The Good
MAGNETO has crept under the radar and always bordered on a cult classic. It doesn’t have the biggest following, but the following it has is dedicated and with very, very good reason: this book is one of the most intimate, character-driven on the shelf and it involves one of the oldest, most enduring villains of the Marvel U. This issue follows directly from the cliffhanger of the last, showing a Magneto willing to do anything to defend his newly founded nation and keep it safe. And by issue’s end “anything” goes to a very, very dark place. Cullen Bunn does a phenomenal job at making Magneto feel like a man alone in a crowd. There’s a great deal of inner-monologue and that could come off as either pretentious or lazy, but the way that Bunn writes him, it’s only compelling. Magneto fills in his own backstory and talks at great length about his motivation, but it always feels organic, it feels like a conversation he could actually have with himself where the reader just happens to be learning about his history and motives as a side-effect. When push finally comes to shove, it’s an incredible moment and one that will certainly have an impact on this newly formed island should it ever come out (it almost certainly will).
Series regular Gabriel Hernandez Walta provides the linework and, as always, is impeccable in his ability to illustrate action from moment-to-moment without losing the reader’s eye and Bunn’s minimliast writing helps with that enormously. There’s a lot of text on every page, but not a great deal from panel-to-panel, especially during action scenes, and that keeps the book moving at a brisk pace without having the reader feel like they’re not getting their money’s worth. There’s a real element of creeping horror that runs through this issue, and Walta’s linework provides a jagged, dark canvas for it to reach its tendrils across while Jordie Bellaire’s colors give the entire issue a washed-out, exhausted feel that lends itself perfectly to what’s being portrayed. Bellaire’s always shown an uncanny ability to bring the perfect tone to whatever she’s coloring, and this issue is no exception as she uses a very limited palette to show both the grim realities of what’s going on while reminding us that nothing is black-and-white.
The Bad
The flashbacks in this issue are well-executed, but they retread some very well-worn territory. Territory that’s had entire series dedicated to it and doesn’t necessarily need to be reshown in as much detail, or over as many pages, as it is here.
The Verdict
While the flashbacks may go a step too far in getting to the depths of Magneto’s character, everything else about this issue moves with such an amazing pace, and with such darkly beautiful visuals, that it’s easy to not only look past them, but to feel that there’s still a tremendous value in this issue. Seeing a vulnerable Magneto not only try to keep up appearances, but make what must be one of the hardest decisions of his lengthy existence is well worth the price of admission and sets the stage for even more to come.