JiC: PROPOS FROM UNUSUAL CORNERS

[MattBrady]

by Michael Sangiacomo

It’s getting so that you can’t swing a dead Catwoman at a newsstand without hitting a periodical that has a story about comics.

The New York Times had a recent Sunday story praising the art of Jack Kirby, too bad the art used was decidedly non-Kirby Ultimate X-Men. Right there on the jump was a story of a nostalgic trip to a comic shop. Both articles were pretty lightweight, though it was nice to see a photo of Brian Bendis’ amazing Alias comic with the second article. News about the new Batman movie, the various Marvel movies and an occasional business story about comics pop up like pimples on prom night.

But perhaps the most surprising story was the on the cover of the Fall 2003 issue of the Reform Judaism magazine: “How Jews Created The Comic Book Industry.” The entire cover was a five-panel comic style depicting two Jewish kids named Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster creating a super-hero drawn by Jon Bogdanove.

[the full article is now online, at: http://www.uahc.org/rjmag/03fall/comics.shtml ]

Arie Kaplan’s article was surprisingly good, amazingly accurate and thought-provoking. It even taught me something new that I bet would be a surprise to many folks: Superman’s real name, Kal-El is Hebrew for “All that is God.”

Kaplan writes about how Jews like Siegel and Shuster; Spirit creator Will Eisner, Marvel godfathers Stan Lee (Lieber) Jack Kirby (Jacob Kurtzburg), “Batman” creator Bob Kane (Bob Kahn) and “MAD Magazine’s” Al Jaffe and Dave Berg were instrumental in shaping the young industry. Of course, those are just a few of the many Jewish men, and a few women, who left a mark.

Jaffe explained that in the 1930s newspapers and advertising agencies were not hiring Jews, so they “drifted into the comic book business” because comic publishers were mainly Jewish. The lengthy article takes the readers right through the 1950s to the Frederic Wertham witch hunts that nearly destroyed the industry. The final proof of the influence of Jews on the industry is in the simple fact that in 1933 Max Gaines (Ginzberg) created the comic book. He was trying to come up with a way to make money to feed his family, including his son William Gaines who would later found EC Comics and MAD.

The story says that Max began reading his beloved collection of Sunday comics to raise his spirits and come up with the notion that if he enjoyed reading the collected Sunday comics in one sitting, others would too. He persuaded Eastern Publications to collect the Sunday comics of characters like “Mutt and Jeff” and package them as a comic book. In February, 1934, Famous Funnies #1 landed on newsstands and...well you know what happened after that. The article’s author, Arie Kaplan, is a writer for MAD.

Wired for Powers

In another unusual fit, the computer and technology magazine Wired ran a cover story about the reality of super-powers in its August issue.

“The Impossible Gets Real” features a bunch of stories about scientific advances that could make super powers like invisibility, anti-gravity, time travel, force fields, super-strength and breathing underwater.

That’s not all, there are articles about real-life X-ray vision, regeneration, total recall and more and more. After reading these series of articles, it seems that all the things in comics are just around the corner - provided someone has the money and the scientific desire to make it so.

Writers Wil McCarthy, Clive Thompson and Michio Kaku do a credible job of explaining the incredible. Acceptable superhero art is by the “Dynamic Duo.”

Hey guys, put me down for a jetpack.

[jawaplumber]

Wow, those sound like some interesting articles, particularly the one from Reform Judaism. I didn't know that bit about "Kal-El" meaning "All That is God" in Hebrew, either. Thanks for the heads-up, Mike!

[fantomex]

"I began collecting comics voraciously in my teens as a substitute for a sex life" - Grant Morrison




THATS HILARITY AT ITS FINEST!

[Elayne Riggs]

Originally reported by Mike Sangiacomo:
But perhaps the most surprising story was the on the cover of the Fall 2003 issue of the Reform Judaism magazine: “How Jews Created The Comic Book Industry.”...Arie Kaplan’s article was surprisingly good, amazingly accurate and thought-provoking. It even taught me something new that I bet would be a surprise to many folks: Superman’s real name, Kal-El is Hebrew for “All that is God.”

Wow, I thought everyone knew that.

