Magneto: Rogue Nation (X-Men) [Paperback]

Alan Davis (Author), Fabien Nicieza (Author), Lee Weeks (Illustrator), Brandon Peterson (Illustrator)

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Marvel Comics (April 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785108343
• ISBN-13: 978-0785108344
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #872,548 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joe Pruett has worn a lot of hats. He has worked in the comic book industry as an art assistant, a letterer, a writer, an editor, a creative director, a designer, and, finally, as a publisher. He has written over 100 titles, including his own KILROY IS HERE series from Caliber Comics and stints on Marvel Comics' X-MEN family of titles.

He is an Eisner Award winner (for editing/designing THE ART OF BRIAN BOLLAND) and a five-time Eisner Award nominee; as a writer ("Best Short Story" for his adaptation of Neil Gaiman's "We Can Get That For You Wholesale"), as an editor (for "Best Editor" and "Best Anthology" for NEGATIVE BURN), and, again, as an editor/designer (for THE ART OF P. CRAIG RUSSELL). In addition, his publishing company, Desperado Publishing, has received five individual Eisner Award nominations since 2006.

Realizing that the comic marketplace no longer offered many choices for writers and artists to create and nurture their own properties, Joe formed Desperado Publishing in the summer of 2004 to become a home for today's top talent to bring to life their own personal creations. Desperado Publishing partnered with Image Comics from 2005-2007, published solo from 2007-2009, and have partnered with IDW Publishing since 2010.

He still lives the dream to this day.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Uneven and inessential, unless you're a Magneto lover, August 15, 2010

By 

Peter Marinari (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Magneto: Rogue Nation (X-Men) (Paperback)

WHAT IS IT?
A trade paperback that collects the entire Magneto War story arc, including the X-Men: Magneto War one-shot, X-Men #85-87, and Uncanny X-Men #366-367. Also reprints Magneto Rex, a three-issue limited series follow-up to Magneto War.

INTRODUCTION
By 1999 Magneto had been in mothballs for six years - since late in 1993, when Professor Xavier wiped his memory in the confrontation that left Wolverine sans his adamantium skeleton.

In comics, six years is a long time - long enough that half a generation of new readers weren't acquainted with the X-Men's most legendary nemesis. Meanwhile, the X-writers had introduced Joseph, either a de-aged Magneto or a clone of the same.

Magneto: Rogue Nation collects the two storylines that resolved that pair of issues - reintroducing Magneto to readers, and resolving Joseph's arc.

STORY & SCRIPT
The first portion of this collection is The Magneto War story arc, featuring a team of Professor X, Storm, Wolverine, Rogue, Gambit, Marrow, Shadowcat, Nightcrawler, and Colossus.

The introductory issues - X-Men #85 and the Magneto War one-shot - are perfunctory stories with an editorial goal of reintroducing Magneto and his Acolytes to newer readers. Magneto is written more as an unstable madman than a deluded demagogue, and if this is your introduction to him he'll seem pretty shallow.

The four issues of the actual crossover are much stronger. Magneto holds the entire world hostage to a massive electro-magnetic pulse wave that is slowly spreading across the planet. The X-Men can't seem to stop him, and the United Nations is loathe to bargain with a despot ... but they might not have any choice.

The story isn't much of a "war," and if you go in expecting that kind of action you'll be sorely disappointed. The arc is more of an illustration of how fear and hatred both fuel Magneto's rage and form the foundation of his victory.

Magneto engages in just two fights (one in flashback), and the X-Men mostly square off against b-list Acolytes. That said, though the scale of action isn't epic, it's brisk and well-written. Davis puts some thought behind what the X-Men do in battle - it's not a cascade of aimless punches and slashes, but a logic problem of whose power to apply where.

The downside is the handling of the Joseph story. Without spoiling too much, his origin is explained via an extremely poorly written character - Astra - who acts as both a deus es machina and a tremendous retcon.

If you read X-Men #1-3 in 1991 the end of the Magneto War will seem familiar - again, Magneto and the team are at an impasse, with Magneto controlling his own sanctuary for mutants. In this case the sanctuary is Genosha rather than Asteroid M, which is what leads to the Magneto Rex limited series - a three-issue glimpse into Magneto taking power in the war-torn nation.

