History was my favourite subject at school. Looking back at these stories of war, tragedy and struggle, and the triumph of human willpower over such adversities always thoroughly engaged me, all the more so for knowing that these were all true. Clearly, writer Greg Pak has a similar passion.

In 2008, Pak brought us the amazing Magneto: Testament, telling the story of a young Max Eisenhardt's life growing up as a Jewish person in Nazi Germany and, later, a concentration camp. Now, joined by artist Mirko Colak (Secret Warriors), with frighteningly good propaganda-style covers by David Aja (Captain America), Pak brings us a dark mirror image -- the early life and rise to power of Johann Schmidt, future Red Skull and nemesis of Captain America!

I thought a lot about Testament while reading Incarnate, and there are indeed quite a few similarities. While drawing from Marvel lore here and there, neither story is restrained by it; taking liberties with the central character's backstory and feeling more like a historical drama than a supervillain origin. In Incarnate, Schmidt is made younger, an orphaned child during Germany's post-WWI depression, and it works better to have an impressionable mind to shape.

As in Testament, history buffs like myself will find plenty to recognise. Other than the aforementioned depression, other landmarks from this period include the Munich Putsch, the Reichstag Fire, and the 1933 Nuremberg Rally, with Schmidt witnessing each first hand.

But Schmidt is more than just a spectator to these events, which was my only gripe with Testament, although given Max's circumstances it's more understandable. While Schmidt is indeed powerless to alter the major events of the story (and that's wise; to portray them with any less accuracy than Pak uses would be insulting) he is in some way changed by all of them, and even uses some to his advantage.

In his characterisation of one of Marvel's greatest villains, Pak draws on real life serial killers, and that disturbing lack of empathy shows in Schmidt's every panel; coldness accentuated by Colak's grim pencils and Matthew Wilson's stale colours. There is a minute amount of heart in him, but we see that slowly stripped away in favour of his darker personality; always lurking underneath. He deviously climbs the ladder from thief, to hitman, to a member of Hitler's S.A., to… well, Pak chooses to preserve the realism of the story by ending before he becomes Red Skull, but does offer a more clever take on his traditional origins.

I can see this anti-climax upsetting a few readers. They were promised a simplistic supervillain origin, and instead got a harrowing and detailed character piece with one of the most important eras in recent history as the backdrop, portrayed with an admirable respect. What I'm saying is; the means justify the end.

While both regular superhero stories and historical accounts end with the satisfaction of knowing that the "good guys" won, there is no such resolution in Red Skull: Incarnate. But it is a powerful and necessary reminder than this often flamboyant bad guy has a very dark past.

Rating: 4/5

Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Mirko Colak
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Collects: Red Skull #1-5 (2011-2012)