Work shows Jewish influences in the origin of superheroes – 01/30/2024 – Darwin and God

It was a pleasant surprise to stumble upon an audiobook by American comic artist Danny Fingeroth. The title of the work speaks for itself: “Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics and the Creation of the Superhero”. In fact, few people realize the gigantic influence of members of the American Jewish community in the genesis of practically all the superpowered and masked characters that have taken over cinema screens in recent decades.

The founders of publishers DC and Marvel, respectively the “home” of Superman and the Avengers in the original comics that inspired the films? Jews.

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, creators of Superman? Jews.

Bob Kane and Bill Finger, Batman’s parents? Jews.

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, who invented practically the entire main pantheon of Marvel superheroes, from the Hulk to the X-Men, including Black Panther? Idem. (Stan Lee did not create Captain America, a character who is the “son” of Kirby and another Jewish comic artist, Joe Simon.)

The list could go on almost indefinitely, but it’s worth at least mentioning more cult figures — and extremely influential in the field — such as Will Eisner, creator of the character Spirit and anthological graphic novels.

The book is, in part, sociological investigation, of course: after all, why on earth did so many members of the Jewish community end up in superhero comics? The answer, in part, is that cheap, mass-produced mass culture was practically a creative equivalent of the tailoring shop in which many American Jews worked: it helped them make a living in a country that still viewed them with suspicion and in which access to more prestigious means of culture was difficult for them. Stan Lee, for example, wanted to be a novelist, but ended up having to make do with Marvel (which, in the end, of course, had a tremendously greater impact on American culture than any novel he wrote).

Another very interesting element explored by Fingeroth is the utopian and rebellious side of the Jews most linked to the left, which made them more interested in science fiction than the average public — Isaac Asimov is another great example — and “overflowing” this interest to superheroes.

Still on this political side, it is no coincidence that Captain America was portrayed punching Hitler in the jaw before the USA even entered World War II. Superman’s search for his lost planet of Krypton has echoes of pogroms and the Holocaust, and this appears even more clearly in the logic behind the persecuted mutants in X-Men. Mutants can be Jews, but they can also be any minority that suffers persecution.

Anyway, recommended reading for any comic book fan — unfortunately, for now, only in English.

LINK PRESENT: Did you like this text? Subscribers can access five free accesses from any link per day. Just click the blue F below.