Seriously, this article was plugged on Neil Gaiman's weblog a couple weeks ago, so lots of people in the "blogosphere" have known about it, and I brought it to the attention of the Jewish Comics mailing list, where followed an interesting conversation between Leonard Rifas and Arie Kaplan, if anyone wants to check that out.

- El-Ayne

[OM]

...The downside of this is that there'll be some anti-semite neo-Nazi propaganda rag that'll do a follow-up....er...rip-off articile in which they claim the Jews are contaminating the "Aryan children of the world" with Jewish Propaganda force-fed via Superman and Batman. And then the right-wing will pick up the ball, and we'll have senate hearings about comic books, and CrossGen will become the new EC scapegoat to sacrifice, and covers will be dominated by the CCC logo, and...

[Insert post-nightmare scream of terror]

...Oh. Thank God. It was only a dream.

Wasn't it?

[jawaplumber]

Originally posted by Elayne Riggs
Wow, I thought everyone knew that.

- El-Ayne

Sorry, "El-Ayne", but some of us blue collar types ain't as edumacated as you are :P

Glad to see you chiming in around here again!

[jawaplumber]

Originally posted by fantomex
"I began collecting comics voraciously in my teens as a substitute for a sex life" - Grant Morrison




THATS HILARITY AT ITS FINEST!

Yeah, isn't it? My girlfriend found it in an issue of Wizard and told me I should use it for my signatures She knows me quite well LOL

[Chris1]

Great article!

Indeed, I believe reading somewhere that Siegel and Shuster had wanted Superman to follow basic Jewish tenets of helping your fellow man, particularly the unfortunate.

One small technicality/question:

The Earth 2 Superman's name was Kal-L (no E). Was this a fact BEFORE the Silver Age Superman was introduced or what?

In other words, what was Superman's Kryptonian name BEFORE Earth 1 was introduced? Did Siegel and Shuster name him Kal-L or Kal-El? Did the people that introduce the Earth 1 and Earth 2 Supermen come up with Kal-El or did they come up with Kal-L?

[Simon DelMonte]

Originally posted by Elayne Riggs
Wow, I thought everyone knew that.

Seriously, this article was plugged on Neil Gaiman's weblog a couple weeks ago, so lots of people in the "blogosphere" have known about it, and I brought it to the attention of the Jewish Comics mailing list, where followed an interesting conversation between Leonard Rifas and Arie Kaplan, if anyone wants to check that out.

- El-Ayne

Guess I have yet another mailing list to join, if they'll have me. (Points discreetly at the skullcap hiding his bald spot.)

Simon

[Harry Tzvi Keusch]

The Earth 2 Superman's name was Kal-L (no E). Was this a fact BEFORE the Silver Age Superman was introduced or what? In other words, what was Superman's Kryptonian name BEFORE Earth 1 was introduced? Did Siegel and Shuster name him Kal-L or Kal-El? Did the people that introduce the Earth 1 and Earth 2 Supermen come up with Kal-El or did they come up with Kal-L?

Despite the fact that the names are written diffrently, they are pronounces the same - Kal (all, though the correct prononciation is "Kol"), L (or El, which means "God").

I remember once reading a theory that Krypton is where the ten tribes ended up, and that Superman is actually a good Jewish boy!! Oy, what would Jor and Lara say, now that he's married to that Shikse, Lois.

Jews were also a major forse in the Silver Age. Besides Kirby & Lee, you had Julius Schwartz and Gil Kane (aka Eli Katz).

Originally posted by Harry Tzvi Keusch
I remember once reading a theory that Krypton is where the ten tribes ended up, and that Superman is actually a good Jewish boy!! Oy, what would Jor and Lara say, now that he's married to that Shikse, Lois.

Lol.

Well, they did get married in an interfaith (urgh, I think I have that terminology wrong) church, so that's covered, lol.

[MichaelCoughlin]

I'm sure this will sounds wrong, but oh well. This isn't in regards to Jews in specific (and the only reason i'm saying "Jews" and not "Jewish people" is because the freaking article did, and if it's good enough there, it's good enough here) but is a commentary on ALL "groups" of people.

