| |
|
Just stumbled accross this little piece that seems somewhat relavent.
How Jews Invented The Comic book
by Jay Schwartz
...Most of the Jews who breathed life into the comics have origin stories worthy of a comic superhero: Depression-era teens dodging Yiddish hucksters and predatory gangsters, and displaying some superhuman chutzpah.
Says San Francisco's Trina Robbins, a Jewish historian of women in the comics: "They either had to fight for themselves or be beaten up by the tough Irish kids. I don't know if it's in the genes, I don't know if it's the heritage, but there's a thing about Jews and communication."
...Robbins points out that Siegel and Shuster "didn't consciously think, 'Let's make Superman Jewish.' But they did like that 'Moses story.'"
That's Moses as in Exodus and Leviticus.
While the theory may not spark the heated controversy of evolution or quantum physics, the "Superman as Moses" hypothesis offers plenty to chew on.
Superman's name on his home planet of Krypton, Kal-El, bares a strong resemblance to the Hebrew transliteration meaning "all that God is."
Then, just before Superman's home planet blew up, his parents placed the infant Kal-El in a spaceship that sped towards an unknown destiny.
Jones further draws the parallel, noting that Moses, too, is "sent down the river as a baby and raised by the others. But then his real self manifests later."
...Superman isn't the only closeted Jewish superhero. Poke a shade below the bright surfaces, and other lesser-known comic creations also appear to be colored by Judaism and Jewish culture.
One of the most explicit is found in the ongoing saga of mutants in the Marvel Comics universe. A malevolent mutant named Magneto, associated with the ubiquitous X-Men, is a Holocaust survivor who helped found the nation of Genosha - intended to be a haven for mutants that have been persecuted all over the world.
Magneto originally meets the founder of the X-Men, Charles Xavier, in Israel.
Writers continue to mine the Jewish roots of Magneto and his mutant cohorts in recent issues. A spin-off from the X-Men called Excalibur chronicles how Charles Xavier collaborated with Magneto to help rebuild the war-ravaged Genosha (think "Hiroshima meets the Jewish state").
...Recently, Benjamin Grimm - the orange, rock-covered member of The Fantastic Four - returned to his roots as a Jew from the Lower East Side. Robbins speculates that Grimm, aka "The Thing," was the alter ego of creator Jack Kirby.
"The Thing was Jack," she suggests.
In the Green Lantern comic books, the beings known as "The Guardians of the Universe" were reportedly based on the physical appearance of Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion - though the Guardians never retired to a kibbutz.
now this next bit I find rather curious.
...The concept of secret identity is as much a part of the superhero formula as super powers. Wonder Woman, the Martian Manhunter and Thor have secret identities that are either average or less-than-average Joes. In Thor's case, the god of thunder dwelled among mortal men under the guise of a doctor with a lame leg.
And who are Thor's creators? Jack Hertzberg and Stan Lieber.
Lieber is the guy who changed his name to Stan Lee and went on to found Marvel Comics, perhaps the gold standard of the comic book industry. Why go from Lieber to Lee? Like countless other Jewish professionals, Lee wanted to give himself a more "mainstream"-sounding name.
A secret identity of his own?
"It's about passing," Robbins suggests. "All the heroes then had secret identities. And the writers had to pass as gentiles. Bruce Wayne isn't Jewish even if Bob Kane was."
As Jones sees it, Jewish immigrants felt "superior, but had to put on this garb and behavior that was less threatening to the goy. You were going through this centuries-long test, for whatever reason, that could have broken down your sense of self-esteem, but you also had to remember that you had a special destiny."
Says Robbins: "Let's face it: Jews, including me, tend to think they're a little superior. But they don't like to say it too much to non-Jews because that's why they get persecuted. So here's all these heroes and they really are superior. They all have fabulous powers but they have to keep them hidden, because if people find out they'll persecute them."
those are just coise bits, the whole article can be found in the above link. |
|
|
