X-Men: Mutant Genesis

Writer: Chris Claremont

Artist: Jim Lee

Chris Claremont and Jim Lee create an intriguing story about the X-Men's greatest enemy Magneto and his ethical principles!

Ranking: 4 stars

Magneto is with out a doubt, not only my favorite X-Men villain, but favorite comic book villain of all time. What attracts me to the Master of Magnetism is that unlike most villains, Magneto is not truly evil at heart, but is a man who is willing to make sacrifices in order to protect mutant kind. Having been forced to endure the horrors of the Holocaust and witnessed the deaths of countless Jewish people, Erik Lehnsherr vowed to prevent mutants from suffering a similar fate. Because of his experiences with the Nazis, Magneto harbors deep resentment towards mankind, believing that humans and mutants can never peacefully coexist. This puts him at odds with the X-Men and the ideologies of their leader Charles Xavier, who strives for a world where humans and mutants live together peacefully. He is willing to sacrifice humans, but he attempts to justify his actions by claiming that they're to ensure the survival of mutants. These characteristics make Magneto a extremely well-developed villain that is grounded in his ethical principles, rather than being a simple power hungry dictator. X-MEN: MUTANT GENESIS, while possessing a couple of flaws, is one of the comics to best portray the ideas that not only make Magneto my all-time favorite villain, but also provide the reader with intricate ethical questions. Released back in 1991, X-MEN: MUTANT GENESIS collects the first seven issues of a then-new x-title simply known as "X-Men." This opening story arc holds great significance in the history of comics as a whole for a variety of reasons. The first three issues of the series were the last X-Men comics written by long-time X-Men writer Chris Claremont, the series was one of the first to portray the pencils of the legendary Jim Lee (my all-time favorite comic book artist), but the first issue alone holds a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for the highest grossing single comic issue in history. With these factors surrounding the book, MUTANT GENESIS must be the holy grail of X-Men comics right? Well, not exactly... don't get me wrong, this comic really is a great read (might even be top 10 X-Men comics worthy), but there are some things that prevent it from being an ultimate read. The story opens high above Earth's atmosphere, where a group of mutants have stolen a space shuttle and are being pursued by Soviet forces. The pilots soon encounter Asteroid M, the base of Magneto, who has abandoned his war against humanity. Caring little for man's conflicts, Magneto destroys both shuttles before the mutant pilots offer their services to the master of magnetism as his Acolytes. As the conflict took place over Soviet airspace and the shuttle that the Acolytes stole was an American shuttle, both Russia and the U.S. declare a state of national security. This causes Magneto to surround Asteroid M with nuclear missiles from a submarine he sunk in the past as a defensive measure, declaring his base as a safe haven for mutants. The radical actions taken by the mutant terrorist catches the attention of the X-Men, who engage the master of magnetism and the Acolytes in battle. But what started as a threat to national security, soon becomes a battle of ethical proportions, as long-time colleague of the X-Men, Moria MacTaggert reveals that Magneto's recent actions may have been inspired against his own will. While MUTANT GENESIS is a deeply entertaining story that provides an interesting ethical conflict, it does possess flaws that prevent it from being stellar. My main problem with the story is that while it's well written in both it's story structure and characters, the dialogue is extremely wordy. Characters explain things in excessive detail, making more difficult to understand the conflicts they are experiencing. The reader shouldn't be bogged down by writing that's unnecessarily complicated, especially when the explanation of events can be easily restricted to a few sentences. Having read many of Grant Morrison's books, I'm used to experiencing writing that's needlessly complicated, but I can overlook it there as I feel it's necessary to present deep and complex literary themes. In a book like this however, I feel distracted by such writing as while the themes are deep, it wouldn't hurt to condense the dialogue presenting them. I also found the idea of Magneto hypnotizing the X-Men to be his slaves, while unique in the ethical symbolism I'll later explain, was a little corny. While these flaws are serious, I can forgive them as the rest of the book was extremely well executed. X-MEN: MUTANT GENESIS, despite it's flaws, is at heart, a very well crafted book. The characterization of the individual members of the X-Men is expertly handled, the fight scenes flowed nicely with the banter and teamwork of the X-Men, and the story, while overly complicated at points, was well thought out and put together. But where the MUTANT GENESIS truly succeeds in it's story for me, is in the ethical message that arises between Magneto and Moria MacTaggert. For those who do not know, before Claremont began writing the X-Men, Magneto was reduced to infancy by another enemy of the X-Men. The former master of magnetism, was taken to Muir Island by Moria, who sought to give prevent the infant from becoming a mutant terrorist again. Her plan apparently failed when Magneto was brought back to his normal age, and continued his terrorist actions against humanity until Xavier was apparently killed in battle. Seeing his former friend on the verge of death, Magneto promised to take his place as leader of the X-Men, but later returned to terrorism. MUTANT GENESIS reveals that all of the actions taken by Magneto since his return from infancy may not have been of his own will, as we discover that Moria had subliminally encouraged the infant Magneto to abandon his war against humanity by altering his genetic structure. This leads to the current events of the story, as Magneto questions whether Moria had the right to psychologically control him, as while her intentions were pure, he saw them as no different from the intentions of his Nazi persecutors who wanted to control the Jewish population. He then forces MacTaggert to use the same genetic treatment on the captured X-Men, as punishment for controlling his own fate as a living being. This conflict not only further emphasizes the tragic side of Magneto's character and represents the moral dilemmas the X-Men face, but it also provides the reader with deep ethical questions. Do we as humans, have the right to control others, no matter what the intentions of doing so? Even if we attempt to justify our actions with words, are they no different than those who we would consider to be monsters? Questions such as these are what I enjoy about the X-Men, as they allow the reader to think about issues bigger than themselves. What else do I need to say about the artwork other than the fact that it's Jim Lee! His pencils never cease to amaze me with their gritty detail and dimension that makes every thing he draws look extremely realistic. While it's nowhere near the levels he would achieve with BATMAN: HUSH, I feel that it's a perfect match for Claremont's storytelling, as it gives depth and dimension to a cast of well developed characters and the world they live in. Some observers like Linkara (if you enjoy in-depth reviews of comics, I highly recommend checking out his webshow Atop the 4th Wall on thatguywiththeglasses.com) have noted that while good, the artwork does contain flaws that were prevalent in 90's artwork. I haven't noticed such artistic flaws in human anatomy, but I will admit the coloring isn't the greatest that could've been chosen for this comic. Despite that, whatever Jim Lee touches, is pure gold in my eyes. I don't care if there are flaws in the artwork as it's still wonderful to look at! While it's not a perfect story, X-MEN: MUTANT GENESIS is not only entertaining for it's great story, characters, and artwork (I just love Jim Lee's art), but also for it's deep ethical messages. I appreciate whenever comics present intricate theme that are greater than ourselves, as it proves that comics can be more than escapist fiction. It's reasons such as these are why I enjoy the X-Men as much as I do, and while I felt this story could have been more straight forward in conveying it's ethical message, it's a message that stands right up there with the X-Men's themes of racism and prejudice against those who are different. So while it's not the best X-Men comic I've read, it's definitely one that I will always regard as a classic. "Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do." -Potter Stewart

#90sComics #4StarReviews #Marvel #XMen #ComicReviews