Customer Reviews

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

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DISGUISED AS CLARK KENT: JEWS, COMICS, AND THE CREATION OF THE SUPERHERO comes from a comics industry veteran who explores the backgrounds of famous superheroes and their creators - who, as it turns out, were largely young American Jewish men from Eastern European backgrounds. The focus on the hero icon in history, Jewish history and culture, and the comics industry as a whole thus makes for a strong recommendation not just for Judaic studies collections, but for any collection strong in either comics or cultural icons and analysis.

In the wake of a "cottage industry" of books covering the American Jewish experience and comics, Figeroth's groundbreaking book still stands as the best of the "genre."

The book is a must-read for anyone interested in how comics and 20th century Judiasm relate to each other via fictional superheroes and the creative people behind the work.

Bravo, Mr. Fingeroth.

This text reveals how Superman, Batman, the X-Men, Spiderman, and other popular superheroes show traits of Jewish identity in implicit and explicit ways. Also the lives of superhero creators such as Jerry Siegel, Bob Kane, Will Eisner, Neil Gaiman, Joe Kubert, and others are explored succinctly to show how their Jewish background created and shaped the comic book industry from its inception in the thirties until the present moment. This is a well-documented account of the pervasive influence of Jewish heritage on the superhero genre. Fingeroth also explains why Jewish themes were implicit at first, hinting at the fact that some comic book writers such as Bob Kane hid their Jewish identity; and why these themes became more explicit afterwards. He sees this turning point in the 1960s with the Marvel revival, which is well-documented.

A great read for every comic book geek, offering insight into the phenomenon of superheroes. Highly reco mended fir fanboys, historians and followers of pop culture.

A follow-up book on about the contribution of Italians to the comic book industry would be interesting. You have people like Carmine Infantino, Vince Colletta, John Romita, John Bucema, Sal Bucema, and Frank Frazetta.

I most enjoyed the Superman background. The book assumes knowledge of each of the comic book characters. There is no review of some of the more archaic "heroes."