I grew up a Marvel fan for the most part and what I knew of the Marvel Universe like everyone else was found in their countless comics produced over decades. Then at last I wearied of the chase and the comic universe the MU had become was not recognizable. Many years before Marvel had at long last found success in the movie theaters with series like Blade and The X-Men, and later the Avengers cycle. As I drifted farther and farther from the comics the movies became the centerpiece of what I know as the Marvel Universe. And in that cinematic universe much is made of the uber villain Magneto and his beginnings as a waif who loses nearly everything in the monstrous death camps of the Nazis. The films have made an empathetic character out of the villain if not at all times a sympathetic one. That began in this comic.
Written by Chris Claremont and drawn by the late Dave Cockrum, this X-Men story finds the team in the middle of one of their never ending sagas while inside the mind of Professor Xavier a different battle is going on. We see in his memories a time twenty years before when he was helping Holocaust survivors come to terms with the suffering they'd endured. He meets a man named Magnus and slowly they learn that they both are mutants. The arrival of an up and coming Hydra causes them to fight together to save a young woman who holds the secret of vast gold reserves in her war scarred psyche. It's a good tale, not a great one, but making Magnus a survivor of Auschwitz utterly transform a villain who to that time was largely a cruel enigma.
Note: This post originally appeared at Rip Jagger's Other Dojo.
I couldn’t put it better with regards to your feeling about the Marvel Universe and being weary of the chase Rip. That sums up exactly how I feel about Marvel (and more so DC) it’s just a jumble of non-related storylines with wandering plots, mixed storytelling , reboots for no reason and cheap marketing ploys (multi covers, interlinked stories that go on and on, fake deaths etc) and little or no thought for character development. I do however applaud their diversity although it can seem forced at times, but full marks from me on that score.
ReplyDeleteI haven’t read this particular comic but it is just nice to see Dave Cockrum’s art again, he was so good storyteller. Like yourself my MU is pretty much the cinematic version now and I do enjoy most of it and certainly more that the current MCU, which is no longer the Lee/Kirby MCU I knew. And while it shouldn’t be what it used to have been some 40 -50 (arghh!) years ago it is a shame they have lost so much of that fun and wonder that these guys gave us. Old man rant over! 😊
I gave up the chase in 2007. New comics just weren't getting it done for me anymore. I'll dabble for special things now and again but I cannot tell you anymore what's going on in the MU. I don't even recognize most the names of the talent these days. When they rebooted the Avengers that was it for me. I lingered for a wee bit but I knew it was time.
DeleteThere has been good work done to make heroes more diverse and that's all to the good. There's no reason Captain Marvel must be a man, nor any particular reason Captain America must be white. All we require is that be properly heroic.