X-MEN #2: Firestorm

Magneto learns the truth

Originally Published November 1991

We begin with some facetime.

Yes, the Acolytes have acted with an excess of zeal, performing overt terrorists acts in Genosha, but hey, come on, they had it coming right? Remember the slavery?

The X-Men and Magneto debate the finer points of "acting like a total maniac" -- Magneto is for it, Beast is against it, and Cyclops is ready to wash his hands of the situation and start blasting the bad guy with his eye-beams. However, before they can throw down, the Genoshan military intervenes with helicopters, and Magneto has some beams of his own to throw them.

If it killed me, I was still going to get that joke in here.

Magneto proposes a compromise: you X-Men go help the "innocent bystandards" whom I appear to have placed in "mortal danger," and I'll do me.

A fight erupts and Fabian Cortez, the lead Acolyte sucker-punches Psylocke. Well, that is, he sucker-somethings her...

Back at the Human Base of Various Military Forces, SHIELD, Val Cooper, and representatives from the USSR, China and other countries debate the course of action whilst watching live footage of Genosha getting absolutely wrecked. Nick Fury warns against escalating the situation, while Russian Comrade Alexyev thinks escalation sounds pretty good.

The fight continues, but Magneto is able to get Cyclops and Wolverine pinned down between panels. Using this as leverage, he once again demands that everyone who isn't with him STFU and GTFO.

Back in New York, Forge, Banshee and Xavier are ready to hunker down in a secure part of the mansion, but Charles notes Moira's absence. He decides to over out and find her despite leaving the safe room to do so.

In Genosha, Psylocke is able to get the upper hand on Magneto, having had her psychic knife (the focused totality of her telepathic ability, fyi) supercharged by Fabian's powers (and his gross lips.)

However, the Acolyte named Chrome -- who has the power to turn people into sexy steel statues -- freezes all the remaining X-Men in place, ending the battle once and for all.

Back at base, Magneto is licking his wounds from his close call when he gets some disturbing news: during his last check-up, Fabian noticed an anomaly in Magneto's genetic code. At first Magneto is mad that Fab withheld that from him, but Cortez pleads off, "Bro, I didn't even know what it meant, what was I supposed to tell you?" Fair enough -- Magneto knows where to go for answers.

While the Russians launch their big Anti-Magneto space gun, Mags pops down to Xavier's to confront Charles... and Moira.

Oops!

Whisking the two former lovers away by magnetizing the entire wing of the mansion into a space capsule (damn, we just rebuilt that thing!) Magneto reminisces about his childhood...

Specifically the time he was de-aged back down to infancy and put in the care of Charles and Moira on Muir Isle. Eventually, he was restored to adulthood and full power -- not to mention sexier muscles -- by the Shi'ar Agent Eric the Red, but there remains a question of what, exactly, Moira did to Magneto while he was in her care.

On threat of Charles' life, Moira agrees to tell the whole story.

As it turns out, yes, Moira did experiment on young Magnus. She was looking for a cure... for Mutant Madness!

Apparently, she noticed the proclivity of some mutants, when they reached a certain level of power, to go, shall we say... bonkers psycho. It happened to Magneto, and it happened to Moira's son Proteus.

You'll recall that at this time, Moira was keeping her son locked in the basement because he was too powerful (perhaps it did not occur to her that that contributed to reduced mental health?)

Magneto doesn't buy Moira's "ends justify the means" defense, and lashes out, having been violated, his freedom of choice taken from him -- like far too many child stars before him. He even compares her to a Nazi war criminal.

He offers her a choice: a living death as one of Chrome's statues, or repeat the process by rewiring the X-Men to follow him as their one true mutant leader. (I know that sounds like a total violation, but I suppose Magneto feels the ends justify the means... er, in this case at least.)

While we pause to consider our options, we visit the snowy islands between the Soviet Union and Japan, where something strange has been unearthed thanks to the electromagnetic pulse caused by Magneto's detonation of a nuclear warhead in Soviet airspace. Matsuo Tsurayaba is very interested in this so-called Omega thing.

Once he has custody of it, he kills the Russian official who helped him get it.

Back on Asteroid M, Charles is approached by the X-Men. This is heartening: have they broken free of Magneto's captivity? Are they ready to fight their way out?

Nah, son -- they're joining up.

Time to get fitted for one of those big red V outfits with the cape! That'll look good on Beast.

Back on Earth, the X-Men's Gold team have been running practice sessions in the Danger Room to try to strategize what they can do if the other X-Men have, in fact, had their heads turned.

Are... are we the B-team?

It, uh, hasn't been going well. But they'd better get ready, because they are warned by Nick Fury that the USSR is just about ready to zap Magneto with the big blaster. Ready or not, here they come!

To be... ... ...concluded!!

Further Thoughts:

You've got to give credit here. The plot for these issues, as generated by Jim Lee, leans heavily on established Chris Claremont-era lore. Not only did we revisit the Submarine Leningrad last time, this issue brings in Magneto's time as an infant (from prior to the All-New All-Different X-Men), and Proteus. It's somewhat surprising how little-discussed Proteus was after his defeat, given his personal connection to Moira, the Muir Island facility, and others, and the tendency of X-Men comics to emphasize the baggage their characters accumulate over the course of their adventures. Tying in Magneto's redemption to Moira's experiments and her son is a canny move that gives the entire story, the capper to 16 years of work, a real completeness.

Jim Lee is a great artists but um maybe he needs to spend more time on "crying."

The debate over what Moira did, and the rightness or wrongness of it, I'll leave to the philosophers (for once) but it gives some weight and meat to what is otherwise a very zippy and fast-paced issue -- sometimes too much for its own good. It cuts around a battle between Cyclops, Wolverine and Magneto, and also elides the other team preparing for battle, instead merely showing the disastrous outcome so as to establish that they're not prepared to go up against their friends and allies (which is hardly surprising, since they've only had to do it in Uncanny #97, 100, 106, 115, 124, 127, 133, 135-136, 152, 159, 166, 167, 175, 190, 191, 196, 201, 207, 214, 219, 233-234, 241-242, 250, 256-258, 276-277 and 278-280, plus a few annuals and mini-series. That's hardly any practice at battling their friends and allies over the course of 16 years!) Otherwise though, it's a solid and credible outing.

What I didn't expect to be feeling about these comics is that there are some ways that these particular issues are an improvement over the Claremont-led issues. While the soon-to-be-former X-scribe had a tendency to hold back and save plot threads in reserve for another day (to maddening effect for some readers) the current philosophy is to live for today, and what that means in practice is to fully explore all sides of the story, including how the Russians are tired of Magneto walking all over them and prepared to do something about it. This is an issue that goes for it in all its noisy, messy glory. It's refreshing and, for the moment at least, quite exciting. This is a new beginning that feels new, and respects what has come before. I bet you didn't expect me to endorse these comics quite so much.