writer: Cullen Bunn / artist: Gabriel Hernandez Walta / Marvel Comics
While it wasn’t really defined in the murkiness of the crossover with AXIS, Magneto seems to be in a new arc now with Eric thinking what’s next. There’s a strong narrative of all the things that Magneto has done that haven’t worked out for him in the long run, and it runs in the background of all the action going on. And there is action a plenty. This book’s strength has been showing the resourcefulness and craftiness of Magneto in the absence of his powers at their peak. But that doesn’t mean you can’t let the leash off the pit bull every once in a while (thanks to some Mutant Growth Hormone).
The narrative is split between the failures of Genosha that haunt Magneto and the reckoning he brings upon the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents many years later in that same location. Magneto’s resolve is strong, his powers are close to what they once were and he is a God among men…
…which makes the ending a little baffling. Make no mistake, the plot itself makes sense for Magneto to submit because of the options he has available to him moving forward, but it feels a little haphazard to see it happen (by his own choice) when his powers are at their peak again. It didn’t make this month’s issue bad by any means (this is still one of my favorite books out), but it does seem to drive off a cliff more actually hang on to it, waiting for the next issue.
Walta looks right at home on pencils again as the gritty, almost dystopian feel of the book works best for this title. We root for Magneto, but it never looks and feels like it’s going to work out for him in the end, and that is a balance this book needs to stay great.
Magneto enters a new phase with a position he’s not really used to: submission. Still, this issue was good just for showcasing his power and intellect in a combat situation, one that he seldom has an equal in.
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