Magneto: Magneto Was Right

Magneto (2023) #1-4

by J.M. DeMatteis, Todd Nauck (Artist ), Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist)

A blast from the past, set when Magneto was headmaster of Xavier's School! Magneto may once have been the X-Men's fiercest foe - but when Professor X leaves the planet for life-saving treatment, the Master of Magnetism inherits a new teacher! The New Mutants suddenly find themselves under his tutelage, but can these young X-Men-in-training learn to take orders from a reforming super villain who's tried to kill them and their predecessors?! There are two sides to every story, and J.M. DeMatteis and Todd Nauck weave a tale that will show how Magneto was right…from a certain point of view. In fact, the mutant known as Irae has taken Magneto's lessons to heart in a way that will upend even his best strategies! Prepare to meet the Sisterhood of Evil Mutants! Collecting MAGNETO (2023) #1-4.

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

112 pages, Paperback

Published February 6, 2024

About the author

Also Credited As:
DeMatteis, John Marc
Ellis, Michael
Lombego, Wally

Bio:
J.M. DeMatteis was a professional musician/singer and rock music journalist before entering comics in the late 70's.

Credits include Spider-Man, Moonshadow, Brooklyn Dreams, Justice League, Abadazad, Hero Squared, the Life and Times of Savior 28.

Created I, Vampire , Creature Commandos, Moonshadow, Hero Squared (co-creator), Abadazad, Stardust Kid, Savior 28 and more.

Reviews

[ShamNoop · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ll be honest, I am biased with how much I love this because of my nostalgia for the original New Mutants run.

[Alex Sarll]

Marvel do these odd little retro miniseries every so often, which tend to be a slightly forced way of scratching a nostalgic itch, but this one felt like it might be worth a look, both because it's been expressly referenced in the current Resurrection Of Magneto, and because it's the first thing I recall deMatteis doing for Marvel in a while. Of course, what I was forgetting is that when he's not collaborating with the late Keith Giffen, deMatteis' writing often tends towards the navel-gazing, characters engaging in expositional arguments with themselves while dropping clunky references to weighty texts (this time, Dostoevsky). And in a particularly spectacular feat of scheduling, the retcon here turns out to centre on reconciling the various clashing interpretations of Magneto we've seen over the years, something that also sits at the heart of Resurrection, which is handling it much better. Set during the period when Erik/Max/Michael/Uncle Tom Cobbley an' all was substitute headmaster of Xavier's school, it sees him kidnapped by mutant firebrand Irae, who's determined to do the Apt Pupil bit (which, again, has been done before, and much better) and get him back to crushing Homo sapiens. Except it turns out that was only ever a bit, a way to provide a pantomime villain against whom the X-Men could show humanity that some mutants were good. Which is already a deeply dubious plan even before the story tries to have it both ways and claim that if humanity did not react as planned, the back-up was indeed to overthrow them. Apart from anything else, this makes Magneto look fairly useless given both plans A and B demonstrably failed, not to mention undermining the X-Men by suggesting that in all their confrontations he was pulling his punches. And were the Brotherhood briefed on this? If not, he was taking quite the risk, not to mention making them all into dupes. It's a classic of the terrible retcon form, creating two problems for every one it half-solves. In the book's defence, well, it's always nice to see the New Mutants as they were when they were New. And set against them, Irae's 'neo-mutants' are a clever twist on a couple of established X-Men villain ideas, cyborgs she's bodged together in the absence of any actual mutant followers.

[Tyler Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now this one was actually good. As far as these new stories in old times go this has to be one of the best. Driving deep into what makes Magneto the man he is. From his time in a concentration camp as a boy to his time leading the X-Men for a period. I also LOVE this new character they introduced, Irae the Queen of Wrath is in interesting character. Her mutants powers being activated by the rage of Magneto creating an ultra hate filled villain is an interesting idea and I really hope we see her again. The Resurrection of Magneto is coming pretty soon, seems like a great place to bring her into the modern day story.

[bri 🧸 · Rating 2 out of 5]

the line “to a tomorrow that suddenly seems pregnant with possibilities” is a line written in this comic book i genuinely could not make that up

[Keef Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Magneto is such a deep and interesting character. This story is a fun and interesting journey. I docked a half star because I think it's a careless detail but his helmet never blocks any kind of telepathy. In fact, he's constantly affected by telepathic powers in this. It's a major plot point in this story. It would've been easy to just not have his helmet on and there are times where it would make a lot more sense physically to not be wearing a helmet. I get that it's done to either make him look cooler or separate good guy magneto with bad guy magneto, which is a good style choice, it just sacrifices continuity to do so.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

My "Magneto Made Some Valid Points" shirt is raising questions already addressed by my shirt.
This isn't the worst exploration of the ethics of being a terrorist opposing genocide but it had been done better.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

MAGNETO'S HEADMASTER ERA WAS SO GENERATIONAL WE DO NOT TALK ABOUT IT ENOUGH

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was alright I guess and its set during the new mutant days when Magneto was the head master and wow Marvel is doing a lot of them and its hard to keep track ngl of all these titles.

But this one shows him being apprehended by Irae, Queen of wrath and she claims to be his daughter and then you see the twists with her and who she turns out to be, cool origin and a fun new villain who I guess will come back in present day, and yeah maybe thats why many people will read it. Her story is fun and she is kind of like a Magneto worshipper like Exodus and would have been an acolyte but I like how she is manipulating Magneto to become his "evil self" again.

And he doesn't want to and you see the push and pull and his conscience and history telling him not to, and yeah its a simple story but actually goes deep into the character of Magneto and shows who he is at that point of time and how he has changed! I really loved the moments with Rahne he had and loved their bond, also the art by Todd was so good, one of the best artists, I would love to see him do something in present continuity though.

So, overall fun, short, one-time read.

[Maja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Completely engaging all the way through with the perfect balance of domestic moments and high stakes fight scenes. While I felt things wen too quickly in the beginning to establish proper relationship, by the end the characters were much more clearly built up which allowed their relationships to become clear. This built tension into the plot and made it more than just a simple ‘defeat the villain’ read. They all had individual voices which really helped to do this in such a short amount of space. This being said, I would still have liked some longer moments establishing those relationships and characters in relation to this arc just a little bit more. The lack of this did sometimes make emotional elements fall a bit flat. However, there were still plenty of other similar moments to go around which gave a truly insightful look into Magneto as a character.

[S is pondering G.O.D. Growth or Devolution · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Your honor, my client is MASSIVELY traumatized..."

Jokes aside, DeMatteis perfectly captures the reactionary appeal of Magneto's mission with respect to the complexities of Magneto now acting as the (temporary) head of Professor X's school. The story is about Magneto being brainwashed into resuming his violent compaign for mutantkind by a radicalized new mutant.

The first issue had a rough start. For the first few panels it seemed like DeMatteis was trying to find Magneto's voice, but it stablizes from there with only few slips in the last issue. I don't like the art style, though it doesn't clash with the tone and I like the design of the new villain, Irae

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've stopped buying these Flashback X-Men comics, meant to satisfy people who don't like Krakoa, because frankly they haven't been too good.

But I was willing to check out a comic about a beloved era of the New Mutants from the library. It was just about as meh as the rest. Oh, the core idea of trying to harmonize early and mid versions of Magneto is worthwhile. But this was just so dull. Lots of internal monologue. Then some fighting. Then some more internal monologue. There were some nice scenes between Erik and Rahne that were charming, but this otherwise had no redeeming value.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This side story imagines a world where Magneto was put in charge of the New Mutants after Xavier "left" (though they never really explain where he went, and the only thing in my memory is when he left to go to Shi'Ar space....). A new villainess, Irae, who was created during an outburst of the villain Magneto, abducts him and tries to change him back to the villain he was. Ultimately, she does not succeed, but it is interesting to see the Magneto of old again.
Overall, an interesting take, but really not what I was looking for at this time. Still good though.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another one of those flashback series from Marvel and again, one where nothing new is gained. Magneto is now running the school with the New Mutants in tow. DeMatteis tries to retcon his past behavior to declare he was purposely playing a character with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in order to make the X-Men look better and that is just so much nonsense. Chris Claremont has already explained himself more then once on the situation.

[Logan Dalton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Magneto is one of the most fascinating characters in the Marvel Universe, and JM DeMatteis and Todd Nauck come to grips with different sides of the Master of Magnetism’s personality from dark to heroic and everything in-between. The book has a maximalist, old school style, especially in Nauck’s visuals without being reheated leftovers. The OG New Mutants make for a fun supporting cast too, and I enjoyed Magneto’s interactions with Rahne Sinclair aka Wolfsbane.

