What can possibly be said about a book you won’t allow yourself to say you enjoyed?  Dance around it though we may, the craft of this series is all but impossible not to respect.  The stark realism, the constant punches in the gut, and the historical accuracy and plausibility of this work all conspire to make a fine story that I will say I liked immensely, even if the words “enjoy” truly don’t apply here.  There are images from these five issues I’ll carry with me a long time.  The pile of eyeglasses, the Polish cavalry riding to meet the German tanks.  All of it heart wrenching and all too real.  It’s been said that you could completely disregard the fact that a young Magneto is the central character of this piece, and just look at it as a Holocaust story.  While that may be true, a subtle bonus of this book is to put yourself in Magneto’s shoes (as best as can be expected), and you’ll come to understand his opinion about humanity.  Sympathy for the (eventual) villain is as strong here, and a thousand times more poignant, than anything comics have seen since Lex Luthor: Man of Steel.  And in the end, another strength of this book is it’s restraint in exactly how much “Magneto” we get, compared to how much we now know about Max.  That, again, is another thing to be respected.  From the story down to the subtext, and the purpose and inspiration behind making this book, although I can’t say I “enjoyed” it, I am certainly happy that a story like this exists, and that I got to read it.