{"id":9998,"date":"2024-04-10T22:48:32","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T21:48:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=9998"},"modified":"2024-04-10T22:48:32","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T21:48:32","slug":"resurrection-of-magneto-4-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=9998","title":{"rendered":"Resurrection of Magneto #4 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>RESURRECTION OF MAGNETO #4<\/strong>
\n“Reawakening”<\/strong>
\nWriter: Al Ewing<\/strong>
\nArtist: Luciano Vecchio<\/strong>
\nColour artists: David Curiel & Jesus Aburtov<\/strong>
\nLetterer: Joe Sabino<\/strong>
\nDesign: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen<\/strong>
\nEditor: Jordan D White<\/strong><\/p>\n

COVER \/ PAGE 1.<\/strong> Magneto attacks Orchis footsoldiers. He’s in his black costume, rather than the red one worn in the issue.<\/p>\n

PAGE 2. <\/strong>Obituary for Paul Neary.<\/p>\n

PAGE 3. <\/strong>Magneto advances towards Orchis soldiers.<\/em><\/p>\n

As in previous issues, this opening splash page is a tarot reference – it’s loosely based on the Rider-Waite version of the Hierophant. That card doesn’t show the Hierophant with three helmets, but it does show him in a purple cape between two pillar type structures, raising his right hand in the same position as Magneto here, and with two worshippers in the position of the two Orchis footsoldiers. It also has two crossed keys lying on the floor, replaced here by two Orchis cards.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“I don’t know which hat to wear.”<\/strong> Magneto means this both figuratively – in terms of which role he wants to play – and literally, since he’s actually carting around all three versions of his helmet. We saw them lying around him in the symbolic opening page of issue #1. Page 9 is quite explicit about the black helmet representing aggressive rage, the white helmet being saintliness (which he equates with Professor X), and the red helmet representing his own path. This is a little awkward, in that the “Magneto of old” is being equated with a helmet that doesn’t actually come from that period, but the black\/white symbolism clearly takes priority. Magneto has<\/em> clearly opted for his red costume (with a Krakoa-era X-Men logo on the chest).<\/p>\n

More generally, we see him in the next scene vacillating about how aggressive he wants to be with the Orchis soldiers. He’s aware that everything he does has consequences, not all of them intended, and that attempting to withdraw from the world was no different. He’s unsure about how to use his power (and position) for the greatest good, and acting cautiously as a result.<\/p>\n

PAGE 4. <\/strong>Recap and credits.<\/p>\n

PAGES 5-6. <\/strong>Magneto advances past Orchis footsoldiers.<\/em><\/p>\n

“And why can’t I face Charles?”<\/strong> An aside at this point, but see below regarding Magneto’s repurposing of his “good men” speech from X-Men Red<\/em> #7.<\/p>\n

“As the resistance mobilises…”<\/strong> In Fall of the House of X<\/em>. Storm was still absent in this storyline as of Fall<\/em> #3.<\/p>\n

PAGES 7-11. <\/strong>Squad Zero try to defeat Magneto.<\/em><\/p>\n

Squad Zero <\/strong>are new. They’re apparently the specialist anti-Magneto squad. Rather than equipping them with equipment that makes them immune to Magneto’s powers, Orchis’ approach is to boobytrap them so that they’ll flood the prison with nerve gas if Magneto uses his powers. It doesn’t work, because Magneto can crush them so quickly and thoroughly that no nerve gas is released.<\/p>\n

But Magneto acknowledges nonetheless that “it was the perfect trap”, presumably because it has forced him into the position of taking their lives, something that he was working very hard to avoid in the earlier pages. It’s also determined how he’s perceived by the mutants that he’s rescuing. At any rate, he definitively opts for the red helmet at the end of the scene.<\/p>\n

“First ten of you die! Then a hundred! Then a thousand!” <\/strong>This seems to be echoing Orchis’ threat to kill humans in X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023<\/em>. (“The first time a returned mutant is found on Earth, we will kill a human. The second time, the cost will be ten humans. Then a hundred. I suppose you’re smart enough to know about the powers of ten?”)<\/p>\n

“Of course, now he [Charles] know how Orchis keep their end of such bargains.”<\/strong> Magneto assumes that Professor X would back down in the face of Squad Zero’s threat, by analogy with his surrender at X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Magneto implies that Orchis didn’t honour their side of the bargain they made with Xavier. Technically, that’s debatable, since Dr Stasis’ offer was “We will kill no more humans, if you all leave.” Quite a few of the X-Men didn’t<\/em> leave, so arguably Stasis’ promise was never engaged in the first place. That said, it’s fairly clear that Orchis were always planning to kill the human guests at the Hellfire Gala, as they did at the end of the issue, which is probably sufficient for Magneto’s point. More fundamentally, Magneto may also be under the impression that Stasis lied about the destination of the gates – in fact, Stasis really did believe that they were directed to Mars.<\/p>\n

