If it means anything your run on AWC is my favorite take of good guy Magneto. I liked that he had done very bad things and he wanted to change. Rather than the normal "Oh he was never bad to begin with. He was a freedom fighter."

Problem is, when most people say this they mean they want characters who are
conflicted, confused, misunderstood.

In my comics reading (and other media as well), I always preferred characters who were confident, in control, and heroic (an example would be Silver Age Superman).

Many folk today consider those types of characters boring, but not me <g>.

 
<<Its not self defense. But Magneto had just that much wiggle room. Magneto had not yet attacked innocents directly. He said he would not if his demands were met.>>

Yeah, if you allow him to rule the world.  Is that what they were supposed to do so he wouldn't kill people? 

<<If I remember the story right. The other nations had told the commies not to attack Magneto til they decided on a course of action. At least until they could get ahold of the Avengers. But the Russians out of fear of superhumans wanted to take out Magneto themselves and escalated the conflict.>>

It has been a long while since I read the book, but the Russians logically would be moe anxious than the others.  They're the ones whose city was destroyed.  

<<Magneto's position would be if they had not attacked him, they would not be dead. >>

And their positon would be, if you hadn't held the world hostage we wouldn't have attacked you.

<<Thats not to say he is right. But the story definately painted the commies in a negative light, with the position they had it coming.>>

They had it coming? I don't recall that, but, again, it's been awhile since I read it.  Maybe I'll look at the book again.  Another thing, you have to consider Magneto's history up until that point.  He has a history of terrorist actions.  There is plenty of reason for them to believe that he's not bluffing.  

It's not like it's been verbal threats coming from a new character.  This guy has destroyed a city telling you that the next time it'll be a populated one if you don't meet his demands.   

I can give you some examples of Magneto doing "bad" things where I can somewhat see his position, killing Zaladane would be an example. I don't see this as one of those examples.

You mentioned JB's AWC and for people who don't think he can write Magneto as more complex, read that.  Most of that is the Avengers attacking him because Wanda went with him willingly.  He actually saves Iron Man once and tries to another time.  But that's how the character had been established at the time.

Hidden Years Magneto was a rat bastard which should have been no problem to even Claremont Magneto fans.  JB portrayed him as he was portrayed at the time, as an evil bastard.
 
<<I especially liked how Magneto recovered from being a cripple hit with an atom bomb within 2 issues, build a whole fake prison program in China to fake he was a prisoner because HE KNEW ALL ALONG the X-Men would just HAPPEN to rescue him. Then somehow engineered Weapon X out of his old Satelite M or w/e his space station's called, PLANNED ALL ALONG for Jean and Wolverine to be in it so he could HURL THEM RIGHT INTO THE SUN HAHAHA, then have Jean be stabbed to death, sent into the sun, resurect herself AND Wolverine AND rebuild the whole damn shuttle AND being herself back with Logan & Shuttle ALL THE WAY BACK to earth only to suddenly die from 10 000 heart strokes from Magneto like he had become some god damn Street Fighter character or some crap. Cause Jean can recover from being sent into the sun but heart failure and that's it. Bites the dust forever.

And Magneto's explanation was Morrison's one trick pony since Doom Patrol: nanotechnology omg. So all in all, Grant's Magneto was a big load of YES I PLANNED IT ALL ALONG NO MATTER HOW NONSENSICAL HAHAHAHAHAHAH! bullshit.>>

Oh, the plotting was contrived all right, but I do think that he planned Xorn as Magneto all along.
 
 
<<Morrison having Cyclops euthanize somebody was enough for me to steer clear.>>

Didn't like it, but I could get past it.  Having him commit adultery on his wife was where they stopped getting my money.  I dropped every X book on the spot.

<<In my comics reading (and other media as well), I always preferred characters who were confident, in control, and heroic (an example would be Silver Age Superman).

Many folk today consider those types of characters boring, but not me <g>.>>

Same here, but often times I think we're a dying breed.  They're superHERO comics.  If I want a mishmosh of greys I'll turn on the tv or read the paper.  The real world is filled with that.  That's not what I read superhero comics for. 
 

Larry im not disputing it. But Claremont definately put the commies in a negative light. The other countries wanted to wait til the Avengers were avaiable and stall Magneto to avoid loss of life. The commies were overzealous and paid for it. The story certainly showed them more as victims of their own arrogance than Magneto. If they had waited for the Avengers they would still be alive.

That's not what I read superhero comics for. 

I agree. I personally look to comics for escapism and entertainment, to make me forget about the problems and horrors of the 'real' world <g>.