Magneto: Not A Hero #4

One more speed review for the night, and it's the final issue of the most recent Magneto mini-series. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two issues of this series, but was a bit let down by the third issue. I'm hoping issue #3 was just a minor bump in the road, and that things will pick up again with this issue.

Magneto: Not A Hero #4(of 4):

Summary: Joseph tells Human Now(yes, yet ANOTHER anti-mutant group) leader Christopher Bach that he wanted to change their prior agreement in which Joseph was to kill a few of Bach's fellow Human Now bigots(which would garner Bach greater attention)... Instead of killing a few, Joseph wanted to kill a few HUNDRED, figuring that would cause the world to fear the name Magneto again... From there we fast-forward a few days where Joseph and his clone Brotherhood of Evil Mutants attack a massive park rally. Magneto gets wind of what Joseph was up to(not to mention the fact that Joseph was doing it dressed AS Magneto), and has Astra teleport him to Joseph's location. From there, Astra escapes. Mags kills the Blob clone, before engaging Joseph in battle. Joseph continuously attempts to kill innocent civilians and bigots alike, while Mags is forced to save the people. Eventually Mags manages to subdue his wayward clone, and tells Joseph that Mags didn't have to be “evil”, as long as he got his way. And if that meant siding with Lord Summers and his X-Men, then that was what Mags would do... For as long as it served his purposes. With Joseph done for, Bach and some of his fellow bigots approach Mags shouting anti-mutant rhetoric. Bach tells Mags to show them what kind of a man he was, and Mags proceeds to drop a ton of rubble on top of Bach and the rest of the bigots(!!). By this point Lord Summers and his team have arrived on the scene, and Mags hands over Joseph, but claims ignorance as to Bach's whereabouts.

Thoughts: Now that's more like it! That's the way I like my Magneto! Not the whipped one that currently follows Lord Summers around like a toothless little puppy dog, but as the man who all of humanity SHOULD fear. The true mutant bogeyman. As this issue was winding down, with Joseph defeated and all, I figured Mags would simply leave Bach and his fellow bigots alone to show that Mags was the bigger man... Mags dropping all of that rubble on them and probably killing them? That was a great surprise, and a satisfying way to end this mini-series. So sure, Magneto is currently playing the role of Lord Summers' lapdog, but once Mags feels that isn't the best direction for mutantkind to go? He made it perfectly clear here that he'd be willing to do whatever it took to make sure mutantkind survived... By any means necessary.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Magneto madness!!!

Magneto: Not A Hero #3

First comic to be reviewed today is the third issue of the thus far shockingly good Magneto mini-series... Dammit, I shouldn't have complimented it... Now I KNOW this issue is gonna suck and it's gonna be all my fault!

Magneto: Not A Hero #3(of 4):

What Happened: Joseph reveals to Magneto that the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants that had attacked Mags to end the last issue were actually clones created by Astra. Mags manages to do away with the clones and injures Astra enough that he's able to capture her and with the help of Pixie teleport himself back to Crazy Mutie Island with Astra in tow. Meanwhile, the head of Random Anti-Mutant Organization #467,836 claims that Mags had murdered an aide of his(he actually had the aide murdered himself) and in response tells the world that he'd be marching through Chicago. On Crazy Mutie Island, the Stepford Cuckoos go through Astra's mind and discover something of interest. This issue ends with a snazzily dressed Joseph chilling out in the office of the head of Random Anti-Mutant Organization #467,836 to talk about a change of plans.

Thoughts: Yup, I gave this comic the kiss of death alright... This issue was nowhere near the level of the prior two. To be honest, I have no clue as to how Mags defeated the faux-Brotherhood, why Joseph let him escape, or what the deal was with Astra. See, when the next issue comes out I'll say the worst things about it in the introductory paragraph. That way I know I'll love that issue!

Score: 5 out of 10.That is one sharp dressed man!

Magneto: Not A Hero #2

Magneto has always worked best, for me, as a villain. Not as a shades of gray type of character(CLAREMONT!!!), not as a hero(CLAREMONT!!!), but as a tried and true super-villain. A guy who is willing to do ANYTHING to promote his own agenda. I was hoping this mini-series would give us evil Mags, but instead we're getting the return of Magneto's ill-fated clone, Joseph, as the villain of this piece. But what can ya do? I guess I'll sit back and enjoy evil Joseph-Mags, while Mags continues to play good guy...

Magneto: Not A Hero #2(of 4):

Summary: This issue begins with a ultra short explanation of how Joseph came back... That's a welcome change of pace actually... Astra(the one behind the utter mess that was the Joseph-Magneto shambles from the 90's) basically plucks Joseph out of the magnetosphere and brainwashes him, giving him Magneto's memories. See, simple. Mags is tracking Joseph as one who is in tune with the magnetosphere would be able to do, and ends up finding Joseph and Astra at an abandoned steel mill. Joseph basically wants to talk with Mags, since he's curious as to what Mags master plan was concerning the X-Men. Mags tells Joseph that there WAS no master plan, and that he was doing what he thought was best for mutantkind(being Lord Summers bootlick?!), which was what he always did. Mags also tells Joseph that Lord Summers had turned out more like Magneto than Prof. X, at which point Joseph realizes that all Mags really wanted was to rub in Xavier's nose the fact that Magneto had gained the favor of Xavier's most trusted student(which is an awesome point). Mags warns Joseph not to push it, since Mags was the genuine article and Joseph was simply a clone. Enraged to hear that, Joseph smashes Magneto, sending him careening into the ground. When Mags regains his senses, he is shocked to see that he was being attacked by not only Joseph, but Blob, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch(!). There was also some stuff with a bigot selling Magneto t-shirts in order to promote his anti-mutant agenda, but as is my prerogative, I'm going to ignore all of that until it leads to something.

Thoughts: I'll be damned, I really enjoyed this issue! First off, kudos to Skottie Young for the way he brought Joseph's back. The moment I saw Astra my first impulse was to throw the comic across the room in order to save myself from the massive confusion and bad stories associated with her... Really, Astra and her role in Joseph's original creation was some braincell killing stuff! Just thinking back on it causes me great mental anguish! Instead of flinging the comic away, I decided to read on, and was really impressed with Joseph's return. Instead of some insanely convoluted story involving dogs talking in numbers, multiple evil versions of the same character, reality punching or any similar idiotic plot device(all of which HAVE happened!), Young simply said, “Astra used her scientists to find Joseph and reincorporate him. Then she forced Magneto's memories into his head.”... Simple and logical. Besides that, the dialogue was exceptionally well done. For a guy who has spent his entire career as an artist, Young's writing here has been a revelation thus far, especially considering how terrible certain artists have been when they start writing(coughTonyDanielcough). I didn't really get what the deal was with the bigot with the Magneto shirts, and yeah, I guess we could have used some more action here, but that's what the cliffhanger is for, getting us excited for the next issue, which should be action packed.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Is “Magneto” really such a great name that people are willing to fight over it?

Magneto: Not A Hero #1

First new comic review for this Friday evening? The first issue of the latest Magneto mini-series, in particular, the Magneto: Not A Hero mini-series. Unfortunately, the main threat here was spoiled for me in the latest Marvel preview guide(good going Marvel), but hopefully that won't ruin my enjoyment of this one.

Magneto: Not A Hero #1(of 4):

Summary: This issue begins at an anti-mutant rally in Brooklyn. The idiot bigots are screaming their various lame anti-mutant slogans(“If you see a mutie, spit on it!!”) when Magneto enters the room and kills everybody but the ringleader. The ringleader is naturally shocked and horrified since he thought Mags was a good guy now, but alas, that's the last thought that goes through his little brain before Mags kills him as well. From there, Captain America and Iron Man are being yelled at by the president who thought the Magneto problem had been taken care of. The two Avengers agree to deal with the matter and Lord Summers and Magneto head to Avengers Mansion to speak with Cap and IM. Iron Man shows the footage of Magneto's slaughter at the rally(it was caught on the camcorder of one of the dead bigots), and Lord Summers counters that he had video evidence of his own showing that Mags was nowhere near Brooklyn when the massacre took place. IM accuses Lord Summers of making up the footage, showing Lord Summers and Mags a hair that was found at the scene that matched Magneto's DNA 100%. That makes Mags angry, at which time he begins jawing at IM. Ultimately Cap and Lord Summers calm their two hotheads down and Cap gives Lord Summers a few days to get to the bottom of this before the Avengers did for him. Lord Summers agrees to those terms and promises that if he couldn't find a way to vindicate Mags, he'd hand Mags over to the Avengers personally. From there we head to Crazy Mutie Island(Utopia) where Mags enlists the help of Emma Frost in using a machine based on Cerebro that would allow him to search through the magnetosphere and pinpoint just who was capable of using his powers in such a manner. Mags wanders around in his mind(or the magnetosphere, it's rather confusing) and ultimately comes across the person responsible for the attack, his thought-to-be dead clone, Joseph.

Thoughts: The bottom line? This was a very good story that didn't really have any major flaws to it. Yeah, sure I could point at little things and complain about them such as the Avengers letting Mags leave even though they had DNA evidence linking Mags to the crime scene, or Lord Summers letting Mags investigate the case all by himself, but if you can overlook those little quibbles, this was a very solid first issue. The Joseph reveal WOULD have been a huge surprise had it not been spoiled for me in that preview guide, but even though it was spoiled, it was still an interesting twist. Joseph was always a good guy, so I'm intrigued to find out what caused him to snap and go all old school Magneto on the world. I'm glad I added this mini to my pull list, because if the other three issues are this good, I have a good story to look forward to.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.The way Mags was drawn here, just completely disrespectful of the Avengers was really quite perfect.