New X-Men? #104

X-Men #104

“The Gentlemen’s Name Is Magneto”

Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum

Synopsis

On their way out of Ireland, the X-Men are sent to Moira MacTaggert’s lab in Scotland to investigate a disturbance. But when they get there they run into the X-Men’s oldest and greatest enemy- Magneto.

Rolling Commentary

Oh, thank god, it’s Magneto. Great homage cover, by the way. Cockrum’s ruling it there.

Pages 2 and 3. Well, I guess we’re not even pretending Moira’s a house keeper anymore. That’s fine with me. And yes Banshee, it really is your own fault. But hey, if Jamie Madrox (my second favorite X-Man ever) is about to show up, that’s fine with me too.

Page 8. Man, Magneto likes to hear himself speak, doesn’t he? Realistically, though, you’ve got five X-Men here, versus Magneto, and of those five, two are metal based heroes. Against Magneto. There’s a rule to fighting Magneto, which states that when fighting Magneto, avoid using metal of any variety. It’s just a good idea to keep away from all metallic objects really. So Colossus and Wolverine? Yeah, they’re boned.

Page 10- I greatly enjoy how Claremont just says “Fuck you” to an annoying continuity issue here. “But Magneto’s a baby!” “Fuck you, that’s stupid. That’s so stupid I’m going to undo it. Off panel. And only explain it in a flashback.” Rock on, Mr. Claremont. Also, man, Cyclops, just assuming you’d never deal with Magneto again was kind of a dumb move, wasn’t it?

Page 17- No, that’s not Havok behind the door marked “Mutant X”, nor is it the syndicated TV show that isn’t about the X-Men but stars mutants doing mutant things. If it’s who I think it is, we’ll have to wait a good 20 issues or so to find out. And note that Magneto lacks a snappy comeback to Wolverine there.

Page 18- Starjammers ahoy! Finally, everything is getting ready for the big story.

Post Mortem

Yay for things happening! Yay for Magneto! Yay for Magneto using his powers to kick ass!

You know, to be honest, nothing much more happens in this episode than the last one. But Magneto is vastly more interesting and much more cool than the villains last issue, so maybe that’s why it seems much better. I do enjoy the fact that the last four issues or so have been there to distract not only the X-Men but the readers as well from the plot to kill Xavier, even though at this point the readers don’t really know why Erik the Red is gunning for Charlie.

You like how the X-Men didn’t really beat Magneto at all? I know I did.

Another thing: I think this is the first time we have a hint that Charles Xavier isn’t the perfect angel everyone’s convinced he is, what with the founding of Muir Island and such. Which is good. Cyclops is starting to trust Charles less, which will be an occasional theme of the series up to the present day.