Why are there articles like, "The Jews created comics" or "the black man invented such and such" etc...? I know it's supposed to be a way of instilling pride in a younger generation. Kind of a, "See, those before you were great, so you can be great to." but it seems somewhat counter productive to constantly seperate accomplishments into a "sub sect". For instance, I have NO clue what ethnicity Ford was, (well, I know he wasn't Jewish, that's for certain) but I still can look at what he did and say, "yea, that assembly line thing was pretty darn great." (which is not to say that he was a great man, just that his idea was a great one) Likewise, I'm not Jewish, but I still look at Siegel, Shuster, Lee, etc... and say, "Hell yea, that's what i'd wanna do if I was writing comic books." I mean, it's not like ANY of these creators were successful BECAUSE they were Jewish, they were successful because they were great guys. Sometimes these articles, and I know it sounds like I'm picking on this one but I truly am not, try to point to success of people within said ethnicity/religion/nationality, etc... as proof of how great the whole of the people are. But if we were to do the opposite, everyone would be appalled. Hitler was a German and did unspeakable evil. But no one points to one German mans "lifes "work" (for want of a better term) as proof that all German's are evil. in fact, if we did such a thing we'd all rightly be called bigots. yet it seems like these types of articles do the exact same thing, but because they're talking in positive terms, it's not looked at in an odd light.

but isn't it ultimately trying to show the greatness of a race through the actions of a few(?), when that is obviously not the case at all, because as everyone should know by now, there is evil scum in every race, creed, and nationality, as well as good?


i'm just rambling and throwing out idea's to be discussed.

[Chris1]

Originally posted by MichaelCoughlin


Why are there articles like, "The Jews created comics" or "the black man invented such and such" etc...?

Let's see, this is a magazine about Judaism and Jewish topics whose readers are Jewish. It makes perfect sense that they would have articles on notable Jews just as a Baptist magazine would have articles on the accomplishments of famous Baptists or a Methodist magazine would have articles on famous Methodists.

I don't think this is a very hard concept to grasp.

[Nat Gertler]

I think anyone who looked at the history of American comics and didn't take note of a preponderance of Jewish men in the field would be missing a major point. I mean, it's not like it was a sheer coincidence that such a large portion of the key folks of the Gold and Silver Ages were Jewish, nor that there is still disproprtionate Jewish male representation in comics writing today. Seeking to understand why this is true is apt to teach us things about both the history of American Jewry and the history of the comics form.

[gvalley]

Funny thing about Hebrew, especially (due to accent) when transmogrified into other languages (say, uh, English) is that many words are similar to many other words, creating interesting meaning.

Kal-El (pronounced Kaal) would actually be 'light' (not heavy) or 'easy' god. It would actually have to be El-Kal, but well...

Kol-El would mean 'all god', or 'any god'. It also means 'voice of god'.

Just for general knowledge.

[TVerBeek]

Originally posted by jawaplumber
I didn't know that bit about "Kal-El" meaning "All That is God" in Hebrew, either.

Does the fact that his name was originally spelled "Kal-L" spoil it? (I think it was in George Lowther's novel that the surname became "El".) I can't help wondering if this Fun Fact has any real significance or if it's just a linguistic coincidence. Did Siegel or Schuster ever acknowledge that this was intentional? If not, it's a bit like noticing that the name of his doomed birth planet is one of the elements produced by the fissioning of Uranium, and concluding that S&S were presciently warning about the dangers of nuclear power.

[jawaplumber]

Originally posted by TVerBeek
Does the fact that his name was originally spelled "Kal-L" spoil it? (I think it was in George Lowther's novel that the surname became "El".) I can't help wondering if this Fun Fact has any real significance or if it's just a linguistic coincidence. Did Siegel or Schuster ever acknowledge that this was intentional? If not, it's a bit like noticing that the name of his doomed birth planet is one of the elements produced by the fissioning of Uranium, and concluding that S&S were presciently warning about the dangers of nuclear power.

I think they addressed the situation well enough above I thought it was cool, no matter who came up with the name or whether they meant it or not

[dollman]

Originally posted by MichaelCoughlin
Why are there articles like, "The Jews created comics" or "the black man invented such and such" etc...? I know it's supposed to be a way of instilling pride in a younger generation. Kind of a, "See, those before you were great, so you can be great to." but it seems somewhat counter productive to constantly seperate accomplishments into a "sub sect".

i'm just rambling and throwing out idea's to be discussed.

