salarta

It’s time! I made a “quick thoughts” post earlier because I had limited time, but now I’ll be going into details. Bear in mind: I am a Polaris fan first and foremost, so if it looks like I’m not going into enough depth about Magneto on a book about him, that’s why. 😛

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. And pictures! Pictures of Spider-Man Polaris.

Right out the gate, we have Lorna and Magneto interacting. That’s great as a Lorna fan, because I honestly expected we’d only see Lorna for a couple pages for this issue. The only “off” thing about the opening, which has applied to other Magneto issues as well, is that it feels kind of abrupt. Don’t get me wrong: I’d much rather it start this way and get to see more Lorna than have to wait for a requisite build before we see her, but that still sticks out to me.

Cullen Bunn said in a Marvel.com chat weeks back that the exchange about Magneto being a terrible father would be in Magneto #18, and that’s absolutely true. I’m glad to see that noted here. Since I started reading Magneto, Bunn’s always seemed to get down into the characters, understand them, and really work with what’s there for both strengths and flaws. My personal fan headcanon has been that Magneto purposely stayed away from Lorna so she wouldn’t be targeted by his enemies, but Magneto simply being too obsessed with his mission also works well and may be truer to his character than what I’ve thought of.

One thing that worries me a bit: the talk about Magneto’s effort being likely to kill him, and his willingness to die for the cause. I don’t think there was any way of avoiding that spectre, and Bunn did things well by immediately addressing that instead of hiding it like many writers would, but it doesn’t change my unease. Going into this, I worry Polaris, Magneto or both will get killed off, seeing how eager Disney and Marvel are to undermine the X-Men franchise. Magneto #20 is an issue I’m really looking forward to, but at the same time, I’m used to such big gestures for characters I like during events like this one being red flags that said character will get killed off. I am hoping that’s not the case.

Bunn used a lot of callbacks to X-Men and Magneto history that I really liked, with Namor but especially with little bits like this exchange.

More recent Polaris fans may be unaware of this, but in the 70s, Lorna was possessed by an entity named Malice. During that time, Malice joined the Marauders and served as a villain to the X-Men. In terms of how well she was depicted, her time as Malice was bad for Lorna, but in terms of its historical place, it’s still highly relevant and one of many things I’ve wanted to see come up again for Lorna. It’s acknowledgment that 1) writers and Marvel recognize she’s been around far longer than the 90s, and 2) the writer cares enough about Lorna to have seen and included the reference.

As an aside, this gives me a twinge of hope that maybe, just maybe, Lorna could survive this event and go on to lead the Marauders, perhaps Genosha itself as well. I think it’d be a great step for her; she DOES say she was looking forward to seeing what Magneto planned to do with Genosha during this issue.

And of course, Lorna looks BADASS in this.

That’s her “I am the Mistress of Magnetism and I am not fucking around” face. The artist also did an amazing job on the costume. I’ve had a hard time finding pictures of an “ideal” look for her costume, and in my opinion, this is it down to a T unless another artist does one better I didn’t know was possible. Also worth mentioning: her skin looks yellow here to me, and I notice one of the cape loops is purple. The purple is probably unintentional, but I’d certainly welcome purple (or gold) as details for a secondary color for her.

While both Lorna and Magneto are acting as they are to save people, I noticed Lorna is doing a LOT of saving in this issue. Whether it’s debris or a fall, Lorna gets in there in the nick of time.

And then there’s this fucker.

I look at this and think “Is he… is he getting off on this? Is he… still wearing pants?” I kinda want this to be a meme. Can it be a meme?

But the guy does exemplify the reactions of the crowd. Most seem to be acting really strange. Maybe people normally act that way in such a situation, but my reaction as a reader is pretty much the same as Lorna’s: what is wrong with these people? For some reason, it feels bizarre for them to be fawning over Magneto and their power as they are.

I mean, sure, I’m fawning over Lorna and Magneto’s power, but I have an excuse.

And they DO look godly together. The artist nailed that image perfectly. I’ll be honest, as a Lorna fan, I’ve always liked her powers. But I’ve never been quite as focused on it as many other fans are. The whole concept of explosions being impressive just because they’re explosions never meant much for me. What I care about is what power use says about a character and his or her personality, and I think this is really the first time an artist has made the whole “grand display of power” approach appealing to me.

All in all, Magneto #18 was an excellent issue, and I’m looking forward to the next one. This is one of the few times where anticipation for the next issue actually makes me disappointed comics have that waiting period between issues; All-New X-Factor #14′s Lorna and Wanda sister time was one of the others.