What do you think?
Rate this book
Ultimate X-Men (2001) (Collected Editions)
Ultimate X-Men, Vol. 13: Magnetic North
Emma Frost, Alex Summers and the X-Men's greatest enemy star in an epic new storyline! When teenage mutant Lorna Dane accidentally commits a horrific crime, will the X-Men protect her, or leave her to the fury of S.H.I.E.L.D.?
Collecting: Ultimate X-Men 61-65
Collecting: Ultimate X-Men 61-65
120 pages, Paperback
First published February 15, 2006
About the author
Brian K. Vaughan
1,069 books14.2k followersBrian K. Vaughan is the writer and co-creator of comic-book series including SAGA, PAPER GIRLS, Y THE LAST MAN, RUNAWAYS, and most recently, BARRIER, a digital comic with artist Marcos Martin about immigration, available from their pay-what-you-want site www.PanelSyndicate.com
BKV's work has been recognized at the Eisner, Harvey, Hugo, Shuster, Eagle, and British Fantasy Awards. He sometimes writes for film and television in Los Angeles, where he lives with his family and their dogs Hamburger and Milkshake.
BKV's work has been recognized at the Eisner, Harvey, Hugo, Shuster, Eagle, and British Fantasy Awards. He sometimes writes for film and television in Los Angeles, where he lives with his family and their dogs Hamburger and Milkshake.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
April 29, 2020
This is by far Vaughan best work with X-Men so far.
This time we have Magneto still in jail but some are planning to break out...his cell mate. It happens to be another mutant who lost control of her power and killed people. So now she's stuck inside with Magneto since they share the same power. So a band of mutants including Havok decide to break her out. But they'll have to go through the X-Men AND the Ultimates.
This is pretty fun and a real stringer in the ending. It also shows a more calculated Magneto which was nice. I also liked the relationships here and how the characters all interacted. This also built some good future storylines like Peter and Kurt and Bobby and Kitty. Overall, this is one of the stronger volumes of the Ultimate X-Men universe and Vaughan best.
A 4 out of 5.
This time we have Magneto still in jail but some are planning to break out...his cell mate. It happens to be another mutant who lost control of her power and killed people. So now she's stuck inside with Magneto since they share the same power. So a band of mutants including Havok decide to break her out. But they'll have to go through the X-Men AND the Ultimates.
This is pretty fun and a real stringer in the ending. It also shows a more calculated Magneto which was nice. I also liked the relationships here and how the characters all interacted. This also built some good future storylines like Peter and Kurt and Bobby and Kitty. Overall, this is one of the stronger volumes of the Ultimate X-Men universe and Vaughan best.
A 4 out of 5.
November 24, 2017
I always enjoy any X-Men story that involves Magneto. This one was no exception though the tons of foreshadowing for things to come helped make this one better than it probably should have been. The only letdown was the fights, which just did not excite me very much.
July 16, 2016
It's a pretty good story, in fact. Magneto's plan is subtle and complex enough to be believable, not only as something that would work but as something that could entirely fool his targets. The Ultimates show up, and it's a pretty decent appearance. They fight the X-Men, of course, because that's what happens when superheroes meet, but it at least makes a certain amount of sense that they do.
February 20, 2026
MAGNETO'S BACK!!!!!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 10, 2026
Good story for X-Men fans old and new. Recommended
May 7, 2024
My Ultimate Year # 12
This story is starting to pick up, we’re getting more X-People, and I enjoyed seeing Emma Frost’s school.
Read for Polaris & Magneto!
This story is starting to pick up, we’re getting more X-People, and I enjoyed seeing Emma Frost’s school.
Read for Polaris & Magneto!
June 20, 2022
Not only did I EAT this book, but it made me desperately yearn for more of the series and got me heatedly going back into comic books after quite some time!! It's very much more about the ethical issues and what makes our favorite mutants humans than action. If you're looking for strong emotions and great characterizations, this is a great read for the X-Fan in you! If, however, you're looking for more action, fighting, or intergalactic scenes, keep looking.
Luckily, I've always been drawn to the X-Men for the characters' developments, storylines, and relationships, so this was a HUGE win for me! (And a lovely birthday present from my hubby dearest!!) For those of you who, like myself, are Emma Frost fans, there's a very lovely new twist to her character herein!
Luckily, I've always been drawn to the X-Men for the characters' developments, storylines, and relationships, so this was a HUGE win for me! (And a lovely birthday present from my hubby dearest!!) For those of you who, like myself, are Emma Frost fans, there's a very lovely new twist to her character herein!