This was a theme explored by Michael Chabon in his Pulitzer prize novel the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay. Truthfully, I never even made the Jewish connection until I read the novel and found out Jack Kirby's real name is Jacob Katzburg. Is it necessary, not really. It's history.

Right now I'm reading Dan Raviv's Comic Wars, the story of how Ron Perelman did his greedy best to destroy Marvel. What's interesting is virtually all the principals in the Marvel bankruptcy of a few years back are Jewish. The eventual saviours of Marvel, Issac Perlmutter and Avi Arad both serve stints in the Israeli army before coming to America. In reading this story, I find it fascinating in the early days of comics, many Jewish creators were taken advantage. Today, they're the power brokers.

[MichaelCoughlin]

Originally posted by dollman
This was a theme explored by Michael Chabon in his Pulitzer prize novel the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay. Truthfully, I never even made the Jewish connection until I read the novel and found out Jack Kirby's real name is Jacob Katzburg. Is it necessary, not really. It's history.

Right now I'm reading Dan Raviv's Comic Wars, the story of how Ron Perelman did his greedy best to destroy Marvel. What's interesting is virtually all the principals in the Marvel bankruptcy of a few years back are Jewish. The eventual saviours of Marvel, Issac Perlmutter and Avi Arad both serve stints in the Israeli army before coming to America. In reading this story, I find it fascinating in the early days of comics, many Jewish creators were taken advantage. Today, they're the power brokers.

But is there actually something within the Jewish tradition/culture that would make people more predisposed to comic books? or is this really just a case that a bunch of great guys did things, and just happened to be jewish?

Kind of like Mother Theresa is universally agreed upon to be a fantastic woman. But her being fantastic isn't really because she was Catholic (and I'm a Catholic for the record), but because she was just a great person. Chances are, she could've been Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, etc.... and everyone still would've said she was great.


Also, and I think MOTA will know this, I thought that Superman couldn't fly at first? I thought he was only able to jump really far and high, hence the, "Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound."
Wouldn't this be contrary to the idea that Shuster was lying in bed and said, "It'd be cool to fly."

And finally, how come when, in another thread, I commented about how there is a possible "Jewish influence" in comics books (entertainment in general) and that could be a possible reason for the number of Holocaust stories (almost ignoring Mao and Stalin, etc...) everyone jumps on me and gives me crap; calling me anti-semetic, close minded, etc... But now we have an article almost saying, "Look at all the Jewish people in comic books!" and that's ok.

[dollman]

Originally posted by MichaelCoughlin
But is there actually something within the Jewish tradition/culture that would make people more predisposed to comic books? or is this really just a case that a bunch of great guys did things, and just happened to be jewish?

Kind of like Mother Theresa is universally agreed upon to be a fantastic woman. But her being fantastic isn't really because she was Catholic (and I'm a Catholic for the record), but because she was just a great person. Chances are, she could've been Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, etc.... and everyone still would've said she was great.


Also, and I think MOTA will know this, I thought that Superman couldn't fly at first? I thought he was only able to jump really far and high, hence the, "Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound."
Wouldn't this be contrary to the idea that Shuster was lying in bed and said, "It'd be cool to fly."

And finally, how come when, in another thread, I commented about how there is a possible "Jewish influence" in comics books (entertainment in general) and that could be a possible reason for the number of Holocaust stories (almost ignoring Mao and Stalin, etc...) everyone jumps on me and gives me crap; calling me anti-semetic, close minded, etc... But now we have an article almost saying, "Look at all the Jewish people in comic books!" and that's ok.

Wish I could answer you Michael, but I really don't have an opinion either way. I just find it interesting that people of Jewish faith have a significant impact on the industry historically and today.

[gvalley]

Originally posted by dollman
Wish I could answer you Michael, but I really don't have an opinion either way. I just find it interesting that people of Jewish faith have a significant impact on the industry historically and today.

