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Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came to Serve Truth, Justice, and the Jewish-American Way
As brilliant as it is witty, Harry Brod’s surprisingly insightful exposé delves into the secret identities of the world’s most famous superheroes.
Many of us know that the superheroes at the heart of the American comic book industry were created by Jews. But we’d be surprised to learn how much these beloved characters were shaped by the cultural and religious traditions of their makers. Superman Is Jewish? 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 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 Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Stan Lee, and Jack Kirby— integrated their Jewish identities and their creativity.
Brod makes a strong case that these pioneering Jews created New World superheroes using models from Old World traditions. He demonstrates how contemporary characters were inspired by the golem, the mystically created artificial superhuman of Jewish lore. And before Superman was first drawn by Joe Shuster, there were those Jews flying through the air drawn by Marc Chagall. 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. Not just for Jewish readers or comic book fans, Superman Is Jewish? is a story of America, and is as poignant as it is fascinating.
***
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. You mean Spider-Man is Jewish too? Well, actually, yes, but in a very different way than Superman is. 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.
Many of us know that the superheroes at the heart of the American comic book industry were created by Jews. But we’d be surprised to learn how much these beloved characters were shaped by the cultural and religious traditions of their makers. Superman Is Jewish? 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 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 Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Stan Lee, and Jack Kirby— integrated their Jewish identities and their creativity.
Brod makes a strong case that these pioneering Jews created New World superheroes using models from Old World traditions. He demonstrates how contemporary characters were inspired by the golem, the mystically created artificial superhuman of Jewish lore. And before Superman was first drawn by Joe Shuster, there were those Jews flying through the air drawn by Marc Chagall. 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. Not just for Jewish readers or comic book fans, Superman Is Jewish? is a story of America, and is as poignant as it is fascinating.
***
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. You mean Spider-Man is Jewish too? Well, actually, yes, but in a very different way than Superman is. 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.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
June 20, 2013
This is a fascinating book about how the Jews who wrote the first comic books about superheroes were able to imbue their stories with Jewish characters, personalities, and traditions.
The first example discussed in the book is, of course, Superman. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster invented this character in the early 1930's. Before coming to Earth, Superman's given name was Kal-El, which could be translated from the Hebrew as "All is God". Kal-El's parents sent him away from his birth-planet Krypton, before it was destroyed. This is seen as an allegory to young Jews in Europe who were sent to other continents before the conflagration of World War II. Jerry Siegel made Superman immune to bullets, perhaps because his father was killed in a robbery.
Bob Kane and Bill Finger invented Batman, months after the infamous Kristallnacht, a Nazi pogrom where Jews were killed in some of the civilized, gothic cities in Germany. As a child, Batman saw his parents killed before his very eyes, and vowed revenge. He had no super-powers, but decided to fight against evil, so that others would not suffer the same fate as his parents.
Stan Lee invented a number of comic book superheroes, including the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Iron Man, and of course, Spider-Man. While Batman sought revenge, the Spider-Man fought evil because of guilt--he had ignored the man who killed his Uncle Ben. He grew up in the Jewish community of Forest Hills, and according to Harry Brod had a non-Jewish character but a Jewish personality. Stan Lee's invention of "The Thing" (a member of the Fantastic Four) was explicitly Jewish, as he recites the Kaddish and has a Bar Mitzvah. Without a doubt, many of these superheroes (and especially The Thing) were inspired by the Golem, a mythical, artificial super-creature who protected the weak.
This book is not only about superheroes, but also about graphic novels and magazines, like Maus, the only book of this genre to win a Pulitzer prize. Also, an entire chapter is devoted to the wonderful book The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, which is about two Jewish boys who invent "The Escapist".
This book probes rather deeply into the reasons why Jews were attracted to the medium of comic books, and contemporary graphic novels. Harry Brod brings a great deal of insight into the phenomenon of comic books, and why they have struck a chord in the hearts of Americans.
