X-Men: The Trial Of Magneto #2
The Avengers come to Krakoa to get Scarlet Witch’s body. Still, things don’t go as expected in X-Men: The Trial Of Magneto #2, by writer Leah Williams, artist Lucas Werneck, colorist Edgar Delgado, and letterer Clayton Cowles. Williams and company add to some interesting wrinkles to this entire story before a shocking ending.
As Xavier and Hope use their powers to try and find info from Magneto’s mind, the Avengers come to Krakoa to pick up Scarlet Witch’s body. As the X-Men give them the tour of Krakoa, they realize the Avengers may learn the truth of resurrection, but Emma steps in. In Arbor Magna, Hope wakes up Magneto and tells him to prevent the Avengers from seeing Scarlet Witch’s body. He intercepts them at the Boneyard and fights both the Avengers and the X-Men before surrendering to the Avengers to keep them away from Wanda’s body when something surprising occurs.
Williams does a lot in this issue, even if Magneto flipping out and fighting everyone again feels a little like an also-ran seeing as how it happened last issue. Her character work is great, and it starts from page one with Xavier and Hope. Xavier rivals Iron Man when it comes to Marvel leaders who are terrible people, and that has kind of been glossed over in the Krakoan era. He uses his telepathy to lull Magneto into a false sense of security to get him to confess, something Hope sees as torture, which is partly what motivates her to free him later. Elsewhere in the issue, Iron Man is lecherous and arrogant, Quicksilver is alternately angry and sad, Emma is her usual mixture of conniving and clever. Magneto belittles Polaris, as is his wont when he’s mad at her.
The characterization is the best part of this issue, as other than that, it’s pretty boilerplate until the ending. Williams doesn’t really have a good grasp on writing Cap; it works, but it feels very cliche. The interesting part is the whole situation with Krakoan resurrection; over in X-Men, Duggan’s making a big deal of Orchis finding out about resurrection, so this issue bringing it up plays into that. Another nice little part of the issue is Hope’s rebellion, which leads into her not wanting the Avengers to see Scarlet Witch’s body. Readers never see it either, so the reason why is another tantalizing mystery. The ending is quite surprising, and where the books go from here will be fun to watch.
Werneck nails the art in this issue yet again. The comic starts in Magneto’s memory of his Krakoan home, and the backgrounds are to die for. That’s just the start of things, as Werneck does something on every page to impress readers. Wilson’s colors make everything pop and make the art that much better.
X-Men: The Trial Of Magneto #2 is great for the characterization. Williams nails each character and who they are. The plot of the issue is pretty standard, but there are a few nice little additions as the chapter goes on. The ending sets the stage for the rest of the book, and where it goes from here will be intriguing. Werneck and Wilson are the best art team for this book, as every page is impressive. All in all, this book is one of the highlights of the current X-Men line.