“I’ll have to remember their names.” <\/strong>As in the memorial wall seen in issue #2.<\/p>\n

“To save one life is to save the world.” <\/strong>This is a paraphrase of the Talmud (Sahedrin 4:5<\/a>, to be precise).<\/p>\n

“To me, my friends.”<\/strong> Echoing the “To me, my X-Men” catchphrase used by Professor X, but with more emphasis on the wider community.<\/p>\n

“We must be so wary of good men. For what will we not do?”<\/strong> Magneto’s narration repeats his line from X-Men Red<\/em> #7, where he was warning Storm to keep an eye on Professor X. Here, he reapplies it to the need to keep watch on himself.<\/p>\n

PAGES 12-13. <\/strong>Storm, Magneto and Blue Marvel destroy the Orchis base.<\/em><\/p>\n

Magneto tacitly acknowledges to Storm that he killed some of the Orchis prisoners. It’s odd that he says that Storm and Blue Marvel “took more Orchis prisoners”, since there were only five people in Squad Zero – did they really make that much difference to the numbers? Or did he go on and kill some more people between pages 11 and 12? (Or, because he was being so cautious at the start of the issue, did he let more of them escape?)<\/p>\n

“What will I not do? I fear the answer is change.”<\/strong> Well, this is comics, and this is Al Ewing’s final issue.<\/p>\n

PAGES 14-21. <\/strong>Storm, Magneto and Blue Marvel defeat the Stark Sentinel.<\/em><\/p>\n

Magneto continues to have a very broad idea of the deaths that he’s responsible for. Here, he blames himself for the Stark Sentinels, because they were built using technology that Iron Man developed as a counter-measure for Magneto. As Magneto points out, having deliberately set himself up as a figure of fear, he can hardly complain that people reacted accordingly; but even so, the causal link between that and the Stark Sentinels is quite remote.<\/p>\n

“Dr Brashear has a long-standing distrust of the Avengers.”<\/strong> I think that’s a point from Ewing’s Ultimates<\/em> run.<\/p>\n

Neutronium <\/strong>is another recurring feature from Al Ewing’s stories, introduced in Mighty Avengers<\/em> vol 2 #9 (where its effect on Blue Marvel was established).<\/p>\n

“The bark of an oak is built to withstand a piece of straw but a hurricane wind will blow the straw through the bark and deep into the wood.”<\/strong> Mythbusters<\/em> would disagree.<\/a><\/p>\n

“I’m not afraid of a life that ends.”<\/strong> A recurring motif from X-Men Red<\/em>, relating to the people of Arakko rejecting Krakoan resurrection. Magneto (and Storm) both aligned themselves with that, which is why Magneto was dead at the start of this series in the first place.<\/p>\n

“To me. We’re going to make a human \/ mutant circuit.” <\/strong>Again, Magneto echoes “To me, my X-Men” – and then proposes doing the Krakoan-era “mutant circuit” standard with a non-mutant hero for the first time. He goes on to talk about the importance of not “forsaking common humanity”. The suggestion here seems to be that Magneto is acknowledging the need to place greater weight on what mutants have in common with humans, which happens to fit quite nicely with the end of the (separatist) Krakoan era.<\/p>\n

“Ororo calls the fundamental force of lightning – and, as she did in the Shadow Kingdom and on Arakko, uses it to boost my [Magneto’s] power.” <\/strong>The Shadow Kingdom was last issue. Arakko was X-Men Red<\/em> #6.<\/p>\n

“When the world I helped to build was no longer to my liking …. I chose to … walk away.”<\/strong> When he left Earth for Arakko in Immortal X-Men<\/em> #1 and X-Men Red <\/em>#1.<\/p>\n

PAGES 22-23. <\/strong>Magneto is sent to rescue Iron<\/em> Man.<\/em><\/p>\n

Magneto does indeed show up to help Iron Man at the end of this week’s Invincible Iron Man<\/em> #17.<\/p>\n

The final page is based on another tarot card – the World, representing wisdom and an unequivocally positive card. The original card shows a naked female figure, but Magneto’s cape is arranged to evoke her hair. Like her, he’s carrying two sticks and surrounded by an oval shape (on the card, it’s a wreath).\u00a0 The four heads in the corner of the original card are the four “living creatures” of Jewish mythology: a man (Emma), an eagle (Iron Man), an ox (Storm) and a lion (Blue Marvel).<\/p>\n

PAGE 24. <\/strong>Trailer. This is the final issue, so the Krakoan reads RISE OF THE POWERS OF X.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition. RESURRECTION OF MAGNETO #4 “Reawakening” Writer: Al Ewing Artist: Luciano Vecchio Colour artists: David Curiel & Jesus Aburtov Letterer: Joe Sabino Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen Editor: Jordan D White COVER \/ PAGE 1. Magneto attacks Orchis footsoldiers. He’s in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annotations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9998"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10000,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9998\/revisions\/10000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}