This is the voice.

This is the voice of Magneto.

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I’m on the second volume of Grant Morrison’s seminal run of New X-Men from the early 2000’s. Usually, I like to give credit to the artists and inkers of a story but he’s joined by a massive cavalcade of excellent art. There are some critical standouts, however.

Frank Quitely returns for an amazing riot at the school, Phil Jimenez dips his toes in the pool with inker Andy Lanning (before Jimenez returns to freaking BLOW it out of the water in the Vol. 3 finale, coming soon), and we even get two beautifully illustrated chapters from John Paul Leon and Bill Sienkiewicz, one of which (issue #127, “Of Living and Dying”) might be one of my favorite comics of all time.

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That’s not what we’re talking about today, though.

This is the voice of the Genoshan nation.

It’s a strange thing to die in the darkness. It’s a strange thing to die. I was Magneto, the master of magnetic forces. Now I will be a voice in the darkness, echoing forever.

Once I was a mortal man.

Now I am becoming memory, immortal.

They thought they could silence us forever. Instead we have become magnetic.

Unstoppable.

I’ve always said Morrison’s ideas behind New X-Men were much stronger than the individual sum of its parts. While some story elements heavily reflect the early 2000’s mindset they were written in, the rest are indicative of a future Morrison always goes back to: unified strength against the dark and coming future.

Morrison believes that, combined, we are stronger than apart. The X-Corporation, similar to his big Batman opus Batman Incorporated, is a solution to the world’s problems, showcasing strength as one, in the open, in the face of evil and contempt.

But, what happens when a voice speaks louder than one, a voice that unites as it fades away?

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Do you understand? Our voices will be broadcast around the world…

…into space. At the speed of light. At the speed of radio.

Our voices traveling without end through the depths of time and space. Beyond this life.

And far, far…beyond this death.

Thanks for reading,

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