The runs that make Magneto:Chris Claremont on Uncanny X-Men (1975-1991), who invented the character twenty years after his creation;Classic X-Men(1986-1990), which documents his past;Magneto Testament (2008); Cullen Bunn (2014-2015); and the 2019 redesign, where he becomes a leader.
This ranking has a particularity: the most important run in the file has never carried the name of the character, and its author is not its creator.
Magneto was written twice— once in 1963 as an opponent, once from 1975 as a subject. The second version erased the first.
Top 1 — Chris Claremont (Uncanny X-Men, 1975-1991)
Screenwriter: Chris Claremont | Designers: Dave Cockrum, John Byrne, Paul Smith, John Romita Jr.
The run that transforms a depthless conqueror into one of the medium's most talked-about antagonists.
The method is progressive: Claremont does not rewrite the character all at once, he adds reasons. Then a memory. Then a coherence which makes its analysis difficult to dismiss.
Uncanny X-Men #150(1981) is the tipping point: this is where his positions cease to be a fad to become an argument, and the reader understands that he is not completely wrong.
This body of work places this run at the top without discussion, and points out what it demonstrates: a mediocre character can be saved, but it takes a decade and an author who is interested in it.
Segments to target: Uncanny X-Men #150 (1981), then the long sequence in the 1980s where he runs the school.
Top 2 — Classic X-Men (1986-1990)
Screenwriter: Chris Claremont | Designer: John Bolton (additional stories)
A series which republishes old issues by adding new pages - and whose supplement is worth infinitely more than the reprint.
Classic X-Men #12(1987) explicitly documents the character's past. This is the issue that completes the work begun in 1981.
This corpus points out an oddity that this file is the only one to present:a major key is found in a series of reissues. Collectors who dismiss reprint titles on principle are missing out.
Series from the late 1980s: abundant, and very accessible given its importance.
Top 3 — Magneto Testament (2008)
Screenwriter: Greg Pak
A limited series devoted entirely to his childhood, written forty-five years after its creation.
This is the story that definitively establishes what the previous issues had outlined. It contains neither costume nor confrontation, which explains why it is little sought after - and makes it one of the best buys in the file.
Recent, abundant issues, available in bound volume.
Top 4 — The 2019 overhaul and its aftermath
The mutant franchise is reorganized, and the character obtains a position he has never occupied: that of a current manager.
The interest is clear. For fifty years, his positions were discussed in the abstract, since he never had the means to apply them. Here he applies them — and the story must show the consequences.
Recent and very busy period. To collect in high grade without difficulty, with the usual precautions on alternative covers.
Top 5 — Cullen Bunn (Magneto, 2014-2015)
One of the few series with his name, and one that treats him as a standalone character rather than someone else's counterpoint.
Dark register, reduced scale: he acts alone, methodically, far from major collective clashes.
Recent and inexpensive series, often absent from lists of key issues even though it constitutes the best modern entry point to the character.
How to collect these runs
A practical observation that arises from the structure of the file.
The essential run — Claremont on Uncanny X-Men — spans sixteen years and hundreds of issues. To own it entirely would be a disproportionate project, and largely useless: Magneto only appears in sequences.
The effective method therefore consists of target the moments rather than the runs: the 1981 flip number, the sequence where he runs the school, the 1987 complement, then the standalone series of 2008 and 2014.
Twenty issues are enough to cover everything that matters — and with the exception of X-Men #1, none are from an expensive period.
This is the economic particularity of the file: the most discussed character of his franchise can be collected for almost nothing, as long as we give up his first appearance.
For number-by-number selection, see ourkey numbersand ourcollection guide.
Track each run and identify missing numbers with ourcollection management application.