Marvel's X Men: Magneto: Testament Review and Some Commentary

(This review and commentary will contain spoilers.)

I have a history degree. I am not often fond of the teachers out there (and they know who they are) who use fiction to teach it. As someone who was once forced to read a thirty page scholarly paper on what was wrong with The Last Samurai, I can assure you I'm not one of the most rabid in that conviction however. And, as someone who learned to love history by watching John Wayne movies and other World War Two flicks, I can assure you that there is some value in encouraging youngsters to watch fictionalized account of history even if I believe they should be kept out of the classroom.

Enter X-Men: Magneto: Testament. I found my first copy of the work in the gift shop of my local Holocaust Museum. I had heard about it, so I picked up a copy. Given the fact that I was at that Holocaust Museum researching a paper that I wrote about the involvement of the Heer (that's the German Army. The Wehrmacht was the German military as a whole) and just happened to stop into the gift shop on my way out almost definitely means that I should be consigned to the academic version of Hell. Fortunately for me, the place would be filled with comic books and fictionalized accounts and I would enjoy myself thoroughly. I mean, I never said I was a GOOD academic..

But anyway..

For all of its faults, X-Men: Magneto: Testament is a superb comic. This is not your typical fare though. Testament is not a World War II Era Captain America comic. There is no superhero coming out of the woodwork to massacre these Nazis the way they deserve. Testament is not some triumphalist narrative about beating the Fuhrer and his goons into submission with the power of one man's fists. In some ways, I wish that it were. I wish that it could be.

No, Marvel made their story much closer to the truth. The truth is that it sucked to be a Jew in Nazi Germany. The truth is that millions were murdered. The truth is that millions of people were mistreated not because they had done anything, but simply for existing. They were accused of living lives of wealth and privilege and annihilated. All of societies problems were blamed on Jews and they were slaughtered like cattle as soon as a chance arose.

Testament portrays that very well. It also portrays the patriarch of the family urging his family to go along to get along. To not resist so as to not invite a beating. What must have seemed reasonable at the time soon turned sour. Things get ugly quickly. But that's what happens when you appease an abuser. They may come for you last, but it's going to happen eventually, even if you acted as an ally.

The story is about one Max Eisenhardt, later known as Magneto. In the beginning he is a young boy with a desire to be like all the men in his family. He is learning, at the age of nine, to make jewelry. Soon, he is in school and excelling; both academically and athletically. He is tormented because of this and held to a higher standard because of his ethnic background. Eventually, he gets put into a camp.

Both before and during his imprisonment he continues to make decisions based on his fear of punishment. He won't retaliate for the treatment of his people because he is afraid of what the Nazis might do to him and to his brethren. What had started out as matter of words, of people complaining about the wealth and privilege of others, ends in the massacre of millions.

The ironic part being that even in his captivity, while hating every minute of it, he aids his Nazi captors. Magneto serves as a member of the Sonderkommando, (Special Command in English). They were the people who burned the bodies of the Jews, and others, who had been murdered.

Listen, I love comics. I have since I used to save up my allowance and ride my bike two miles to the Antique Paper Shop to buy back issues. I've used a lot of adjectives to describe my favorite comics: Entertaining, gorgeous, engaging, interesting, the list goes on and on. With the possible exception of gorgeous (and that because the art reflects the horror surrounding the main character. It is actually very well done) they all apply here. The one adjective I'm going to use that I never have before is powerful.

Testament is exactly what it claims to be.  It is a testament to what happened to the Jews under the Nazis. Yes, there are some historical inaccuracies to be sure (no one EVER survived two years as a member of a Sonderkommando for instance.) but the gist of the story is correct. Testament doesn't have the importance that something like The Diary of Anne Frank would have because it's not a first person account, but it may still be the most important comic ever published. Maus (which I just bought a used copy of but haven't read yet) is  probably up there, and there was an issue of Spiderman (help me out if you know which one) was the first one to ever deal with drug abuse,  (and no, comparing drug abuse to the Holocaust is not belittling the importance of either. They've both killed millions) but Testament deals with the Shoah (as the Jewish people call the Holocaust) in a way that nothing else ever has. Entertainment is not a good way to study the hard facts of a subject, but it attracts attention that no scholarly work ever will. Both are important.