I don't know that I would use the word 'faith' here. 'Descent' is more like it. Many Jews are non practicing, and I doubt Avi Arad, Stan, or Kirby (for example) are religious in any way. I'm Israeli, and non-religious in the extreme.
But it's true - Jewish people are generally inclined to read, tell stories etc. The oral tradition is an important element of the culture, whether one is religious or not. In the Seder, which all jews pretty much take a part of, we basically sit and read the story of the liberation from slavery in Egypt. We're brought up like this. No coincidence, I think, that most of the greatest early comedians in the history of stand-up were Jews. The other day I met this NY Jewish woman, who presented herself as a storyteller. This is what her card said, too. Check out hoe many Jews were involved in cinema through the years, as writers. Check out how many Jewish novelists you have in the states.

[dollman]

Originally posted by gvalley
I don't know that I would use the word 'faith' here. 'Descent' is more like it. Many Jews are non practicing, and I doubt Avi Arad, Stan, or Kirby (for example) are religious in any way. I'm Israeli, and non-religious in the extreme.
But it's true - Jewish people are generally inclined to read, tell stories etc. The oral tradition is an important element of the culture, whether one is religious or not. In the Seder, which all jews pretty much take a part of, we basically sit and read the story of the liberation from slavery in Egypt. We're brought up like this. No coincidence, I think, that most of the greatest early comedians in the history of stand-up were Jews. The other day I met this NY Jewish woman, who presented herself as a storyteller. This is what her card said, too. Check out hoe many Jews were involved in cinema through the years, as writers. Check out how many Jewish novelists you have in the states.

Actually Avid and Permlmutter, as well as their lawyer Larry Mittman are quite active in the faith. In Comic Wars, the author describe the great pains these men went through to schedule hearings, meetings, etc. as to not conflict with any Jewish holidays. It was especially brutal for their lawyer Mittman, who tried to get away from the office on Sundays by having his family take possesion of his cell phone.

I think your point of the oral storytelling tradition is a good one. Quite valid considering the Jewish power brokers in Hollywood.

[Nat Gertler]

Originally posted by MichaelCoughlin
But is there actually something within the Jewish tradition/culture that would make people more predisposed to comic books? or is this really just a case that a bunch of great guys did things, and just happened to be jewish?

There are things in the Jewish cultural traditions and in the specific Jewish situation of the time that encouraged Jewish involvement in comics. The emphasis on education, the teaching of logic, and the tradition of storytelling have made Jews a disproportionately strong part of many storytelling and entertainment mediums, including not only comic books but film, television, stand-up comedy, and songwriting.

Then there's the situation: comics arose largely out of New York City, which had (and has) a relatively high percentage of Jews. And at the time, Jews were still actively discriminated against in some fields of art and publishing, which meant that the new and not anti-Jewish field of comic books proved an attractive possibility for Jewish creative folks.

Jews make up about 2% of this nation. The odds of them coincidentally making up more than 50% of the (say) top 50 most important people of the Golden Age (an estimate, but I think a safe one) would be long odds indeed.

(Oh, and for the person who commented on Kirby: I can't confirm it, but I've seen him described as an active synagogue congregant.)

[MichaelCoughlin]

Originally posted by dollman
Actually Avid and Permlmutter, as well as their lawyer Larry Mittman are quite active in the faith. In Comic Wars, the author describe the great pains these men went through to schedule hearings, meetings, etc. as to not conflict with any Jewish holidays. It was especially brutal for their lawyer Mittman, who tried to get away from the office on Sundays by having his family take possesion of his cell phone.

I think your point of the oral storytelling tradition is a good one. Quite valid considering the Jewish power brokers in Hollywood.

i'm not sure the idea of oral tradition is unique to jewish people though. Native Americans have a very strong tradition of oral stories. In fact, most cultures did until the advent of the printing press allowed for the transcription of these stories. i do wonder how far off these stories are from the original though. I mean, think of how screwed up things got in that damn telephone game you played as kids. maybe moses set fire to the bush!

btw, would this mean that the two of you agree with the stereotype (or perhaps it isn't) that there is an inordinantly high number of jews in hollywood as compared to other professions. i've just been paying more and more attention to this lately, but I'll be damned if half the names i see in the opening credits aren't Jewish! Also, I've found that there seems to be a disproprtionatly high number of Jewish charecters on TV in general. Not saying that's right or wrong, just something I've noticed.