Superhero concept in culture... movies, media, comics

[MikeWB]

Modern-day comic book concept of a superhero (Superman for example) is a jewish invention. In the recent two decades, superhero movies have become bigger than ever.

Why do you think the Jews are pushing superheroes so hard?

My take is that they want people to feel powerless. They want population to think that that they themselves have no power and that only a superhero can save them. And of course, that superhero never comes and the Jews keep on pillaging.

Thoughts? Opinions? Links to articles or discussions?

[ehpg]

I think IMHO it is more of a prep. job for things they have planned, as well as changing the perception of the masses.
It makes me wounder about Nietzsche's Ubermensch (no sole, and the reliance on the body), and the Idea of having the masses accept such a concept on a universal scale.

How many TV/Movie plots now a days have ordinary humans "evolving" into super-beings with powers? unlock your potential through your primitive urges and desires (most commonly used in plots are anger/rage, fear, and sexuality), yes the same urges and desires God told us to keep in check, I think they want to turn us into animals, just as they describe us to be.

[CrackSmokeRepublican]

You know the story of the "Golem" as a Czech Jew revenge fantasy is the kind of escapist revenge literature Jews have pioneered.  Also, the changing of the Public "self" into a Secret "self" is a Jewish literary invention-- the dualism between the "Goy" world and the "Sacred" world kind of mirrors this "comic" book world they want to culturally impress upon others.

[MikeWB]

CSR,

Public "self" into a Secret "self" is a Jewish literary invention

Do you have some more info on this? I'd like to read more. Thanks!

[LordLindsey]

Once again...the pieces fall right into place:

"Kal-El is Hebrew (which makes sense, since Siegel and Shuster, the creators of Superman, were Jews). It can be interpreted to mean either "all of God" or "the voice of God", depending on what vowels you use."

Stan Lee is also Jewish; the pattern is what it is, and I frankly never would have thought of it like this if it weren't for Mike bringing this up as he did; for "Superman" to be one of the Chosen *by his name* shows that this is more than likely the case as Mike has outlined.

LINDSEY

NB:  I just thought about something else.  Notice how on the outside "Clark Kent" is a nerdy guy who fits the stereotype, but behind-the-scenes is really something much more powerful than "the common people?"  It looks exactly like an analogy to the entire concept of the two worlds of the Talmudists:  One, which is the "face" or "facade" which is put-out that they're just like the rest of "the people" and going about their business, while the REALITY is that all the while they truly are "SUPERIOR TO THE GOYIM" and if it were not for "The Chosen" then the goyim masses would be in much worse condition.  It is critical to note, as I write this, that "Clark Kent" *the facade of the Talmudists* IS Superman always--with all of his abilities--except that he is hiding his secret IN PLAIN SITE.  It is only when "the people" can not help themselves that KAL-EL *The Voice of God* makes himself seen and does for THE GOYIM...I mean "the people"...what they can not do for themselves.

Do all of you understand my extrapolative insight into what Mike was saying?

[LordLindsey]

"Johnster316, really? REALLY?! This is your answer?!!
Kal El means Son of God
Jor El means Father God.
El or Elohim (the plural) is Hebrew for God. I almost hesitate to write the name of God here in Hebrew as it may offend some people.
Anyway... if you want speculation, it has nothing to do with being anti-christ, unless you call all Jews anti-christ. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were the creators of the now famous Superman. There is a Messiah paradigm that was borrowed for the creation of Superman, but what most people don't realize is that it was not a christian messianic paradigm. Superman is much closer to a comic book adaptation of the Hebrew Messiah. Not solely based on the Hebrew Messiah, but inspired by the Hebrew Messiah. I don't want to be misquoted here, and I certainly don't want anyone taking what I'm saying out of context.
I'm a long time Superman Fan. Good stuff.
Johnster316, I don't know whether to suggest you write a book or read more. Dude, seriously...

I know you're just trolling.. it's cool dude."

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/46949

Just like with the liars in the "Paytriot" community, you have to sift through a whole lot of shit to find the truth, and what I posted about the name of "Superman" says it all.  You've got the delusionals who are trying to pass-off the name of Superman as if they can speak this fictional language, but the TRUE INTENTIONS of those who created the concept is now seemingly being shown for what it is/was.

LINDSEY

[MikeWB]

Once again...the pieces fall right into place:

"Kal-El is Hebrew (which makes sense, since Siegel and Shuster, the creators of Superman, were Jews). It can be interpreted to mean either "all of God" or "the voice of God", depending on what vowels you use."

Stan Lee is also Jewish; the pattern is what it is, and I frankly never would have thought of it like this if it weren't for Mike bringing this up as he did; for "Superman" to be one of the Chosen *by his name* shows that this is more than likely the case as Mike has outlined.

LINDSEY

NB:  I just thought about something else.  Notice how on the outside "Clark Kent" is a nerdy guy who fits the stereotype, but behind-the-scenes is really something much more powerful than "the common people?"  It looks exactly like an analogy to the entire concept of the two worlds of the Talmudists:  One, which is the "face" or "facade" which is put-out that they're just like the rest of "the people" and going about their business, while the REALITY is that all the while they truly are "SUPERIOR TO THE GOYIM" and if it were not for "The Chosen" then the goyim masses would be in much worse condition.  It is critical to note, as I write this, that "Clark Kent" *the facade of the Talmudists* IS Superman always--with all of his abilities--except that he is hiding his secret IN PLAIN SITE.  It is only when "the people" can not help themselves that KAL-EL *The Voice of God* makes himself seen and does for THE GOYIM...I mean "the people"...what they can not do for themselves.

Do all of you understand my extrapolative insight into what Mike was saying?

Brilliant post LINDSEY!!! This is exactly the type of thinking that I was after. Yes, this is exactly what they've created in front of us and vast majority of people never connected the dots.

