What’s Covered?
UXM # 366 - 367, XMV2 # 85 - 87, Magneto War # 1
Roster Watch
Synopsis
X-Men Volume 2 # 85: Magnus of the People
Writer - Joe Kelly
Pencils - Alan Davis
Magneto comes out as Magnus to talk to a construction worker who is working on a building he flipped upside down.
This is like some sort of parable to the Bible, but I just haven't read it enough (or ever?) to point out which story.
Trying to decide if he should kill all humans. This one guy is impressing them
At first, this guy is totally cool. He's like "Nah, man, mutants are ok."
Mags would kill Hitler as a baby without hesitation
Yea it just casually came out in conversation that Magneto wouldn't hesitant to kill Hitler.
Magneto pushes the guy more and more until he finally hears what he wants, transforms into Magneto, and sets out the destroy the Earth or something.
Meanwhile, the XM are saving ppl from a burning building
There is an amazing scene (below) where cops pull guns on the x-Men and Prof X is about to take over their minds, but Storm calls him off and uses reason to de-escalate the situation.
(Look at how Marrow has her bone knives out and Nightcrawler is using his tail to hold her back.)
Oh, and a bunch of robots are building something for Mags in the North Pole
Magneto War # 1
Plot- Alan Davis
Script - Fabian Nicieza
Pencils - Lee Weeks
We start off with this peaceful scene of the X-Men, X-Force, and Generation X playing peacefully with a bunch of humans.
Meanwhile, a new Acolyte, REM Ram, infuses the various X-Men with crazy dreams.
Prof X: him Vs Mags
Rogue: Mags proposes, fight with Gambit
W: Adamantium ripped out again
Joseph speaks with QS about maybe being his father, while younger.
The "Bad Acolytes," composed of Cortez, the Kleinstock brothers, Senyaka, Spoor, Projector, Rem Ram, Static, and Barnacle were caught trying to attack the X-Men.
Cortez creates a bone cage
Barnacle turns Storms skin into a hard shell
Projector creates a shield
Cortez pushes REM Ram, hurting him, Rogue saves him, Cortez flees
The rest of the acolytes ask for asylum and X denies them (Dick move). Says he wants to track them to see if Magneto was back.
Vought has the smarter Acolytes with Mags. I’m guessing Scanner, Unscione, Frenzy (Cargill), Mellencamp, etc.
UXM # 366 - 367, XM # 86 - 87: War Begins
Plot- Alan Davis
Script - Fabian Nicieza
Pencils - Leinel Francis Yu (UXM # 366 -367), Alan Davis (XM # 86 -87)
Mags Acolytes attacking mutant research centers
Mags talking to android, Ferris, about his coming attack
The X-Men jump out of a plane (awesome) and fight the Acolytes.
As the XM crash, Scanner says
“It’s not the end they deserve.”
Cargill says
“ We’ve both been too soft on the X-Men since Cyclops helped us.” (Ref XM44)
Meanwhile, Mangeto's Android Herald, Ferris, lands at the UN. He (Magneto) promises to disrupt anything electric unless the UN cedes the power to him to make a haven on Earth.
A woman named Astra saved Magneto from the pod (after Fatal Attractions) and created Joseph as a clone.
She claimed to be the first to join and leave the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants
Used Joseph to control Mags
Mags escapes, Joseph tracks him down but his skull is hit in Central America, which is where we first see him.
The Acolytes watched the X-Men crash into the snow.
Scanner once again has empathy for the X-Men. Later Professor X shows up (in her mind) but she is mad he didn’t accept her and keep her, instead choosing to get her arrested. So she sends him back to his body.
The Russians send missiles at Mags and detonate outside, but then the X-Men are freaking out before the nuclear shockwave hits them.
The X-Men pretend to be dead (no radiation)?
Mellencamp accuses Neophyte of being weak like Scanner, then Scanner says to go kill the team.
It turns out that Xavier was influencing them to draw them into a fight, allowing the team to take over the ship and go after Magneto.
