follows the “people of the book” as they become the people of the comic book.
Harry Brod reveals the links between Jews and superheroes in a penetrating investigation of iconic comic book figures.
With great wit and compelling arguments, Brod situates superheroes within the course of Jewish- American history:
They are aliens in a foreign land, like Superman.
Figures plagued by guilt for not having saved their families, like Spider-Man.
Outsiders persecuted for being different, like the X-Men.
Nice, smart people afraid that nobody will like them when they’re angry, like the Hulk.
Brod blends humor with sharp observation as he considers the overt and discreet Jewish characteristics of these well-known figures and explores how their creators—including:
As poignant as it is fascinating, this lively guided tour travels from the Passover Haggadah’s exciting action scenes of Moses’s superpowers through the Yiddish humor of Mad to two Pulitzer Prizes awarded in one decade to Jewish comic book guys Art Spiegelman and Michael Chabon.
Superman Is Jewish? explores the deeper story of how an immigrant group can use popular entertainment media to influence the larger culture and, in the process, see itself in new, more empowering ways.
A surprising question, one that takes a certain amount of chutzpah to even raise.
To add even a bit more chutzpah, this book considers questions about the Jewishness of more superheroes than just Superman and offers answers that will surprise many.
And, as we’ll see, the shift between them reflects the evolution of Jewish life in America itself in the generation between the two, the generation that gets us from World War II and the “Golden Age” of comics to the 1960s and the “Silver Age” of comics.
The historical turning points of those tumultuous years and others, like the powerful 1950s crusade against comics for supposedly causing juvenile delinquency, turn out to be central to our story because these events, and their great impact on American Jews, appear on comic book pages themselves, and behind the scenes in their production.
For it turns out that the history of Jews and comic book superheroes, that very American invention, is the history of Jews and America, particularly the history of Jewish assimilation into the mainstream of American culture.
Superman as Supermensch: how the ultimate alien became the iconic all-American
Flights of Jewish imagination: from the old country to tales of a better tomorrow
The comic in comics: MAD in the original Yiddish
War and peace: the rise and fall of the superheroes in and after World War II
It's a Jewish thing: not-so-secret identities in the Marvel Bullpen
The spirit of Will Eisner: the pen is mightier than the words
A Jew at war: the art of Joe Kubert
Of mice and supermen: Art Spiegelman's Maus
From the new world back to the old: Jewish comics abroad
The amazing adventures of Michael Chabon: Kavalier and Clay
An expose of the secret identities of famous superheroes explains how theme dilemmas faced by iconic characters reflect the evolution of Judaism in American culture and the Jewish identities of famous comic book writers.