Superman is COMPLETELY JEWISH! He's the embodiment of what Jews think of themselves. They think they're descendants of "gods" and they feel superior to goyim. Superman has a jewish name and yet he hides behind a public persona and a public name. He picked a typical goyim name, Clark Kent, and he has a whole bunch of inferiorities when he's a goy: bad eyesight, clumsiness, not as smart, general weakness, sissy etc etc. He uses his goy persona when he's among people so he can blend in.. just like Jews have been doing for a century!  How many people know that Michael Douglas and Harrison Ford, for example, are Jews? They've all changed their names so they can blend in and they all hide their religion.

So the parallels are clearly there. What's more disturbing is the effect that this concept has on kids. Just look at male generations since 1970s or 1980s... they're totally sissified. Now this sissification of male population is a combination of many, many causes: chemicals in plastics, feminism, media and so on. But what this superhero concept adds is "mind shackles" which tell our kids that THEY cannot solve problems and that they need superheroes (Jews) to solve them.

Sickening, isn't it?

[jai_mann]

I think IMHO it is more of a prep. job for things they have planned, as well as changing the perception of the masses.
It makes me wounder about Nietzsche's Ubermensch (no sole, and the reliance on the body), and the Idea of having the masses accept such a concept on a universal scale.

How many TV/Movie plots now a days have ordinary humans "evolving" into super-beings with powers? unlock your potential through your primitive urges and desires (most commonly used in plots are anger/rage, fear, and sexuality), yes the same urges and desires God told us to keep in check, I think they want to turn us into animals, just as they describe us to be.

I couldn't agree more. Examining our own bodies can tell us a lot. Our brain has regions which handle complex things and simplified things. Most of the tv and attitude conditioning primes and targets the limbic system, which is associated with emotions. Emotions are good, but when one relies purely on emotions and has not matured the frontal lobes through USE, then one will behave more like an animal.

This is why I think the UN planned parenthood is trying to teach masturbation to children 5-9yrs of age. So they start playing with themselves at a young age, which will reinforce seeking pleasure and instantaneous gratification, which is a hallmark separating humans from lower animals. Humans who can hold off on short term impulsive behavior for long term rewards have more control over themselves and can plan for the future. They don't want this. They want us to be living constantly in the moment, just as most animals do.

[jai_mann]

Once again...the pieces fall right into place:

"Kal-El is Hebrew (which makes sense, since Siegel and Shuster, the creators of Superman, were Jews). It can be interpreted to mean either "all of God" or "the voice of God", depending on what vowels you use."

Stan Lee is also Jewish; the pattern is what it is, and I frankly never would have thought of it like this if it weren't for Mike bringing this up as he did; for "Superman" to be one of the Chosen *by his name* shows that this is more than likely the case as Mike has outlined.

LINDSEY

NB:  I just thought about something else.  Notice how on the outside "Clark Kent" is a nerdy guy who fits the stereotype, but behind-the-scenes is really something much more powerful than "the common people?"  It looks exactly like an analogy to the entire concept of the two worlds of the Talmudists:  One, which is the "face" or "facade" which is put-out that they're just like the rest of "the people" and going about their business, while the REALITY is that all the while they truly are "SUPERIOR TO THE GOYIM" and if it were not for "The Chosen" then the goyim masses would be in much worse condition.  It is critical to note, as I write this, that "Clark Kent" *the facade of the Talmudists* IS Superman always--with all of his abilities--except that he is hiding his secret IN PLAIN SITE.  It is only when "the people" can not help themselves that KAL-EL *The Voice of God* makes himself seen and does for THE GOYIM...I mean "the people"...what they can not do for themselves.

Do all of you understand my extrapolative insight into what Mike was saying?

Brilliant post LINDSEY!!! This is exactly the type of thinking that I was after. Yes, this is exactly what they've created in front of us and vast majority of people never connected the dots.

Superman is COMPLETELY JEWISH! He's the embodiment of what Jews think of themselves. They think they're descendants of "gods" and they feel superior to goyim. Superman has a jewish name and yet he hides behind a public persona and a public name. He picked a typical goyim name, Clark Kent, and he has a whole bunch of inferiorities when he's a goy: bad eyesight, clumsiness, not as smart, general weakness, sissy etc etc. He uses his goy persona when he's among people so he can blend in.. just like Jews have been doing for a century!  How many people know that Michael Douglas and Harrison Ford, for example, are Jews? They've all changed their names so they can blend in and they all hide their religion.

So the parallels are clearly there. What's more disturbing is the effect that this concept has on kids. Just look at male generations since 1970s or 1980s... they're totally sissified. Now this sissification of male population is a combination of many, many causes: chemicals in plastics, feminism, media and so on. But what this superhero concept adds is "mind shackles" which tell our kids that THEY cannot solve problems and that they need superheroes (Jews) to solve them.

Sickening, isn't it?

You guys are hitting some serious home runs on this issue. You're digging deep into what is called "attitude conditioning". I agree with what both of you have stated in entirety thus far. Sun Tzu said something along the lines of convincing your enemy to surrender with out ever firing an arrow. Well, people like Alex Jones make things seem so terrible and then he leaves you hanging with NO solutions other than "BUY MY DVDS NOW!!!". When I come across people like that I automatically question their integrity, for if they have the capacity to identify a complex problem, then WTF are they not applying that same capacity to determine SOLUTIONS? Well, in most cases that's not what they're being paid to do... .

