Magneto #3

By Cullen Bunn, Gabriel Hernandez Walta & Jordie Bellaire

Magneto continues his hardcore quest for vengeance in issue #3, as he again strikes out at those who would do harm to mutant-kind. Cullen Bunn has done a great job at crafting one of the darker series to feature a well known Marvel character, and although it may feel a little slow at times, there is still a lot of substance here.

Given that the protagonist has taken it upon himself to fight for mutants, it was interesting to see the opening of Magneto #3 show how his actions are destroying human lives in his wake, even inadvertently. While we do get another peak at the agents currently tracking Magneto, most of this issue is concerned with the main character finding his way to those behind the sentinel-human hybrids. It moves slowly most of the time, but this is just a very interesting character anyways. His intensity this issue was great. There didn’t seem to be too much overall plot development this month, but it was still an enjoyable read with excellent narration from Magneto himself.

Gabriel Hernandez Walta again provides his unique style of illustration, but there’s something that feels slightly lacking. A lot of the time, the panels look like unpolished pencils that haven’t been quite completed. That’s not to say there aren’t some great images in this book but it does seem fairly inconsistent. As an example, some of the facial expressions in the opening of this installment looked terrific, while others that followed were lacking. However, Jordie Bellaire really helps improve the overall dynamics and depth of the book with her excellent colors. Overall, the artwork was adequate and helped carry the story through its relatively slower pacing.

This remains an enjoyable series, but it feels like the full potential of the character and story have yet to be tapped. The slower plot development has been subtly hinting at something greater on the horizon but let’s hope we can get there sooner rather than later.