Subscribe to Print Edition | Mon., February 16, 2009 Shvat 22, 5769 | | Israel Time: 21:46 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
Haaretz Toolbar
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Joy of Giving Travel Week's End Anglo File
Ian McKellan as Magneto in "X-Men". (20th Century Fox)
Last update - 00:00 07/06/2008
X-Men mutant survives the Holocaust in new Marvel Comics miniseries
By Mordechai Shinefeld, The Forward
Tags: Holocaust, Jewish, X-Men 

Though the Shoah seems out of place amid the bright colors, tights and capes of comic books, graphic novels have a long history of depicting the Holocaust. Art Spiegelman started writing the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Maus" in 1972, and the mutant known as Wolverine was given a history in the Nazi extermination camp Sobibor. Last week, in Philadelphia, Marvel Comics announced that Greg Pak, best known for writing such characters as Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk, would be penning a new miniseries in September called "Magneto: Testament."

The miniseries, according to Pak, "follows a Jewish boy and his family through Germany and Poland from 1935 to 1945." The character is probably best known as the magnetism-controlling supervillain played by Ian McKellen in the X-Men films. In fact, though Magneto was created in 1963, it wasn't until the mid-'80s that writer Chris Claremont gave him sympathetic origins as a Jewish child during the Holocaust.

To prepare for the admittedly difficult task of telling a Holocaust story in a comic book, Pak has read multiple survivor narratives and histories of the Third Reich and the Final Solution, watched documentaries, and gone back to graphic novels like "Maus." The Magneto of "Testament," Pak emphasized, will be not a tragic anti-hero (the Forward once compared him to extreme right winger Rabbi Meir Kahane, the Israeli activist) but a "three-dimensional human being."
Advertisement
"This isn't a fantasy about a costumed superhero changing the course of history," Pak told The Shmooze. "This is the story of a Jewish boy and his family struggling to survive."

"Part of the goal of this story is to explore religious identity, and history, through fiction," said Warren Simmons, "Testament" editor. "I'd say [Magneto] is one of the single richest and most intriguing characters in our medium. I think to Jewish kids, he's a very important, complex character. I know that he was to me."

Related articles:
  • From Superman to Sabraman, museum exhibits Jewish comics
  • Comics and cartoons to come to life in new Holon museum
  • Falafel Man, here to save the day
  • So a man walks into a ghetto
    • Bookmark to del.icio.us  
     
    Israeli Spiderman
    Police arrest man in super-hero costume harassing commuters.
    One man, 32 women
    Exposed: Tel Aviv man has 32 partners and 89 children.
      1.   Woverine & Ironman, Ironhead welcomes you to Knesset Ironhead. 13:46  |  The Archives 07/06/08
      2.   Indicative of Haaretz & Forward`s mental level 14:50  |  Rowan 07/06/08
      3.   OH ROWAN, I`M NOT SO SURE... 15:14  |  Brant 07/06/08
      4.   X-straordinary characters... 20:43  |  Akiva P 07/06/08
      5.   How Did This Escape My Attention? 21:21  |  Yosemite 08/06/08
      6.   Polish extermination camp Sobibor 04:03  |  Konrad 09/06/08
      7.   magneto, the villain, is a jew? 14:32  |  Manolo peaceful man 09/06/08
      8.   Yehova was not the first 14:48  |  Manolo peaceful man 09/06/08
      9.   Magneto and Xavier 18:51  |  David 10/06/08
      10.   manolo: you need to actually read the comic 20:59  |  moskovskaya 10/06/08
      11.   Sobibor was a German extermination camp, not Polish. 22:04  |  Jozef 10/06/08
      12.   Glad to hear it! 14:27  |  KiplingKat 11/06/08
      13.   German not Polish camp 19:27  |  Rafal 11/06/08
      14.   Polish concentration camp 20:02  |  Dbone 11/06/08
      15.   Polish concentration camp ?!!! 20:30  |  G from USA 11/06/08
      16.   Polish concentration camp 20:34  |  Kozel 11/06/08
      17.   Sobibor was a German extermination camp, not Polish. 20:45  |  Sigalit 11/06/08
      18.   Here we go again 20:45  |  Greg 11/06/08
      19.   Sobibor is not Polish extermination camp 20:47  |  Z-man 11/06/08
      20.   Polish extermination camp ? 20:48  |  Jakub 11/06/08
      21.   Polish extermination camp? 20:49  |  Pawel 11/06/08
      22.   German extermination camp 20:59  |  mario 11/06/08
      23.   Sobibor 21:01  |  mario 11/06/08
      24.   Polish extermination camp 21:02  |  Szymon 11/06/08
      25.   Concentration camps were Nazi - German 21:07  |  AnnaTG 11/06/08
      26.   Polish Camp????!!!!! 21:09  |  Martin 11/06/08
      27.   ! 21:26  |  archimedes 11/06/08
      28.   Learn history! 21:28  |  Mrozek 11/06/08
      29.   Sobior was a Nazi German concentration camp 21:31  |  Pawel 11/06/08
      30.   SOBIBOR was NAZi-GERMAN camp in occupied Poland! 21:32  |  Aleksander Masny 11/06/08
      31.   Polish Camp 21:32  |  mcy 11/06/08
      32.   NOT Polish but Nazi German camp 21:33  |  Tomasz Wozniak Weisz 11/06/08
      33.   GERMAN camp Sobibor 21:34  |  Mikolaj 11/06/08
      34.   rewriting the history of the Holocaust? Intentional or sloppy? 21:42  |  Tomas 11/06/08
      35.   "Polish extermination camp"? This is bullshit. 21:45  |  Darek 11/06/08
      36.   "Polish extermination camp Sobibor" 21:47  |  Michael 11/06/08
      37.   "Polish extermination camp Sobibor"????? 21:57  |  Michal 11/06/08
      38.   Shame on You, Dear Author 22:01  |  Michael 11/06/08
      39.   Av 22:05  |  Av 11/06/08
      40.   When some Jew or Jewish newspaper writes "Polish camp" 22:07  |  no Polish camps! 11/06/08
      41.   New history 22:11  |  Shalimar 11/06/08
      42.   Please learn history 22:22  |  Agnieszka 11/06/08
      43.   Polish newspaper wrote about this text 22:24  |  X 11/06/08
      44.   Why You write not true !?!?!?! 22:25  |  marcin 11/06/08
      45.   Polish extermination camp Sobibor 22:28  |  Tomek Wolski 11/06/08
      46.   German Nazis` camp 22:44  |  aver 11/06/08
      47.   Shame on you! It was nazi German camp in OCCUPIED Poland 22:59  |  adam 11/06/08
      48.   Of course it was Polish camp 23:01  |  Jakub 11/06/08
      49.   Sobibor was nazi extermination death camp 23:07  |  Zsófia 11/06/08
      50.   Facio 23:10  |  Gizo 11/06/08
      51.   busza we-cherpa 23:15  |  ARU_Sprawiedliwy 11/06/08
      52.   POLISH CAMPS??????? 23:17  |  Robert_SM 11/06/08
      53.   Polish? 23:17  |  Jan 11/06/08
      54.   POLISH??????????????????????????? 23:22  |  Piter 11/06/08
      55.   Polish Camp??? 23:30  |  Ern 11/06/08
      56.   X-man 23:33  |  spit 11/06/08
      57.   Dear Sir 23:40  |  Dr J Rubinstein 11/06/08
      58.   Shame on you!!! Not Polish but Nasi extermination camp 23:42  |  Artur 11/06/08
      59.   Camp 23:43  |  Wlodek 11/06/08
      60.   To a liar who wrote this article 00:15  |  Dawid 12/06/08
      61.   To Mordechai Shinefeld 00:21  |  Marcin 12/06/08
      62.   polish ? extermination camp 00:21  |  Edward Malinowski 12/06/08
      63.   To the author of this article 00:27  |  Dave 12/06/08
      64.   Polish concentration camp ?!!! 00:32  |  Inka 12/06/08
      65.   Polish extermination camp? 00:38  |  Tom 12/06/08
      66.   Mordechai Shinefeld you are IGNORANT 00:39  |  IK 12/06/08
      67.   Ignorants 00:53  |  Jacak 12/06/08
      68.   shame, shame, shame.... 01:17  |  dana rothschild 12/06/08
      69.   GERMAN concentracion camp!!!!!!! 01:24  |  winn 12/06/08
      70.   Everybody knows you won`t correct the lies in the text. 01:24  |  P 12/06/08
      71.   German extermination camp... 01:51  |  ps 12/06/08
      72.   Holocaust Denial from Poland 02:11  |  Slibovitz 12/06/08
      73.   Polish extermination camp???? 02:20  |  Andrzej 12/06/08
      74.   #7 Manolo - A Jewish Vilain is not anti-Semitism 02:26  |  Slibovitz 12/06/08
      75.   Why? 02:50  |  Natalia 12/06/08
      76.   Stupid... 02:58  |  Joshua 12/06/08
      77.   "the Polish extermination camp" 03:09  |  a.wozniak 12/06/08
      78.   re Slibovitz @ 72 03:27  |  Greg 12/06/08
      79.   How dare you?! 03:28  |  Jarek 12/06/08
      80.   Reply to Slibovitz 04:20  |  Fan Anf 12/06/08
      81.   Greg #78 - Just historical facts 04:27  |  Slibovitz 12/06/08
      82.   Jedwabne, Krakow, and Kielce 04:36  |  Slibovitz 12/06/08
      83.   Slibovitz @ 81 - Facts? Allegations! 05:16  |  Greg 12/06/08
      84.   Slibovitz @ 82 05:24  |  Greg 12/06/08
      85.   Re: Jedwabne, Krakow, and Kielce 05:34  |  responder 12/06/08
      86.   Slibovitz @ 82 cont 05:36  |  Greg 12/06/08
      87.   Re: Greg #78 - Just historical facts 05:51  |  responder 12/06/08
      88.   P o l i s h extermination camp Sobibor ????? 06:11  |  Henry Krol 12/06/08
      89.   Polish? 06:26  |  Krystyna 12/06/08
      90.   Polish extermination camps 06:30  |  J. Mosiejewski 12/06/08
      91.   Is there any nation you do not hate? 09:04  |  Hanys 12/06/08
      92.   For attention of Haaretz readers 09:05  |  sceptnick 12/06/08
      93.   re: Holocaust Denial from Poland 09:27  |  Alex 12/06/08
      94.   to Greg@78 and Slibovitz POLAND WAS DIFFERENT! 09:52  |  Aleksander 12/06/08
      95.   Jewish extermination camp Sobibor 10:04  |  tom 12/06/08
      96.   re: Jewish extermination camp Sobibor 10:37  |  Alex 12/06/08
      97.   to slibovitz 12:08  |  Tom 12/06/08
      98.   You want respect for yourselF? Respect others. 18:46  |  Aleksander 12/06/08
      99.   to Slibovitz ,... 18:50  |  split 12/06/08
      100.   to Slibowitz , cont ,... 19:59  |  split 12/06/08
      101.   To Slibowitz ,... conclusion ,... 20:11  |  split 12/06/08
      102.   Magneto as a `villanous` Jew 20:47  |  Peretz Olkin 16/02/09
     Haaretz Hot Topics
    Israel 2009 election results: Voter breakdown
    Israel goes to the polls
    Conflict in Gaza
    Israel vs. Hamas
    Iran: Nuclear and regional ambitions
    More Headlines
    21:38 Netanyahu: Palestinians should be sovereign, but not at Israel's expense
    21:28 Livni: Israel must give up land to remain Jewish and democratic
    21:39 Officials: Israel may authorize terms for Shalit deal on Wednesday
    21:42 Nasrallah: Hezbollah has the right to shoot down Israeli planes
    20:22 Israeli Arab MK: Livni is 90% Lieberman, 10% Netanyahu
    20:33 Lebanon arrests man suspected of spying on Hezbollah for Israel
    18:09 Netanyahu: I'll form coalition soon, with Likud's natural partners
    20:06 UN nuclear watchdog: Israel's 'perceived double-standard' hurts NPT
    19:33 Maccabee-era tablets found near Jerusalem shed light on ancient Jewish warriors
    15:42 Sure the Israeli right won? Peace lost? Look closer
    18:14 Auschwitz blueprints to be put on display in Berlin
    17:14 IDF bombs smuggling tunnels in Gaza after 2 Qassams hit Negev
    21:06 New York toy fair vendor offers doll of Madoff - to smash
    14:08 100 people hurt as `dangerous substance` leaks at Eilat hotel
    19:25 'Politics and sports don't mix,' Israeli tennis player says after UAE ban
    19:35 First-term Meretz MK to present bill for gay and civil marriages
    09:10 ANALYSIS / For Livni and Netanyahu, rotating government could be the only option
    20:41 Yad Vashem posthumously honors Nazi officer made famous in The Pianist
    08:55 West Bank settlement gets green light for major expansion
    11:29 Muslim comics superheroes battle radical Islam
    11:15 South Korea to buy Israeli radar system in $215 million deal
    12:46 Tel Aviv women fight back against free pornography
    Previous Editions
    Special Offers
    Advertisement
    Spring Specials-Dan Hotels
    Jerusalem from 179$. Tel-Aviv from 223$. Herzliya from 336$
    Dead Sea Skin Care
    Quality cosmetics from the Dead Sea. Coupon code HAARETZ for 12% off!
    Summer in Israel
    Israeli style - Tzofim Chetz V'Keshet 2009
    Passover Vacations
    The BEST Passover Vacations around ? Mexico, Arizona and Florida
    Camp Kimama Israel 2009
    The best place for your children this summer
    Eldan Rent a Car
    Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on online reservations
    Jewish Singles Personal Ads
    Find the love of your life on JDate.com
    Junkyard
    Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt
    Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | | Israel 2009 election results
    Site rules | Makom: Engaging on Israel | Search engine marketing
    Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
    © Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved