The Good
I thoroughly enjoyed Clay Mann's pencils in this issue; I felt that overall the art was really beautiful and complimented the story very well. I'll get into my feelings regarding the pacing in the issue a bit later, as I did feel it was a bit slow and that there were some rather unnecessary scenes in this issue.
Skottie Young has a wonderful grasp of Magneto's character, and while he might be "old and gray" he continues to be a formidable opponent and a force to be reckoned with. I love the way he's portrayed in this issue. Young makes it known to the reader that although a lot has changed about Magneto, the essence of who he is and the efforts he is willing to take to achieve certain goals continue to be the same. Basically, torture is still an option. His character has definitely evolved, but not that much.
There is a great scene between Magneto and Cyclops in this issue. I thoroughly enjoyed their back and forth banter as well as Scott's light-hearted jabs at Magneto's old age. The art in this scene speaks to the reader in this scene. Mann does a great job conveying the story through his depiction of emotion. The collaboration between Mann and Young is really solid.
The Bad
There's one particular scene that felt slightly out of place, in my opinion. Drawing a comparison between the present "Occupy movement" to Christopher Bach's protest wasn't comparable and felt slightly out of place, in my opinion. Ignoring for a moment that one protest is fictional; the two are completely unrelated and it didn't make sense bringing up "occupy," even if it was establishing the story in the present. It felt unnecessary.
The pacing of this issue was a little bit slower and the fight with Astra was a bit too brief. I would have liked to see it drawn out a bit more, but I understand that sometimes that's out of the hands of the creator who only has four issues to tell his story.
The Verdict
Definitely not a good jumping on point for new readers as this is the penultimate issue. I think what I enjoyed most about this comic is that although it's the third of a four issue mini-series, I'm still not sure what will happen next. When the reader isn't able to predict what will happen in the final issue of a mini-series, you know you have done a pretty great job crafting a solid story. There are some really great moments in this issue, my favorite of which I mentioned above. Although this is the weakest of the issues so far, it still left me wondering what will happen next. Definitely a great read. Highly recommend to any Magneto fan.