Magneto #2 - Review/Spoilers

[sunofdarkchild]

The issue opens with Magneto attacking Angel in his original training outfit in an attack on the X-mansion. The master of magnetism KOs the teenaged Warren and is at war with himself as to whether he should kill his opponent when Angel becomes Cannonball. His mind is a mess and he isn't sure how he knows Sam's name.

Similar occurrences happen with Iceman turning into Doug and Jean turning into Rahne. While cradling the latter, he's attacked by the rest of the New Mutants under the leadership of teenage Cyclops and blasts them all into unconsciousness. He's torn between his hatred of the original X-Men from the past and his current love for the New Mutants. Surveying the devastation he's caused, he wonders why if Magneto the evil mutant is an act he puts on and a sacrifice he makes for the greater good, why does he enjoy this violence.

He screams "it's not true!" as he wakes up, to the sisterhood bowing and chanting "hail Magneto" repeatedly. He's imprisoned and wearing his famous helmet, which has a bunch of metal tubes attached to it.

The main villain introduces herself as Irae, Queen of Wrath. She says that just as Magneto was her savior, now she is his. He tries to resist, but they put him under their machine's influence again, trying to brainwash him into being like he was before he reformed.

At the mansion, the New Mutants debate whether they should attempt to rescue Magneto, with Sunspot suggesting Magneto staged the attack and kidnapping and Magik bringing up his past crimes while Karma and especially Rahne insist they have to try. Karma takes charge and leads them to Cerebro so they can find Magneto. Warlock tried to interface with the machine and gets zapped, saying "observation, oops." Also, there's a moment where Warlock uses a big word that Doug doesn't understand.

Back in Antarctica, Magneto vows to never be a victim again keeps trying to overload the machine he's plugged into to no avail. Irae says the more he tries the more damaged and fragmented his mind and memories become. She reveals that this is one of Magneto's many bases he created when he was a villain. She says that he can call her "daughter," and looks sad when he acts surprised. Her eyes glow as she says, "let me tell you a story."

The New Mutants debate who should be the one to use Cerebro since doing so carries great risk to their minds. Karma's about to since she's the closest thing to a telepath they have, but Magik insists she be the one since everything she went through in Limbo gives her a higher level of resiliency. Karma tries to pull rank as team leader and Magik says that's why the team can't afford for her to take this risk. So Illyana puts on Cerebro, and after a few moments of wonder at being connected to so many minds Cerebro somehow blasts her out of the seat. This works and Magneto is found, but Magik is greatly weakened from the ordeal and Doug stays behind to care for her. It's implied she knows what Irae's plan is but can't quite say it before collapsing. Lying in bed like she has the flu, Magik has a moment of vulnerability where she asks Doug not to leave and he promises to stay by her.

Warlock transforms into a plane to carry the team to Antarctica but gets blasted out of the sky by Magneto. Magma tells Sunspot to "say it" as they see Magneto, Irae, and the rest of the sisterhood standing over them, and he says "I told you so," showing that the team now believes Magneto betrayed them all along.


Review: There were moments that jumped out at me as being very odd this issue. Doug not knowing what "brobdingnagian" means and being chided by Warlock for playing too many video games instead of studying was one - Doug's power is to understand and speak any language regardless of education so that whole exchange doesn't make sense. Karma insisting and being treated like she's the team leader is also out of place, as she was only the leader in the first few issues of before being presumed king, and she did not become leader again after being freed from the Shadow King's control. Dani was the leader at this point, had been the leader for years, and would continue to be the leader until she left the book years later. That's a pretty major gaffe for me, because it changes the entire team dynamic and erases Dani's role in the story. That's my 'how did no editor notice and correct this mistake' moment. It would have made more sense if the mistake was that Dani was depicted as the team leader instead of Karma in a story set in the first few issues, because then the mistake would be consistent with what New Mutants was for the majority of its run and the expected team dynamics of most long-time readers.

From what I know, I believe the idea that non-telepaths can use Cerebro in theory and don't because their minds wouldn't be able to handle it is canon, so that works, as does the idea that Magik could take more of a mental beating than the others given what she's been through and her psychic shields. But the whole discussion is mute since Magik can just scry for Magneto from Limbo without any of this risk.

