Al Ewing Brings an X-Men Icon Back From the Dead in Resurrection of Magneto (Exclusive)

Storm is about to embark on a journey to the afterlife to bring the X-Men’s longtime friend and nemesis, Magneto, back to life. The Master of Magnetism gave his life to defend Arakko from invading forces in the Marvel event Judgment Day. While the X-Men conquered death with their resurrection protocols, Magneto was one of the first mutants to cut himself off from that pipeline, meaning his death was supposed to be permanent. Of course, with this being comics, one can never count out a dead hero – especially one of the X-Men.

ComicBook.com spoke to writer Al Ewing about Resurrection of Magneto to find out what plans he has for both Magneto and Storm. Ewing discussed the signature superhero trope of life and death, how the X-Men books have dealt with death during the highs and lows of the Krakoan era, Magneto’s reaction to the Fall of X, the involvement of a classic X-Men villain, working with artist Luciano Vecchio on Resurrection of Magneto, and his thoughts on winding down his time in the X-Office. Along with the first look at Resurrection of Magneto #1, ComicBook.com can also exclusively reveal the cover and solicitation for March’s Resurrection of Magneto #3.

RESURRECTION OF MAGNETO #3 (OF 4)

• Written by AL EWING
• Art by LUCIANO VECCHIO
• Cover by STEFANO CASELLI
• FALLS THE SHADOW!
• In the cold dark rooms beyond death, there are terrible things. Annihilators. Adversaries. And a King of Shadows…who seeks a new soul to live in. The time of easy miracles is over. For Storm and Magneto, all the roads back to life are hard…and this is the hardest road of all.
• On Sale 3/20

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Storm’s Journey to Resurrect Magneto

ComicBook.com: It’s fitting that the X-Men’s Krakoan era ends with Magneto’s return. With mutants scattered across the globe and the mutant resurrection circuit offline, what kind of journey must Storm embark on to bring Magneto back to life?

Al Ewing: There’s a trope in the super hero genre called the “revolving door of death”, but nine times out of ten when a super hero comes back from the dead, it’s because some twist of the plot meant they never died in the first place, because bringing someone back from death is a Very Big Deal. Now recently in the X-books we’ve been asking what would happen if death was no big deal and something mutantkind could shrug off as easily as a cold, and that question led to some interesting answers. How would a society that had conquered death change? How would it not change? On Krakoa, we found out, and as a result of that, maybe a few readers got a little complacent with the idea of their heroes dying. That was kind of the intention, to defang those big shock death stories and make it so we couldn’t rely on that any more. Magneto was an exception, because he had a really great death that we stated ahead of time would not be undone easily – and so it’s come to pass. Death is back, Death is once more insurmountable, it’s once more a Very Big Deal, and we’ve not set up any of those plot twists that mean Magneto never actually died… we’ve left ourselves no wriggle room here, as was always the plan. So how does Storm bring him back? With great difficulty, and with a classic hero’s journey into the underworld, and with judicious use of an ingredient Jonathan left in the pantry. But mostly the first one. She’s going to be seeing some more of the architecture of reality in the Marvel Universe, and that’s just for starters – this quest takes her and Max deep into the heart of X-Lore.

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Magneto Dealing With the Afterlife

I can see Magneto being very content with his death back during Judgment Day, and not looking forward to rejoining the fight to save mutantkind. How has the afterlife been treating Magneto, and as one of Krakoa’s founders, can you describe his thoughts and feelings on its fall from grace without him?

We get to see exactly how the afterlife is treating Magneto, and we get to see how he feels about his life, and we get to see his reaction to hearing about the ongoing Fall Of X – all of this will be on the page. So I don’t really want to get into it here. But I will say that Magneto is currently in a sphere of Judgment and will have to reckon will all of his sins, both great and subtle, and with the darker side of his nature. Nobody wants to see a comic where Magneto takes a number and waits in a queue. We want his rebirth to be as big a deal, as great a personal sacrifice, as his death. Will we achieve that? I think we’re on course.

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Ewing’s Time in the X-Office Comes to an End

You’ve done some exciting work on S.W.O.R.D. and X-Men Red, and now this next chapter in Magneto’s story. What do you consider some of your highlights working in the X-Office, and what can fans expect out of Magneto heading into the Fall of the House of X?

Well, a big highlight is finally getting to work with Luciano Vecchio. I’ve been a fan of his art since I first saw it – it’s got that great clean, clear line that I always love, it’s got this amazing sensuality to it, this high emotional content that really helps get the big beats over, he can do giant power flexes like nobody’s business, and the cherry on top is that he knows his Tarot, which is a huge asset in a story like this that draws on and plays with a lot of magical stuff. As to where Magneto goes from here – well, I can’t really speak to that as this is my personal Swan-Song of X, but I will say that I think we leave him in a very good and fascinating place.

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