[Gabriel Rojo · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars
A quintessential J.M. DeMatteis tale - he's explored the same themes over and over again, but they are always relevant. It's great to see that a classic writer from a generation who really knew how to write comics is still being employed by Marvel and can still deliver. The visuals by Todd Nauck are amazing. And to see the New Mutants look and behave exactly as they were! A delight.

[Erik J · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like when Marvel does these limited series that take place in the past. It kind of fills out the narrative and just creates these little non-important stories that mostly focus on character.

My only complaint is that the villains of the story were quite ... lame.

The art though ... really made me think of Art Adams and i LOVED it.

Overall - 4/5

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

For not reading any comic books from this time period, I think it's still good and makes me want to read the New Mutants even more than I already do. The art was pretty good, I think modernizing the original style but like keeping it the same. I did enjoy the Rahne and Erik relationship.

The villain, I want to say I liked her but I don't think I'd care if we saw her again or not.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wish it explored Magneto even more but a very solid look into who he is. Truly one of my favorite fictional characters in general and love how even in the short series you can understand his very complex feelings.

[Brett · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reminder (like I needed one) how much I enjoy the writing of JM DeMatteis. He’s used this corner in the New Mutants continuity to tell a tale of Magneto’s battle between his rage and humanity. As I’ve come to expect from the writing of JM DeMatteis, it bursts with hope.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nostalgia!

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Lucy Batson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent "untold tale" and character exploration from the time at which Magneto was running the Xavier institute, and mentoring the New Mutants. As usual. Todd Nauck's art really shines.

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

yea he was

[The_J · Rating 3 out of 5]

How to put all of the various Magneto pieces into one single puzzle? Nice try? I guess.

[Adam Rodgers · Rating 2 out of 5]

An exploration of Magneto's motivations during his brief time as mentor to the New Mutants.

The actual story title here seems to be Magneto: Evil Mutant, so its confusing why the book doesnt go with that more apt title, but that is the least of this tale's problems. Superbly illustrated by Todd Nanuck, DeMatteis' story however is sadly lacking. Entirely too wordy, the amount of exposition is suffocating. The New Mutants are subjegated to mere plot development in the background to a clumsy examination of the master of magnetism's identity. We see him as concentration camp survivor, to terrorist/mutant freedom fighter to teacher and mentor, wrapped around the actions of this books antagonist Irae; self styled successor to Magneto.

What could have been an interesting insight into Magneto's psyke becomes a slog of a book to get through, weighted down by obvious flashbacks and a literal fight with his subconcsious. This adds little to nothing to Magneto's mythos and really is best avoided.

[Kaitlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great character study! I was worried I might not be able to get the full context as someone who is just getting into the comics, but thankfully I had no issues!

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.75
Old school comic book storyteliing...in a bad way.

[Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I grew up watching the 90s X-Men animated series and picked up the first two issues at my local comic book store (including a Larry Houston variant cover). I read the final two issues through Marvel Unlimited but they actually ended up being my favorite part of this run.

Read as individual comics, ratings below:
#1= 3 stars
#2= 3 stars
#3= 5 stars
#4= 4 stars

Overall rating of 3.5 stars

[Ross · Rating 1 out of 5]

Part of the recent 'Marvel Retro' moment where the showcase untold stories from famous eras/moments in Marvel comics. This one is set during the time of Magneto's leadership of the New Mutants. You can't miss it really....it's the purple outfit with the big white M, era. (ughhh.)

It's unneeded and mediocre at best. We get two introductions that were also NOT needed.

- Elena Perez as Irae - the self-styled 'daughter of Magneto'; leader of the 'Sisterhood of Evil Mutants' and rage channeler.
- the Sisterhood of Evil Mutants - (added caps for emphasis) A GROUP OF PRE TEEN WOMEN THAT WERE KIDNAPPED AND MODIFIED BY TECHNOLOGY. Think of them as pre teen Reavers, and who would want that?!?!

Seriously...just...why? This whole miniseries is a lesson in bad ideas put to paper. There's been other 'Magneto does good' miniseries before and they've done it better.

[Shawn Ingle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was pretty bad. I considered giving it one star. So much of it just seems either out of place or unrealistic to what was going on in the pages of X-Men when this was supposed to have taken place. The link between Magneto and Irae. The revisionist history about Magneto's early motivations. Those are the main two things I had a problem with, but there's more. The artwork, at least, is decent but not enough to make this worthwhile.