Writer: Claremont
Art: Raney and Hanna
Publisher: Marvel
Plot: See title. The answers are already found in Excalibur.
Comments: Raney’s art looks as nice as ever. It’s nice to see him revisit Marvel’s mutants, as I first began noticing his work on the not very lamented Mutant X title. He was the best thing about that series, and he’s the best thing about this issue.
Problems: What’s crucial about a What If is where the alternate history diverges. Claremont selects a powerful moment in his own work, the once-interesting back story involving Xavier, Magneto, Gabrielle Haller, Nazis and Hydra. Back then (so long ago that Cockrum drew it the first time) it was a novel idea to see a softer side of Magneto, and to learn that just as Xavier had fought against Storm’s mentor, he’d once befriended Erik.
That’s not what it means now, though, when Magneto’s corruption and betrayal has been elevated to newly evil pinnacles by Morrison so recently. This story attempts the same reset button that Claremont is practicing in Excalibur, and I just don’t think it’s a valid approach for the character any longer. A Magneto on Xavier’s side is a Magneto softened up and toothless, and (as Ian McKellen captured so wonderfully on film) while Magneto could befriend other mutants, he’d never give up his agenda of domination, not settling for co-operation.
Inexplicable changes to several characters don’t seem to relate to Magneto’s decision to stand down, and by the end of the story we arrive at virtually the same place as current X-continuity, which isn’t very awesome at all. Why trot Sage out again, for example, doing exactly the same thing she does already in Claremont’s X-Men?
Answers: Not to be found here. What if nothing changed at all is a dull question.
What did you think of this book?
Have your say at the Line of Fire Forum!