Rex is the weaker half of the collection. Though the idea of telling the story of Magneto's takeover is intriguing, writer Joe Pruett doesn't do anything of consequence in the trio of issues. Instead, we get a mutant-of-the-week rebel trying in vain to usurp Magneto. By the final issue you realize the entire series was a waste of time and paper - there's no major story or character developments within.

ARTWORK
The pencils in this volume are mostly the work of three hands - Alan Davis on X-Men, Leinil Yu on Uncanny, and Brandon Peterson on Magneto Rex (Lee Weeks chips in for the one-shot).

Alan Davis makes nearly every page worthwhile - he has a strong sense of these characters, and with few exceptions (Marrow, sometimes Rogue) he draws beautiful versions of them. His Magneto is devilishly handsome and full of power.

Yu is generally strong, and delivers some beautiful spreads and definitive illustrations (particularly Wolverine). However, sometimes his inkers seem to be getting in the way of his art, lining his detail work too heavily.

Brandon Peterson, who has been worth seeing on Uncanny in the past, bombs on Magneto Rex. His Magneto is obscenely over-muscled, his characters are consistently awkward, and it takes him two issues to draw any two women differently from each other.

BOTTOM LINE
Is this collection essential? No and yes.

If you already have a sense of who Magneto is, this book is going to seem very repetitive to you. You can sum up the entire thing as "Magneto holds the world hostage and receives Genosha as ransom." However, it sets up the building blocks of all of Magneto's stories through House of M, making it a significant historical story arc

As of August 2010 Magneto: Rogue Nation is out of print, and you aren't likely to find it for less than twenty dollars. For that price, this is essential only for TPB completists (like me) and major Magneto fans. Otherwise, you should take a pass - at least until it's reprinted.

5.0 out of 5 stars Very, very good X-men story, March 2, 2008

By 

Regina-denise Pouliot - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Magneto: Rogue Nation (X-Men) (Paperback)

This a anthology to get. Solid storyline. Very good artwork. A very great team of X-men, possibly the best roster of x-men. Though the book is basically about Magneto taking control of genosha. Also about Rogue and Quicksiler's involement with the character's past. Awesome cover. Proves why the X-men are the best. Collects about nine issues. Get it now!

3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The ..., April 21, 2002

By 

"darkodineon" (Irvine, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Magneto: Rogue Nation (X-Men) (Paperback)

Ok, first off, I won't say that this trade paperback is awe-inspiring, but it's not bad. The story is average, continuing Magneto's constant attempts at ruling the human race, with the X-Men opposing him. Most of the battles are fought between the Acolytes and the X-Men, which is somewhat disappointing because the Acolytes are pretty incompentent. Yes, Mellencamp is a lame name for anyone (especially a bad guy), but get over it man. He's only in a few panels. As for Fabian Cortez, he's been around for a while and has his own place in the Marvel universe. Who's to say he can't use his own name? Jean Grey is known more as Jean Grey than Marvel Girl or Phoenix.
No where could I find the text reiterating the art to the degree that the reviewer talked about. I did notice it to a very small degree, as all comic books have that once in a while. All of the non-dialogue text serve more as a narrative explaining the characters' backgrounds or as an exposition on the characters' current state of being and emotion. All in all, there is a fair size of reading to do, but who says comic books need to be less writing? As for the art, I thought it was great. Marvel has been putting out great artwork recently and this continues the trend.
Hmm, as for the other points, I don't understand what his problem is with unfamiliar readers not understanding what's going on. That's how it always is! These comics are part of a series and if you don't keep up with the series, you'll get lost. That's how it's always been. Marvel would love to have anyone pick up these comics and get right into them, but that's completely unrealistic. Marvel lovers will enjoy this paperback, especially X-Men buffs like me. There is some character development... and the writing is decent. The one problem I have is that this X-Men vs. Magneto thing is getting monotonous, but there's actually more to this paperback than that. If you like Magneto (like me), pick this one up. If you like the X-Men, pick it u with a little caution. Anyone else, read it and judge it before buying it.