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scans_dailyA construction worker named Bill. And no, I'm not kidding. And just to give advanced warning, prepare for some ranting under the cut...
From X-Men #85. Written by Joe Kelly and with art by Alan Davis and Mark Farmer.
Magneto bugs me. Like, REALLY bugs me. To the point where I actually find myself getting irritated just thinking about him. Why? Because unlike hammy megalomaniacs like Dr. Doom or Namor, Magneto is not easily played for laughs. The X-Men series is often a stand-in for real world prejudices, and this has been used for decades by comic fans as reason enough to describe Magneto as "relatable" or an "anti-hero".
But what I, as a reader, always wanted was to see how he interacted with normal humans. Not bigots like Graydon Creed or genocidal monsters like William Stryker and not random human women he happens to sleep with, but ordinary humans, people he doesn't know, people just going about their lives. Well, it turns out that in 1999, writer Joe Kelly had that very idea!
To give some minimal backstory, Magneto is planning an attack, but before he does has a tinge of conscience, and decides to go undercover and speak to the most common, salt-of-the-Earth human he can find: A construction worker named Bill...
So, Magneto - sorry, "Magnus" - wants to test poor Bill, using this common man as an example of all humanity, and it's very clear he's doing this to reinforce his own prejudices, so he can attack humanity with a clean conscience. Unfortunately, Bill doesn't play along.
And this is where things start getting unpleasant. Because when Bill contradicts Magneto's narrative about the universal worthlessness of the entire human race, he begins to get a little hostile...
And finally, unable to break this ordinary man, Magneto sheds his disguise, reveals himself to be a notorious terrorist, and then uses Bill's understandable shock and fear to justify the conclusion he had reached before even meeting the poor guy.
This story is important to me, and not just because of the amazing writing or beautiful artwork, but because it hammers home what I really hate about Magneto's character. Writers keep giving him redemption arcs, but how do they do this? Mostly by having him join the X-Men. Y'know, mutants, the people he ALREADY thought were a superior race. Why do his redemptive arcs not show him with people like Bill? Why, if we're supposed to buy into him as a sympathetic character, are we meant to overlook how he routinely attacks people whose only crime is belonging to a demographic he hates? And why is doing that not enough to challenge the perception of Magneto as being tragic and misunderstood?
From X-Men #85. Written by Joe Kelly and with art by Alan Davis and Mark Farmer.
Magneto bugs me. Like, REALLY bugs me. To the point where I actually find myself getting irritated just thinking about him. Why? Because unlike hammy megalomaniacs like Dr. Doom or Namor, Magneto is not easily played for laughs. The X-Men series is often a stand-in for real world prejudices, and this has been used for decades by comic fans as reason enough to describe Magneto as "relatable" or an "anti-hero".
But what I, as a reader, always wanted was to see how he interacted with normal humans. Not bigots like Graydon Creed or genocidal monsters like William Stryker and not random human women he happens to sleep with, but ordinary humans, people he doesn't know, people just going about their lives. Well, it turns out that in 1999, writer Joe Kelly had that very idea!
To give some minimal backstory, Magneto is planning an attack, but before he does has a tinge of conscience, and decides to go undercover and speak to the most common, salt-of-the-Earth human he can find: A construction worker named Bill...
So, Magneto - sorry, "Magnus" - wants to test poor Bill, using this common man as an example of all humanity, and it's very clear he's doing this to reinforce his own prejudices, so he can attack humanity with a clean conscience. Unfortunately, Bill doesn't play along.
And this is where things start getting unpleasant. Because when Bill contradicts Magneto's narrative about the universal worthlessness of the entire human race, he begins to get a little hostile...
And finally, unable to break this ordinary man, Magneto sheds his disguise, reveals himself to be a notorious terrorist, and then uses Bill's understandable shock and fear to justify the conclusion he had reached before even meeting the poor guy.
This story is important to me, and not just because of the amazing writing or beautiful artwork, but because it hammers home what I really hate about Magneto's character. Writers keep giving him redemption arcs, but how do they do this? Mostly by having him join the X-Men. Y'know, mutants, the people he ALREADY thought were a superior race. Why do his redemptive arcs not show him with people like Bill? Why, if we're supposed to buy into him as a sympathetic character, are we meant to overlook how he routinely attacks people whose only crime is belonging to a demographic he hates? And why is doing that not enough to challenge the perception of Magneto as being tragic and misunderstood?
