This is the first installment of a brand-new feature called "The Book of Knowledge." In this feature, I spotlight instances where notable revelations that affect comic book continuity were first made in texts outside of comic book stories themselves. In other words, times when stuff like the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe either introduced or resolved changes to continuity.

We begin with Magneto and his disappearing telepathic powers!

In X-Men #4 (by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Paul Reinman), the first appearance of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, we see that Magneto is able to interact with Professor X directly on the mental/astral plane, showing Magneto to have a powerful mental prowess...

The X-Men was a series where Stan Lee seemed to care the least about, in terms of consistent plot points. He seemed to just try all sorts of odd plot ideas that he would then quickly dismiss, like the idea that Magneto could project his mind into the astral plane just like Professor X...

It often seemed like a lot of stories by Lee and Kirby around this era would have these elaborate ways of people being able to contact others. For instance, this is right around the same time that Iron Man developed a sort of holographic projector that allowed him to travel all over the Marvel Universe to check in with the various other heroes out there. Here, Magneto uses some pretty notable telepathic powers to project his mind great distances so that he can find Namor.

In X-Men #18 (by Stan Lee, Werner Roth and Dick Ayers), we see Magneto strike again with his telepathic powers. This time, he refers to them as "Magnetic Attraction" and uses them to make Angel's parents follow his commands...

Magneto later used the iron in people's blood to force them to do things, as well, but the implication there was that it was strictly a case of him controlling them with his magnetic powers and not any sort of telepathic powers.

However, in 1982's Uncanny X-Men #161 (by Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum and Bob Wiacek), we were showed the first meeting of Magneto and Professor X when they were younger men and Xavier could not read Magneto's mind back then, without a helmet...

So obviously Magneto has SOME sort of telepathic prowess.

However, they were about to be pretty much written out, via the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe!

Page 2: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='The Handbook has spoken!']

In the original Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe, released in 1983, Magneto's entry (artwork by Paul Smith) notes that his telepathic abilities are "minimal" and mostly just serve to give him a defense against telepaths...

A couple of years later, Magneto was involved in a crossover fight between the X-Men and the Avengers when Earth's Mightiest Heroes decided to take Magneto in for his outstanding war crimes.

In The X-Men vs. The Avengers #4 (which was written by Tom DeFalco after Marvel rejected the original ending as written by the original writer on the series, Roger Stern. The art was by Keith Pollard and a bunch of inkers), Magneto is shown to be using a special helmet to give him telepathic abilities and there is a whole thing where Captain America specifically notes that Magneto has never had mental powers before and Magneto concedes the point...

So it seems like the Handbook has essentially excised any notable telepathic abilities from Magneto.

Okay, folks, this is something that happens all the time, so if you have any suggestions for future "The Book of Knowledge" features, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!