Some of you may have noticed that I’m a little late on my reviews and for this, I blame Marvel. You see, the day after I posted my severely negative review of Civil War: House of M #2, I crashed and wrecked my car, effectively cutting off my supply of comic books. Clearly, they had cursed me.

So a few weeks later, I continue with the X-Men spin offs and pick up X-Men: Magneto Testament #2. Will I suffer the wrath of Marvel’s curses again or redeem myself? Find out, after the break!

I was going to say I need to bring your attention to the cover of this book, but I’m already to busy drooling over it myself. While Magneto Testament is a bit more expensive than your average comic book, Carmine Di Giandomenico’s work alone merits the four dollar price tag. The future Magneto looms over the young, sad figure of his past self and the striking red foreshadows the blood that the events to come will bring.

Anyway, enough about the cover, there’s still the plot to gush about. From the past two issues, if someone completely unfamiliar with comic books picked up Magneto Testament, they would have no idea it was about the childhood of a Super Villain. That’s because Greg Pak, the series’s writer, spent a great deal of time not only researching the Holocaust, but speaking to World War II veterans and concentration camp survivors as well. Pak spares no details of Germany’s darkest times and, while some of the scenes are very intense, it does nothing but honor the truth of what occurred during the Holocaust.

Aside from the historical accuracy, the standalone plot itself is one of my favorites, right up there with BKV’s Runaways and the Secret Invasion. Whether or not you know Magneto, you can’t help but feel that he’s destined for greatness. The story never mentions Max’s mutant powers, or even reveals whether or not they’ve developed yet, but subtle hints linger throughout the book. Every time a piece of metal is shown, I expected him to send it through some Nazi’s throat, but each time it’s as if he’s restraining himself. Another interesting little tidbit is how you can begin to see Magneto’s ideals on the mutant’s struggle begin to blossom. Max’s father is a bit like Xavier, telling his son that if they try to rise up against the oppression, they will be crushed. However, he betrays his father’s lessons and begins to see the effectiveness of standing up for one’s self.

The last page of the issue and my personal favorite.

The art in this book is as fun to look at as the story is to read. As I mentioned previously, Giandomenico’s covers are simply beautiful and his penciling does not disappoint either. One of the most striking features of his work is the range of emotion visible on each of the character’s faces. From sadness, to smugness, to anger, and pure joy, I don’t think I’ve ever seen facial features done so realistically.

I recommend this book to ANY fan of comic books, whether you’re a X-Men fan or not. These two issues and next three will be treasured by myself and I hope many others in the upcoming months.