Astra and Joseph sneak up on Magneto.
The UN isn't sure what to do. They don't want to give into Magneto, but he's holding the world hostage.
Magneto and Joseph erupt into an unholy wary. Magneto claims that he allowed Joseph to run free to he could take time to set up his power base.
The X-Men show up to stop Magneto. Nightcrawler teleports Astra away. Wolverine comes in trying to kill Magneto and get his revenge for Fatal Attractions.
With Astra away, Joseph tries to u do the damage to the magnetosphere. Professor X, Storm, and Colossus are trying to hold him together, but he ultimately sacrifices himself to save the planet.
Wolverine goes completely feral and is out to kill Magneto, interrupting Rogue trying to talk some sense into him.
Ambassador Huxley shows up and says that the UN agrees to give Magneto control of Genosha if he promises to never attack the world again.
The X-Men can't believe it!
Wolverine decides that he can't let this happen, but Professor X uses his power to knock him unconscious.
The team deals with this new normal.
My Connections
Since roster construction is my favorite thing, let's take a second to acknowledge who is out of the roster right now. Angel, Psylocke, Cyclops, Jean, Iceman, Beast, Cecilia Reyes, Cannonball, Maggot, Bishop, Forge, Banshee.
It's odd to have Cyclops and Jean missing, but to be honest I like that Storm is back to leading the team without any competition. I've been talking since my very first blog that I'm waiting for Cyclops to get interested, and I'm still waiting. But Jean...Think about this for a second. The biggest and arguably best X-Men story every told involved Jean becoming incredibly powerful and dying. Then they brought her back and...they've done nothing with her. I can't think of a single story she's headlined. And then you think about her offspring (Cable, Stryfe, Nate Grey) all being incredibly powerful because they are both telepaths and telekenitic. Hello! Jean has these powers too, but how come she was only super powerful when possessed by the Phoenix? Ok, I'm done.
Angel and Psylocke have been away from the team for a long time, so I'm not terribly concerned that they are missing. Angel was never terribly interesting and if Jim Lee isn't drawing Psylocke then I can live without her.
Beast and Iceman are taking a time out as well, which rounds out the original 5 team members. I don't really mind that neither of them are on the roster, but it's odd that we haven't even gotten a single throwaway line about why they are away. I guess they are still vacationing in Alaska, chasing crows still.
Maggot and Bishop were clearly written out. I thought Cecilia Reyes would continue as a satellite character like Moira or Professor X (Yes, he's just a satellite character), but it appears as though Alan Davis at least is not interested in her as a character.
And then Banshee, Forge, and Cannonball have all left to join (or lead) other teams.
Are we not doing full crossovers anymore? Is this a straight up acknowledgement of the waning quality of X-Force, X-Factor, and Generation X?
I want to take a second to talk about Wolverine and Magneto. They have a really fascinating connection. When Magneto was running the X-Men, him and Wolverine were getting along. Both Magneto and I were quite shocked when Wolverine was going for the kill in X-Men # 1. That was written by Chris Claremont, so I can't chalk that up to poor characterization. Then after Fatal Attractions, it's clear Wolverine can't stand him and is out for blood.
I hope we see big ramifications for Xavier knocking Wolverine out. X has been a bit too liberal lately with his mind powers.
Creators
Joe Kelly is outtie. I mistakenly assumed that only Steve Seagle was getting the boot, but apparently Joe Kelly is getting the boot too. It could just be due to Alan Davis becoming available and the editors deciding to do anything to get him back. I can co-sign this decision as Alan Davis writes great stories and it really just warms my heart to see his art again. Maybe because I hated the manga shit so much. Also, Fabian Nicieza is back writing scripts! What the fuck is up with that? I need to go hunting for some interviews to help me understand what's happening here.
Character Beats
Professor X is not sure that he still believes in his own dream. Maybe that's why he thinks it's ok to break people's civil rights so often.
Storms thoughts:
“It’s good to have such an experienced team of X-Men. It makes my leadership role that much less burdensome.”