VALIANT COMICS: MAGNUS

Through 1992, Magnus ran 20 issues. Shooter wrote all the issues from 0 to 20 except for number 17. The issues of Magnus that contained the Unity storyline are numbers 15 and 16.

Magnus: Steel Nation trade paperback reprinted Magnus 1 through 4 while Magnus: Invasion trade paperback reprinted Magnus 5 through 8. There were also 4 issues published under the title Vintage Magnus. These four issues reprinted old Gold Key stories from the 1960's.

Valiant also teamed up with Dark Horse for a mini-series titled Predator vs. Magnus. Two issues were released both written by Jim Shooter. Both issues were also reprinted in the Predator vs. Magnus TPB released in 1994.

The original Magnus was published in 1963. The storyline tells of a future society dependant on robots. Humans failed to notice robots were becoming freewills in an effort to overthrow their human masters. Magnus was raised by a robot who saw the threat of the freewills and trained him to seek and destroy the freewills.

When Shooter got control of the character for Valiant, he picked up where the original series left off. Shooter made sure to replicate the original series as much as possible out of respect for the character and the creators.

Over time, Shooter lead Magnus in new directions. The Magnus series became a stepping-stone for other characters before they received their own series while Magnus' origin is explored in the Unity crossover.