#headmaster magneto era best era

[fionapplespiano]

What is the best Magneto era, and why is it when he was Headmaster of The New Mutants?

[ffverr]

hello I come to you with a request. I watched x men 97 recently and was saddened by how little time the whole magneto in charge of the x men storyline got and I know he does this longer in the comics (I can't say why but the phrase "its seven in the morning max..." lives rent free in my brain) so I wanted to ask if you have any recommendation for comics from that era / any recommendations for comics with mister magnet-os because I want to get into x men comics but comics as always are so daunting

It is my great pleasure to answer this!!

Disclaimer 1, I am still going through a lot of the issues of this era but I will try my best to make it as clear a guide as I can for you!

Disclaimer 2, Headmaster of the school and leader of the X-Men are quite different positions that they kind of fused together in the 97 show so I do want to make it clear that magneto in the "seven in the morning" era is headmaster of the school, teaching young kids, while Storm is leading the X-men team and Scott is leading the X-factor team, so with that said:

Magneto's teacher arc starts in uncanny X-Men issues 199 and 200 (iconic issues containing the trial of magneto that was adapted in the show!) And then he is headmaster of the school in the book "The new mutants" by Chris Clermont, from issue 35 to issue 75. It is A LOT I admit and he gets a more minor place considering the book is about the kickass young class of new mutants that he's teaching. But it is worth checking out! Many consider this to kind of be peak magneto because.... he's trying so hard to be a good teacher and to handle all these kids and it's very humanizing for him!

I mean look at him and his 8 kids!

Now, how to get into Magneto overall? Let's get into it:

I believe it is impossible to get into Magneto without reading his ultimate origin story, Magneto: Testament by Greg Pack. It is a quick intro, it barely features his powers (not an action comic) and it is a very very emotional read. I consider it essential magneto reading!

Next up: Two One shots if you want to get a quick primer on the character pre moral arc instead of sitting through his few appearances in the Stan Lee comics:

A classic one: X-Men: God Loves, Men Kills by Chris Claremont. It is an iconic comic book one shot that can be read out of continuity just to see what his deal is when he's not necessarily on the side of the X-Men but fighting for his own ideals! It's overall a brilliant comic book!

If you want a more recent retelling of the first appearances of magneto you HAVE to read X-Men Mythos that retells magneto's major first appearance in the 60s in quite a beautiful and amazing way! It also has an absolutely insane magneto scene that is very memorable! (So this would "chronologically" come before God loves men Kills)

Now for his switch from cartoon villain of the 60s/early 70s to complex guy in the 80s, read the issues 149 and 150 from the run Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont. This is THE pivotal moment for "good guy" Magneto

(know that after issue 150, somehow he falls in the ocean from asteroid M, is rescued from a shark attack by Scott's girlfriend Lee Forester. They have a quick relationship where he struggled with his change of morals then he comes to the new mutants)

if you want to continue chronologically you read the issues 199 and 200 that I recommended at the start then go to the new mutants book I talked about earlier!

If you want MORE MODERN comics, then I advise you get right into what's happening at the moment!

House of X powers of X are two series that intertwine (you'll easily find them in the right order) by the same writer, Jonathan hickman!

It serves as a status quo change/relaunch of the X-Men universe. Magneto plays a big part of the story as he is directly involved in building a mutant nation. I'd say it's a bold but quite functional intro to X-Men comics!

Then he appears as a major character in the GREAT series X-Men Red by Al Ewing alongside Storm, a character that meant a lot to him in the 80s, so it's really nice to see again.

In this he is- epic, depressed, suicidal, sassy, it's great magneto stuff! This series is widely regarded as the best X-Men comic out right now!

(if you want context for this book read the event X of Swords, or I could explain if interested)

That's about all I will lay on you ! If this is hella confusing, don't hesitate to dm me! I can detail more cleanly exactly what you have to read and when!

Good reading!

[jinlintai]

what are your favourite xmen comics that feature magneto? i really love him as a character but so far my only engagement with the xmen is through the movies and xmen ‘97. i want to read more about him in the comics but idk where to start </3

what era you should read first depends on what type of magneto you like and what's familiar to you; magneto's basically got a new thing every decade. but, since you're just starting i'm gonna suggest some things that are easy to read or fundamental. i know that starting to read comics can be intimidating with all the different series, crossovers, and writers.

i think the easiest place to start after having watched x men 97 is reading the one shot "god loves, man kills". it's the quintessential x men story.

if you're looking for a more shallow, modern read just to admire the curve of magneto's ass, you can read the miniseries magneto: not a hero. you could also read magneto (2014) issues #1-8. (imo, these are not necessarily the "best" magneto stories, but he is the focus of these comics and it can be understood without the baggage of previous comics.)

