_prime_maybe

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this was a better tie-in. I liked it.
But i can see why people who liked the regular stories would hate it

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#13  Edited By owie  Moderator

@jasonbriggs said:
@wowlock said:
@jasonbriggs said:

I'm tired of this series being interrupted by crossovers I don't care about.

''Magneto is getting interesting ? Lets bring him into AXIS ! ''..

''Oh it was just getting good ? LETS DESTROY THE WHOLE UNIVERSE ''

Pretty much.

Exactly. Axis really killed the series for me. I wish they would've left him out completely, especially since nothing in the event seemed to matter. I feel bad for the authors and artists...they were just trying to tell a good story and keep getting their stuff interrupted.

I'm in total agreement.

While it's fun to see Namor and Magneto's relationship, and what Magneto's attempting to do is cool, it ultimately read as a complete filler issue. Axis was a terrible handicap to Magneto and Loki, and ruined the pace of both. And this is doing it all over again.

Oh yeah--and the art was standard fill-in art--rushed, sloppy, cartoonish faces.

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webheadcomics

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#14  Edited By webheadcomics

Thought this was a solid issue. However, I can totally understand where everyone is coming from. These events stopped this series from reaching all it could be. Axis especially made it hard to buy this title. With that said I like the flashbacks with Namor the most.