The first example discussed in the book is, of course, Superman. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster invented this character in the early 1930's. Before coming to Earth, Superman's given name was Kal-El, which could be translated from the Hebrew as "All is God". Kal-El's parents sent him away from his birth-planet Krypton, before it was destroyed. This is seen as an allegory to young Jews in Europe who were sent to other continents before the conflagration of World War II. Jerry Siegel made Superman immune to bullets, perhaps because his father was killed in a robbery.
Bob Kane and Bill Finger invented Batman, months after the infamous Kristallnacht, a Nazi pogrom where Jews were killed in some of the civilized, gothic cities in Germany. As a child, Batman saw his parents killed before his very eyes, and vowed revenge. He had no super-powers, but decided to fight against evil, so that others would not suffer the same fate as his parents.
Stan Lee invented a number of comic book superheroes, including the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Iron Man, and of course, Spider-Man. While Batman sought revenge, the Spider-Man fought evil because of guilt--he had ignored the man who killed his Uncle Ben. He grew up in the Jewish community of Forest Hills, and according to Harry Brod had a non-Jewish character but a Jewish personality. Stan Lee's invention of "The Thing" (a member of the Fantastic Four) was explicitly Jewish, as he recites the Kaddish and has a Bar Mitzvah. Without a doubt, many of these superheroes (and especially The Thing) were inspired by the Golem, a mythical, artificial super-creature who protected the weak.
This book is not only about superheroes, but also about graphic novels and magazines, like Maus, the only book of this genre to win a Pulitzer prize. Also, an entire chapter is devoted to the wonderful book The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, which is about two Jewish boys who invent "The Escapist".
This book probes rather deeply into the reasons why Jews were attracted to the medium of comic books, and contemporary graphic novels. Harry Brod brings a great deal of insight into the phenomenon of comic books, and why they have struck a chord in the hearts of Americans.
January 9, 2014
Professor Brod has written a nifty enough book. He provides details and context about not only the history of comic books in America from the invention of Superman through World War II to Marvel's ascendance, but shares insights about some of the relatively newer developments of the genre (his chapter on Art Spielgman's Maus, for example).
I'm a dabbler not a diehard when it comes to comic books, but I've loved the art form ever since my adolescent obsession with a dozen or so Marvel titles which I excitedly bought every two weeks or so right off the spinning rack at Willard's Gun Shop for a quarter a pop, way before I even thought of what I was buying and eagerly consuming as an "art form" at all.
So I came to this book with an already established keen interest in Brod's subject material. I suspect other books about the world of comic books (several already on my "to read" shelf) go deeper into the subject. To be fair, Brod's intent was not to write a history of the form. Instead, he sought to connect the comic book form to Jewish traditions, which he did quite well.
Even though I was familiar with influence of the Jewish American roots of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster of Superman fame and also of Marvel's Jack Kirby, the book took me deeper into the relationship between their background and their creative output. The second chapter, Flights of Jewish Imagination, traces the juxtaposition of image and text that is the crux of comic books all the way back to the artists Marc Chagall and the lesser known (to me, anyway) El Lissitzky and the Vitebsk school. Here the book was at it's most informative, illuminating and interesting.
Toward the end, some of the chapters were downright weak. The chapters devoted to Art Spielgman's Maus and "Jewish Comics Abroad" suffered for being more Brod's personal reactions to and explications of these comic book artists' works than an attempt to place their works in a historical or critical context or delve into the artists' motivations. I sensed that I was treading through the padding of what could have easily been a shorter book or maybe even a series of magazine articles.
I suspect it's a function of the difficulty, expense or perhaps impossibility of clearing copyrighted illustrations, but reading meticulous dissections of illustrated works without seeing more of those works reproduced alongside Brod's analytical text left me wanting.
If you are or have ever been bitten hard by the comic book bug, this book is worth reading. If you find your mind wandering at certain points when you do, don't feel like you'll be missing anything if you cherry pick chapters or read them out of sequential order.
I'm a dabbler not a diehard when it comes to comic books, but I've loved the art form ever since my adolescent obsession with a dozen or so Marvel titles which I excitedly bought every two weeks or so right off the spinning rack at Willard's Gun Shop for a quarter a pop, way before I even thought of what I was buying and eagerly consuming as an "art form" at all.