[ehpg]

As David Hajdu points out in "The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America," overt sex sold, horror reigned and the villains stole the stage from the superheroes. Magazines suddenly sported racy titles, like "Crime SuspenStories," "My Secret Life" and "The Crypt of Terror." These, too, were created by Jews. As far as Hajdu is concerned, you need to look at the whole industry — at both "Superman" and "The Crypt of Terror" — to understand what the comics mean. Hajdu demonstrates that the comics' particular meanings and their particular forms of Jewishness cannot be divorced from their specific — and distinct — histories.

Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero

[MikeWB]

Great link ehpg!!!

Here's the article from Forward in its entirety:

Marvel's Mavens
Comics

By David Kaufmann
Published March 19, 2008, issue of March 28, 2008.
PRINT EMAIL SHARE AUTHOR ARCHIVE ARTS & CULTURE
Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero

By Danny Fingeroth
Continuum, 183 pages, $24.95.
The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America
By David Hajdu
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 448 pages, $26.

The history of comics has been big recently, and there've been a number of books and articles about it. Because so many Jews were there at the creation of both the comic book and the great superheroes who served as the main attraction, you have to ask the obvious question: What, if anything, does it mean that the industry was so heavily populated by Jews?

Your answer to this will depend on what you think "comic books" really do. In "Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics and the Creation of the Superhero," Danny Fingeroth seems to assume that the most important comics tell tales of superheroes. He is mostly interested in what he calls "The Golden Age" — from 1938 until the end of the Second World War — when caped crusaders and men of steel patrolled the streets of Gotham City and the skies of Metropolis. Fingeroth, a former comics editor at Marvel, also gives due attention to the "Silver Age" of the 1960s and beyond — the heyday of oddball heroes, like Spider-Man and The Fantastic Four. Unfortunately, the narrative he constructs leads him to breeze over what happened to the comics between the golden and the silver ages, to the fact that after the war, comic book buyers got bored with the squeaky-clean defenders of the innocent. They were more interested in Wonder Woman's breasts.

As David Hajdu points out in "The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America," overt sex sold, horror reigned and the villains stole the stage from the superheroes. Magazines suddenly sported racy titles, like "Crime SuspenStories," "My Secret Life" and "The Crypt of Terror." These, too, were created by Jews. As far as Hajdu is concerned, you need to look at the whole industry — at both "Superman" and "The Crypt of Terror" — to understand what the comics mean. Hajdu demonstrates that the comics' particular meanings and their particular forms of Jewishness cannot be divorced from their specific — and distinct — histories.

Fingeroth admits that it's "hard to tell" where the comics themselves are properly Jewish. It probably is. Superman presents a relatively easy case: Jules Feiffer has argued that the Man of Steel really came "from the planet Poland," while Gerard Jones, in his excellent 2004 book "Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book," suggested that Superman quite literally embodies the Jewish immigrant's dilemma (he has to pretend he fits in, while knowing that he has special, unseen and potentially unappreciated powers). The "secret" of Superman's success also rests on the fact that his is the dilemma of every geeky and not-so-geeky kid. A hero on the inside, he's prime bully bait on the outside. So Superman's dual identity fits a number of important bills. DC Comics, Superman's publisher, profited from all of them.

But what about Batman? Hardly an immigrant and definitely not Jewish. And the rest of that alliterative and hardy crew of caped and costumed heroes who bashed the bad guys all through the early 1940s? Again, hard to tell. Nevertheless, Fingeroth wants to tell. The trouble is that he has to hyperextend in order to tease out what he calls "shreds of Jewish meaning" from the superhero comics. Unfortunately, that's all they are: shreds.

According to Fingeroth, some heroes are stand-ins for Moses, some for survivors. Because comics script writers were ambivalent about not being professionals themselves, they created heroes who were established professionals in their day jobs. (Sorry, Mom.) You get the idea. Perhaps the oddest of Fingeroth's claims is that Captain America's writers were particularly Jewish in that they wanted every story to be "universal."

In "The Ten-Cent Plague," Hajdu makes the interesting case that postwar comics were the first shot in a coming youth revolt. By the early 1950s, cities were banning comics. Prodded by their parents, kids were burning them. The Senate was investigating them. Hajdu indicates that the sex and mayhem stories that caused such a ruckus represented the flip side of the superheroes' adventures. He suggests that we see them as expressions of a particularly Jewish — though likely unconscious — mistrust of assimilation, of its enforced conventions and unavoidable authority. So if DC's Superman appealed to the nerd in all of us, the sleazy comics peddled by companies like EC spoke to an inchoate but increasingly independent youth culture.

This new buying public of rebels without a cause — the same kids who would turn Elvis into a superhero of a different kind — scared the daylights out of their parents. Even though there was no overt proof, psychologists, politicians and the chief crime fighter in the land, J. Edgar Hoover, claimed that reading comics led directly to juvenile delinquency. In 1954, psychologist Frederic Wertham published his most famous work, "Seduction of the Innocent," which made it sound as if he wanted to protect our children from the pernicious influence of the comics. But Hajdu makes an excellent case that the anti-comics brigades wanted protection from our children. The seduced, it seems, resembled other paranoid fantasies of the Cold War: all those fifth-columnists in the State Department and the communist dupes in the schools, those invasive germs in the kitchen and the brainwashed automatons lurking in the streets.

While Hajdu explicitly refuses to draw a parallel between McCarthyism and the attacks on the comics industry, they are linked by a common fear of contagion and subversion. And, though Hajdu won't go this far, it would be fair to guess that there was more than a touch of latent antisemitism in the comic book affair. The Catholic Church, the American Legion, towns without many Jews and towns with too many Jews all ganged up on the comics. Jewish comics editors and publishers like Bill Gaines (hopped up on amphetamines and aggression) came up before televised committees of such manifestly upright, proudly non-Jewish lawmakers as Estes Kefauver and Robert C. Hendrickson (and, as Michael Chabon shows in "Kavalier and Clay," the Jews did not come out so well). In an era when the most famous American traitors were a pair of down-at-the-heel communist Jews, it's hard to imagine that the great comics scare was not a sideshow in the even greater Red Scare.

