Magneto (2014) #2

Magneto #2 (2014)

Writer: Cullen Bunn Artist: Gabriel Hernandez

Magneto is hunting down threats to mutantkind and trying to be a lethal protector (not unlike venom in his solo series). He searches for information on the sentinel from the last issue in a homeless community, which reminds him of the nazi ghettos. We get a really neat series of flashbacks to his childhood with gray scale coloring. The coloring and tone make these flashbacks resemble a black and white movie. The series, like I explained in my last review, is more standalone than anything else. It’s not connected to the greater x-men series going on but continues from right after the end of issue 1.

This magneto series is grim and violent, showcasing the villain’s ability for cruelty. In one scene he uses a pile of nails to take out a group of armed men who may be connected to the sentinels. The series is doing a really good job of both characterizing Magneto while also showing off a very dark and brutal side to him. This is the kind of thing that makes villain comics worth reading. Magneto even affirms that he is a monster because he is willing to treat people with the same cruelty that the nazis did.

Keep in mind I am not trying to say magneto is a nazi now! This has become such a fad around the internet lately, saying marvel is making Jewish characters into nazis. He says himself that he has become evil and is using their methods! Of course, he’s not a literal nazi, that would make no sense!

There’s also a sub-plot showing that magneto has a fan following now. They have shirts that say “Magneto was right” which I’m pretty sure is some kind of meme. Not sure where that will go, but it’s an interesting idea for sure.

Overall I’d continue to give this series a 10/10. It feels like a solid story that has great dramatic moments as well as solid artwork that has very few errors. It hasn’t disappointed me yet.

X-Men #5 (2013)

X-men (2013) #5 [May 5 2017]

Battle of the Atom Part 3

Written by: Brian Wood and Art by David Lopez

X-men #5 continues the Battle of the Atom event while having some focus on the theme of this volume of X-Men (Female x-men...x-women? Whatever, you get the point). We get some commentary on the situation by Rachel Summers, who is also from the future but disagrees with the future X-men who want to capture the time-displaced Jean and Scott. She helps the young jean and Scott to escape and find refuge with...the present ’Uncanny X-Men’ rogue team. Now the past Cyclops will meet the present Cyclops and his allies again for help. This was the whole point of All New X-men from the start, after all.

I actually think this is a great way to tie the books together while continuing the ongoing narrative of the crossover. For reference, the next book in the crossover is Uncanny X-men, which follows Cyclops’ team. It is kind of forcing the plot to follow the sequence of books, but it’s not a bad way to handle tie-ins (having the characters move from one team to another). There is a nice flow and pace to the story in general. Some people would argue that the crossover took away from the female-led x-men book by forcing this crossover story into it, but I feel like the focus of this book (the female x-men) still had an impact on the crossover. It’s better than completely ignoring those characters altogether when they are meant to be the focus of this book that happens to be crossing over.

We find out future Jean Grey wears the Xorn mask to contain her powers and that future Xavier uses inbuilt Cerebro tech to track mutants. It’s interesting to see these bits of x-men tech be re-appropriated in different ways.

It should also be noted that Bendis wrote the first two issues whereas Brian Wood writes this issue since he regularly writes this series. If that’s better or worse will depend on your opinion of Bendis’ writing.

The character focus that Wood provides is really nice, especially for scenes that show the dynamic between Scott and Jean. Drawing from the original nostalgic timeline, it’s important to remember that they eventually became a couple for a reason, and seeing them being forced to reevaluate their lives based on future knowledge is interesting. How would you feel as a teenager if you knew you were hanging out with your future wife (who would later die twice!). As they point out in the issue, it’s a big complication for the young x-men.   

Besides some cool moments (Like jubilee making the comment about having to adapt to having a child) nothing stood out to me as being super impressive, but I didn’t really hate the issue either It’s slightly above average.

Score: 6.8/10