So I came to this book with an already established keen interest in Brod's subject material. I suspect other books about the world of comic books (several already on my "to read" shelf) go deeper into the subject. To be fair, Brod's intent was not to write a history of the form. Instead, he sought to connect the comic book form to Jewish traditions, which he did quite well.
Even though I was familiar with influence of the Jewish American roots of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster of Superman fame and also of Marvel's Jack Kirby, the book took me deeper into the relationship between their background and their creative output. The second chapter, Flights of Jewish Imagination, traces the juxtaposition of image and text that is the crux of comic books all the way back to the artists Marc Chagall and the lesser known (to me, anyway) El Lissitzky and the Vitebsk school. Here the book was at it's most informative, illuminating and interesting.
Toward the end, some of the chapters were downright weak. The chapters devoted to Art Spielgman's Maus and "Jewish Comics Abroad" suffered for being more Brod's personal reactions to and explications of these comic book artists' works than an attempt to place their works in a historical or critical context or delve into the artists' motivations. I sensed that I was treading through the padding of what could have easily been a shorter book or maybe even a series of magazine articles.
I suspect it's a function of the difficulty, expense or perhaps impossibility of clearing copyrighted illustrations, but reading meticulous dissections of illustrated works without seeing more of those works reproduced alongside Brod's analytical text left me wanting.
If you are or have ever been bitten hard by the comic book bug, this book is worth reading. If you find your mind wandering at certain points when you do, don't feel like you'll be missing anything if you cherry pick chapters or read them out of sequential order.
March 7, 2013
This was a far superior treatment of the subject than "From Krakow to Krypton". Some wonderful observations between the covers that served as a form of personal vindication for all the crap I took from the Rabbis when I was growing up about wasting all my time with "joke books". Does start to fall apart in the last few chapters- (I don't think Michael Chabon deserved an entire chapter devoted to him) but I would recommend this book to anyone that is interested in the cultural underpinnings of American comics in the 20th century.
If your name ends in "-man" it means one of two things: you are either a superhero; or you are Jewish.
If your name ends in "-man" it means one of two things: you are either a superhero; or you are Jewish.
January 9, 2018
Harry Brod has decided to write a nonfiction book covering much of the same material of Chabon’s enormously successful novel _The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay_. If you had to choose between the two, choose Chabon over Brod.
Not that Brod would disagree; he dedicates a chapter to Chabon. Brod’s book is a fanboy’s book. He just loves Jewish culture and comic books in equal measure, and wants to talk about both as much as possible.
The book feels like eating dinner with an excited uncle filled with Yiddish lore. Brod delights in digression and has great difficulty staying on topic for long. But his enthusiasm is charming and the book is rarely boring.
In the midst of it, Brod does have a point to make. Superhero stories are deeply rooted in Jewish myth and the Jewish experience but as time passes there’s a risk that the uniquely Jewish parts of them are being Christianized or assimilated away. While subsequent generations of Jewish comic writers and artists have been more open about their and their creations’ heritage, Brod’s book is a worthwhile testament to Jewish contribution to popular culture and what made so many heroes so fresh and so original in the first place.
Not that Brod would disagree; he dedicates a chapter to Chabon. Brod’s book is a fanboy’s book. He just loves Jewish culture and comic books in equal measure, and wants to talk about both as much as possible.
The book feels like eating dinner with an excited uncle filled with Yiddish lore. Brod delights in digression and has great difficulty staying on topic for long. But his enthusiasm is charming and the book is rarely boring.
In the midst of it, Brod does have a point to make. Superhero stories are deeply rooted in Jewish myth and the Jewish experience but as time passes there’s a risk that the uniquely Jewish parts of them are being Christianized or assimilated away. While subsequent generations of Jewish comic writers and artists have been more open about their and their creations’ heritage, Brod’s book is a worthwhile testament to Jewish contribution to popular culture and what made so many heroes so fresh and so original in the first place.