Hajdu's book winds up in the mid-1950s with the exemplary case of EC's Mad magazine. Mad's caustically anarchic humor — sometimes gross, and often puerile — matched up Jewish snarkiness with adolescent rebellion. It was a hit. Having incurred the anger of the powers that were, EC turned Mad into a "real" magazine, upped its price and found a different distributor. EC and Mad lived to fight another day.

In the glory days of the depression and World War II, millions of people read about Superman, Batman and the scores of other superheroes who rode in on their cape-tails. Though a lot fewer people now buy comics, Fingeroth is right to say that these heroes still saturate our culture — if mostly at the movies. In the final chapter of "The Ten-Cent Plague," R. Crumb is quoted as saying that he never got over "Mad." We have never gotten over Superman, either.

For better and for worse, the comics, cranky and grandiose as they frequently are, really do express the various fantasies of American Jews. What's more — and this is absolutely critical to their success — they seem to reflect the fantasies of everyone else. Of course Jews and non-Jews sometimes dream of different things, but that might be the most important point. The comics can mean so much because they can skillfully coordinate so many dreams.

David Kaufmann, cultural critic for the Forward, teaches English at George Mason University.

[CrackSmokeRepublican]

Great comments on this!
LordLindsey, you nailed it in this summary and that is exactly what I meant by the Jewish "secret self" and the "public self".
 Ehpg is right, it does tie back to Nietzsche-Marxism-Talmudic supremacy. If they can't have a Communist Revolution to take power immediately, at least they have the satisfaction of a Cartoon "Superman" fixing their problems:

It looks exactly like an analogy to the entire concept of the two worlds of the Talmudists: One, which is the "face" or "facade" which is put-out that they're just like the rest of "the people" and going about their business, while the REALITY is that all the while they truly are "SUPERIOR TO THE GOYIM" and if it were not for "The Chosen" then the goyim masses would be in much worse condition.

Just to add a bit more. Here's a famous Jew cartoonist remarking on the Jewish "self-perception" theme and their need for secret (Jewish) "Supermen" in a world of Goyim. Note the mention of "Krypton".  :


------
In the 1930s many Jews began producing comics as a way of assimilating into American society. According to Mr. Feiffer, two Jewish men, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, created "Superman" as a way of opposing anti- Semitism in America and abroad. "Every boy wants to be invincible, to fight, kill and maim ... and Superman does those things, except he is heroic," said Mr. Feiffer. Superman was a metaphor for fighting evil, such as the Nazis. "Superman really came not from Krypton, but from the planet Poland," he said.


http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9619/feiffer2.html

---------
Look at the end of Shuster's career... the guy ends up doing morally corrupting T.J.B. in his old age. Superman becomes a Pervert --

Later career

Shuster continued to draw comics after the failure of Funnyman, although exactly what he drew is uncertain. Comic historian Ted White wrote that Shuster continued to draw horror stories into the 1950s.[10] In 2009 comic historian Craig Yoe said Shuster was one of the anonymous illustrators for Nights of Horror, an underground sadomasochistic fetish comic book series. This was based on character similarities, and artistic style between the illustrations and those of the cast of the Superman comics.[11]

[anarchore]

Superheros are fantastic, two thumbs up to Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Romita, the Buscemas', etc,etc... for providing an escape to a colorful exciting universe, where morals really mattered.

The moral compass of heroes like Spiderman, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, the X-Men ( I guess you're noticing my Marvel bias) were a good thing growing up.  Reed Richard of the Fantastic Four used his brain as much as violence, for saving the world!

Saving the world!  How many of us are taking up the superhero mantle and fighting to save the world(maybe the universe)?  And where did you first encounter this meme!  Comic books.  Every kid dreams of being a superhero.  Don't stop in the realization of this goal.

[AbdulHaq]

The Guardians of the Universe (from the Green Lantern) are modeled after the first Prime Minister of Israel, David Ben Gurion:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardians_of_the_Universe

[AbdulHaq]

http://www.hadassah.org/news/content/per_hadassah/archive/2003/03_JUN/art.htm

June/July 2003 Vol. 84 No.10


The Arts:
Thwak! To Our Enemies
By Leah Finkelshteyn
 
 
Colorful, powerful and generally over-the-top—superheroes are a surprising manifestation of the venerable Jewish tradition of repairing the world.



© DC Comics 2003

 
The peace is broken at the X-Men's center of operations in Professor Charles Xavier's mansion. Dracula hovers over a beautiful woman. As he moves in for the kill, Katherine "Kitty" Pryde leaps to the rescue, cross in hand. The vampire laughs—the cross has no power over him.

He grabs Pryde by the neck, but her necklace, silver with a Magen David charm, repels him and his hand bursts into flame. Pryde, the super-hero also known as Shadowcat, is Jewish, and only a talisman of her own faith can defeat the monster.

Shadowcat is far from the only Jewish superhero found in the pages of comic book adventures. Colossal Boy's problems include grappling with whether he should be dating an alien instead of a nice Jewish girl, and Sabra, outfitted in blue-and-white, is Israel's defender.

Over the years, comic book characters have thrown back their hoods and cowls to reveal a Jewish face. That this colorful, often sensational, storytelling medium has a Jewish connection is an open secret. Jews have been creative forces in the field since 1938 with the first appearance of the now famous "S," fueling imaginations and providing role models for generations of boys and, yes, even girls.

