Magneto: Friend or Foe?

Not being a big reader of x-men comics, I had no idea who Magneto even was until I started reading the books required for the class. However, after reading some of the content that focuses on Magneto and the Holocaust, I was confused on whether Magneto was a villain or not. There were a few instances where Magneto was described as a villain because he attacks humans because he believes they will rebel against the mutants (Magneto and the x-men). But is Magneto really bad for doing this, after all he himself was a survivor of the holocaust? Isn't understandable why he would have wanted to attack the humans, after all, policies being made by the humans were along the same ideas of the policies the Nazis were making against Jews. Magneto feared an uprising of humans that would attack and persecute the mutants. Maybe Magneto has some post traumatic stress going on, thus the reason why he acts the way he does. Maybe going along with this (although this idea is completely different) this is why Israel believes in having a strong military; to protect them against the "enemies" that may want to start another holocaust. Thus, maybe Magneto has a hard time trusting people. He doesn't want to be persecuted again. With this being said, Professor X has the power to read and understand people's mind and thoughts. In one comic, Professor X read the mind of a holocaust survivor, therefore, alowing him to see the horrific things Jews experienced. It's even talked about that Professor X talked with Magneto about why he attacked humans and the impact the holocaust had on him. Professor X, knowing how horrible the holocaust was, also wants to prevent another one from happening, however he doesn't attack humans. During the time when the new X-men comics were coming out, the civil rights movement was a popular movement around the nation. I know this is somewhat of a stretch, but I think Professor X can be compared to Martin Luther King Jr. and Magneto to Malcom X. For the reasons of Professor X paralleling MLK Jr., he doesn't want another holocaust and he deals with racism and prejudice in a healthy way, through peace; on the other hand, Magneto is like Malcom X because he believes the only way to stop the prejudice and preventing another holocaust is to fight the humans to stop a potential problem before it happens (Malcom X wasn't a peacefull protestor usually). It's for these reasons Magneto isn't really a villan but yet a confused, hurt, person who doesn't want terrible things happening again.

Superman or "God"?

After looking more into it in class and after making my own assumptions, it is clear to me that Superman is a savior to all people; the Jews being no exception. I brought up the fact in class that I think the Jewish people needed a "savior" figure to save them from discrimination and persecution that took place during the 1930's through the 1950's. After all, the Jews could hardly find work at any job; once the owner knew of their Jewish heritage, their chance of getting the job was slim to none. Thus, the reason why a lot of Jews began working in the comic book industry, since after all, it was Jews who started the idea of the comic book. So, back on to superman; as you look at the plots and the story lines behind a lot of Superman comics you'll see he's always saving people from an evil villain or from criminals. Maybe the Jews purposely placed villains int he stories to symbolize the anti-Semitic ideology that seemed to encompass the lives of many Americans; and thus, they used Superman to fight the "anti-Semitic" symbol as a displacement for their anger and maybe as a way of God using or becoming superman to save them from evil. Especially when you look at the comic that was brought up in class from the late 90's where Superman travels back in time to Nazi Germany. Here you see Superman saving the Jews from the Nazis; when in actuality, the Jews prayed to God for their lives when they were imprisoned in the Concentration camps, but God never came. Maybe this comic is a "what-if" story, symbolizing what God could have done if he decided to save the Jews from the Nazis. Either way it seems to me that the Jews needed a savior, and through their need some created Superman (or other super heroes) to protect them from evil.

Bloody and gory stories

I can remember when I was little and I'd often visit my local comic book store when I still lived in Florida. I was really into horror movies when I was a kid, some of my favorites were the Friday the 13th movies, and zombie movies. Once when I was at the comic book store I ran across Tales from the Crypt comics, and remembering watching the television show, purchased some of them. I also remember going home and reading these comic and I remember how they literally scared the crap out of me. The pictures were so vivid and the story lines were very cleaver. Looking back, I remember how graphic the illustrations were as well. When I went through and read The Golden age part of From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books, I came across on page 66 a discussion of a story in Tales from the Crypt #35 titled "Midnight Mess". It gave a description from this story and I was in shock to discover that I owned this copy of Tales from the Crypt when I was little and I remember how incredibly graphic this story was. I remember very well that at the end of the story, a group of vampires attack this man at a vampire bar and stick a spigot in his neck, filling their glasses with the mans blood as if it were beer. I also recall reading in From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books, the publicity Tales from the Crypt got, due to the fact kids were reading these comics and the parents did not approve. We also have to remember that this was the 1950's so graphic depiction of horror and gore in comic books would have been a major problem in the "Leave it to Beaver" society if you will. I just find it interesting that parents had such a problem with these comic books then because they thought it would scare there kid; with that being said, I don't see how these kids weren't scared especially during that time and here I am in the late 90's early 2000's reading these comic and being scared (and shocked at the graphic depictions of death).

Coming of age and finding one's self in Cookalein

In the fourth and final book in Will Eisner's, A Contract With God, there is a family who is going through, or will go through major problems.  This family is sent to camp Cookalein because their husband/father want them gone for the summer. The older woman named Fannie in the story is sent there by her husband because her husband wants to spend the summer with his mistress. This shows how some Jewish men acted during the time when Will Eisner was growing up. It is said that this Graphic novel is somewhat of a memoir of Will Eisner's life, Is it possible that his father was having an affair on his mother when he was growing up. Going off of that is the character of Willie, who, by no choice of his own is forced to go to the camp Cookalein for the summer (Willie is the son of the cheating father and older mother). There at a dance one night, Willie meets this attractive woman, Maralyn. Maralyn thinks Willie is 19 or 20 (he's 15) and decides to sneak out of her room at night to meet Willie in a barn for sex. After the two have sex, Maralyn's husband suprises her and Willie because he caught his wife, Maralyn, cheating. Maralyn tells her husband that she has needs after her husband physically assults her and then the two have sex in front of Willie. Looking at how Willie acts through the rest of the book shows he is confused by this incident; after all, it is assumed he was a virgin. This obviously had a major impact on him. Again, since this is somewhat of a memoir, are we to assume Will Eisner is the character of Willie in the book. Did this happen to him? Or maybe to someone he knew or was close to? There has to be some significance of why this was put in his graphic novel unless we are to assume that this part was entirely made up. Willie had a major coming of age experience and due to the last page of the book with him standing outside on the balcony, it diffently confused him in some shape or form.

A Contract Broken

As I was reading, A Contract with God by Will Eisner, there were three things that really struck me as interesting or as somewhat disturbing. The first thing that was really interesting and sad was in the first part of the Graphic Novel; specifically the main characters "broken" contract with God. It seemed to me that the main character was a little ignorant to the fact that nothing bad would happen to him in his life. His life seemed to be going great until he lost his only daughter and turned his back on God. Although later he made a new contract (and died) the whole idea that he lost faith was kind of sad to read.
        The second and third thing that I found interesting and yet disturbing was the concept of nudity/sex in a graphic novel. Sure, it's all over the media, however, i was never really exposed to sex/nudity in a graphic novel before (maybe its because I only read Batman...I know, I should step out of my box). What sort of left me with an uneasy feeling was the part of the Graphic Novel about the slumlord who was asked by a child to touch her. I'm not exactly sure why it left me a little uneasy, maybe it's just the fact that children (in all the cases I've heard about) do not instigate being molested. Although this made me a little uneasy, I still really enjoyed A Contract with God and would say it was honestly one of the best graphic novels I've read.