October 16, 2017
Magneto has consistently been the worst part of Ultimate X-men through 12 volumes so I was nervous heading into this one. He always seemed turned up to eleven and on the brink of genocide and that just wasn't that interesting to me and honestly sold the character short. Here though he is wisely kept to the periphery and instead we are treated to an ever expanding ensemble cast of mutants each with enough personality and back story to support their own title. Vaughan remains on top of his game and rides off into the sunset with another solid story.
February 6, 2021
This one was generally fun with an exciting plot. The artwork was not as good as much of it earlier in the series, particularly with a lot of this one taking a sort of "kiddie" look. But for the action parts it was good enough. I liked the concept of the multiple x-teams and the public reception of them and all of that. So, average quality, not great, but not bad at all. It does seem like the quality of the series as a whole (including its artwork) is more-or-less declining the further on it goes.
March 29, 2025
No idea how, but Magneto seems to have cooked up an escape plan and quite a good one actually!
We follow a student, who has magnetic powers go uncontrolled and in the process killing a lot of people. To hold her down, the shield places her into Magneto's plastic prison. Soon, her boyfriend and others go to break her out, while X-Men and others try to prevent it. Using the commotion Magneto escapes, only to be captured and put back in the cell. But little do they know that is it not Magneto but Mystique who has swapped his place.
Quite an interesting album
We follow a student, who has magnetic powers go uncontrolled and in the process killing a lot of people. To hold her down, the shield places her into Magneto's plastic prison. Soon, her boyfriend and others go to break her out, while X-Men and others try to prevent it. Using the commotion Magneto escapes, only to be captured and put back in the cell. But little do they know that is it not Magneto but Mystique who has swapped his place.
Quite an interesting album
March 8, 2020
El plan maestro de Magneto y lo capullo que son los Ultimates de Furia. Más o menos esto es el volumen. Aparte está el desarrollo de Angel, la bipolaridad de Kitty y Bobby (por cierto Kitty esta mejor escrita en ultimate Spiderman que aquí) y dos cliffhangers al final. También una cosa de visiones que al final del último número sale el 2 de 6 y que sigue en los 4F, que no he comprendido y no voy a hacer el esfuerzo por seguirlo.
March 12, 2024
Magnetic North (61-65). Well, it's unfortunate that it took until the very end of his run, but Vaughan neatly dovetails everyone of his stories together into a truly epic conclusion that mixes the new heroes and villains alike that we've met into a truly amazing Magneto story. Mind you, I think setting up this epic conclusion is part of why Vaughan's first year was weak, but so it goes. Definitely a terrific end for the second major sequence in the comic [5/5].
July 29, 2019
Near the end, this volume had me absolutely hooked. The panels popped out as much as Ultimate Spider-Man, but the story was a bit weighty at the beginning. However, this set was able to make me care about Angel and Dazzler, whom I never really cared for.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 29, 2021
Dengan menggunakan strategi yang rumit, Magneto menyusun rencana kabur dari penjara Triskelion. Memanfaatkan mutan-mutan baru dan dengan mengadu domba tiga pihak: The Ultimates, School of Tomorrow dan X-Men, Magneto berhasil lolos.
January 20, 2022
I loved this! The illustration style was a shift, but I enjoyed it. Especially in contrast to the harsher styling of The Ultimates series. This felt like good, fun X-Men action and I didn’t feel like I was just reading it to get through the run.
February 2, 2024
This volume of Ultimate X-Men is 120 pages and contains issues 60-65. This is one hell of a story involving Magneto’s mastermind plan for escaping custody! One of my favorite stories in the entire run by a Longshot! Highly recommended.
November 15, 2018
I really liked this one - 3.5 Stars
January 1, 2019
A wonderful ending to BKV's run. Great call backs, an action packed plot with fun twists and gorgeous art.
October 28, 2020
a really good story arc that doubles as a well written heist/breakout
March 3, 2023
This was really entertaining with all the soapy drama and big fights. Not the thing in the world, but really entertaining with slick art.
August 5, 2023
Like Millar before him, Vaughan feels must invested when he's writing a magneto arc.
September 14, 2023
This is one of the best in the series thus far.
January 19, 2024
Magneto at his best, all you need to know
April 21, 2024
This was fun. I liked the New Mutants here, and Warren and Ali. Lots of good moments. I heard that after this it all goes downhill. Well... why not finish? I heard it gets good again. Next volume!
August 26, 2025
Absolutely love what’s done with Magneto throughout this volume and I love the bit with Colossus at the end, but I really don’t like Forge here and again with the r-word… not needed
October 18, 2025
Fun plot but I feel like the main conflict and tension should’ve been whether or not Polaris goes with Magneto.
April 7, 2026
(Read in 2007, review from 2026)
The final volume of Ultimate X-Men I recall reading. A pretty good story that puts Ultimate Magneto and Polaris on a collision course. Has some of the usual Ultimate Marvel edginess but beyond Magneto creeping on a teenage girl nothing too horrendous.
The final volume of Ultimate X-Men I recall reading. A pretty good story that puts Ultimate Magneto and Polaris on a collision course. Has some of the usual Ultimate Marvel edginess but beyond Magneto creeping on a teenage girl nothing too horrendous.
August 21, 2012
Stuff I Read – Ultimate X-Men #61-65
Well, back in the saddle and back on track on my mission to review the entire Ultimate X-Men series. And yes a large part of my not wanting to do this was because I had more Brian Vaughan to get through. Another part of it has been that I have been reading D&D books, but that I really haven’t cared for Vaughan’s writing on this title has kept me away. But luckily for me his run has come to an end with Magnetic North, in which Polaris is framed for killing some people and Alex Summers and his friends somehow make the X-Men look like idiots. I mean, it’s not all bad. It has some fair moments, but really this is a fitting end to Vaughan’s run, because it feels rather pointless and undeserved throughout. By now, these X-Men having survived so much already, I would have thought they were beyond this crap. But still they are being outdone by characters that just shouldn’t be able to do it. There is no way that Alex and his New Mutant rejects should be taking down the X-Men. The X-Men train constantly and really shouldn’t be surprised by people that they already know.
So right out of the gate I’m not really digging the story. The only thing that works for me is the plan, which I think is rather clever and which the X-Men fall for immediately. Despite the fact that Jean is a telepath and should have been able to pull the plan from Forge’s head easily enough. I mean, having Longshot involved can only change the odds so much. But otherwise the plan was pretty good. It shows that these villains were thinking, and it introduces Ultimate Mystique, and that kind of works. In my opinion her personality is exactly like the main Mystique, but that’s not too bad a thing.
And the parts with Angel and Ali aren’t too bad. That they are the only people smart enough to figure out what’s going on seems a bit of a stretch, but they are about the only thing in Vaughan’s run that I think works well. The rest of the relationships all pretty much suck, but with those two it kind of makes sense and they work well together. But even that leaves a bad taste in my mouth, because it all just comes off as pointless in the end. Vaughan leaves the team much worse off than where they were when he began. They seem hardly a team, as they seem bickering and contrary for no real reason. They have been downgraded to children who act like children, and not children who have been forced to grow up too quickly. Their problems are smaller and their missions almost always failures. Even in this story, where it would seem easy enough to figure out, especially given their powers and skills, they failed to prevent Magneto from escaping and almost lost a team member.
It would be a lie to say that I am sad to see Vaughan go. Under his pen the X-Men have become ineffective at battling even the smallest threats. If Millar’s message was that mutants were objectively better than humans and Bendis’ was that they are human, Vaughan seems to come down on the side of they are less than humans, because the human forces in this story are in the right and far more competent than the X-Men. Or maybe he is just saying that these are children and not ready to fight. But he completely disregards the history of the team, their past triumphs, and their personalities. He tries to start over and make them all rookies again, and it just comes off as insulting. Whatever I had against Millar, he was the writer for a long time and you have to respect what he wrote. That these issues failed to do that makes them incongruous to the rest of the series, and I almost pity the writer that comes next. At the same time, I have to believe things will get better. Because they can’t get much work. I give this arc a 5/10.
Well, back in the saddle and back on track on my mission to review the entire Ultimate X-Men series. And yes a large part of my not wanting to do this was because I had more Brian Vaughan to get through. Another part of it has been that I have been reading D&D books, but that I really haven’t cared for Vaughan’s writing on this title has kept me away. But luckily for me his run has come to an end with Magnetic North, in which Polaris is framed for killing some people and Alex Summers and his friends somehow make the X-Men look like idiots. I mean, it’s not all bad. It has some fair moments, but really this is a fitting end to Vaughan’s run, because it feels rather pointless and undeserved throughout. By now, these X-Men having survived so much already, I would have thought they were beyond this crap. But still they are being outdone by characters that just shouldn’t be able to do it. There is no way that Alex and his New Mutant rejects should be taking down the X-Men. The X-Men train constantly and really shouldn’t be surprised by people that they already know.
