Jewish creators exhibition in Milwaukee

The Shepherd Express of Milwaukee wrote about the history of the medium's Jewish contributors, now the subject of an exhibition at their local Jewish museum:

Superman was invented in 1938 by two Jewish kids from Cleveland, Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster. They grew up on a diet of pulp sci-fi and Sunday comic strips, fields where Jewish Americans held a prominent place. Their idea for a superhero-in-disguise, his alien origins concealed beneath the blandly affable image of Clark Kent, encoded their experiences as children of refugee immigrants in a society where difference could be dangerous as Kryptonite.

Their stories and their work, amongst many others, are at the heart of “Chosen Heroes: The Jewish Comics Experience” at Jewish Museum Milwaukee. Although the exhibition’s scope is wide, much of it is focused on the Jewish pioneers of America’s comic book industry, a once reviled trade that quickly colonized the imagination of adolescents and gradually ascended to the summit of world pop culture. By 2018, half of the 10 highest grossing movies of the year were based directly on comic books. The DC and Marvel universes were created by Jewish American demiurges.

“Jewish artists invented the modern superhero,” says Molly Dubin, the Jewish Museum’s curator. “They were second generation Americans, and it wasn’t by chance that they became so influential in the comic book industry.” Excluded by antisemitism from many economic sectors, American Jews took an early lead in turning movies into an industry, made fortunes from rags and scrap metal and mined the untapped market for African American music. “Comic books were a fledgling endeavor,” Dubin continues. “It was an opportunity for them to step into a new creative space and make it their own.”

Yes, and one that's since been degraded by modern ingrates while their apologists won't say anything about it. And while the article noticeably does employ the word "refugee", do they still believe using "immigrants" is required, even though there are differences to be considered? I'm tired of all this subtle propaganda in favor of illegal immigrants who enter countries without vetting, which Europe is now bearing the brunt of, and leftist comics creators vehemently refuse to address honestly, if they even say anything about it at all, no matter how much damage it's doing.

The origin stories of several golden age superheroes crafted by Jewish authors are strangely similar. Superman, Bob Kane’s (Robert Kahn’s) Batman and Stan Lee’s (Stanley Lieber’s) Spider-Man all lost their parents to crime and catastrophe. Encoded memories of pogroms? All three lived in disguise, concealing crucial parts of themselves, much like ethno-religious immigrants wrestling with the opposing demands of heritage and assimilation. All three knew there was a lot of bad in the Promised Land of America, albeit, their battles were initially encoded as crime fighting.

“Superman is not Jewish but stood for Jewish values,” Dubin says. “The comic books championed the oppressed. The artists used the medium to speak to what was going on.”

Yes, but today they champion victimology, recalling when Dan Jurgens exploited a title that was one of his leading assignments years before to push pro-Islamic propaganda, along with whitewashed perceptions of illegal immigration. As though somebody who's "poor" couldn't possibly commit criminal offenses in any way. That was a disservice to the memory of Siegel and Shuster, and if Jurgens hasn't publicly apologized for his propaganda piece, that's a problem.

Exhibitions like these are always admirable, but if they won't explore recent history objectively, it can and does dilute the quality and impact of the overall exhibition and history. Especially when they don't acknowledge that what Siegel, Shuster and Lee experienced is still an issue today. As a result, what good will these exhibitions do if they don't acnkowledge them through a modern lens?