With his father's words, Don't be a Jew gangster, still ringing in his head, a young man finds himself doing just that, as no other path in life opens for him. Easy money and easier women lure him into doing the dirty work of the local gang; it's not a pretty life, but he can eat well, and his mother's apartment continues to get heat all through the cold winter. But what he has to pay -- in flesh, in pride, in honour -- may not be worth all he earns. With the same intensity and eye for detail that he put into Yossel, Joe Kubert recreates a time when even the most innocent person was caught up in the dark underbelly of society.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Ruby, the protagonist of veteran cartoonist Kubert's graphic novel, is a handsome young man growing up in a poor Brooklyn Jewish family during the Depression. He falls in with a local mobster called Monk, and his initial eagerness to make a few dollars to support his saintly, hardworking parents ends up getting him in way over his head in the organized crime world. He's caught up in both a war between the Jewish and Italian mobs over unionizing factories and an affair with his dangerous mentor's gorgeous moll. If you think you know where this story is going, you're probably right. Kubert indulges in every gangster cliché in the book and all the expected characters: the heartbroken papa, the angelic little sister, the overeager best pal who gets whacked. But his drawings lovingly evoke a long-gone moment in New York history, especially the gorgeous chapter headings, and his command of thin, sketchy pen lines that suggest facial expressions and motion is magisterial. A brutally kinetic fight scene near the end is a reminder that Kubert drew some of the finest war comics of the '60s. As a story, Jew Gangster is mostly a B-movie– esque historical piece, but the economy and style of its draftsmanship puts its visual side near the rank of Will Eisner's finest later work. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Veteran comics artist Kubert took a major leap out of genre comics with Yossel (2003), the tragic story of a teenager trapped with his family in the Warsaw ghetto. The venture invigorated him, and now he offers another departure from his usual war and superhero work. Jew Gangster is about young Ruby, who rejects his immigrant parents' aspirations to respectability and falls in with a brutal mob. The story shares the milieu of Will Eisner's graphic novels, Jewish New York in the first half of the twentieth century. Unlike Eisner, who seems to draw directly from real life, Kubert appears to be inspired by 1930s Warner Brothers crime films. Even so, Kubert is one of the few comics artists alive who lived through the Depression, and his way with Brooklyn street scenes and Ruby's family's tenement apartment conjures an aura of authenticity. His full-bodied drawing style has always made most other comics artists look pallid, and he works with even greater vigor here. Admirers of Eisner's graphic novels should like Kubert's recent works, too. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By G. Arguelles
Format:Paperback
The book is a solid one, a good read. My only complaint is the feeling that Kubert hasn't brought anything new to the whole gangster thing.
Read it if you haven't read a hundred other mob books.
Read it if you haven't read a hundred other mob books.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By S. A. Levine
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Comic illustrations go deeper than visual...you can feel each panel and the emotion of the great Joe Kubert. Top additon to my "Speigelman Collection"
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Paige Turner
Format:Paperback
Joe Kubert, one of the early greats in the comic medium, wrote and drew this entertaining graphic novel, "Jew Gangster," the story of a young gangster Reuben Kaplan. Ruby joins the Jewish mob during the Great Depression and falls into a predictable spiral of violence. The story of lost innocence and the inevitable ending feels familiar, yet fresh.
This entertaining graphic novel is part of what I am calling the "Depression Era New York" school of stories - "Kings In Disguise" and Eisner's "Contract With God Trilogy" are among this group of works. This story is not as powerful as those, but a worthy member of the serious graphic novel genre. This powerful short novel is another display of how much the Great Depression affected an entire generation of artists. With fine artwork and a fast-paced story, this novel has me writing it again: we live in an incredible age for the comic medium.
This entertaining graphic novel is part of what I am calling the "Depression Era New York" school of stories - "Kings In Disguise" and Eisner's "Contract With God Trilogy" are among this group of works. This story is not as powerful as those, but a worthy member of the serious graphic novel genre. This powerful short novel is another display of how much the Great Depression affected an entire generation of artists. With fine artwork and a fast-paced story, this novel has me writing it again: we live in an incredible age for the comic medium.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Kubert does is again
This was a very fast book to read. As always, the elder Kubert's pacing is excellent. He relies upon what he saw and heard in the depression era NYC of his childhooh and somewhat... Read more
Published on June 2, 2009 by Stanley Hosmer
3.0 out of 5 stars
Worth a read, maybe not a purchase
I like Kubert's drawings and I am interested in the 1930s New York setting (though I think Eisner is better when it comes to architecture and portraying the urban landscape) but... Read more
Published on October 29, 2007 by Mitchell Glodek
3.0 out of 5 stars
A very good book, but it falls short of greatness
I picked this up as a small hardcover comic book last week and read it in a single evening. It was slightly "dinged" so it only cost $5, instead of $23. Read more
Published on November 3, 2006 by Mike Mitchell
5.0 out of 5 stars
KUBERT IS STILL A MASTER!
Joe Kubert is a rarity among golden age comic book artists. His work is still every bit as dynamic today as it was in the 50's and 60's. That's a remarkable feat. Read more
Published on January 3, 2006 by Tim Janson
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