We remember also, however, that there were always the Boenhoffers and Schindlers in Germany…the men and women without the power to halt the spread of evil, who nevertheless saw it for what it was and stood against it, some in secret, some in public, at the risk of their lives. Some were good men from the start, others began believing the lies but their eyes were opened at some point to the truth, and they began to try to do good.

Well, okay. But I still say that it will definitely not give you superpowers!

Basically, the researchers noticed that people living about 4-7 miles from ground zero in Hiroshima had really drastically lowered rates for cancer. People 15+ miles away have normal rates, people closer than 4 miles have elevated rates. But in the 4-7 mile range, there’s less than a fifth of the cancer cases you’d expect.

This is all very tentative so far, but it’s fascinating stuff.

That policy still holds. We just decided that we did not want to tell a story that fictionalized certain real people and places.

The statement that you are quoting was in regard to general concepts like violence or coarse language. I have no problem including violence, anti-Semitism, sexism, racism, or foul language in the comic, because all of those things are inherent in the setting. Anyone reading a comic that is set in WWII (or in the 1940s in general) should expect to find these elements.

The difference here is that we’re talking about a specific person. Although Mengele’s existence was also a reality of the war, we just didn’t feel it was right to represent him as a stereotypical “mad scientist”. As I said in my post, it would minimize the real horrors for which he was responsible.

When it comes down to it, we realize that we are telling a superhero story. We do try to give it a grounding in real history, but in the end, it’s still about men and women in silly costumes duking it out. To put real-world evil in our cartoon world would just be disrespectful to those who suffered and died. We didn’t make this decision because we were afraid that people would be offended, but because we found the idea offensive ourselves.

Now, one might argue that based on what I’ve just said, it is also inappropriate to tell stories about Nazis or the Holocaust at all, and that’s a fair point. But Nazis have been co-opted as villains for years now. They are practically a cultural shorthand for the concept of evil, and so again, I consider “Nazis” as a general concept rather than a specific one. And when the story touches on the Holocaust, we hope to treat it with the gravity that it deserves.

Having said all that, I want to make it clear that I am not condemning any stories that may have included fictional versions of real Nazis or concentration camps. I’m simply explaining our own decisions about which lines we are willing to cross. Also, I’m sure that at some point, there will be a character or an event whose inclusion in the comic will contradict what I’ve said here. All I can say to that is, very well then, I contradict myself. I am large. I contain multitudes.