So right out of the gate I’m not really digging the story. The only thing that works for me is the plan, which I think is rather clever and which the X-Men fall for immediately. Despite the fact that Jean is a telepath and should have been able to pull the plan from Forge’s head easily enough. I mean, having Longshot involved can only change the odds so much. But otherwise the plan was pretty good. It shows that these villains were thinking, and it introduces Ultimate Mystique, and that kind of works. In my opinion her personality is exactly like the main Mystique, but that’s not too bad a thing.
And the parts with Angel and Ali aren’t too bad. That they are the only people smart enough to figure out what’s going on seems a bit of a stretch, but they are about the only thing in Vaughan’s run that I think works well. The rest of the relationships all pretty much suck, but with those two it kind of makes sense and they work well together. But even that leaves a bad taste in my mouth, because it all just comes off as pointless in the end. Vaughan leaves the team much worse off than where they were when he began. They seem hardly a team, as they seem bickering and contrary for no real reason. They have been downgraded to children who act like children, and not children who have been forced to grow up too quickly. Their problems are smaller and their missions almost always failures. Even in this story, where it would seem easy enough to figure out, especially given their powers and skills, they failed to prevent Magneto from escaping and almost lost a team member.
It would be a lie to say that I am sad to see Vaughan go. Under his pen the X-Men have become ineffective at battling even the smallest threats. If Millar’s message was that mutants were objectively better than humans and Bendis’ was that they are human, Vaughan seems to come down on the side of they are less than humans, because the human forces in this story are in the right and far more competent than the X-Men. Or maybe he is just saying that these are children and not ready to fight. But he completely disregards the history of the team, their past triumphs, and their personalities. He tries to start over and make them all rookies again, and it just comes off as insulting. Whatever I had against Millar, he was the writer for a long time and you have to respect what he wrote. That these issues failed to do that makes them incongruous to the rest of the series, and I almost pity the writer that comes next. At the same time, I have to believe things will get better. Because they can’t get much work. I give this arc a 5/10.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 28, 2016
Well, that's it for Vaughan. It's sad he didn't really make anything that stood out. Although, to be fair, this is my favorite X-Men comic he's written.
Magnetic North is all about Magneto and his plans to escape his prison. And I've gotta say, his plan is pretty intricately designed. I liked the twists and turns between S.H.I.E.L.D., Xavier, Frost, and Magneto all moving back and forth and re-appropriating their plans every time a new development came in. It felt electric and organic, as the scenes shifted.
However, I'm still irritated with how clumsy Vaughan has been handling the relationships between the X-Men. Teens do fall in and out of love very fast, but there needs to be development behind that. When I was a teen, I spent many months considering what options I had before I chose to pursue another girl. And that might have just been how I handled my relationships. I do remember everyone else going about it much more stupidly.
Vaughan had an unfortunate run. I'm not sure what it was, but he just wasn't as sharp as I can recall from reading his masterful comic "Y: The Last Man". But Magnetic North is a decent volume to end on. Perhaps Kirkman can do a better job than Vaughan and Millar.
Magnetic North is all about Magneto and his plans to escape his prison. And I've gotta say, his plan is pretty intricately designed. I liked the twists and turns between S.H.I.E.L.D., Xavier, Frost, and Magneto all moving back and forth and re-appropriating their plans every time a new development came in. It felt electric and organic, as the scenes shifted.
However, I'm still irritated with how clumsy Vaughan has been handling the relationships between the X-Men. Teens do fall in and out of love very fast, but there needs to be development behind that. When I was a teen, I spent many months considering what options I had before I chose to pursue another girl. And that might have just been how I handled my relationships. I do remember everyone else going about it much more stupidly.
Vaughan had an unfortunate run. I'm not sure what it was, but he just wasn't as sharp as I can recall from reading his masterful comic "Y: The Last Man". But Magnetic North is a decent volume to end on. Perhaps Kirkman can do a better job than Vaughan and Millar.
January 10, 2009
Brian K. Vaughan's final volume is nigh perfect for a superhero team book. Everything about the closing story arc is great and complete washes away the awful memories of the insipid Mark Millar run. He does everything a competent writer should do. He wraps up his plot lines created in his run but leaves room for future writers to work with what he's done. He's shown that gracious trait, using what previous writers have created, throughout his run too. It's nice to see writers listen to what previous writers have done and incorporate it into their run. Plus, his Magneto is far superior to Millar's. I really can't say anything more praise-worthy about this run and this volume with out geeking out and embarrassing myself. So, in conclusion, it's sad that his exceptional run has ended, but I have to keep hope that he might return in the future to continue writing for this series. Brian K. Vaughan's run is highly recommended!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews