Comic Info
Comic Name: Magneto
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Gabriel Hernandez Walta/Javier Fernandez/Roland Boschi
# of Issues: 6
Release Date: 2015
Magneto #7
Reprints Magneto #7-12 (September 2014-January 2015). Magneto’s failing powers are becoming a problem as more and more people are searching for the “Master of Magnetism”. Magneto travels to Asia to seek out an underground mutant fighting ring…but he also has another reason for the trip. Plus, the Red Skull is back and is using Professor Xavier’s abilities and mind. The only person who might be able to stop the Red Skull is Magneto, but he’ll need help!
Written by Cullen Bunn, Magneto Volume 2: Reversals features art by Gabriel Hernandez Walta, Javier Fernandez, and Roland Boschi. Following Magneto Volume 1: Infamous, this collection also contains a crossover with the event series Axis which was included in Uncanny Avengers: Axis Prelude.
Magneto probably didn’t deserve a series. Like many Marvel series based on a single character, the character is good for guest appearances and gets a bit tired as the series goes on. That being said, Magneto turned out to be a fun read, but this collection shows the problems with the series (and it isn’t a problem with the writer or creator).
Magneto #12
The series loses all sense of flow and Marvel is now notorious for doing this. Both Marvel and DC have this intense desire for “Event Series” that affect multiple books and titles. While the authors are trying to tell a tale, Marvel forces them into a storyline that they have little opportunity to alter. It feels like Bunn got suckered into Axis while trying to create a story of personal redemption and evolution for Magneto…it is like turning a drama into an action in the second half.
This also poses problems for the reader. Not only was I not wanting an Axis crossover, I didn’t understand what was going on since I didn’t read Axis. Bunn tries to explain it all, but the issues barely stand on their own. They seem like footnotes to a series I didn’t read (or care to read). I chose to read Magneto because it was a solo book.
Magneto 2: Reversals shows the danger for this series and any writer’s series at Marvel (or DC for that matter…though DC seems to let things develop a bit more before big events). Writers really don’t have much choice in the plots in the long run and you can’t really tell a story without it fitting into the Marvel Universe (which Marvel only cares about 25% of the time) or without it existing outside of the Marvel Universe (which then it is either retconned or ignored). It is frustrating as a longtime comic book reader. Magneto 2: Reversals is followed by the better book Magneto 3: Shadow Games.
Related Links:
