The American comic book industry has an interesting history. While comics had existed as a medium for some time, it was not until Max Gaines had the idea of packaging newspaper comics that the modern comic book was born. Max Gaines and his son William would become extremely influential in the industry, with the elder Gaines having founded All American Comics, one of the two companies that would merge to create DC comics, and which gave us characters like Wonder Woman and Green Lantern. Gaines would later be the founder of EC comics, which his son would eventually take over. EC would be known for their horror comics like Tales from the Crypt, leading to difficult battles towards the end of that comic run with the censorship board known as the Comics Code Authority. Their last comic would be reformatted as a magazine and have a legacy of its own as Mad Magazine.
Mad Comics, later Mad Magazine, was the brainchild of Harvey Kurtzman, one of the greatest cartoonists and humorists of all time. Kurtzman had a signature style and was known for his irreverent take on culture and pop culture. He was one of the first figures to take a look at what superheroes would really be like, which became a major influence on the likes of creators such as Alan Moore and his seminal work Watchmen.
Kurtzman and the Gaines family were not the only Jewish comic creators working in the industry at the time. We have previously discussed Jacob Kurtzberg, better known as Jack Kirby, and he collaborated often with Joe Simon, born Hymie Simon. The two created the iconic figure of liberty and idealism that is Captain America, although they did take influence from the MLJ Comics character known as the Shield. That said, Captain America being created by two Jewish men during World War 2, was something of a power fantasy, and the very first issue had him punching Hitler in the face. Jewish creators would often incorporate their own backgrounds into these characters and infuse a Jewish spirit into them as well.
The two most iconic characters from DC Comics, Batman and Superman, were both created by Jews as well. Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who wrote him as something of a Moses figure. His real name, Kal-El, literally means the voice of God, and his story was something akin to that of a Jewish immigrant story. He was brought to a new world and removed from his traditional people, and taken strove to be productive and helpful to society He fought for the common people who would be unfairly ignored, and Siegel and Shuster wrote their own stories of Superman fighting both Hitler and Stalin, both of whom persecuted the Jewish people. Superman in his early years was in fact a bit of an activist, akin to how many American Jews were politically active and strove to achieve justice.
Batman in turn, was created by Bob Kane, born Robert Kahn, and Bill Finger (Milton Finger), both Jewish, with Robin and the Joker being co -created in by Jerry Robinson, who was of Jewish Russian descent. Robinson would himself later state that Jewish ideals of the time would play a large role in what the comics would become. Batman fought against crime, yes, but was also something of a pulp character representing good vs evil, with the Joker representing the ultimate enemy one would face.
Returning to Captain America, that comic also provided the first work for Stan Lee, who along with Kirby, would be the primary creators of the Marvel Comics Universe. While Captain America was never written as Jewish himself, the character embodied what many Jews wanted from America at the time, namely a figure to protect them from Anti-Semitism and give them a safe haven. It was no coincidence then that the character was thus always depicted as an enemy of intolerance and someone who valued all Americans, and all people in general.
We have talked before about how the Thing from Fantastic Four was always thought of as Jewish by Kirby, but not revealed as such until 2002. But this was not an isolated instance. Stan would often write very Jewish characters, even if the characters themselves were not always explicitly Jewish. Overtime however, something would change in comics that would separate them from their roots. As time went on and the Jewish creators of iconic characters like Green Lantern, The Barry Allen version of the Flash, Batman and Superman, would move on and pass the reigns to new writers and editors, new ideas would come in. Suddenly the Jewish spirit seen originally began to disappear and be replaced by what more mainstream views.
An example can be seen with Spider-Man from Marvel Comics. Looking at the issues by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and John Romita Sr., Peter Parker had Jewish attributes to the character. His guilt was a Jewish guilt for one, and his outsider status was also reflected. Parker may seem an unusual name for a Jewish character, but there are Jews today with that family name, such as actress Sarah Jessica Parker. However, later editors decided that Spider-Man’s guilt was Catholic guilt, and the character was then written to be very clearly Irish Catholic. Superman would in turn become an All American Midwestern boy, and rather than a Moses figure, would come to be more of a Jesus figure. Everything Jewish was being removed and replaced, and the Jewish Neshama that was imbued in the characters was replaced with sensibilities that didn’t value the roots. It was not for some time, that Jewish characters appeared again, like Kitty Pryde, and the revelation that Magneto was a Jewish holocaust survivor.
Jewish creators took from their own lives to create the long-lasting characters we enjoy in comics, but in turn that influence was purged to make everything more acceptable. Ironically, this is reminiscent of Jewish immigrants changing their names and trying to assimilate as they tried to make it in America. One thing we can be happy for now though, is that there is now more awareness of the Jewish roots of comics and how these characters were created. We have even seen Spider-Man films loosely have Jewish versions of the character, showing there is an understanding of what was lost. We are seeing Jewish representation in comics more and more, and for that we can at last be grateful to see a troubling trend put to rest.