X-Men: The Trial Of Magneto #3
Scarlet Witch has returned, but she’s brought something else with her in X-Men: The Trial Of Magneto #3, by writer Leah Williams, artists Lucas Werneck and David Messina, colorist Edgar Delgado, and letterer Clayton Cowles. This issue is okay, but it also sort of feels like padding, which is its main problem.
The returned Scarlet Witch is without her later memories, which causes some confusion among the Avengers and Speed and Wiccan. Rachel and Jean start feeding her memories that she’s missing while something awakens off the coast of Krakoa. Northstar attacks Magneto for threatening Kyle, making short work of him, and invites everyone to dinner when the island starts shaking. Northstar investigates and finds three kaiju attacking the island from different directions. He takes charge with Cyclops’s permission and splits the X-Men and Avengers into three teams, but it doesn’t do much good. Meanwhile, Scarlet Witch is back in the otherworldly place she was before her reawakening and meets someone she never expected.
Williams's reputation so far has been impeccable, but this issue feels like a bit of a misstep. The kaiju attack sort of comes out of nowhere. It makes sense to an extent, especially once one gets to the last page and has a better understanding of what’s happening but getting to that point takes a little bit. It honestly feels a little bit like padding, which is a tragedy because Williams has proven how good she is with pacing in X-Factor.
In a lot of ways, that middle section of that book reveals a weakness of the comic- that there is no evidence that makes sense because the whole thing doesn’t make sense, nor is it supposed to do. That’s where the last page reveal comes into play, as it sheds doubt on everything this book has been about so far. It almost overshadows the murder mystery it’s a part of. It’s that interesting of a reveal, and while it doesn’t make this issue’s event feel any less like padding, it saves the book from being an entirely unfulfilling read.
The art is another problem in the book. Messina and Werneck share art duties in the book. While their styles are similar enough to not be a system shock when one takes over for another- it’s basically seamless- there are some weird proportions and anatomy mistakes to some of the characters, especially towards the beginning of the comics. The kaiju look cool, but the action sections of the book have a muddled feel that is a little disappointing. It’s actually kind of hard to even know what’s happening in the fights, which isn’t a good thing.
X-Men: The Trial Of Magneto #3 has a great ending, but the rest of the book feels like padding it. It’s not a bad comic, but it’s not as good as previous issues. The art is also weaker than what came before, which doesn’t help. This one is lucky the ending is so good.