Which leads me to two problems I have with Marvel right now. I'll deal with the less controversial one first.

Physical copies of X-Men: Magneto: Testament are currently out of print. I get that this isn't the newest and latest comic. It came out a decade ago. There are newer comics to promote and Testament doesn't really fit into the way that Marvel is re-releasing a lot of its older works. I got an e-book version on Amazon lately, so it's still available that way but it's mainly going to sell to people that go looking for it that way. A copy of Testament should be available in any Holocaust Museum/Memorial that attracts enough English speaking individuals for it to sell. That goes the same for speakers/locations appropriate to any languages Testament may have been translated into. I mean that. That's how I found out it existed. If I were Marvel, I'd do a run and market it specifically along those lines, as well as to any Local Comic Shop that wanted copies to sell. Why? Because it's a way for Grandma and Grandpa to get their teenage grandchild(ren) who don't read history to learn about the Holocaust. We can't let this be forgotten because if we do we're asking for it to happen again.

As for my second point:

Uhh... Marvel?

WHY IN THE EVERLOVING, UNDYING, INDECIPHERABLE FUCK ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE MAGNETO A MEMBER OF HYDRA?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Guys....

Really?

A FREAKING HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR AS A MEMBER OF A NEO-NAZI ORGANIZATION??

REALLY?

This is a bad idea. I mean, I get your point. You need a white dude to turn into a Nazi. It didn't work with Captain America so you thought you'd switch things over to another white guy in the form of Magneto. I get it. Here's what you're missing:

Not every Straight White Male is a Nazi. Nope. Not even a significant percentage of them. I mean, I get what the Social Justice Bullies demand but that doesn't mean you have to give in to them. You're losing a lot of respect from me here. This is unnecessary. It is sick. It is twisted. It is wrong. YOU ARE BLAMING THE VICTIM.

Seriously Marvel. I'm begging you. Don't do this. Not to your fans. Not to the general public. And damn sure not to the victims of the Holocaust. You're implying that they did it to themselves here. This is a step too far.

Bottom Line for X-Men: Magneto: Testament: 5.0 out of 5 Stars

X-Men: Magneto: Testament
Greg Pak, Carmine Di Giandomencio, Marko Djurdjevic
Marvel, 2009


The comics for  X-Men: Magneto: Testament are available for purchase at the link below:

RIP Stan Lee

 Once upon a time a young man jumped on his beat up BMX and rode it to a place called the Antique Paper Shop. In that store there were many comics. Some of them were made by Marvel. A lot of them started with the words "Stan Lee Presents..." Those comics, and others like them, made the young man very happy. So happy, in fact, that he never minded the five mile round trip on his bike or the money he spent there. So happy that he never even minded the ass chewings he got from his mother for "wasting all of your money on those damn comic books." He totally thought it was worth it.

Well, if you've been paying attention, you already know that that young man was Yours Truly, the blogger extraordinaire (wink), moi. It didn't get a lot better in those days than breaking away from my parents to go get something that I wanted with my money. And, for a kid who was not yet old enough to get his drivers license, there were no finer stories.

Seriously, for young geeks like myself, and my buddy Jayson that I usually rode up there with, the comic shop was heaven. In an era before the internet was really a thing, I could find people there who shared my interests. I could bask in the glory of rows upon rows of interesting looking books (and let me tell you, I read a lot of stuff in school but I wouldn't consider much of it "interesting.") that I wanted to read. Unfortunately, I had a limited budget and I couldn't buy one of everything in the store, even after I got my first job at fourteen years of age. If you asked my mother though, she'd probably say I tried.

It's sad to say that The Antique Paper Shop no longer exists. The building that it occupied has long since been demolished and the site rebuilt on. You can get some pretty good "New York Style Chinese Food" there now. I'll never know what happened to all  those boxes of back issues, but I didn't get to buy them all, not even the Iron Man and Green Lantern ones. Life is rough sometimes.

