Last year I put up a page warning Magneto fans that John Byrne apparently intended to use his "Hidden Years" title (an X-Men book covering events in their lives between UXM #66 and GSXM #1) to retcon Magneto's history. Byrne's statements on the subject were that Magneto being a Holocaust survivor didn't work with the timeline and violated the characterization established by Stan Lee. He said that he would not be permitted to change continuity in any regard, but also stated that he didn't think a retcon removing Magneto's Holocaust history, and explaining it as a memory implant done by Charles Xavier, would be a change in continuity, because it would be "restoring" continuity.
Today, Hidden Years is a go, and will be released shortly. I have learned from sources inside Marvel that Byrne is essentially not being edited. He is simply turning in his work to his editor, Jason Liebig, who rubber-stamps it. Bob Harras has, according to these sources, given Byrne the go-ahead to do whatever he wants.
This doesn't necessarily mean Byrne is about to change Magneto's history. After all, everything Byrne has stated publicly in the past has been speculation on what he would like to do, not a statement of fact as to his plans. And Chris Claremont has just signed on to take over X-Men again in the near future; it seems unlikely he'd be willing to do so if Byrne was cutting the ground out from under him by removing the history he had established for Magneto. However, Liebig publicly said, at San Diego Comic Con, that Magneto could not be a Holocaust survivor because the X-Men couldn't be beating up on a Holocaust survivor; a joke, maybe? Or possibly something that Liebig believes, and would like to see in print in a book he edits? And Byrne has an unfortunate track record for disregarding continuity whenever he dislikes it.
I hope this is all a groundless rumor. Unforunately I can't assume that it is. So I'd like to put up the names and addresses of people who can be contacted at Marvel, to ask them to keep Magneto's Holocaust history from being retconned. There are several reasons why I think such a retcon is absurd at this stage-- firstly, it would be impossible to work into continuity without invoking memory implants, which are massively overused, and since the Holocaust history defines who Magneto now thinks he is, discovering such memory implants would alter the character completely, probably in ways that would make him unusable for anyone who wants to write him as a villain in the future. (If it's bad to beat up on a Holocaust survivor, isn't it just as bad to beat up on someone who was driven insane by false memories of being a Holocaust survivor?) Also, of course, it would make anyone who implanted such memories directly responsible for the atrocities Magneto has committed since, and would paint that character as irrevocably evil (this kind of lets out using Xavier.) Secondly, even with memory implants, it would contradict independent evidence, like people who met Magneto at the Holocaust memorial in UXM #199 remembering him from the camps. And thirdly, it would introduce a lot of confusion and unnecessary chaos into a universe that's already struggling to regain a consistent tone, which makes it bad storytelling.
For the details on what Byrne has said in the past on the subject, click here.
These are the addresses to use, provided by Rivka Jacobs:
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For Bob Harras and the new CEO Peter Cuneo, it's the 387 Park Ave. South Address.
Bob Harras, Editor in Chief
Marvel Comics
387 Park Ave. South
New York, New York 10016
Telephone # -- 212-696-0808
For Creative Director, Avi Arad, who is also a member of the Board of Directors, and also one of the principal shareholders of Marvel Enterprises: Write him at both 387 Park Ave South and:
Avi Arad, Creative Director, Member of the Board
Marvel Enterprises
685 Third Ave.
New York, New York 10017
Telephone -- (for Marvel Enterprises, the old Toy Biz offices) 212-588-5100
For the other Board of Director members: write them at the 685 address:
Morton Handel, Chairman of the Board
Mark Dickstein, Board Member
Isaac Perlmuter, Board Member
(the above are the most powerful besides Arad)
Also board members:
James F. Halpin
Michael M. Lynton
Shelly F. Greenhaus
Lawrence Mittman
Michael J. Petrick
At Marvel:
Chris Claremont -- write him at: cclaremont@marvel.com. He also has the compuserve address, but I don't know if he ever reads mail sent to him there.
Also, we should mail Jason Liebig, care-of mail@marvel.com. Subject heading: To Jason Liebig. Also, I thought, mailing Bob Harras at mail@marvel.com would not necessary get the mail to him, but enough staff at Marvel would read it, that SOMEONE might pass the word to him. It's stil better to send Harras snail-mail.
[Be sure to indicate the person to whom you are writing in the subject heading. Example: Subject: To -- Jim Sokolowski, Vice-President. Or, if one is writing to a comic book, Subject: Excalibur, and the E-mail is supposed to be forwarded to the current editor or assist. editor of Excalibur.]
Mark Powers --- Atreides9@aol.com
Ben Raab --- BRaab1013@aol.com
Tom Brevoort --- KitchenT@aol.com
John F Moore -- JohnFMoore@aol.com
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More Addresses: (snail mail)
CMAA (Comic Magazine Association of America)
355 Lexington Ave., 17th Fl.
New York, New York 10017
[Harras is a board member, and a *judge.* Reporting violations of Marvel comics may not get one anywhere.]
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Interested parties, long-shots, who have been known to involve themselves in issues of bigotry in science fiction, and the media.
Harlan Ellison
The Killimanjaro Corp.
3484 Coy Drive
Sherman Oaks, California 91423
Steven Spielberg
Amblin Entertainment/and Dreamworks SKG
100 Universal Plaza
Bungalow 477
Universal City, California 91608
[I called about this one. Unless it's been changed since then, I actually got Spielberg's exact mailing address. I think he'd be interested in Marvel's attitude towards Magneto]
And finally, for those who want to take this in the direction I will, which may not be everyone's cup of tea, a list of Jewish agencies, some of which I've already contacted, but over a year ago. The Simon Wiesenthal Center of New York, for example, was very interested in Marvel's handling of Magneto, and not becuase he was a villain either, but because Marvel refused to acknowledge his Jewish background, Auschwitz history, and becuase they got the Holocaust facts so screwed up in Unlimited #2, and refused (and still refuse) to correct these.
Marc Weitzman
Simon Wiesenthal Center New York
342 Madison Ave.
Suite 1624
New York, New York 10173
Bill Shulman
Association of Holocaust Organizations
Queensborough Community College
New York, New York 11364
World Jewish Congress, American Section
501 Madison Ave., 17th Fl.
New York, New York 10022
Coalition for Jewish Concerns -- AMCHA
3690 Netherland Ave.
Bronx, New York 10463
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
2027 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20036
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Alara here again.
When you write, be polite! Explain that you are a fan of Magneto in his current complexity, and that you don't want to see Marvel allow John Byrne to reduce him back to a one-dimensional cariacture, but be polite about it. No ranting screeds, no hysterics. Snail mail will work better than email will-- it gets taken more seriously.
Again, maybe all of this is just a worst case scenario, and in fact Byrne knows better than to attempt such a pointless storyline. But we should write to Marvel anyway if we believe, as I do, that this would essentially ruin the character of Magneto and any book he appears in.