Magneto: Not a Hero

Magneto: Not A Hero #1-4

by Skottie Young (Writer), Clay Mann (Illustrator)

The X-Men are shaken when Magneto finally goes villain again - as the Master of Magnetism is caught on video murdering members of an anti-mutant group! Why did he throw away everything he's earned with the X-Men? Or is this just the only time he's gotten caught? This new series by Skottie Young (Wizard of Oz) and Clay Mann (X-Men Legacy) will change the way you look at the best X-Villain of all time!

Collecting: Magneto: Not A Hero 1-4

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, X Men, Comic Book, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics

96 pages, Paperback

First published May 23, 2012

About the author

Skottie Young has been an illustrator and cartoonist for over ten years working for entertainment and publishing companies such Marvel, Warner Bros., Image, Upper Deck, Mattel, and many more.

He is currently illustrating the New York Times Best Selling and Eisner Award Nominated adaptions of L. Frank Baum's OZ novels with writer Eric Shanower. The series has gained acclaim from both fans and critics.

Skottie currently lives in Illinois with his family, Casey, Baxter and their Saint Bernard, Emma.

Reviews

[Sam Quixote · Rating 1 out of 5]

Guys, Magnet-Man’s not a hero - except he IS say whaaaaat?! OMGFHFHGH! Nah, he’s just the star of another shit comic. “Magneto” kills some anti-mutant protestors - or did he?!?!!? Snore…

Magneto: Not a Hero was awful! If Marvel’s top two corniest tropes are time-travel and “Secret” events, their third is clones and this turd is riddled with ‘em! Magneto fights a clone of himself and then clones of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Bo-ring!

I don’t know what the point of this one was but entertaining it was not! Skottie Young’s usual playful sense of storytelling is totally absent from this one. Clay Mann draws the book with all the personality of a turnip – he really is one of the dullest, most forgettable comics artists working today.

God, this was tedious! It should be called Magneto: Not Worth Bothering With!

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite Magneto's past as a terrorist, he's now part of the X-Men and doesn't appear to be wanted. Unfortunately when a man matching Magneto's description and powers massacres anti mutant protestors, everyone assumes Magneto is up to his old tricks.

Magneto is attempting to find out who is ruining his already poor reputation.

Not a Hero has the pieces to be an interesting story, but the author opted for a short obvious tale instead. Only the newest of readers would be surprised at what happened here. Not a Hero is a story for anyone who likes to see Magneto's powers on display and doesn't mind a less than stellar story.

[Someone Who Reads]

too short
too fast
nothing new

[bri 🧸 · Rating 4 out of 5]

i might just eat the art from this one

[Vikas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Admittedly I am not well versed in US comics having read Indian comics since the beginning. So X-Men are more known to me by the movies than the comic books. This 4 books arc was based on Magneto and he has turned a good guy now.

But a video surfaces showing him killing people.

Magneto denies the charges but then who killed all those people. This is a nice comic but then again. There is nothing too much special. You get to see The Avengers and X-Men so that was cool.

Do read you won't mind it then again if you miss it then you are not missing much either.

I have always loved comics, and I hope that I will always love them. Even though I grew up reading local Indian comics like Raj Comics or Diamond Comics or even Manoj Comics, now's the time to catch up on the international and classic comics and Graphic novels. I am on my quest to read as many comics as I can. I Love comics to bit, may comics never leave my side. I loved reading this and love reading more, you should also read what you love and then just Keep on Reading.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Skottie Young tells a very 90s X-Men story, I just don't know that was the intent. Magneto is accused of a crime he didn't commit and is given two days to clear himself. Its as cliched as it sounds. The plot was depressingly basic but Young's dialogue was fun. Clay Mann's art was spectacular. Overall, this book didn't need to be written. No one was screaming for another Magneto tale offering nothing new but it did hold my attention due to Mann's art and my love for the 90s nostalgia.

[Raymond St. Paul · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh

What a lame comic was expecting more got boring story instead. I was clearly thinking this was a different comic an wasted my money on this purchase!

[Laney · Rating 2 out of 5]

All I want is a story worthy of what a great character Magneto is. That is apparently too much to ask.

[Chris Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Skottie Young's artwork. In fact, he is probably my favorite overall artist in comics right now and I know how many awesome ones there are. The reason I enjoy his style so much is because of the fantastic whimsy he portrays with each of his characters and really makes them look like something otherwordly. All that to say, I'm not such a big fan of his writing. I've read some of his other stuff and it just never really amounts to anything. Sure, they can be fun stories, but I would like him to try writing something a little meatier. This book (4 issues) is about some clone of Magneto that is giving him a bad wrap out there in the world so he's gotta put a stop to it. There is a dash of Captain America and a sprinkle of Iron Man that are supposed to be his pitbulls if he doesn't figure out this clone business in time. They also cloned the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants so Cyclops helps Magneto defeat them too. It's not terrible, it's just terribly forgettable.

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magneto is one of the good guys now. Or is he? A video of a man who looks like Magneto and uses his powers is showing him murder the members of an anti-mutant group. With his DNA at the scene it's difficult for Magneto to prove himself innocent to Tony Stark. He gets help from Emma Frost to find the real culprit - his clone Joseph whom everyone thought dead.

Joseph was resurrected by Astra of Magneto's old Brotherhood. She has also resurrected other members who, though deformed, are still quite powerful. Magneto defeats them and has the Cookoos interrogate Astra. With Astra gone, Joseph reneges on their deal with the Humans Now leader. He wants to make an even more resounding statement by killing more humans and sparking a revolt in the streets. Erik won't allow it. He throws a plane after Joseph who responds with a train. It's a really cool battle. Of course, Erik wins and everything is ok in the end.

[C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Continuing the great x-read of 2017/2018... (and I am very far behind on reviews again so this batch will once again be short. One of these days I will get back to reviewing each volume as I finish them so they don't all sort of start bleeding together in my head as they tend to do.)

Another forgettable tale that is surface deep at best and brings nothing new to the table.

Can I rant for a tiny second? The idea of Joseph's character could have been amazing if handled well - there was a lot of depth that could have been accomplished there... But every writer just uses him as a throwaway character. Oh well, I suppose the same could be said of any character but I always hope for more with Joseph for some reason and I am always disappointed to the point where I just roll my eyes when I see another writer bringing back Joseph.

[Silas · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an okay miniseries. It's rather old at this point, but is from the Utopia era, where Magneto is public as a hero, and the Avengers and other hero groups are begrudgingly accepting that. There are some really forced interactions and uncharacteristic dialogue after a video of Magneto killing people turns up. There is a fairly formulaic story after that, with some dramatic, but at times ridiculous displays of Magneto's power. I read some of the beginnings of Joseph in the '90s, but didn't witness his end. This features him brought back and acting like Magneto did as a villain, which seems kind of a shame, since that's not like the Joseph I remember, but I guess that's maybe the point, since Magneto is also not the Magneto you would remember from previous comics.

[jorge · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story was just below average for me. For some reason, Magneto is not a villain in this story but a hero and an X-Man at that. A recent attack by a Magneto look-a-like left the world reeling and wondering if Magneto had committed to evil again. Yet, we later learn that it’s a clone of Magneto named Joseph that’s committing terroristic acts. He feels that Magneto lost his touch by trying to assimilate peacefully with humans and consorting with the X-Men. So he tries to replace him and his Brotherhood of Mutants with hideously deformed clones of the original members. Quicksilver, for one, is more a zombie look-a-like than an actual clone. However, Joseph’s plans are foiled by the real Magneto who grew tired of his antics. The most heroic act that Magneto does in this is use his powers to get rid of the anti-mutant racists who were “protesting” him. 🫢

[Judah Radd · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a trip! I totally forgot Joseph was a thing.

This is a throwback to the Zero Tolerance and Magneto War era, which is admittedly not the best chapter in X history.

Still, the nostalgia was fulfilling. It’s a tightly paced little story about clone stuff, with Magneto “confronting his past self” or some relevant cliche.

Is the “inspired?” No. Is it entertaining? Yeah, totally. And the art is really cool. And it’s so short that you may as well read it.

[Roberto C Ortega · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good look at the conflict of Magneto's morals and ethics. His constant dilemma of reverting to killing or not. I recommend this to any X-Men fan

Good look at the conflict of Magneto's morals and ethics. His constant dilemma of reverting to killing or not. I recommend this to any X-Men fan

[Gregory R. Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was no undercurrent..

Too much of the story was dependent on preconcieved known character traits and reactions. Disappointed. I don't want to spoil anything. Not enough backstory for this to stand up on it's own. An unitiated new reader would not know what they were looking at, let alone reading the storyline.

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 2 out of 5]

On the whole....I don't quite get the point of this book. I suppose it makes sense as a side story that exists just to exist. But it also feels like it doesn't it contributed much to the larger X-Titles stories at the time. It could have been a story within an existing title versus it being its own mini-series.

[Joshua Dancer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the art a lot, but the writing just goes in circles. Although it does have a great line about Iron Man; "People look up to you as if you have some kind of power. You and I both know you're just a weak human playing pretend with his toys from Sharper Image."

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

This wasn't a bad read, it just seemed a little..superfluous. Magneto is caught on film murdering a meeting of anti-mutant haters. But it wasn't him. Or was it?

There just wasn't a whole lot to this. The art was good, and the story wasn't bad, but it just seemed lacking...something.

[Juan DeLeon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read

The art was good and the action interesting g. The story was ok, and quickly remedied. Nothing felt in peril. The Avengers just raised their fur, but left it alone. It was always nice to see both teams. Well as Tony mouthing off.

[Mahdi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed it, I can remember how great it felt when I first read it a few years ago such that I found the most inspirational quote (from ANY comicbook) in this one! Magneto is superb and you would probably like reading his stories.

[Mike Flugence Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The revel came way to early for my liking. Otherwise, the art and ink are amazing, but sadly I felt the storyline was by the numbers.

[starksreactor · Rating 4 out of 5]

i need more magneto comics !!!!

[Jogesh Sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hail Magneto

Good Story and artwork . Magneto is cool as always. I never knew before that he had a clone .

[Alexandre · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fraco...

[Nicholas Fossum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it, loved magneto, loved the art the action everything, felt there could have been a bit more too the story but it was so fun.

[Claudia Riendeau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is Magneto evil again? That is the all plot of this comics. The cast of Avengers/X-Men is interesting but the plot is too simple. The villain's redemption, the evil twin-ish thing... Very average.

[alexis king · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty Good

I really enjoyed that. Magneto is such a good character. Great story. It was fun to see more of him and get into his perspective.

[Zach Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Magneto

Magneto has always been a great anti-hero. He is no “true hero” but he has a different set of justice values that are pretty cool.

[azra presley · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5⭐️