The Conversation - Superman's other secret identity

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You’ve had enough news for the week (or year). How about some comics?

Comic books, as Americans think of them today, were invented just shy of a century ago. The industry was based in New York, home to most of the country’s publishing houses – and most of its Jewish population, too. Jewish artists helped usher in the Golden Age of comics with instantly recognizable superheroes like Superman, Spider-Man and Batman.

Few comics characters are explicitly Jewish. But often, superhero stories reflect themes at the heart of many Jewish communities’ experiences, especially for immigrants and their children: fleeing one’s home, starting over anew and hiding aspects of their identities while trying to stay true to themselves. Superman’s origin story parallels that of the biblical hero Moses, and Yiddish-tinged English makes its way into Spider-Man’s speech.

Comics history offers “insight into the ways that Jewish American anxieties, ambitions, patriotism and sense of place in the U.S. continually changed over the 20th century,” writes University of Michigan historian Miriam Eve Mora. “To me, this understanding makes the retelling of these classic stories even more meaningful and entertaining.”

[How faith and religion drive the world. Sign up for our weekly newsletter, This Week in Religion.]

Molly Jackson

Religion and Ethics Editor

 
A five-story replica of a stamp of Superman in 1998 in Cleveland, home of the superhero’s creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File

See you in the funny papers: How superhero comics tell the story of Jewish America

Miriam Eve Mora, University of Michigan

Jewish American artists were at the heart of the comics industry – and a closer read of beloved characters reflects fears about assimilation and acceptance.

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