Re-Reading: Magnus Robot Fighter #21

A week-to-week plan is available for re-reading VALIANT from the beginning...
start anytime, go at your own pace.

Moderators: Daniel Jackson, greg

Post Reply

How would you rate this book?

10
0
No votes
9
0
No votes
8
0
No votes
7
0
No votes
6
1
50%
5
1
50%
4
0
No votes
3
0
No votes
2
0
No votes
1
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 2

User avatar
xoken
H.A.R.D.E.R. Corps, with Extra Resistance
H.A.R.D.E.R. Corps, with Extra Resistance
Posts: 1071
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2005 3:04:56 pm
Re-Reading: Magnus Robot Fighter #21

Post by xoken »

I thought we could do a book a day (that way people can read one every day or catch up on weekends), talk about it on its own, in the context of whats next, in regards to what expectations it creates and vote on how good it is. I don't have to be the one that posts everyday. If I miss a day or if someone wants to take over please do

For voting think of your single favourite comic book (not just VALIANT) as the benchmark - thats a 10 - and grade according to that.

Make sure to mention what you like'd about the book, what you didn't, what you wish they would have done, your favourite panels, lines of dialogue, little bits of trivia etc.

Magnus Robot Fighter #21
Image

User avatar
magnusr
I would hang a left...
I would hang a left...
Posts: 8916
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2004 9:41:48 am
Location: Stockholm
Re: Re-Reading: Magnus Robot Fighter #21

Post by magnusr »

After a string of rather well self-contained issues, we now get a complete upheaval. On the surface it's built on the previous issues. There's lots of references to events in recent issues. The Gold Key issues they missed however. Malev 6 was the 6th planet of the star Malev, and now they talk about making Earth Malev 7?

Then we have the retcon of the asylum story. As Greg has recently shown us, facts can be reinterpreted in comics. This time they also had to add that some facts shown earlier were doctored. That's a bit too much. On the other hand, the event that is reinterpreted was a bit too much as well, so maybe it's acceptable. Barely acceptable, but let's be tolerant.

Magnus is too easily captured and then left alive. Talk about cliche. The villain must get his chance to explain everything.

A big strength of Shooter's Magnus was the close adherence to the older stories. Here the whole world is changed forever. It's too much...

/Magnus

User avatar
Daniel Jackson
A toast to the return of Valiant!
A toast to the return of Valiant!
Posts: 38007
Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2004 8:33:38 pm

Post by Daniel Jackson »

Yeah things change after this and not for the better. I wish they would have kept the stories along the lines of the first 14 issues or so for a lot longer before jumping into the territory it is going to go in now.

User avatar
myron
I do embrace my inner geekdom
I do embrace my inner geekdom
Posts: 16281
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2004 10:37:59 am
Valiant fan since: 1991
Favorite character: Gilad
Favorite title: Pre-Unity Harbinger
Location: watertown, wi

Post by myron »

definitely not a turn for the better, resorting to comic cliche...however it is still legible, just not the great read that we had come to desire.
Why waste time learning, when ignorance is instantaneous?

User avatar
Todd Luck
Doomed to forever roam the black halls
Doomed to forever roam the black halls
Posts: 4729
Joined: Fri Jun 04, 2004 1:02:34 pm
Location: Winston-Salem, NC

Post by Todd Luck »

Actually not much of the concept was changed or lost this issue. There's a few retcons and the unfortunate death of the asylum inmates but that's it. The changes (and the cementing of them) won't happen for another issue or two.

So judging this issue without considering what happens in the future, it's a decent read. The Malevs have a nice epic menace here and Brock's art is great. If this was your first issue it would probably be a good one and, taken on its own, the storyline is a nice lead-in to Rai and FF.

That being said, I'm rounding down to a lowly 6 for this plotline because, when read in the context of 1-20, it's just too jarring and too weak (told you it's better to consider 21 and on as a warped reality).

Things that bug me about the issue:

Isn't having one of the immates say robots hurting humans is against their programing really dumb? They know full well robots can hurt humans if they're reprogrammed or free-will (that's why they're frakking there!)

And then there's the dream were we seem to be writing off Magnus's championing of robot life to some deep rooted social disfunction. I thought I might be reading too much into it at first, but later issues we'll take it to an extreme that's just silly.

As Magnusr pointed out there's no way Shooter's Magnus would've been taken down that easy. Magnus is a shell of his former self.

The recton were the Malevs take over Grand One doesn't make sense. Okay, the rectoned Malevs are an AI program as opposed to a robot that had it's neural circuits altered, so the Malev mind can go from body to body. So why didn't they just switch bodies to a more suitable host after possessing Grand One? if they really did need Grand One's body then why not just kill Grand One themselves? They counted on Magnus leaving the body on Phobos and taking a whole year to come back with a big screen TV? Gimme a break.

A 6. It's all down hill from here.

Continuity Note: As Magnus pointed out the Malev's name (and origin) has been rectonned. We'll find out later after Orstrander leaves, the name has been rectoned into an operating system name with Malev 7 being the seventh version of the Malevs. If they kept publishing today we'ld probably be up to Malev XP.

User avatar
magnusr
I would hang a left...
I would hang a left...
Posts: 8916
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2004 9:41:48 am
Location: Stockholm
Re: Re-Reading: Magnus Robot Fighter #21

Post by magnusr »

Seaborn's synopsis:

On Phobos, robots of unknown design murder Chuh-Chuck and many of the other inmates. Izak escapes to discover the rest being imprisoned and drained of mental energy. Magnus, already en route to Phobos, arrives and is captured by the same robots when he attempts to free the prisoners. He is captured by the “Vizier” and taken to the “Emperor”, both revealed to be Malevs from Malev-6. They have begun an all out assault on North Am and the Goph Levs, killing everyone not useful for generating ectotheric energy. Magnus is held helpless as the Emperor prepares to head to Earth and make it into Malev-7.

/Magnus


Post Reply