(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:
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