The creator of a lot of my heroes was a guy named Stan Lee. The first time I had ever held a comic in my hands it was an old copy of The Fantastic Four, which would never have existed without him. Remember the old TV show Spider Man? That never would have existed without him either. And let's face it, without Stan Lee I never would have wanted to be Tony Stark. It's not possible to be a geek guy my age and never have had the desire to be a man who could fly through the air in a suit of steel and then woo the ladies later. How could you not want to be the guy with a tower named after him? Oh, and if you have at any point in your life not fit into society (possibly because, I dunno... Maybe you were a nerd?) and not been able to identify with the X-Men you don't have any emotions. I could go on.

Yes, Stan Lee was a guy who made life a lot more enjoyable. I don't know how many smiles he put on my face, or how many times I scowled at a bad guy because of him. I couldn't tell you how many times I cheered my heroes in those books or later on the big screen. I'm not even sure how much time I've spent trying to find him in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. Stan's name echoes throughout the Multiverse. You know what? Multiverse be damned. If it weren't for Stan Lee, the Nerdiverse would be a much poorer place.

Well, if you've managed to avoid the news so far somehow, we lost Stan Lee today. I read somewhere that he was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and died there. This one hit me hard. I literally almost broke out into tears in the middle of a Pizza Hut when I pulled up the article on my phone. I almost started crying again when I opened up my Google app to confirm it. I'm one unhappy Jimbo at the moment. I don't usually get this involved with celebrities. I watched Jerry Lewis give his telethon every Labor Day for years. I wasn't happy to see him go, but I barely noticed. With Stan Lee it's different.

Stan was one of us. I never had the good fortune to meet him at a con, but I know many people who have. It is amazing how much of his time he was willing to give to fans. I've never heard anyone say a bad word about the man. "Never meet your heroes" is an old saying, but it doesn't seem to be one that applies here. I'm really sad that I'll never get to meet Stan Lee because, according to everything I've heard or read, he really does seem to have been everything I wanted him to be.

It's not just how friendly he was that makes him one of us though. We, as geeks, have all looked up at one point and said, "Wouldn't it be awesome if you could..." The superpower that came next was always different (unless it was your one friend who came up with the same idea eighty-seven times a day) but we had an idea about someone who could do something that we wanted to read about or watch. Stan Lee was just better at it than the rest of us. He could come with the person and the power and make a story about it that millions of people would read and watch.

And now he's gone.  I'll never get my chance to say hi to him and shake his hand. We won't be seeing him on the silver screen anymore. I'd bet my ass that it won't be long before we'll be seeing a Stan Lee memorial comic, or maybe a series of them. Someone is sure to complain about crass commercialism, but commercialism is how Stan made his living. The world is worse for his passing. I'll say a prayer for his family and all of his fans, but...

I don't know but what -just- but.

We'll miss you Mr. Lee. You will live on through your creations and in our hearts. Years after the rest of us are gone, someone will be reading about a young kid who got bit by a spider and has great power and the responsibility that comes with it...

You know, one of my friends posted on Facebook today. His post read "The King is Dead. Long Live the King." He was wrong though. The king is dead, but there is no one to fill his shoes. We cannot replace the great Stan Lee. There is no one who can step up now. I mean, sure, there will be more comics. There will be more movies. There will be more people who love them. But we will never replace the man himself. His genius is gone from the world.

And now, I'm just stalling and not wanting to wrap this up, because once it's over I've admitted that he's actually gone. Don't worry. I'll get over myself. I guess there's just one last thing to say. One final word to wrap it all up.

Excelsior

Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War

Nope. Not bitter. Not me. Never. I don't get bitter. Not even if my cousin promises to go see Avengers: Infinity War with me. Not even if he does it twice.  Not even when I get spoiled because his tall ass didn't go see it with me. I could never be bitter. I'm Sweet of the Sweet and Innocent Twins. (Inside joke. There are two people on the entire planet who get that and I'm pretty sure that the other one doesn't read my blog. You should be laughing though. Trust me.) So, my not bitter self went and took in the movie by myself. And believe me,  Avengers: Infinity War delivered.

I'm going to try not to spoil much, but it's not going to be easy. There is a lot to this movie and it's an emotional roller coaster. I usually talk about my emotional reactions here but A:IW jerked me in a few different directions. It's weird. One of my friends did a Facebook post complaining that her anxiety ramped steadily upward throughout the whole movie. She was right. Things go from bad to worse to worst.

