The Four Color Media Monitor

From eJewish Philanthropy (here's an archive link if it requires registration to read all), some news about non-profit organizations like the Jack Kirby Museum that wish to honor creators like him, among other Jewish figures who were early originators of modern comicdom in the mid-20th century. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they take a sugarcoated view of recent film adaptations:

This year, four of the top 10 domestic blockbuster films were based on comic characters created by Jews — Superman, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers and Captain America — which collectively brought in more than $1 billion.

Was there an Avengers movie this year? I'm not sure, but if we take the Superman, Cap and FF movies as examples, those weren't financial successes individually, so why make it sound like there's something to celebrate, considering how bad the politics in the former was, and quite possibly also in the Cap film? Does that not concern folks who say they respect the background of the creators? If there's no complaints made about abuse of Jewish creations by potential antisemites and anti-Israelists, then what's the point of this?

This Black Friday, the franchises will generate further revenue as parents brave their way to Walmarts and Targets to snag cartloads of action figures, apparel and Lego sets based on their kids’ favorite Marvel and DC heroes and heroines. But that same day, legions of fans will trek to One Art Space in Tribeca, New York City, to celebrate the man who co-created many of these characters: Jack Kirby, the artist behind the Fantastic Four, Captain America, X-Men, much of the rest of the Marvel Universe, who also fully created DC Comics’ New Gods.

Organized by the Jack Kirby Museum, the pop-up event titled “Jack Kirby: From the Ghetto to the Cosmos” runs from Nov. 28-Dec. 7, with an opening reception on Saturday. The heart of the event will be a display of reproductions of Kirby’s only explicitly autobiographical story, the 10-page “Street Code!,” which portrays Kirby’s life growing up in the tenements of the heavily Jewish Lower East Side, a 30-minute walk from the exhibit. [...]

The Kirby Museum, along with The Siegel and Shuster Society, which honors Superman’s Jewish co-creators, is one of the few nonprofits celebrating the Jewish masterminds of the comics medium. Even though these writers and artists’ creations are plastered on nearly every child’s lunch box — not only in America, but around the world — their foundations and museums often lack the financial support of nonprofits dedicated to those deemed “fine” artists. [...]

You cannot take the Jewish out of these creators and their creations, Rabbi Simcha Weinstein the author of Up, Up, and Oy Vey: How Jewish History, Culture, and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero, told eJP. His book was one of several on the topic of Jews in comics published in the late aughts after Michael Chabon’s 2000 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, told the story of two Golden Age comic creators modeled after Siegel and Shuster, drawing attention to the Jewish history of the medium for the first time in mainstream media. “It’s impossible not to see [the superhero] journey as a reflection of the Jewish immigrant experience, name changing, the desire to mask the double identity, the wrestling of the outsider/insider.”

When they bring up a writer who's taken political positions hurtful to Israel, I'm less convinced the people doing this coverage are sincere. Chabon also did serious damage to the Star Trek franchise, and based on that, what's so special about him anyway? What if his leftist politics were the reason Jewish history was allegedly taken note of in the mainstream? That's the problem, unfortunately.

Comic characters often mirror their creator’s experiences, even if not implicitly. Superman is the story of an immigrant to Earth whose planet was destroyed — widely seen as a reflection of the Jews fleeing Eastern Europe for America. Captain America can be read as a Golem or a take on assimilation, a character so American that he envelopes himself in the flag. The Fantastic Four’s Ben Grimm, known as the Thing, grew up on Yancy St., a stand-in for Essex St., and his often gruff, sarcastic character was revealed to be Jewish after Kirby died, with many believing the character was based on him.

It would seem somebody chose to parrot the MSM narrative of Superman as an "immigrant" and not a refugee. No doubt, Supergirl and the Martian Manhunter would be subject to that kind of narrative too. Also troubling is how they speak of Capt. America - does that bizarre comparison of Cap to a golem and wrapping himself in the USA flag imply he's portrayed as a "jingoist"? This is weird when you consider that the Thing could've been considered the golem variant, and even the part where they use the word "revealed" instead of "established" is again irritatingly flawed.

Hoppe is not Jewish, but he said that Kirby’s heritage can be seen in everything the museum does. “The whole comic book industry, we wouldn’t have that without the Jews and any of the creative people that were shut out of mainstream publishing,” he said. [...]

Because superheroes are ubiquitous, it’s important non-Jews recognize the characters’ Jewish roots as a way to combat antisemitism, Schwartz said. “One would think that if somebody loves a character and finds out that they were not only created by Jews, but were designed to reflect the Jewish experience, that makes it a little bit harder for this person to hate Jews.”

Unfortunately, if history since is any indication, it's clear that regardless of whether antisemites/sexists/racists read this stuff, they still don't recognize the legitimacy of the creators as human beings. Though you definitely have to wonder why they'd buy and read/watch this stuff if they really don't like Jews, and don't want to put money in their pockets. You could make a similar point about Andre Citroen, who founded the car company that's today owned by Peugeot; why would antisemites want to buy cars and trucks from a company founded by a Jew, or even from the company under which it's owned? It's mystifying. Also note, from the comics-based perspective, that terrible ideologues like Saladin Ahmed are not only allowed by Marvel/DC management to write Jewish-shepharded comics, they seem to do so out of some form of virtue-signaling and spite.

I can't say the article's very convincing when it takes an otherwise superficial, fluff-coated view of the subject, and for a site that's allegedly about philanthropy, it's tough to comprehend why they don't make an argument that Israel's descendants have to reclaim their overseas brethren's creations if they really want to make clear they care. Nor do they make a case why Islamic antisemitism is something that has to be tackled in comics as much as in any other medium. I'm sorry to say, but all this cowardice and selling-out has not helped comicdom in the least. Will Eisner may have been one comics scribe who dealt with the issue, but perhaps unshockingly, nobody else seems to want to follow his examples. Alas, this is another article of its sort that's getting nowhere.

Labels: conventions, dc comics, good artists, good writers, history, licensed products, marvel comics, misogyny and racism, msm propaganda, museums, politics, Superman