if you're looking for magneto backstory, read uncanny x-men issues #150 & 161 and classic x-men issue #12 (b story). you could also read magneto testament. it's a holocaust story, not a superhero story.

if you're interested in reading longer comics, i talk more under the cut.

if you're interested in reading about x-men and don't know where to start, i recommend reading uncanny x-men (1963) starting from issue #94. that's when claremont starts writing with some of the "classic" cast of x-men. stop whenever you want.

if you only care about magneto, i recommend starting uncanny x-men (1963) from issue #149-150, then skipping to #196. at #200, start simultaneously reading new mutants (1983) from issue #35. stop whenever you want.

if you want a more detailed recommendation list of magneto comics, you could probably find one online, or i could make one. it'll take a bit of time though, since i'll be rereading the issues as i add them :)

i read all my comics on readcomiconline.li -- it's free, but don't forget to use adblock/ublock origin!

as for my favorite magneto comic... i can't think of favorite comics specifically but my fav eras are: the 1980s headmaster era, the 2000s-2010s utopia era, and the 2010s mutant revolutionary/o5 teacher era. these are all heroic magneto eras haha. it's kind of complicated to start with these but do what you want. feel free to talk to me about which comics you end up reading!

[knockoffrogue]

i really hate how magneto’s time as headmaster is constantly ignored, especially with this current era of x-men because i believe it’s erik at his best as a character and as a person; having a collective of kids to take under his wing and care for allowed erik to grow. the seeds of the magneto redemption arc were planted since god loves, man kill and the (actually good) trial of magneto was the climax of that, this arc lead to magneto taking over as headmaster for the new mutants and goddamn it those kids really showed a side of erik we were only allowed to see glimpses of before. i just really hate how this era is so often ignored or not talked about, it’s just annoying to me because erik hasn’t a villain for decades; it feels like the writers are regressing his character.

[boo-cool-robot]

Objectively the best Magneto comics eras are:

1) 80s Headmaster Magneto because he’s just constantly chasing after a houseful of teenagers trying to get them to clean their rooms and do their homework and stop! going to space! without telling him!!

2) 2010s Utopia Magneto because he joins the X-Men and gives himself the job of 10% stunning displays of power 90% just hanging around and making bitchy jokes at everyone

[bringbackwendellvaughn]

A little bit about my X-Fanon

Okay, i know the x-men fan’s are very very vocal and have widely different opinions and tastes and that is true of me as well.

My X-Men fanon begins after Second Coming (Second Coming #2 - the final issue - happened but is radically different). The only X-Men stories post-Second Coming that happened are Mike Carey’s X-Men Legacy - and some of them only lightly. Age of X mostly happened. Everything with Legion happened. Magneto was probably in none of them (although, he showed up in different circumstances in Lost Legions). Cyclops and Frenzy never happened (instead in Age of X, Frenzy was with Gambit who obviously was attracted to Rogue). Schism never happened, AvX never happened, nothing - absolutely nothing - from post-AvX happened.

Utopia is commandeered/destroyed by Magneto in Second Coming #2. Magneto stages a little coup (which there’s actually one page in the actually published penultimate chapter which sets this up quite nicely) alongside Sub-Mariner and a few other discontents. The X-Men unite and kick their ass. Second Coming #2 ends much the way it actually does end with a bunch of mutant signatures lighting up. Except I’m not doing what Gillen did and taking that very literally, it is symbolic that mutant energies are again in flux and returning post-Decimation.

The X-Men book features the “original X-Men” with Jean replaced with Emma. The reason for this is I like the core original team. I think they lend themselves to some very good stories, look at Louise Simonson’s X-Factor run for example. I think they are all good friends and they shouldn’t be at each other’s fronts. And subbing Jean Grey for Emma just always struck me as something that makes absolute sense in how to re-present this team. Emma is one of the best characters ever and I think it’s a very natural twist to present the original team in the modern landscape.

My big “controversial” element is that I’ve also had Cyclops and Emma get married (look out for my all-new Marvel Fanfare #1, one day!). I really really hate indulgence or selfish writing in comics, people who just force changes or ideas through that they want to happen - not because they’re good ideas. And I’m the first to admit, I feel like a massive hypocrite in criticizing that when I am proposing such a big one that will seriously piss off a lot of people. For a fanon, you’d be surprised that I actually have so many rules and guidelines that I force myself to adhere to so I don’t become everything I hate! Cyclops and Emma are the ONLY couple whose status I upgrade. I definitely am very aware of it being a questionable start to insist upon my preference but the more and more I think of them as a couple the more I feel it needs to happen. Cyclops has married Madelyne and Jean in the past, both of which he sort of rushed into (less so with Jean but the marriage was still quite sudden), and for him to have being dating Emma for so long and not proposed has the unintended effect of seeming an insult to Emma. I think Emma is Scott’s soulmate. She will stand by him no matter what and she is an outlet for a lot of Scott’s desires to live his own life and not the life of the leader of the X-Men. Scott and Emma are my favourite couple in comics and I know there are people who despise them and always will, but please understand that there are people like me who their relationship means a great deal to and think it is good for both the characters.

Emma Frost is headmistress of the school. Unlike Astonishing X-Men era, this time it isn’t a duty shared with Cyclops. Emma is the sole headmistress of the school. Cyclops is sort of the main teacher and has a lot of responsibilities in an almost “vice headmaster” role, but it is Emma who is in charge of it all. Cyclops, Beast, Iceman and Archangel are all resident teachers and involved in the day-to-day running of the school. Rogue, Kitty, Cannonball and Karma are also resident teachers but their adventures are chronicled in other books. The other X-Men (from the other books) also act as teachers, mostly in a guest capacity and to varying extent. They will occasionally guest in the book and likewise the cast of this book will guest in the other books. In fact, in the first arc of my Uncanny X-Men book, Archangel features heavily. And the second arc of X-Men may end with Polaris naturally transitioning from the cast of Uncanny X-Men to the cast of X-Men. I’m still unsure about that though.

Beast is trying his hardest to be a pacifist, which continues his sort of resentment over X-Force and the Utopia stuff, but he has forgiven Scott mostly. That’s not to say he’s remotely fine with the idea Cyke sanctioned X-Force, but he also saw how bad things got with Bastion and that Cyke is back and trying to run the school - the way it should be.

Archangel still has his Yost/Kyle status quo. He can transform to Archangel at will and is always fighting his darker urges. I think this basically allows the best of both worlds. You can have Angel and Archangel.

The first story arc pits the team against the villain... Miss Sinister. You know, that minor character that makes me want to go bi? Haha. Well, Liu’s X-23 isn’t canon which means I can finally resolve her origin, or rather do what I feel is right, and also use it as a platform to bring Mr. Sinister back. Miss Sinister is a character who I have really taken to and I have a very definite voice for her that makes her unique from Mr. Sinister. And I’ll try my hardest not to descend into porn fetish fics... which is really hard with her. She’s a really get-under-your-skin-and-drive-you-crazy-poison-your-mind type of character for me. I think this will probably translate to the page too.

also “phoenix is dead” was more a statement about the phoenix force, not jean. i’m fed up of the x-men always coming back to the phoenix force and i wanted some graffiti for the wall and “The Watcher is a dirty bald perv” was too long... also iceman is NOT meant to have written it, i realized it looked that way afterwards but it’s meant to be just some random graffiti by like a student or something. but yes, jean grey is dead and the phoenix force is gone.

[iamjcalvarez]

The Uncanny X-Men are back in the spotlight with a pair of coinciding series that bring with them a new revitalization of a franchise that was once the pearl of Marvel Comics! Setting the Blue and Gold standard!

Once upon a time there were these misfits teenagers brought together under the sage guidance of a headmaster of a “school for the gifted”, but just how gifted these unlucky teens were wasn’t entirely clear even for their creator. After a string of successes that included the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Avengers and even the Hulk, Marvel Comics the House of Ideas wanted more from Stan Lee and demanded another hit from the man!

Stan had already given the world the mightiest, the most amazing, and the fantastic — the only thing left to do was go astonishing and uncanny! The answer came in the form of The Uncanny X-Men. Published in 1963 the group would be a very close reflection and raise social commentary on the social upheavals being experienced in American culture. The X-Men were “mutants” — humans born with the genetic propensity to super powers!

Where most of Stan’s creation had derived their abilities from unfortunate accidents, given to supernatural or super scientific circumstance, mutants were born with their gifts, and ultimately became the focus of fears and prejudice by a “normal” society that felt threatened by mutants  evolutionary advantage, or in some cases their ascent to superiority. It led to some of the series most outstanding storylines.

Astonishing!

The obscure popularity of the X-Men especially in those early adventures certainly solidified an audience for the group of teenagers who took it upon themselves to travel the world in defense of those feared and disenfranchised who couldn’t help themselves, but suddenly the title’s demand starting to wain. In 1969 the original stories ended with the release of Issue #66 and the series continued with reprints into it’s Issue #93.