I'm going to start my review by mentioning the end of the movie. If I were capable of being bitter, I just might be a bit bitter about this ending. This movie is the culmination of an eighteen movie storyline. It is the movie equivalent of a crossover event in comics. I won't say exactly how the flick ends, but I will say this: This plays like a three act play, but it ends at the conclusion of the second act. Things can't get any worse. This isn't even a cliffhanger ending. It's like a fall off of a cliff, only it's going to last for a year until the next movie comes. I don't like cliffhangers but this is worse. It's crazy.

Other than the ending (and the strong desire I developed to slap both Dr. Strange and Starlord) though, Avengers: Infinity War was epic. This thing moved. There was always something going on. It was crazy. I've heard others complain that there was too much crammed in but I disagree. I mean, if you're into boring cry-fest chick flicks then okay, there is probably too much going on here. Go feel some angst and bite your fingernails off while watching two teens make eyes at each other over the tops of overpriced milkshakes. If you're a fan of good SF/F and you like movies that take hold of your attention and refuse to let go, watch this movie.

I find myself liking Thanos as a villain. Something that most authors forget is that we're all the hero of our own story. Thanos is out to murder half of all intelligent life in the universe. He's an evil piece of trash. In his own mind though, he's doing the survivors a favor.  Less people means less draw on resources and therefore more for everyone. Basically, he displays a knowledge of economics matched by a third grader with conservative parents or your average adult Marxist. (Hint: Economic growth requires population growth and a modern economy suddenly deprived of half its people would be a complete disaster that would most likely cause the deaths of many more when production and distribution of necessities went to shit.) Thomas Robert Malthus would be proud of Thanos, even while he wondered how the human population was still so high and had the lowest percentage of starving and  illiterate people in the history of humanity. That much being said, committed Communists really do believe that they have the best system.

I will always and forever be a fan of any movie where Robert Downey, Jr. plays Tony Stark. Avengers: Infinity War</> is no exception. RDJ doesn't just _play_ Tony Stark. RDJ _is_ Tony Stark. He's lived the high society, womanizing, heavy drinking lifestyle. You can see it in his portrayal. He knocks it out of the park every time. I seriously wrote this dude off at one point and now I feel like a turd. His comeback has been remarkable and I applaud him. Keep making movies, guy. I'll keep watching.

Tom Holland also makes an awesome Spider-Man. You can feel the teen-aged desire to do big person things in him. He's a believer in his mission and he seriously wants to fit in. He's a boy in a man's world but he wants to be a man. He's working to prove his manhood and assert his independence. I like this kid. I love the fact that he won't give up. I love the fact that he won't listen to anybody. I love the fact that he's still there when common sense would have told him to give up. And I love the fact that Tom Holland makes me believe it all. He's got the wild-eyed look to make this character work.

Zoe Saldana as Gamora is impressive as well. She grew up raised by a maniac and she knows it. She hates him. She hates what he did to her people. She fights against it with everything she has. When Gamora looks at Thanos, we can feel her disgust along with her. When she gets taken, we can feel her fear. When Thano (spoilers!) throws her off the cliff to gain the Soul Stone, we all want to kick his ass. It's because Zoe Saldana makes her character live and breathe. Kudos to her.

Some of the actions the heroes don't make sense. Starlord, in particular, deserves to have his nose broke in seventeen different places. Dr. Strange may have an adequate excuse for his stupidity. He saw the future and can tell what comes next. So maybe he gets a pass. Possibly. I'll get back with you next movie. The good part about the stupidity though, is that human beings frequently do stupid stuff. Starlord reacts out of emotion when logic is needed. Guess what? He's a (half) human being. Humans do stupid things out of emotion constantly. Out irrationality is part of what makes us human. Tony Stark was stupid to try to get rid of Peter Parker. He didn't want to see the kid get hurt. Stark didn't want to risk the kid's life even though, logically, he needed the help. This is known as good writing.

All in all, I loved this movie. I'm going to own it someday. I've seen some hate for this movie, but you won't find it here. Marvel put on a clinic here. They built this thing over years and did an awesome job with the first half of their movie. I can't wait to see the conclusion of it next summer.

Bottom Line
4.75 out of 5 Infinity Stones
Avengers Infinity War is available for pre-order at the following link: