Life with the Gophs may be harder for Magnus than out amongst the robots that want to kill him.
Creative Staff:
Story: Fred Van Lente
Art: Cory Smith
What They Say:
Descending into the SubStructure, MAGNUS encounter the Gophs, a bizarre collection of feral humans living outside of robot society. Can Magnus hold his own against these freedom fighters? (Hint: Magnus isn’t the best at fighting non-robot stuff)
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The first four issues of Magnus: Robot Fighter read as a kind of first act feeling if you were to put it into movie terms. We got the introduction of the setting, the mental anguish that are lead is going through as his world has been torn away from him and then putting him on the run while exploring his abilities. We even got to see him partner up with a wisecracking robot named H8R, which has its own issues but certainly falls into the norm. All of it was done while keeping the story moving, introducing new characters and expanding the scope of the work. And the fourth issue ended with the kind of twist reveal that certainly works well as Magnus finds himself in the midst of the Gophs only to realize that his wife is there and is most certainly one of them.
To complicate matters more now? She has no idea who he is, which paints his time in the world 1A raised him in as all the more interesting since you have to wonder why he used her imagery in it. Of course, to add insult to injury, it turns out that she’s married as well to a fellow Goph named Leahm, who may in fact be his only real friend at the moment. While everyone is intent on just getting rid of him because of the trouble he brings, and his rantings that goes against everything that they know, Leahm thinks he may be something other than a spy. Because the kind of crazy – to them – coming out of Magnus’ mouth is too much for even that kind of attempt. What also helps is that since none of them have met Magnus before, his knowledge of Moira definitely makes it a curious thing that leaves some wanting to know more. But the tension is what makes things here, amid all the dialogue.
And it is dialogue filled, not that that is a bad thing. We get some useful nuggets here of how the world works with this group that’s on the outside. We see the dynamic between Moira and Leahm that certainly makes them a solid couple to watch – especially to see if/when it all falls apart because of Magnus’ arrival. We also learn about the inability of people to have biological children without the Creator’s help. And there’s also the hilariously comical moment where Magnus calls out one of the Goph’s for being a robot, since no robots are allowed there, and everyone is shocked. This introduces us to a creepier side of the dynamic since it’s a robot that’s going cyborg by applying human body parts to it, which come from other Gophs. It’s a spark that sets into motion the book pretty well as there’s a good deal of action that comes from the reveal since the guy has his own spying agenda, and that’s what will carry us into the next issue since a whole lot of Gophs get kidnapped and Magnus gets brought on to help since he obviously has skills.
Thankfully, we also get some time with Leeja Clane as she’s drawn into what her father is doing. He certainly abused his power in the previous issue with the swarm and he’s getting called out on that by some other senators that are calling for his ouster. The politics at hand are simple and brusque but it fits for what we’ve seen, including his confidence in surviving it after we learn that he’s been through this nine times before. He’s not a man to like, but you can enjoy watching how he handles the threat to his position, especially since he uses his daughter to go after the senator that’s pressing the issue. And using her failure in capturing Magnus on a livefeed only reinforces her desire to do right by him. But it’s also good to see that she’s tentatively questioning things herself after her exposure to the movies with the slaves as it makes her realize that she’s just a slave of a different kind here.
In Summary:
Magnus: Robot Fighter has a lot going on in each issue and it’s great to see how Van Lente and Smith handle bringing it out. This issue is a bit different than the first four because it is so dialogue heavy, so much sitting around conversational material, that it works with smaller panels in order to do it. That gets to be a bit overwhelming as you go through it at times, but there’s a lot of little bits of nuance to pick up on through both the dialogue and expressions that you really do want to take your time to savor it. It’s a solid issue that advances the overall narrative while offering plenty of little tidbits that enhance the world and the situation more. They’re shaping up an interesting setting here that leaves me wanting to know more and to seeing how far the big picture goes.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: July 9th, 2014
MSRP: $3.99
