Magneto, Vol. 2: Reversals

Magneto (2014)

by Cullen Bunn (Writer), Gabriel Hernández Walta (Artist), Javier Fernández (Artist)

An Avengers & X-Men: AXIS tie-in!

Magneto was once arguably the most powerful mutant on the planet. But recently, his powers have been reduced to a whisper of what they once were. How far will he go to become the Master of Magnetism once more? When Magneto discovers that mutants are being hauled away to a re-education camp, he investigates...and discovers that the Red Skull is behind the operation! And worse, the villain possesses the brain and powers of Magneto's deceased friend, Charles Xavier! Taking this affront personally on many levels, Magneto vows to take down the Red Skull once and for all - but as the Skull sends the world into a spiral of destruction, will Magneto crumple before the maniac?

Collecting: Magneto 7-12

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

136 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Cullen grew up in rural North Carolina, but now lives in the St. Louis area with his wife Cindy and his son Jackson. His noir/horror comic (and first collaboration with Brian Hurtt), The Damned, was published in 2007 by Oni Press. The follow-up, The Damned: Prodigal Sons, was released in 2008. In addition to The Sixth Gun, his current projects include Crooked Hills, a middle reader horror prose series from Evileye Books; The Tooth, an original graphic novel from Oni Press; and various work for Marvel and DC. Somewhere along the way, Cullen founded Undaunted Press and edited the critically acclaimed small press horror magazine, Whispers from the Shattered Forum.

All writers must pay their dues, and Cullen has worked various odd jobs, including Alien Autopsy Specialist, Rodeo Clown, Professional Wrestler Manager, and Sasquatch Wrangler.

And, yes, he has fought for his life against mountain lions and he did perform on stage as the World's Youngest Hypnotist. Buy him a drink sometime, and he'll tell you all about it.

Visit his website at www.cullenbunn.com.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bunn and Hernandez Walta's rendition of Magneto continues to be absorbing and wonderfully, yet understated-ly drawn! Magneto goes after the Marauders... all of them, i.e. the clone baths as well! His path of destruction leads him to playing a significant part in the Avengers & X-Men event. This is easily the best ever Magneto run/series in Marvel comics history!!! 8 out of 12, Four Star read. Seriously the art in this series is just beautiful!

2018 and 2016 read

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm still happy with the work Bunn is doing on Magneto. I feel like he has a great grasp of the character and what makes him tick. Yes, the book is indeed dominated by (sometimes quite violent) action, but there are moments that rise above that. I was especially struck by Magneto's observation, mid-battle, that his Mutant Growth Hormone riddled opponents don't truly understand their powers, because they've never had to live with the danger and persecution that's inherent to being a mutant. In general, It was Magneto's thought processes that kept me reading.

That said, there's a big chunk of the book that's taken up with the Axis event. Not having read any of the other books that were part of the event, I felt a little lost at times. It looks like Uncanny Avengers probably played a big part, and I have something like zero interest in catching up on that title. From what's in the book, I was basically able to follow what's going on here, I think, but who knows what I missed. Magneto leading an all-star team of villains was kind of hilarious, but I'm not sure if comedy was what they were going for.

As in the previous volume, the plotting is a little weak and vague, but I'm not really reading this for the story at this point. I'm reading it for Bunn's take on Magneto, which I still think is pretty thoughtfully done.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like in X-Men: First Class, Magneto is a hunter of mutant-haters in his solo series, an anti-heroic protector of mutantkind doing what he feels has to be done with lethal force. In this second volume, his travels takes him to China where a new strain of MGH (Mutant Growth Hormone which, when injected, gives the user temporary mutant powers) is being produced, before the garbage Marvel event Axis sends him to the fallen mutant city of Genosha where the Red Skull is up to some stereotypical bad guy bullshit.

The first Magneto book was pretty decent - the second is just straight up crap. The Predator X/MGH storyline was ok as it turns out Magneto (whose powers have been limited for a while now) is looking for the guy making it purely to bring him up to full power - tossing aside the false bravado to reveal he’s still utterly selfish is very Magneto! Once things awkwardly switch to Axis though the whole thing falls apart.

Axis looked so horrible and worthless a storyline I didn’t bother reading it - that’s probably why I didn’t understand how Red Skull went from regular-sized when he’s introduced to Sentinel-sized a couple issues later! You can still follow what’s going on anyway as everything’s so blandly generic: Red Skull wants to take over the world, heroes and villains fighting, blah blah blah. Pure superhero schlock!