In 1975 the “All-New, All-Different” line-up was introduced by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum and with Giant-Size X-Men #1 a new era was born. The team was a mix of diversity featuring characters from all corners of the globe. At first the new members had a difficult challenge of proving themselves, especially to one another, but soon they would develop into a family. These X-Men would be properly introduced with Issue #94 of The Uncanny X-Men written by Chris Claremont.

Claremont would begin an unprecedented 16-year run on the title that would propel The Uncanny X-Men to the top at Marvel Comics marking the mighty mutants (alongside Spider-Man) the lead sellers for the publishing giant. The X-Men’s message of inclusivity among diversity resonated with readers from all walks of life, and secured their transition into mainstream with a blockbuster film franchise, Saturday morning cartoons and several action figure toy lines.

All-New, All-Different

In recent times, the mutants have taken a backseat to the other members of the Marvel pantheon including The Mighty Avengers who have themselves overtaken the cinematic spectrum of the Marvel Films universe and become bigger stars on the big screen then they might have ever been in the publishing mecca. Over the course of the characters’ rise among theater audiences, the Avengers became the center narrative of the publishing arm of Marvel as well.

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This didn’t leave much room for the X-Men who never fell out of favor with their fandom, but were relegated to the side as a clear uniformity was built to strategically align with the cinematic world, to which the X-Men were not (at least at the moment) subscribed to. While many of the publishing events centered on the Avengers, the X-Men were often written into B-stories, or segregated into inclusion with representation coming only from the bigger stars in the line like Wolverine or Storm.

It has also quickly become evident that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has also substituted the mutants within its narrative with the Inhumans — a nearly godlike off-shoot of the human race that has lived in seclusion and often in hiding from the rest of mankind, but who have been taking their place at the table in contemporary plot lines. The Inhumans became centrifugal in two recent publishing events, and took over an arc on television’s Agents of SHIELD.

The Inhumans will also headline their own primetime series this fall on ABC.

Astonishing in Blue and Gold

One would assess that with the continuing profitability of the X-Men movie franchises still drawing audiences nearly two decades later, especially after a recent cinematic reboot, the mutants had a fanbase that would not be ignored. It appeared that the time to reinvest in the X-Men had arrived. Springing out of the recent Inhumans vs. X-Men limited series which pit the two enigmatic forces against one another, Marvel retconned the X-Men titles with a series of brand new #1s.

Reintroduced in the one-shot X-Men Prime #1 the future of the X-Men is precarious at best, so looking to the future Storm insists that Kitty Pryde return to the fold and assume a role she has been groomed for her entire career. Ororo wants Kitty to lead the X-Men and serve as a role-model, as headmistress to the next generation of young mutants. In order to achieve that goal, Kitty demands that the X-Men must give up their exile and rejoin the rest of planet.

At the conclusion of the aforementioned Inhumans vs. X-Men limited series, the X-Men moved their base of operations to Limbo in order to escape the effect of the Inhuman’s Terrigen mist; released into the Earth’s atmosphere and proven dangerous to mutants. With little other choice left to them, the X-Man Magik moves their headquarters to her demonic Limbo. Not exactly an ideal location by which to thrive and or raise a family. Kitty demands that the group return to Earth.

Using her skills of teleportation Magik lands the X-Men and their mansion into the heart of New York City, literally placing the home in Central Park. Kitty is able to keep most of the team together, but does not convince the “original” five X-Men including Jean Grey, Cyclops, Angel, Beast and Iceman to stay with the group. The time-displaced teenagers decide that the future they’ve inherited is not all that it’s cracked up to be and carve out their own path.

X-Men: Gold is written by Marc Guggenheim and follows the more traditional course of action as Kitty attempts to secure her X-Men’s place in the world. Fighting on her side are classic X-Men including Storm, who has given up the reigns of leadership to Kitty, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Prestige (Rachel Grey) and Old Man Logan. Their mission statement remains the same, and already they’ve come face-to-face with a new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and Sentinels.

The title in the line X-Men: Blue is written by Cullen Bunn who is propelling the younger “originals” led by Jean Grey on a completely different tangent. This group has decided on Jean’s insistence to ally themselves with the X-Men’s greatest foe Magneto and it’s evident that the Master of Magnetism has his own agenda in the works. If some of these larger, over-reaching arcs sound familiar, you’re not alone. You’ve been reading X-Men comics for more than three decades.

No one may want to admit that what the X-Men require is a significant reboot that simplifies the mythology. It had gotten particularly out of hand in the late 90s into the start of the new millennium, and has just not been able to get back to the richer, humanistic story arcs that Claremont infused into the title. The writer even attempted to return to the comic for a short period of time, and it appeared that the magic truly had gone off into limbo.

X-Men: Gold and X-Men: Blue are on sale now and are published by Marvel Comics.