March 20, 2013
This book was fascinating to read. I received a review copy from winning a goodness giveaway and approached it with a bit of trepidation. As a minister and a comic book collector, I really wasn't sure if it was intended as a serious book, a tongue in cheek one or what. Boy, was I surprised. Very well written, I learned far more about the creators of comic book superheroes than I ever imagined. Suddenly characters and plot lines made more sense. The values expressed, the triumph of good over evil even in impossible situations were now understandable. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend it to comic collectors and Christians alike. Of course, Jewish people should read it with pride as they see a wonderful legacy given to the world by those who created iconic heroes that inspire us all.
May 1, 2014
Dr. Harry Brod fantastically recounts the history of comic books through the steadfast belief that the Jewish influence on them is what made them so perfect. Learning about some of the greats like Eisner, Kirby, Kubert, and Spiegelman from a Jewish point of view gave me a different feel and appreciation for their work.
On the other hand, at times it seems like the Jewish angle is a bit forced and feels like its being reached for. It doesn't take anything away from the book at all, just an observation.
All in all, if you want a History of Comics lesson this will do, but I wonder how great Dr. Brod could write a similar book not focused on any specific ethnicity/background.
All hail the King, Jack Kirby.
On the other hand, at times it seems like the Jewish angle is a bit forced and feels like its being reached for. It doesn't take anything away from the book at all, just an observation.
All in all, if you want a History of Comics lesson this will do, but I wonder how great Dr. Brod could write a similar book not focused on any specific ethnicity/background.
All hail the King, Jack Kirby.
May 28, 2016
An interesting read about the Jewish-American influences in comic books, graphic novels, and satire magazines (like Mad). The first half of the book does a good job at describing comic book development from the first Superman issue to the era of Stan Lee's Spiderman, and then showing how that development parallels changes in Jewish-American life from the Post-WWI to the Post-WWII timeframe: culturally, financially, and socially.
The second half of the book provides biographies of some prominent Jewish comic book and graphic novel artists. If you are a fan of comics, these chapters are probably gripping reading, but it's hard to get too excited about some of the authors and artists if you don't already have the connection to the art form.
The second half of the book provides biographies of some prominent Jewish comic book and graphic novel artists. If you are a fan of comics, these chapters are probably gripping reading, but it's hard to get too excited about some of the authors and artists if you don't already have the connection to the art form.
May 13, 2014
You don't have to be a fan of comic books to appreciate this superb book, which manages to embed religious, cultural, and historical riches within explorations and explications of the art of illustration and "sequential art" (the late Will Eisner's term). Professor Brod's tone and style are at once reverent and humorous. He's neither proselytizing nor pedantic. Yet he presents his argument with academic and intellectual rigor.
No. You don't have to be a fan of comic books to appreciate this one. But you just might become one.
No. You don't have to be a fan of comic books to appreciate this one. But you just might become one.
May 4, 2016
A decent look at the Jewish aspects of comic book characters. I didn't like how he was defining what being Jewish is, it seemed to be whatever worked with his theory. He then went off talking about the depiction of the Holocaust in comics, and that was fine, but I don't know, there wasn't much new going on here. Not a bad a book, but nothing fantastic/
September 23, 2017
Several years ago, I read The Adventures of Cavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, a fictional history of comic books through the life stories of two Jewish boys who create The Escapist, the first costumed superhero. This book offers the factual history, beginning with Superman and the two Jewish boys who created him (as well as other Jews who created Batman, Spiderman, the Fantastic Four and many more). But that's just the beginning, the hook. Brod goes back to suggest the Golem as the background for powerful protectors of the weak or oppressed. He looks at traditions of illustrated Haggaddahs as a source for the marriage word and image that made comic books more than just long comic strips and led to grahic novels. (Hooray for Will Eisner.) Later chapters focus on more overtly Jewish works such as Maus (Art Spiegelman's Pulitzer-winning graphic novel about his parents' experience of the Holocaust), The Rabbi's Cat (a French graphic novel/film), and a thorough look at Cavalier and Clay. Along the way I learned that Ben Grimm, the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing of the Fantastic Four, is officially Jewish. All in all, a good book to listen to for Rosh Hashanah.
