Resurrection of Magneto #3: Accept the Shadow and Strive Against it

With great power comes great responsibility and great regrets. Who are our heroes stripped away of their responsibility? How do they manage? How do they live? Who is the person behind the facade of heroism, or villainy? Can the world survive without them? This is the core question two characters go through; the mother of existential crises as Storm and Magneto confront the Shadow King.

With a nice nod to J.M DeMatteis’s recent Magneto mini, which Al Ewing has clearly read, the story picks up at the Magneto vs Magneto war. It demonstrates just how resilient this character is and how far he has come from his rather simplistic, villainous beginnings. The art excellently highlights this, with present-day Magneto covered in shades of white and dark gray, worn out, and tired, while the past Magneto retains his original red and purple color scheme.  The addition of having Magneto helmetless, while Shadow King’s form’s eyes are covered in the darkness of the helmet serves as a subtle note to the message that Magneto has unmasked himself from his original identity, and has peeled back the facades he has lived under. The imagery dividing these two men is even reflected in the capes they wear. Purple Magneto has a full, powerful, intimidating cape that stands firmly, while Magneto’s is thinner, and tattered, like it’s been through a battle

This is an excellent parallel to the Magneto mini that demonstrates the story as the start of something, and not a stand-alone story. JMD has set a new precedent on Magneto, with present-day relevance for current and future readers, and Ewing excellently builds off of it.

Through it all, the comic is about Magneto accepting himself. Not just the new man that he is, but the good, the bad, and the ugly, and not wallowing eternally in guilt, or keeping one’s rage constantly at bay. Although Magneto is dead, this is not an afterlife. In fact, in a very Jewish way, it is a spiritual cleaning, a restoration of the whole of the man. This is a story of a man accepting all parts of himself to become a better version of himself, one that the world needs.

This issue is very much about accepting the shades of gray of the world, and within us. It is a philosophical issue, with the Shadow King poised as the man prodding these questions at our heroes. As Storm states “for the shadows of us must be seen, to be truly beaten…and evil is never fought if someone doesn’t fight it.” Evil has to be fought, even if it cannot be truly defeated. We must accept the darkness of the world, and within ourselves to know what to fight.

Storm is a character who has become stronger in every iteration and for every generation. In her stand against the Shadow King, she is firm in the knowledge that the path to fighting evil is not a lonely journey. This is what ultimately brings these two characters back together, in an otherwise split story where each one is facing the Shadow King.

The colors continue to be a strong force of storytelling, with a more subdued pallet, and a darker, plain background, creating a more intimate experience. The sketchlike rendition of the Shadow King’s form also lends to a cosmic-like feeling, one that is everywhere, and one that ultimately has little to no physical shape, to punch. It also helps to differentiate the tangible from the metaphorical. That is to say, is the Shadow King even really here, is it him, or is he a manifestation of the world Storm and Magneto are in?  The art continues to be a force onto itself, with textures and beautiful artistic layers.  It also shows well how connected Magneto and Storm have become.