X-Men: Grand Design - Magnus and Magda

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/05/08/x-men-grand-design-magnus.html

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Does young Magnus normally have a Quicksilver hairstyle? If not, it is a nice touch.

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did not see the guards over the towers in the first pass. because the grey uniforms on brown wood, i guess.
another thing I noticed on the second pass was that in the first 3 panels about his capture, the action and his face are rightward. then the gate is the only symmetrical panel. then the rest of the action and his face are all leftward.
and the rule of thirds is mirrored from 6 to 7.

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I appreciate Magneto’s appearance in the second panel, especially his hair. It establishes a familial resemblance between him and his son, Quicksilver:

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If you guys want in on this, the 2nd part of the series can be preordered now at comic shops or online pull services. Usually saves you a hefty percentage from cover price and you can get all the variant covers.

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Variant Covers? What is this? The 1980s? :wink:

OH dude - it is much, much worse than the 80s. Er you mean the 90s. The 90s was fair and reasonable. I guess in fairness, they bolster numbers so that even less popular books are profitable. AND we usually get some cool art out of it. Lucky for me, I basically only collect Shadow comics. While Dynamite is the king of variant covers, it isn’t too taxing.

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Sorry, yes, the 1990s; fold out, foil embossed, die cut, holographic covers in 23 variants. The 1970s’ prog-rock gatefold album covers of the comics book world. So it has got worse has it?

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RRRRRRRRRetconned!

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smh.
Marvel, get it together, man.

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Yes and no. There are less gimmick covers with foil and the like, and more variant covers. Depending on the book and the company, they also have variant that are distributed based on the number of books ordered. So if you order 10 of one book, you get the ability to order one of this cover. It gets pretty ridiculous when it is up to 50, but I guess it allows the comic to buy a book at regular cost, and sell it for more due to its scarcity.

Again, it depends on the company. The Shadow and Batman did two cross overs, one printed by DC, and one by Dynamite. DC did 3 covers for each book and Dynamite did like 5 or 6 for each book, plus the premium variants based on the number of books ordered (these are usually things like “virgin” art with no wording or graphics on the cover, and ones with no colors added, just the ink work.)

Hell they now sell BLANK covers with just the logo and price etc, so artists can buy them and do sketches on.

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Do we know if X-Men: Grand Design is following that continuity?

Anyway, even if Ed’s comic is following all the new rules about what’s canonical, I think the second panel of this page is clearly alluding to the formerly canonical Quicksilver-Magneto relation.

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Probably not, because it is jut a condensed retelling of the old books. A Cliffs Notes, if you will. So it should follow the original lines, before they get screwed around by what ever.

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I just got the first two “episodes” and have been reading them the past two days. I can’t believe how great Ed Piskor is doing. I was honestly a little dubious about the whole thing. There are just too many shifting timelines, deaths and resurrections for it to make any sense. But I was wrong! He lays out the timeline, beginning way back with the pre-WWII storylines (Namor drowns NYC!) to establish the deep-seated prejudice that allows the Mutant Registration and Sential programs as well as address later storyline convolutions such as Legion, Magneto’s children and, in an appropriately grand fashion, the Dark Phoenix. For the first time the X-Men timeline actually makes sense and dwells in the realm of true human motivations.

As always, he is exceedingly careful about all of his choices and some things that seem like cursory artistic choices carry throughout the books wonderfully. To wit:

This simple splash of color evolves into a glorious full-page spread view of Magneto in all his power.

Yes. He dives pretty deep into Magneto’s post-war life and thwarted attempts to have a family and live honorably. His motivations didn’t need much bulking up beyond his experiences in Nazi Germany, but Piskor deepens them by showing just how persistent and inescapable prejudice is. By the time he meets Xavier he has seen more than enough to validate his belief that the only way for Homo Sapien and Homo Superior to coexist is through the domination of one over the other.

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_Panel 5: I establish this pink color as essentially being associated with Magneto and his powers. I may use it elsewhere at times but only sparingly. Generally speaking, if you see this color in the comic, Magneto isn’t far behind. _

So this color would be Magneto magenta, then?

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In all fairness, Magneto being their father was itself a retcon.

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Always check the guard towers.

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