12 Days of X-Mas: Uncanny X-Men #327 (1995)

Oof. Guys. I'm sorry. This is the issue that introduces Joseph into X-Men canon. At this point, I can't remember who exactly Joseph ended up being. (Wasn't he a clone of Magneto?) It seems clear that in Scott Lobdell's original story, this guy is supposed to be a de-aged Magneto who is young enough (in his twenties) to join the X-Men.

What a horrible, messed up idea. The purple prose and generic story don't help. Joseph wakes up in a South American orphanage where he befriends a beautiful nun and her youthful charges. Other than a few outbursts about Nazis and a fascination with mutants, Joseph seems pretty happy to bum around the farm.

But when pushed, he lets out the old Magneto and slaughters a group of drug runners who kidnapped his new friends. This story takes the whole issue to play out, with plenty of formulaic interactions and heavy handed dialogue about redemption. Hell, the cover summarizes the quality in one line "If SINS be FORGIVEN." Ugh.

Roger Cruz is on art again, and man, his stuff was not so good. He is clearly doing a similar style as Joe Mad, but his faces are far more inconsistent and the level of detail varies wildly from page to page. Perhaps drawing more costumes might have helped, but the grounded tone of the issue is not a good match for Cruz.

Sometimes it is impossible to read a comic and not dread what I know is coming later. Joseph's first appearance and his weird place in X-Men lore falls into that category.

Poor

Magneto v1: Infamous TPB

I think Cullen Bunn is one of the most confusing writers currently working in comics. Some of his work is just average; I can’t get excited about it. But his work on his creator-owned Sixth Gun is excellent. I’m happy to say that this title shows Bunn’s strengths. This is a fantastic comic.

Seemingly drawing influence from the “Nazi-hunter” concept in X-Men First Class, this series follows Magneto as he hunts down threats to mutant kind all over the world. Now, Magneto is always sort of an angry guy, but he’s on a whole different level here. He is totally dedicated to eradicating threats to his people. This is the same character from Uncanny X-Men, but he’s much more compelling here on his own.

I absolutely love the way he overcomes his current power troubles purely through force of will. (Mags’ powers have been a bit iffy ever since Avengers vs. X-Men.) From sentinel nanotech to smaller and more targeted mutant racism, Magneto really gets things done. And I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t thrilling seeing him kill small-minded and evil humans. Magneto has never felt so much like the X-Men’s Punisher.

I know Kevin Walta’s work from his She-Hulk covers, but I had no idea he was this strong at sequential art. The action is top notch, but the facial expressions are tremendous too. I also love the way Walta shows Magneto using his powers. It is clearly a drain on him, but that doesn’t stop Magneto from using metal projectiles in aggressive, violent ways.

This is a GOOD comic. I don’t’ believe it will last a long time, but I’m really enjoying it while it lasts.

12 Days of X-Mas: X-Force #25

Wow. Raise your hand if you remember these insane hologram covers. These things seemed pretty awesome on the trading cards of the time, I’m not sure it works so well just glued on the cover of a normal comic book. It is still cool, but it certainly prevents any uniform type of look on those covers.

So this is part of the Fatal Attractions storyline, almost a crossover, but not quite. There is a “mystery” villain, but I’m going to go ahead and spoil Magneto’s involvement now (20 years later). But while Magneto is the big bad of the issue, most of the fighting is between X-Force and Magneto’s disciple Exodus.

I always like it when Magneto uses his powers in a way that makes sense. After lurking in shadows for most of the issue, when it comes down to it, Magneto and Cable finally battle it out. Now, Cable is a half-metal cyborg, so how long do you think that fight should go? Fabian Nicieza does a nice job keeping Cable’s involvement an overall “win,” but boy, that is a short fight. Cable honestly shouldn’t have much of a chance against the master of magnetism. Since Cable manages to bring most of his recruits home and save the Professor (the AI program that helped raise Cable), he can claim a win, but c’mon, Magneto whipped up on ol’ Nate.

This is one of those issues where the rich history of the X-Men really makes for some interesting interactions. When Exodus takes most of the team up to Cable’s former spaceship, the mystery antagonist might still be shadowed to the reader, but the characters have no doubt about who they are speaking with. Cannonball and Sunspot spent years with Magneto as their mentor, so when he shows up as the mastermind, they aren’t concerned. It is pretty neat seeing the way Magneto sort of backs down and flatters his former students too. The characters’ history makes the moment work.

Greg Capullo does another nice job with the art in this issue. Exodus is a bit of a challenge, though. Not only is his 90’s look ridiculous, but I have absolutely no idea what his powers are. When Exodus uses his vague powers take on the X-Force team, it just looks like big blasts of random energy. Seriously, what the heck can he do besides be ominous and menacing? (And sport a sweet mullet?)

Another thing Capullo’s art really emphasizes is how strong the team line-up is at this point. Rictor might look like another 90’s bozo, but aesthetically, his green and brown toned costume really looks good in the group. Warpath’s red and blue still takes up a lot of space on the panel, contrasting with Shatterstar’s white, Feral’s orange, and the pinks and yellows for Boom Boom. Capullo does a really nice job with the team action, and Nicieza has the personalities and power sets into an interesting and useful mix. This is a well-rounded superhero team.

This isn’t a great comic, merely GOOD, but it is an easy, fun read. The art keeps the book interesting, and frankly, using Magneto makes the book feel more important than it has so far. This is definitely on the stronger side of the X-Force books I’ve sampled so far.