The art’s a bit sketchy but I kinda liked it. It’s grim and dark for the most part and crazy and loose once Red Skull uses Xavier’s powers to mess with Magneto’s head. That said I am really sick of all the WW2/Nazi/Genosha shit that always gets dredged up with this character - can we not move onto newer subjects, must we always dwell on this misery? It’s not adding anything more to Magneto to keep repeating his history over and over.

I still like the overall concept of the series of Magneto as a lone vigilante but this second book is rubbish, largely because of the superhero crapfest that takes up the latter half of this volume. Once again an intrusive event ruins a perfectly decent series - good job, Marvel!

[Gavin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Art is terrible. Almost enough to ruin things. Polar opposite of Elektra book from earlier today. Good character study of Magneto, again going with four different names...Erik Max Magnus etc.

Here he keeps taking out people abusing mutants, including some Mutant Growth Hormone growers. Then we run into the AXIS storyline, which I'll have to fill in on Marvel Unlimited...so I can now catch up on everything.

There's a team up with villains (and Deadpool) Magneto leads and that's straight up 1987 awesome.

I will follow up with it, because there was an interesting interaction between Erik and his memories of his life and one person in particular.

Contrary to the Elektra book, Magneto isn't woeful about his life and things, he just keeps moving forward, even if his doubts are there, he isn't a whiny bitch about it.

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Magneto despite his drop in power continues on his crusade to protect mutants from anyone who would harm them. In this search he comes across the Red Skull enslaving mutants in Genosha.

Magneto is definitely a tortured character. His measures are extreme, but his enemies are brutal. He doesn't fight just to fight he seeks to protect mutants from people who would enslave or exterminate them. This volume is quite similar to the last until the Axis tie in. Then Magneto is forced to recruit some friends to help battle including the Merc with the Mouth himself.

[Drew Canole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Axis tie-in!

That's the last thing I wanted from this title. Now what was a interesting story is converted into some silliness thats part of a larger story that I have no interest in reading. I'm fed up with being burnt by cross-over events.

[Judah Radd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Check out my interview with writer Cullen Bunn here: https://youtu.be/7V1aFB6KyMw

So... the volume starts off with Magneto being a badass.

Then, he goes to shit in Red Skull’s cereal on Genosha.

But then, he assembles his own team of villains, and it’s cool as fuck.

Great art, great gritty writing from Cullen Bunn... this is Mutant Punisher, basically. I really like the series. I think anyone would like it. It’s just cool.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as much fun as a standalone story as the previous volume. I felt that shoehorning what Bunn is trying to do with the Magneto character into the broader Uncanny Avengers story line created by another writer didn't do the title any favours in terms of coherence or continuity.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely edging closer to the 4 star, but not there entirely.

This second volume of Magneto's solo adventures starts out similar to the first; Erik gets a task from Briar Raleigh, and heads off to destroy an arena using Predator-X models to kill mutants. Basic stuff, really. Magneto's inner monologue is still solid, but it's just more of the same.

The four issues that follow it are a tie-in to the Axis event though, and this is where things get interesting. There's a few little logic jumps to make since some of Magneto's actions take place in Axis proper, but these four issues look back at Magneto's past even moreso than we have already, as well as bringing his relationship with Xavier into the fore as well. The desperation and the drive to succeed push him forward, but Magneto is making some bad decisions, and I don't think they're going to lead him where he wants them to go.

Both Gabriel Hernandez Walta and Javier Fernandez return for this second volume to the same effective pairing as before, but Roland Boschi takes over for issue 12 and the art becomes a bit of a mess. Characters are only really recognisable by their colour palette, and some faces look like they're going to melt off - I know Carnage is a symbiote, but his eyes aren't meant to be underneath his mouth usually, I don't think.

Definitely a step in the right direction for Magneto, which is odd to say because it takes an event tie-in to really kick it into high gear. A basic start and a bit of a dodgy end in terms of artwork keep this one from really shining, but we're moving upwards, slowly but surely.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Magneto volume 2: Reversals. To get the most out of this it is worth reading the Avengers & X-Men: AXIS crossover event.

Reversals leads into and deals with Magneto’s role in said event. Plus the immediate aftermath. What I did enjoy was seeing Magneto form the team that appears to help save the day in AXIS.

The early part of this volume does continue the characters main plot from the previous volume: hunting down those that are killing mutants.

The art style is the same as the previous volume, but does introduce some new colours into the palette.

Overall a decent continuation for the character that suffers from having to link into the crossover.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with the first volume, Bunn does a good job of characterizing Magneto and depicting his troubles. And once more he does so while doing a great job of paying homage to X-continuity.

The last three issues had the possibility of being troublesome because of their deep connections with the Axis crossover. Fortunately, Bunn is very skillful at bridging the gaps and telling a mostly coherent story. I still want to read Axis to discover what else was going on, but I feel like I got a complete story that Magneto was (properly) at the center of.

[Michael Church · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid continuation of the series while also being a good tie in to Axis. For some reason, I've enjoyed all the tie ins to this event so far.

Magneto has always interested me as a character. This has an interesting perspective to dive into his history while tying it to the current storyline (and, oddly enough, even some current events in 2017). On the flip side, some of it does get redundant, like the constant references to the genocide on Genosha. Makes me wish I would go back and read some of those old arcs...

Regardless, Magneto steps up yet again as the man willing to do what others won't to save mutantkind.

The art is good, Walta and Fernandez give it a strong earthy and gritty feeling, but it can be a little too dark at times. Similarly, it can try a little too hard to show how edgy it wants to be. Conversely, issue 10 has some flashback sequences that are much more my style. Brighter, cleaner lines, etc.

Overall, a good read, but nothing about it really wowed me. Looking forward to reading the next volume.

[Pirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somehow I keep reading things that would be better without an entire arc to be an AXIS tie in, but in this case it at least makes sense. Also, what is Deadpool doing here? His AXIS arc has him be a peacenik... Zenpool where are you

[Ondra Král · Rating 3 out of 5]

I přes tie-in k stupidnímu Axis docela dobrý. Bunn dokazuje, že se poctivě připravoval, a Magneta má načtenýho.

[Brian Dickerson · Rating 2 out of 5]

The good start enjoyed in volume 1 was sidetracked by a Marvel event in volume 2. These types of presentations always feel half baked…

[Kit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh no!! This series continues to be wonderful!
So we all know the importance of Erik's past with growing up Jewish during WWII and, as awful as this sounds, I have heard complaints that this backstory is too often used for his characterization. (Effectively one of the most asinine complaints I have ever heard about the X-Men series, both because of the tremendous ignorance it displays as well as the complete tone-blindness required to make such a comment, but I digress...) This series brings this to the forefront cleverly as a form of primary antagonist, motivator, tone-setter, and even an odd kind of mystery that I really appreciate. Erik's humanity (or mutanity?) somehow is never lost while still displaying immense and intense acts of violence against the juxtaposition with the very kind of aggression and power that shaped his life, resulting in a somewhat uncomfortable contrast that blurs the lines of "different" all too often.
So, so highly recommended.

[Milo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best X-Men series are the solo ones. So much love for this book!

[Lionel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this Magneto, the last issue wasn't that good, but the rest is nice. It is the Magneto he should always have been

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dalsze losy Magneto w Marvel NOW! potrafią momentami zachwycić, choć i tak większość zeszytów stąd można odnaleźć w ramach wydanego w Polsce eventu pod tytułem AXIS.

To właśnie tu wskutek walki z Red Skullem wyposażonym w mentalne moce Charlesa Xaviera doszło do zmiany charakteru części herosów. Jedni, jak Iron Man czy nowy Kapitan Ameryka stracili swoje moralne bariery, a taki Carnage czy Sabretooth postanowili pomóc, tym którzy tej pomocy wymagają.

Ale zanim do tego dojdzie dostaniemy bodajże dwa zeszyty, które koncentrują się na solowym występie Magnusa, który trafia do Hong Kongu, aby zbadać losy znikających tam mutantów. W tle mamy walki na arenie, narkotyk na bazie krwi mutantów i spore pieniądze. Oraz życie niczego nieświadomych mutantów, którzy nie mogą liczyć na żadne inne wsparcie niż właśnie Magneto.

Z zeszytami uzupełniającymi jakieś główne wydarzenia mam taki problem, że z reguły nie bronią się one same i podczas lektury ma się wrażenie niepełnej fabuły. Nie cierpię takiego rozwiązania. I wprawdzie ono tu występuje, to całość jednak się w większym stopniu spina, dając nam finalnie jeden z lepszych tytułów około eventowych. Warto zwrócić tu uwagę na to, jak Red Skull torturuje mentalnie Erica poprzez ukazanie mu jeszcze raz koszmaru przeżytego w obozie koncentracyjnym...

Kreska jest mroczna i idealnie oddaje to co możemy obserwować, zwłaszcza że kolorki tylko dodają jej klimatu. Szczególnie dołujące są szarawe retrospekcje ukazujące zło wojny.