November 2, 2023
A book about Jews and Superheroes/Comics, this feels like a niche book for me. I really enjoyed the dissection of the genre and how many Jewish traits either unintentionally or intentionally led to the creation of superhero comics, and still affects it today. I also appreciated how Brod wrote how when things such as Maus become popular enough, high society tries to change the genre from comics to something like graphic novels to make it more classy for people, and also brings up how this is done to science fiction books as well, such as Brave New World. It's just a gripe I've always had so nice to see someone else bring it up. Definitely recommend to geeky Jews everywhere (so basically, all of us).
November 8, 2019
um yeah, this book was fantastic. I love it when academics write fun books. Really enjoyed the history and the analysis of what comics are a good medium and how Jewish though permeates it all. never really thought about the devastation and holes in knowledge brought about because of the holocaust. gave me lots of reading material with the Isreali artists and European artists to look up. liked the bit on western: thesis, anti-this= synergy. vs Jewish: thesis, antithesis, antithesis, ... superman = Moses, X-men= Jewish holocaust survivors.
July 12, 2019
A surprisingly moving and nuanced overview of the Jewish influences on Superman, comic books, and other popular American culture. This book tells two stories simultaneously, one about comics, and the other about Jews. It's an excellent book and a must-read for anyone interested in Jewish-American culture, comic books, or superheroes.
January 10, 2025
I was familiar with all the ways Superman’s origin story mirrors Moses’ as two Jewish writers sought to write the story of another hero who would deliver his people. But this book opened up stories I had never thought of and showed the presence of Jewish ideas and theology throughout the years of comics.
January 4, 2026
3.5 rounded to 4. Having loved comic books as a kid, it was fascinating to read about the Jewish linkage-not only the authors but the Judaic cues and contexts that are discussed. With the discussion of graphic novels, I added another book to my TBR list: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.
May 27, 2019
This book was interesting. It was an interesting thought process to look through the ages of comic books to see how they have evolved over time. But sometimes I did find it a little dry.
February 12, 2022
An interesting listen that is much more than just an exploration of Superman. Some interesting discussions and explorations of what "Jewishness" means in comic literature.
February 7, 2023
Jeez I love comic book history. This book also made me supes emotional with the post holocaust analysis, I feel like I took a seminar on Maus.
September 16, 2023
History of comics and history of Jewish diaspora. Very entertaining and filled with epiphanies!
January 25, 2013
Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came to Serve Truth, Justice, and the Jewish-American Way by Harry Brod was an interesting but not entirely original work. Some of what the author covers has already been explored in other efforts to understand “comics.” Not being Jewish I obviously have an ‘outsiders’ take on Brod’s thesis which, overall, is sound but IMO occasionally excessive. The connection between Chagall’s flying (or are they ascending) figures and the flying heroes of the comics is a good example of this – Brod just wasn’t able to persuade this fanboy of the connection. Where I particularly differ is when he tries to assert the Jewish intent (can I say that?) of some of the early comic creators without an express statement from the individuals of this same intent. Brod is probably correct in writing that their Jewish-American experience informed the various writers work and their creations I just have some reservations regarding his claiming to know what the creators meant without quoted text or references that support the assertion explicitly.
That said there is much in this book to recommend it. Brod certainly understands and appreciates the genre. He is clearly at his best and his best informed when talking about the comics themselves. His take on the background of the characters is thought provoking and challenging, as all scholarship should be.
One small and final quibble, in the chapter “A Jew at War” Brod makes much of the anti-war sentiment of Sgt. Rock but only offers a passing comment on Sgt. Nick Fury (pre-Samuel Jackson) and his Howling Commandos which featured what was certainly one of the earliest, acknowledged to be Jewish, comic book heroes in Private Izzy Cohen. An oversight that is most unfortunate given the author’s overall thesis.