"It wasn't Krypton Superman came from, but the planet Minsk," said acclaimed cartoonist Jules Feiffer about the creation of Cleveland-born sons of immigrants Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster. And DC Comic's Superman is far from the only icon of American pop mythology sprung straight from the Jewish zeitgeist. The fertile, some say aberrant, imaginations of Jack Kirby (Jacob Kurtzberg), Stan Lee (Stanley Lieber), Bob Kane (Bob Kahn), Joe Simon, Gil Kane (Eli Katz) and more have brought to life Captain America and Spider-Man (both Marvel Comics), Green Lantern and Batman (both DC), as well as Daredevil, the Hulk and X-Men (all Marvel)—characters that in the past months have battled baddies on the big screen.

"It is almost genetic in the Jewish mind and soul to deal with storytelling," says veteran comic artist and novelist Will Eisner, who revolutionized the comic book industry with his work on The Spirit, a noir-inspired series about a blue-suited vigilante-detective. And this predisposition, combined with what Eisner calls the "American culture of images," has helped create an ever evolving field that at its best entertains and informs with a visual punch that reaches straight to the subconscious and at its worst (though still entertaining) glorifies a lurid, puerile fantasy world.

Today, there may be fewer Jewish comics creators than in the past, but they are still making their mark in what has become an American institution struggling for legitimacy. The hot list—talents whose names on the cover are likely to ensure a title's popularity—includes writer Peter Allan David (Supergirl, DC, and The Incredible Hulk, among others); British import Neil Gaiman, writer of the award-winning The Sandman (Vertigo, a DC imprint), a series subtly peppered with midrashim; and author-illustrator Brian Michael Bendis, who in an article on his Web site, http://www.jinxworld.com, talks about coming up with ideas for his crime-noir titles on Passover.

"My Jewishness has insinuated itself into my writing," admits David, a 20-year comics veteran. In the 1990's, he reworked the Supergirl character. She became an angel whose abilities come from the Shekhina, the Hebrew term for the feminine aspect of God's presence.

"[Supergirl's] plots keyed off themes of redemption and explorations of spirituality," says David. "There was even a story set in the Garden of Eden."

Gaiman's Sandman series received the World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story in 1991 for "A Midsummer Night's Dream," which made the series the first monthly comic to win a literary award.

Sandman gives flesh to concepts like dream, desire and destiny, but it is really about stories and the people who tell them. "Three Septembers and a January," a tale about not giving in to despair, stars Abraham Joshua Norton, self-proclaimed Emperor of the United States of America and part of San Francisco legend. A perky anthropomorphized female Death, based on a kabbalistic description of the Angel of Death, comes to claim the Jewish Norton at the end of the story: "They say the world rests on the backs of...36 unselfish men and women," Death, a popular character in an extremely popular series, tells him. "Because of them the world continues to exist."

Sometimes the Jewish influence is more subtle. According to Jewish educator and comics fan and writer Alan Oirich, artist Gil Kane based his design of the large-headed, balding Guardians of the Universe in DC's Green Lantern on David Ben-Gurion. The President of Earth was also Jewish—and a woman—adds Oirich. Her son, Colossal Boy from DC's Legion of Superheroes, identifies as Jewish, he says, and so does she.

Besides stewarding the universe, Jews have also been at the helm of the two major comic book companies. Stan Lee has held the top position at Marvel since the 1940's and the company's start as Timely Comics. Today he is chairman emeritus. Julius Schwartz revamped DC in the 1960's. Jenette Kahn, daughter of a Reform rabbi, also served as DC president and editor-in-chief.

Nevertheless, "Jewish work has gone unrecognized," says Trina Robbins, who has worked in comix (alternative comics) for years. In the 1970's she wrote and drew an adaptation of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire for Lilith magazine. Robbins hopes that more attention will be paid to Jewish contributions, as well as to another unacknowledged group—women.

"Mainstream comics are totally male dominated," Robbins asserts. "Where girls fit in is comix, self-published books." She also looks for stronger female characters, girls and women who are more than busty victims. Her new title, Go Girl! (Image Comics), aimed at ages 10 to 13, features the high-flying teen Lindsay Goldman—"simply a nice Jewish girl," says Robbins.

"I've always felt that comics should appeal to girls even more than boys—statistics show that girls are more avid readers," says Jordon B. Gorfinkel, who during his eight years as an editor at DC worked on all of the Batman lines (popular characters often have a number of series, or titles, devoted to them). He also conceived Birds of Prey, about three female crime stoppers. "There's so little material that's appealing, women who aren't sex objects," he continues. "My goal with Birds of Prey was to cross Thelma & Louise with the black cop/Bruce Willis relationship from the first Die Hard and do it as superheroes. So, the focus is...on the women...and the action is just to rope in the established demographic. Though you cannot imagine how many times I had to have artists redraw Black Canary's hemline...."

In 1999, Gorfinkel, who writes and draws a weekly comic strip about Jewish life called The Promised Land, left DC to cocreate Avalanche Entertainment, Inc. He is developing a series called Tag Team with artist Aaron Sowd, about twin girls who share a single superpower. The teenagers, whose last name is Roth, journey to discover their identity and uncover their Jewish roots. "My goal was to combine the same ethics I believe in with the superhero ethic, which I strive for with all my comic book work," Gorfinkel says.

Another new title for kids, The Jewish Hero Corps (Electric Comics, http://www.jewishsu perhero.com), created by Oirich, will be out in August. The Corps' super team includes Minyan Man, who can duplicate himself 10 times; Kipa Kid, known as the Capped Crusader; and Shabbas Queen, whose wand causes electric objects to "rest".

For mature audiences, a number of graphic novels—a term coined by Eisner for A Contract With God (see "Setting the Standard" below)—investigate Jewish themes in depth. These book-length relatives of the comics have explored the Holocaust, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and even include a number of autobiographies by Jewish writer-artists—illustrator Marvin Friedman's initial foray into the graphic novel, Marvin Friedman., is a recent example.

Setting the Standard

"I am a writer who writes with pictures," says the incredibly prolific Will Eisner. In his almost three quarters of a century of experience, he has drawn heroes and working-class citizens, jungle queens and city dwellers. With sure black lines and strong, simple prose, he has mined the depth of the American urban psyche.

His deft pen and expressive characters have also commented on the successes and travails of Jewish American immigrant life. "I grew up with Yiddish stories, and they stayed in my head," the Brooklyn-born Eisner explains. "There is a Yiddish rhythm to my writing, an undercurrent of oy vey—stories that start with a sigh."

First published in 1978, A Contract With God and Other Tenement Stories describes the lives and hopes of Bronx tenement residents in the 1930's; it helped expand the comic book into the realm of Jewish consciousness even before Art Spiegelman's acclaimed Maus. Contract's title story starts with a man making his way home, alone, in the middle of a miserable downpour and evolves into a discussion of man's relationship with God. Still in print, the book has led the field in the creation of the graphic novel. Among Eisner's other works of Jewish interest are To the Heart of the Storm, his award-winning autobiography, and The Name of the Game, a multigenerational immigrant saga about the struggle to attain wealth and power and the prejudices that exist between different Jewish communities.

In 2002 Eisner won the National Foundation for Jewish Culture's lifetime achievement award. But the 86-year-old is not about to lay down his pen; his newest book, Fagin the Jew, is coming out in October from Doubleday Graphic Novels. Fagin examines the anti-Semitism present in classic literature—a timely topic considering the state of Jewish world affairs and further proof that the eyes and hands of the man whose name is synonymous with the best in graphic storytelling are as sharp as ever.

The Will Eisner Library, a collection of many of the artist's graphic novels and anthologies of The Spirit, is available from DC Comics.
 

According to cartoonist-teacher James Lewis Strum, creator of the graphic novel The Golem's Mighty Swing (Drawn and Quarterly), the unique attributes of comics, "the intimacy of the written word, with the impact of the graphic image," can, and have, explored issues of identity in a sophisticated way.

The black-and-white Golem follows a 1920's traveling baseball team called the Stars of David as it roams the American countryside, experiencing both racism and acceptance. "I'm very removed from Jewish history and heritage," says Strum. "Golem was very much about learning about that heritage.

"Comics are so new," he explains, "for so long [they] had a case of arrested development." Strum points to Art Spiegelman's Pulitzer Prize-winning Holocaust portrayal in the graphic novel Maus (Pantheon) as a benchmark. "Spiegelman's greatest contribution is that he did this comic that had so much success...he showed what the medium can do."

Likewise, The Jew of New York and Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer (both Pantheon), Ben Katchor's quirky views of urban and Jewish life, have brought welcome mainstream attention to sequential art (a term that includes comic books, comic strips and graphic novels).

In a departure for a company that has largely focused on superheros, Marvel recently published 411, part one of a three-part series about "sacrifice for the sake of peace," writes Marvel president Bill Jemas in an introduction. "Blown Up," the first story, relates the reaction of a soldier in the Israeli Air Force after he finds out his only daughter was killed in a suicide bombing.

Many artists and writers feel it is the visually experimental graphic novels that are pushing the boundaries of the field with a sophistication that brings new respect to sequential art. Nevertheless, the square-jawed superhero with a tendency to think with his fists and wear underwear on the outside of his clothes is firmly entrenched.

And despite historical evidence, it is this image that is the most unlikely of Jewish creations. Perhaps the problem is the physical violence that is so much a part of comics; after all, Jews are considered cerebral problem-solvers. More likely the dissonance comes from characters like Batman celebrating Christmas but not a bar mitzva. The green-hued Hulk may have visited Israel and battled Sabra while he was there, but it wasn't exactly a Jewish outreach experience. So the question remains: Are comic books—and the characters who inhabit them—truly Jewish?

"There is definitely a Jewish rhythm that seeped in surreptitiously," says artist Archie Rand (see "Old Story, New Telling" below). Rand, who consulted on the Hulk movie in theaters this month, feels comics have a "general courting of vulgarity, seen in the bright, loud costumes, that is very ethnic...."

"There is a real connection between Jews and comic books for any of a dozen reasons," says Oirich, who is curating an exhibit on the subject with the New York City Comic Book Museum (http://www.nyccomicbookmuseum.org). "One is historical; another has to do with a...sense of tikkun olam, of what you might call Jewish mythic ideas and feelings that expressed themselves [through superheroes]."

Eisner, who has worked in comics since their inception ("I was there at the bris," he says), disagrees. He feels that any type of Jewish feel to comic books, at least the early ones, is largely coincidental. "Comics in the mid-30's were...the bottom of all the art forms," Eisner posits. "[They] offered an opportunity to those outside the mainstream. The daily news strips, the advertising world, were difficult for Jews to get into."

The background of those early artists and writers was deliberately hidden, says Eisner, "because they were writing what they regarded as classic American high-adventure stories and creating classic American heroes." Superman and his many imitators were meant to reflect mainstream values.


Still, many fans insist the ethnicity of these beloved characters is obvious. "They're all Jewish, superheroes," writes Michael Chabon in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Random House), his Pulitzer Prize-winning fictionalized account of the people who created the Golden Age of comic books. "Superman, you don't think he's Jewish? Coming over from the old country, changing his name like that. Clark Kent, only a Jew would pick a name like that for himself."

Similarly, says Rand of Eisner's The Spirit, "His name may be Denny Colt, but he was clearly circumcised."

In the late 1950's and 1960's, comics' Silver Age, conformist heroes gave way to a more diverse comic world. Stan Lee and Marvel introduced a new type of "real-life" hero with the wall-crawling teenage Spider-Man who worried about money and social acceptance as well as how to defeat the many-limbed Doctor Octopus. In the 70's and 80's, Jews started appearing, sometimes with a beard and a hat in a crowd scene, sometimes as minor heroes. Shadowcat showed up around that time, too.

In 1998, DC acknowledged the Man of Steel's true origins with a story that has him try to rescue two youths from the death camps. "Thank you, Golem, for saving us," the boys—odes to Seigel and Shuster—exclaim. "We're the ones who invented you." However, the story revealed a lingering reticence; it was criticized by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith because, despite kippot and names like Mordechai, the word "Jew" never appears.

The Thing, aka Benjamin Jacob Grimm, returned to the "old neighborhood" last year and said the Shema. The irascible, orange member of Marvel's Fantastic Four was, according to colleagues, always thought of as Jewish by cocreator Kirby. Pundits and fans wondered, Just how does one circumcise an orange brick?

As sequential art expands and matures, and as Jewish talents continue to have a hand in the development process, the list of Jewish characters and creators could go on —threading through comics much as the Jewish American experience threads through the entertainment industry.

Yet that Jewish voice can be overwhelmed by the desire to appeal to a mass readership. With notable exceptions, mainstream comics still have a way to go in acknowledging its Jewish roots.

Kitty Pryde enrolled in the University of Chicago this year, in a miniseries called Mekanix. She wanted to grow up, lead a normal life, find the person behind the costumed hero. Mekanix explores bigotry, even touching on homeland security and racial profiling, but Pryde's identity still, in part, stays hidden—nowhere in the series does it overtly mention that she is a Jew.

Old Story, New Telling
A bare-shouldered, scantily clad Esther approaches King Ahasuerus. To their left, a creature in a dark forest, who represents Haman, rubs its tentacle-like hands together above a Hebrew text that, in Megillat Esther, starts his condemnation of the Jews: "There is a people scattered...among the nations...."

"I wanted to make Esther look like what she had to look like to get her mitzva accomplished," says New York artist Archie Rand. The piece, called Seventh Amidah Theme: The Redeemer, Esther, is one of "The Nineteen Diaspora Paintings," Rand's new series that illustrates moments from the Bible. From Creation to redemption, the vivid paintings use the framework of the 19 blessings of the Amidah, the standing prayer said three times each day, which Rand sees as the most central to Jewish experience and belief.

Action sequences, dramatic shadows and text boxes describe Jewish history and legend. Tenth Amidah Theme: End the Diaspora, Cain and Abel shows Cain's murder of his brother as a crime drama, the guilty party locked in the grasp of a cop. The text from Genesis, in a word bubble, shouts out "...the voice of your brother's blood is screaming to me from the ground," perhaps also referring to the pain Jews have suffered in the diaspora.

If this sounds like it comes from the pages of a comic book—that is exactly what the artist intended. "I wanted to...break from stereotyped Yiddishized nostalgia," Rand says, "so I looked at guys I was looking at as a kid—EC Comics, Tales From the Crypt." A culture's visual symbols are manifestations of a culture's religion, Rand explains. If you accept the language of comics as Jewish language (which he does), then you can combine a system that reflects American cultural belief—comics—with the faith manifest in Scripture.

Fourteenth Amidah Theme: Rebuild Jerusalem, Elijah shows a yellow-orange Elijah as an astronaut exploring a purple room full of strange devices. In the Bible, Elijah ascended to heaven in a chariot, and his eventual return prefigures the coming of the messiah and the rebuilding of Jerusalem. That Rand's work was connecting to something in the Jewish subconscious was affirmed after the tragic space shuttle Columbia accident and the deaths of its entire crew, including Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut.

"The Elijah-astronaut was painted before I knew about [Ramon]," recalls Rand. "I coupled the phrase 'and Elijah went up by a whirlwind to Heaven' with a comment from the prophet Elisha 'and he saw him no more.' After the tragedy, I realized why the second phrase had to go there. In Israel, Ramon was called the second Elijah."
 
 

[CrackSmokeRepublican]

Superboy (Kal-El)  
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    This article is about the original Superboy, who is Superman as a boy. For similarly named DC Comics characters, see
Superboy

First appearance    More Fun Comics #101

(January/February 1945)

Created by    Jerry Siegel
Joe Shuster
Don Cameron
In-story information
Alter ego    Kal-El ("Starchild"), adopted as Clark Kent
Species    Kryptonian
Place of origin    Krypton
Team affiliations    Legion of Super-Heroes
Notable aliases    The Boy of Steel, The Last Son of Krypton, Reflecto
Abilities    Vast super strength, speed, stamina, multiple enhanced sensory powers, heat vision, invulnerability, longevity, super breath, ice breath, flight

The original Superboy is a fictional superhero who appears in DC Comics. The name of Superman as a boy, Superboy has adventures that occur in the relative past to those of Superman and take place predominantly in his hometown of Smallville. Superboy is from the destroyed planet Krypton, where he was born under the name Kal-El, and lives on Earth under the secret identity of mild-mannered student Clark Kent. Debuting in 1944, the character was in continuous publication for 40 years, developing a supporting cast and mythos of his own, before DC Comics removed him from Superman's fictional history. In 2009, however, DC Comics partially restored Clark's teenage career as Superboy. Superboy or elements from his story have been adapted to other media, particularly television.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superboy_%28Kal-El%29

What does "Kal-El", Superman's given name, mean?

Kal El means Son of God

Jor El means Father God

El or Elohim (the plural) is Hebrew for God. I almost hesitate to write the name of God here in Hebrew as it may offend some people.

Anyway... if you want speculation, it has nothing to do with being anti-christ, unless you call all Jews anti-christ. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were the creators of the now famous Superman. There is a Messiah paradigm that was borrowed for the creation of Superman, but what most people don't realize is that it was not a christian messianic paradigm. Superman is much closer to a comic book adaptation of the Hebrew Messiah. Not solely based on the Hebrew Messiah, but inspired by the Hebrew Messiah. I don't want to be misquoted here, and I certainly don't want anyone taking what I'm saying out of context.

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/46949



------------

Interesting reply about the comic book "Jewish Superman" Kal-El :

by johnster316 on February 1st, 2007
johnster316

So you finally want to know the truth, well the truth is almost every seeker of this particular truth as received a piece of one big Superman Anti Christ puzzle. I hereby submit to you another installment and or piece of the EndTime Game Puzzle putting to shame and making an open display of the latest Anti-Christ saying "You Can't See Me My Time Is NOW!" KAL-EL aka Clark Kent aka Superman Son of JOR-EL:

1) K=(Kaf) the 11th Hebrew letter alphabet from the word Kaphaph (Kaw faf) a primary root to curve:- Bow Down (self). Bow down self i.e. bow yourself down. 2) AL= is the irish short form of Alan, Albert, and Alexander. Alan;(irish) means: Handsome,Peaceful. Albert:(german,french) Noble and bright.[Note: the name Adolf as in Hitler also means Noble, Noble Wolf] Alexander:(Greek) meaning: Defender of Mankind. Sound familiar?
3)EL:(ale) Strength; as adj. Mighty;espec. the Almighty(but used also of any deity):-God(god) x goodly, x great, idol might-(-y one) power,Strong. Summing up all of the above, Bow Yourself Down to the Handsome, Peaceful, Noble, and Bright Defender Of Mankind i.e. Mighty, Almighty God, powerful, and strong Clark: A scholar,clergy; Kent:(in welsh)/Kenneth:(in scottish) White, bright; Comely, and Handsome SUPERMAN! are you starting to see a pattern of name meanings here all pointing back to the superman/kalel character. Go Deeper 1) Kal: short form of Kalil or Kalman A variant form of the German name Kahl. A) Kahl: bald(as in baldEagle, a promenent flying symbol of America) KAL-EL also likes to fly and is an American symbol as well. B) Kalil(in Greek)kalos: Beautiful; (in Hebrew):A crown, A wreath C) Kalman: Short form of Kalonymos. D) Kalonymos: Form of Latin name Clement and means Merciful or Gracious E) Clement: From the Latin Clemens, and means: Merciful, Gentle. Note: Clark; Clarke ( are Old English)and means: Clergyman; Learned man; a clark or a clerk was originally a member of a clerical Order. 2) EL: (Hebrew) Mighty, Almighty God. Ergo: KAL-EL is a Beautiful, Crowned, merciful, gracious, gentle, Mighty, Almighty God; Who hides out under a false idenity Clark or Clarke Kent: A Scholar i.e. learned man, A clergyman, A White, Bright, Comely, Handsome person or member of clerical Order, the Order Of the clarks, clerks, or clergy. Son Of JOR-EL i.e. JEHOVAH-GOD.

For Those of you who are big fans of KAL-EL and enemies of the Anti-Christ Here's a Superman(KAL-EL) Anti-Christ(The Beast i.e. Mankind) connection. KAL-EL the name of Superman; CHAL-AL(KHAW-LAWL) is Hebrew and is a description of the beast/Anti-Christ of revelation 13th chapter. Meaning: pierced (especially to death): fig. polluted- kill profane, slain(man) x slew, (deadly) wounded.

 In the Superman movie KAL-EL was CHAL-AL(KHAW-LAWL) i.e."pierced espec. to death" with kryponite at the hands of LEX(in Latin: legis where we get legislation and means LAW) Luther. Lex: means Law in Latin, but in english means "Defender Of Mankind". Superman aka KAL-EL is also known as the "Defender Of Mankind". There can only be one false God, LEX i.e. LAW or the creater of the Law, Man i.e.

 The Superman. Rev. 13:3 And I saw one of his(the beast's) heads (political RAMS or Chiefs) as it were Wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: And all the world wondered( marveled, was in amazement) after the beast.... superman died of a deadly wound and or pierce and rose again from the dead (like Christ), and anointed his "Only Son" i.e. Image in the Superman Returns movie A film that was released the 6th month of the 6th year of the new millenium just 2 weeks after the released i.e. newly released OMEN movie which opened in theaters the 6th day of the 6th month of the 6th year of the new millenium. A film in which Dameon/anti-christ Satans son made his way to earth with satan/abaddown (known in this film as the "jackel" which is the hebrew meaning for dragoon or dragon) in Satans womb. They both made their way to earth falling from the sky and from outter space like A large ball of fire and crashing on the earth just like KAL-EL aka Superman the defender of mankind; who in this movie professed to Lois(which in hebrew means christian women)Lane.... [Now why would an alien from another planet and from outter space choose to fall in love with a christian and christianity, lois: which also means "brave warrior", in the comics began to fear and distrust her super husband proclaiming in her daily planet writing to the world that KAL-EL was becoming a world dictator and should no longer be trusted.] (Superman #143 Rise of the Robots.) .....He openly professed to her that the world needs a savior making referance to his, and his fathers self professed destiny. The Savior Of The World, making him The Christ i.e, Messiah , A manly Messiah. The word Antti means Manly, thus A manly i.e. Antti or Anti(also meaning opponent or enemy) Messiah or Christ. These are the The "Chronicles Of The Superman". "Eyes To The Sky"

 Love: Yowchanan aka Johnster. "Many Shall come in my name saying I Am the Christ..." Superman has an alter ego named Dominus. (which is Latin for Master and Lord) Dominus would soon convince KAL-EL to take over the Whole World, New World Order Style. Trying to bring peace and order to the whole world by means of dictatorship.

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/46949