Sprawnie nakreślona historia, aczkolwiek ma swoje dziury powiązane z wydarzeniem. Serduszko za "spotkanie" że starym przyjacielem, nawet jeżeli było głupie.

[C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Continuing the great x-read of 2017/18...

*sigh* An amazing first volume leads to... this.

Okay, okay - the early issues are still really strong but once the Axis tie-in starts, the story just really falls apart and all of the great character work that Bunn has done so far circles the drain with the absurd Red Skull mess of a story.

All that this and Uncanny Avengers have taught me is that I need to avoid reading Axis at all costs (and please please please just separate Avengers and X-Men again. This experiment seems like a failure on every level.). (Maybe I'm selling this crossover short based only on its lead-up, sure, but this Red Skull story has been awful from the beginning and it only grows more ridiculous as it goes on.)

I'm hoping that Bunn brings this title back to its volume one strength once this hideous crossover is past.

[Scott Waldie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is still the same Cullen Bunn quality as the first volume, and the first half of this does continue nicely along with the plot, but then the road gets bumpier when it gets absorbed into this greater struggle against the pumped up Red Skull, and the battle itself is pretty unsatisfying from panel to panel action, just a giant group of heroes and supervillains chatting while the massive modified Skull and his Sentinels loom in the background. It was nice that Erik faced a little actual opposition here, though likely just because he wasn't at full power. Overall, seems as if its about to lose the plot, the story was cooler when it was just Mags wandering around. Hope it can right itself in Volume 3.

[Villain E · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this Magneto series. I think it's written well, the characterization is good, the art is good. Magneto is very much the hero of his own story, but his questionable morality is not glossed over.

This collection begins with him continuing on his mission to pursue threats to mutantkind. This takes him to China and puts him at odds with the FBI. Then, leading into Axis, Magneto goes after the Red Skull. Crossover issues can be bad, and the worst part of this book is the logic flaw of Magneto travelling from Genosha all over the world and to Asgard to grab a random group of villains in a very short amount of time and somehow transports them all back. And this is called Reversals, but it stops before the inversion.

[Rebeckah Sypik · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was pretty good; they so how magneto continues to persevere bespite the loss of most of his power and accepts his role of being the mutant that does what need to be done in order to keep the species alive. Even if he is he is remebered as a villian for it. I really enjoyed reading a story from the perspective of my favorite marvel villian; my only compliant is the story was really jumbled and hard to follow.

[Luke Muench · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I had a lot of my issues with the previous volume of this series, that one had the decency of not being brought to a grinding halt but the overarching AXIS event, requiring you to get acquainted with a bunch of other series if you want to follow along with what's happening. The various issues I sited in my last review only get worse here, and I just skimmed the last couple of issues of this volume as I just couldn't bring myself to give the series my full attention anymore.

[Pedro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Magneto continúa su cruzada contra las amenazas a los mutantes y se convierte en un antihéroe y líder de los villanos más poderosos para salvar no sólo a los mutantes, sino posiblemente a la tierra. Lo más interesante de la historia es que en este caso, sus acciones nada tienen que ver con un imperativo moral, sino con su sed de venganza y la lealtad a su viejo amigo Charles Xavier.

[Richard D Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars means three stars.

Three stars is the middle of the road. Ya see, it's been some time since I read a comic. Probably forty years a least, but I've enjoyed the films, and I thought, why not? I enjoyed the artwork - good style, and, hey, the deal from Amazon was more than tempting. I'll try another one.

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is definitely headed in the wrong direction. This story is so repetitive, fight club, MGH, Erik's tragic past, etc. This has all been done before and done so much better. Then you add the connection to AXIS, one of the worst Marvel crossovers ever, and you get a poorly written book. The art doesn't do the book any favors. Overall, a disappointment.

[Dr. Madeline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Magneto's back at it again with the angsty internal monologue. I wasn't a huge fan of this collection. The art was okay, the plot was all over the place, and the dialogue was, at times, cringey. If you're new to the X-Men, definitely don't start with this series.

[Sleepseeker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a Axis tie-in and it was an easy read, if you are reading the other books in the event. It was interesting to see a Magneto who struggles to be the top mutant he used to be. This issue was good and I'm interested in reading the next volume.

[Willow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was definitely expecting A Lot Less from a tie-in arc to a major crossover event I never read. And yet. It's relevant to the series, it gives Magneto some great character moments and is just really well done. Almost enough to make me want to read Axis... Almost