August 15, 2013
Excellent overview of Jewish cultural aspects in comics. Don't let the title fool you--the book covers much more than Superman and his creators, Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel. His analysis delves into many of the Golden Age heroes, such as Batman (tho created by two Jews, Brod says Bruce Wayne is definitely a WASP), and the Silver Age heroes of Marvel. Did you know The Thing is Jewish? I sure didn't! http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/T....) In the latter parts of the book, Brod delves into Art Spiegelman's Maus, the work of the French-Belgian Joann Sfar (the Rabbi's Cat, Little Vampire, Dungeon), and a selection of Israeli graphic novelists. The denoument is a look into Michael Chabon's Kavalier and Clay, which nicely wraps up the book and brings the reader back to the beginning, as Chabon's book is set at the beginning of the Golden Age.
I gave the book itself 4 stars, but I give the Peter Berkrot, the narrator (I listened to the audiobook) 5 stars without any qualifications. One of the best narrators I've listened to in quite a while. I'm now scouring Overdrive to see what else he's narrated.
I gave the book itself 4 stars, but I give the Peter Berkrot, the narrator (I listened to the audiobook) 5 stars without any qualifications. One of the best narrators I've listened to in quite a while. I'm now scouring Overdrive to see what else he's narrated.
February 27, 2015
The book is a breezy and entertaining examination of how Jews and Jewishness has infused the history of comic books. It's really well written, and fans of comic books will find it fascinating. Perhaps because I'm not a fan, however, but rather looking at this from a historical and cultural studies perspective, I was a bit disappointed in the lack of sophistication of Brod's actual analysis of comics and comic books. He doesn't really how how Jewishness in particular or ethnicity in general actually infused or inflected the comics, except in some very broad, thematic ways (e.g., Golem myth, depictions of Jewish masculinity). Like most comic-book fans, he also denigrates & disregards the early comic strip as a site of Jewish American cultural activity and production. I'm actually surprised that it got as positive a review as it did in MELUS.
February 10, 2013
My grandfather was reading this book and recommended it to me. Some interesting stuff (esp. regarding the early days of comix, Superman vs. Batman, Spiderman, etc.), but a lot wasn't really *news* to me.
That said, I abandoned the book during the final chapter. I wasn't interested at all in the discussion of Kavalier and Clay -- for me, a history of comics doesn't need to address a fictional book about the history of comics.
That said, I abandoned the book during the final chapter. I wasn't interested at all in the discussion of Kavalier and Clay -- for me, a history of comics doesn't need to address a fictional book about the history of comics.
February 26, 2013
Harry Brod discuss the jewish origins of Superheroes. This is to mean not just the fact that many of the creators were themselves jewish, but that many of the stories themselves have messages that resonate with the recent Jewish immigrants to America shortly before the time of the second World War.
I found the parallels between Superman and Moses fascinating and this gave me an interesting view of both comic book superheroes and Jewish Americans.
I found the parallels between Superman and Moses fascinating and this gave me an interesting view of both comic book superheroes and Jewish Americans.
April 13, 2013
Scholarly enough to be called Academic, but with lively writing that gets one enthused about two awesome things - Jews and Comics. I think the subtitle is misleading - this book wasn't just about super heroes. My interest was grabbed at the beginning, and kept throughout.
February 20, 2015
Fascinating book. I had no idea so many creators of the "golden age" of comics were Jewish till I recently read about it in a biography of Patricia Highsmith. This book also includes chapters about modern graphic novels, Maus, and Kavalier and Clay, which I am going to read soon.
March 5, 2017
I really enjoyed this. I'm not a comics person, but I am a history person, and I liked reading about the history of Jewishness behind comics. As far as I'm concerned, you don't have to read comics to enjoy this book. Not much else to say about it, I just genuinely enjoyed it.
December 14, 2012
For a review, visit http://www.thereportergroup.org/Artic...
June 21, 2013
Excellent book, very informative about the inspiration and influence on Superman and comics in general.
May 26, 2016
Great topic and insights, but not sure who made the decision to publish a book about comments with no illustrations. Like a book on the Sistine Chapel with no pics.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews