Magneto: Not a Hero
Writer: Scottie Young
Artist: Clay Mann & David Curiel (present)
Gabriel Walta & Rachelle Rosenberg (past)
Once upon a time, in the mid 90’s, Magneto had a clone named Joseph. Joseph was “created” by Astra, one of the founding members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Joseph, fallen under amnesia from a battle with Magneto, was shortly found by a nun, who cared for him. Inevitably, Joseph found his way to the X-Men, as he truly believed to be Magneto. His time spent with the X-Men was a great run; fighting toe-to-toe against Onslaught to traveling light years away, going on “Stars Wars” esque adventures. And then he sacrificed himself, undoing a wrong beset by the real Magneto, during the Magneto War.
Now, Joseph has returned, along with Astra; whose been busy cloning Joseph his own Brotherhood… though she’s lost her touch cause these guys are physically beyond normal. From there, you’ve gotta pick up the book to read the goodies inside. But I will tell you, this was a fantastic book. This wasn’t just a giant brawl of magnets, there is great characterization fleshed out by both Erik and Joseph. Scottie Young has a knack for portraying Magneto, as a powerful, yet refined force. Also, double kudos must go out to Young, as I know him mainly for his art and have only read his short tales from X-Men mini series.
Clay Mann was a perfect choice for this series. I fell for his portrayal of Magneto during his run on X-Men Legacy alongside writer: Mike Carey. Clay’s action has a great flow, you can almost feel the metal fragments float on page; which brings to mind one of my favorite scenes; where Erik and Joseph have a conversations the way only two Magnetos could, while walking upwards on floating metal pieces, above the Alps! Gabriel Walta joins the art team with this issue, penciling and inking a flashback sequence. Honestly, I didn’t realize going in that another artist contributed in this issue , so I thought mid-way through the flashback, Clay Mann rushed these pages, so i confer that I wasn’t moved by Waltas portion.
This mini series has been great thus far. There’s been a lot of character set up within the first two issues and I hope the next two continue to move the plot along and bring to life more dramatic tension between Erik and Joseph (the bag of ideas is endless here) before they rip each other apart. I do also hope that Rogue makes an appearance before all is said and destroyed, as she was once romantically entangled with Joseph, as romantically entangled you could be with a gal like Rogue back then.
I am really grateful for this series though, cause I’ve loved the idea of Magneto joining the X-Men since the Age of Apocalypse and I savor every moment I’m getting with his semi-new status quo… cause we all know, Magneto is NOT a hero.
Story: 8.5
Art: 8.5
Also Recommended this week:
Uncanny X-Force #18 – Reviewed by Roger Riddell, Here.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer S.9. #4
Avengers X-Sanction #1
Follow me on Twitter @ddsuperbatnix
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