X-Men # 1-3
This story serves three purposes:
1) To bookend Claremont's run
2) To usher forth the new era of the X-Men
3) To tie together Magneto's character arc that reaches all the way back to Uncanny X-Men # 104 (Magneto's restoration)
A group of Mutants are on the run and are eventually chased into orbit, where they wish to seek sanctuary in Asteroid M with Magneto. They do so and Magneto allows both the Mutants and their human pursuers entry into his base. However, when the humans strike against the Mutant renegades, Magneto's animosity for humanity increases once more.
Meanwhile, the Russians are flipping out because Asteroid M is sitting right above their airspace. To avoid an international incident, Nick Fury and Val Cooper get in touch with the recently reoranized X-Men. The mansion has been reconstructed and X-Factor has been merged with the X-Men, created two X-Men teams: Gold Team (Storm, Iceman, Archangel, Jean Grey, and Colossus) and the Blue Team (Cyclops, Wolverine, Pyslocke, Beast, Rogue, Gambit, and Jubilee), with Forge, Professor X, Moria, and Banshee hanging around the mansion.
The Blue Team goes out and intercepts Magneto as he rasies the nuclear sub he sank years ago. Egged on by renegade Mutant Fabian Cortez, Magneto seeks to retrieve the nukes for protection from the human race. This confrontation leads to a radical series of events that eventually end up on the civil war torn Genosha. The X-Men Blue Team face off with the Mutant Renegades, who call themselves the Acolytes. The X-Men are eventually defeated and taken back to Asteroid M.
It's there that Mangeto and Cortez find problems with Magneto's powers. Cortez uses his own power to increase Magneto's, but Magneto is growing addicted to him. He goes off and faces down with Professor X and Moria, then, and kidnaps them. He finds out that Moria manipulated his genetic structure when he was de-aged. Magneto is pissed, now forced to question every decision he made since his restoration.
Magneto has Moria use the process used on him against the X-Men and he's able to get them onto his side. The X-Men Gold Team mount a rescue and fight their companions, only to find out that as soon as they use their powers, the effect is gone. Moria eventually reveals this to Magneto, but not before Cortez betrays them. High-jacking a plasma cannon weapon that was almost ready to destroy Asteroid M, Cortez blasts the orbital base. The X-Men take off as Magneto and a few remaining Acolytles stay aboard and start to burn up in the atmosphere.
Claremont brings his version of Magneto and the tremendous growth the character went through under his pen to manifest here, using this story to end his long run. The full amount of post-baby Magneto history is used here to create a great character-driven tale. From his frienship with Xavier in Israel to him being headmaster to his closeness with Rogue to his Bryne/Cockrum era, Magneto is presented at his finest.
Jim Lee renders the X-Men's new designs goreously, making all the characters look fresh and new. He also does a great job conveying the emotions of the script, from the intense battle scenes to Magneto's final words as he screeches into the atmosphere.
Magneto "ends" here, at least under Claremont's pen (well, for about a decade at least). However, for the X-Men . . . it's a brand new beginning.
~W~
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