The best part was the beginning where Magneto was attacking the X-Men only for them to turn into his students. It probably would have been better if there were more moments like that, even if it meant fewer scenes with the New Mutants. I also wish there were fewer breadcrumbs and more answers about who Irae is. Those seem to be coming next issue, at least, but there's not enough to her yet to give the mystery surrounding her the weight it needs.

[wlfking]

I liked it. Especially the first scene. It was really well done.
The thing about Doug not knowing a word seemed a little odd but I'm not entirely sure how his powers work. I'm guessing we aren't able to blame this issue on him still being new to understanding his powers?

Karma as leader is also strange but I can't say I remember exactly how that was being handled when she came back.

Jean turning into Rahne is funny because it reminds me of Claremont saying in interview something about wanting to write about those two basically just because they both had live action versions played by the Game of Thrones Stark sisters.
Here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVsc9HFVNmA
around the 36:50 mark if you're curious.

The thing with Magik and Cerebro was interesting.

Another child of Magneto? Got to keep up with Logan, eh?

Maybe it's not intentional but most of the "sisterhood" look like children.

[anyajenkins]

It probably means a metaphorical ‘child’ , but would be funny if he had another kid, lol.

[Master of Sound]

It probably means a metaphorical ‘child’ , but would be funny if he had another kid, lol.

Well, Eric only had Polaris and Anja, did he not? It was never confirmed that Zaladane was his kid and Pietro and the witch are not his anymore.

[salarta]

I’m mostly indifferent right now to Zaladane 2.0 Now In Color. If the patricide stuff I heard is accurate, it makes sense for a character that isn’t Lorna to want to kill him.

[anyajenkins]

Well, Eric only had Polaris and Anja, did he not? It was never confirmed that Zaladane was his kid and Pietro and the witch are not his anymore.

They still are, marvel is just in denial… . Although, it is also funny, that since marvel is pretending they aren’t his kids, that he needs som more, lol.

[Arachne]

I liked it. Especially the first scene. It was really well done.
The thing about Doug not knowing a word seemed a little odd but I'm not entirely sure how his powers work. I'm guessing we aren't able to blame this issue on him still being new to understanding his powers?

Karma as leader is also strange but I can't say I remember exactly how that was being handled when she came back.

I didn't enjoy this as much as the first issue. The errors were just too glaring. The idea that Doug didn't knew what "brobdingnagian" meant is nonsense, both in terms of his character and powers. And how could the writer, the artist, and three editors miss that Dani and Sam were co-leaders for almost the entire run of vol. 1? Then you've got the credit page saying this story takes place circa #38, when they came back from the dead. The team was in no condition for this story until several issues after that point. (Or several issues before, but then they wouldn't know who the Beyonder was last issue.)

I'm really having a hard time thinking of another comic that had so many mistakes. And the first issue was so good...

[Malachi]

I didn't enjoy this as much as the first issue. The errors were just too glaring. The idea that Doug didn't knew what "brobdingnagian" meant is nonsense, both in terms of his character and powers. And how could the writer, the artist, and three editors miss that Dani and Sam were co-leaders for almost the entire run of vol. 1? Then you've got the credit page saying this story takes place circa #38, when they came back from the dead. The team was in no condition for this story until several issues after that point. (Or several issues before, but then they wouldn't know who the Beyonder was last issue.)

I'm really having a hard time thinking of another comic that had so many mistakes. And the first issue was so good...

The misstakes where less glaring to me since it's been a while since I read those NW issues. But this issue just didn't give me enough good moments to get invested in. It was to much exposition and transport and not enough character interactions. In that sense the scenes with the NW cast made for the best parts. We know to little about the queen of wrath and her sisterhood to care about them. Magneto fighting his own demons gets wordy and slow like a quagmire, you need to break it up with something more substantial then some teasing about the Queen of Wraths.
The cerebro scene bothered me. Illiyana should not be able to use the Cerebro at all. Karma neither. Perhaps Dani if her powers evolved more but that's it for me.

I think that is has taken me this long to write about it tells me all I need to know about how much I enjoyed it :/