Kickin’ It Old School: Magnus Robot Fighter #16

It’s Friday, which means it’s time for another new edition of Kickin’ It Old School, our weekly column in which we look to the past and review books from the original Valiant universe! This week, I’ll be discussing Magnus Robot Fighter #16

Magnus Robot Fighter #16

Published in September 1992
Story by Jim Shooter
Written by Roger Stern
Pencil layouts by Howard Simpson
Art and Colors by Ernie Colon
Lettered by
Edited by

Synopsis:

The beginning of this issue is all rehash until we get to the point where Pete and the Renegades show up with a pregnant Kris, who is just about ready to give birth. When they realize that Geoff has slipped away, the two Gilads go after Geoff, but our adventure follows along the rest of the group this time. Armstrong is left with Pete and Kris to play midwife. The rest go to mount an attack to create a diversion so the Gilads can rescue Geoff. In the midst of their battle, Magnus seemingly gets killed after he breaks a support and gets crushed under collapsing debris. He survives and is able to slip behind enemy lines undetected. The rest of the group has to retreat without Magnus fighting alongside them.

Magnus slips deeper into Mothergod’s fortress and finds Geoff. He shows Magnus to Erica’s control chamber, where she can’t unleash her power without setting back her work towards Unity. Magnus takes the opportunity to attack her, harming them both. Meanwhile, Kris has her baby just before Faith returns. She tells them of the events that have transpired and they convince Pete to see what he can do to help Magnus. Just as Magnus is getting torn apart by robots, Pete shows up to rescue him and take a shot at Erica Pierce. He gets Magnus and Geoff out and back to their base, where Magnus unknowingly meets his younger self.

Review:

First off, the speech bubbles in this issue are terrible. They are quite often placed on top of a light background, so they essentially aren’t there. Second, the first part of this issue suffers from recapping events that have already been seen several times. It’s interesting to get a slightly new angle added to it, but it still drags down the beginning of the issue. As the issue progressed, though, I was quite happy with it! I’m still not crazy about Colon’s art, but the story gets very action packed as it progresses. A lot of loose ends start getting tied up. We find out Solar and Geoff aren’t dead, Kris has her baby (who grows up to be Magnus?), and there’s a more serious and damaging attack on Erica Pierce than we’ve seen since she was saved by Shadowman. We’re now two-thirds of the way through Unity, so it’s good to see something major happen.

Join us next time for the thirteenth chapter of Unity, X-O Manowar #8.

Kickin’ It Old School: Magnus Robot Fighter #1

Originally from ValiantCentral.com