Something very peculiar has gone on in the comic book world over the last two weeks.
Two weeks ago, Marvel Comics—proprietors of Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, the Avengers, and so on—released a comic book titled X-Men Gold #1. It’s a sort of reboot of the X-Men, the mutant superheroes who’ve torn up our movie screens over the last 15 years. X-Men Gold #1 included drawings filled with subtle anti-Christian and anti-Semitic propaganda.
When I first saw a headline to that effect, I assumed it was someone overreacting to something—but then Marvel apologized and recalled the issue.
A few months ago—on December 2 of last year—there were protest marches directed at the governor of Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama. Basuki is a Christian. The protests were over comments he made that the Quranic Surah (“chapter”) 5:51 shouldn’t be taken to mean that “Muslims should not appoint Jews and Christians as their leaders,” which is evidently the idiomatic translation used in Indonesia. The literal translation of the passage is, “O you that have believed, do not take the Jews and Christians as Allies. They are, in fact, allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you—then indeed, he is one of them. Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoing people.”
For allegedly trying to persuade people to ignore the Quaran, Governor Basuki was labeled a blasphemer, and protested by an angry mob hundreds of thousands strong. The December 2 protest became known as the 212 protest, and was duplicated on February 21 of this year; also a “2/12” in some calendars. (Ours, for instance.)
These protests were supported by Indonesian Comic Book artist Ardian Syaf, who illustrated X-Men Gold #1. A drawing in that comic book shows a very-religious Catholic X-Man playing baseball with one of his superhero colleagues, who’s shirt is emblazoned with “QS 5:51.” That is, Quranic Surah 5:51. Another drawing shows a Jewish X-Man, Kitty Pryde, addressing a crowd of onlookers on a city street. As she explains to the crowd that she is the leader of the X-Men, a man in the crowd glares at her; he has the number “51” stamped on his t-shirt —reminding everyone not to accept Jews as leaders. Above him, a storefront is emblazoned with the number 212. Miss Pryde herself stands in front of Jewelry store. Her head partly obscures the last few letters, leaving the word “Jew” floating by her head.
When Marvel found out what was going on, they apologized, and fired Syaf—who is quoted in the Jerusalem Post as saying that the Quarnic quote in question promotes “justice” and “love,” and that “when Jews are offended, there is no mercy.”
This whole thing is peculiar for a dozen obvious reasons. Foremost among them is the fact that comic books were literally invented by Jews.
The comic book was the idea of a Jew named Max Gaines, born Max Ginzberg. He suggested to Eastern Color Printing that they supplant Sunday funny pages with a complete funny-page book. No news, just comic strips. Thus was born the first comic book, “Famous Funnies #1.”
This was in 1934, the height of the Depression, the first year of Hitler’s Germany. Unsurprisingly, “Famous Funnies #1” quickly sold out; it was just as quickly followed by “Famous Funnies #1, series 2″—the first monthly comic book.
With a new, wildly successful industry on their hands, Eastern Color Printing fired Max Gaines. So he went to the McClure Newspaper Syndicate and suggested a deal: if they would let him print a competing comic book on their color printing-presses, he would split the profits with them 50-50. Mclure agreed, and Gaines began churning out “Popular Comics” comic books.
Gaines realized that reprinting Sunday funnies would lose its appeal quickly, so he introduced the first original comic book story: “Scribbly,” staring an evidently Jewish cartoonists, based on its creator, the Jewish artist Sheldon Mayer.
It was Mayer who suggested to Gaines that they hire two young Jews named Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Siegel was a writer and Shuster an artist; together they invented the “superhero.” Specifically, they invented Superman—a character designed to execute their fantasies of smashing fascism and anti-Semitism. Will Eisner, the most famous of all cartoonists, the inventor of the “Graphic Novel,” the man for whom the Comic Book Pulitzer and the Comic Book Hall of Fame are named—who is Jewish—said that Jews needed “a hero who could protect us against an almost invincible force, so [Siegel and Shuster] created an invincible hero.”
Superman’s birth name is “Kal-El,” which is Hebrew for “voice of god.” Superman’s origin story has him sent to Earth as a baby by his native race, who are on the verge of being exterminated. A metaphor for the then-ongoing Kinderstransport of Jewish children from fascist countries to the UK.
According to Eisner, however, Superman was actually the second superhero. The first was the mythological Golem, created by the Rabbi of Prague to defend Jews from pogroms.
After Superman, the next big thing in comics was Batman, created Bob Kane and Bill Finger, both Jews. They also created Robin and the Joker, and Bill Finger created the superhero Green Lantern.
Then came Marvel Comics, created, like Batman, in 1939. Working for Marvel, Joe Simon (Jewish, born Hymie Simon) and Jack Kirby (Jewish, born Jacob Kurtzberg) invented Captain America. And Kirby, working with his partner Stan Lee (Jewish, born Stanley Lieber) created the Fantastic Four, the comic book version of Thor, and the Hulk.
And: The X-Men, a group of exceptional, mutant individuals reviled by society, who are explicitly a metaphor for Jews. The main thread of the X-Men is the struggle between pro-integration Professor X and the anti-integration Magneto—a (fictional, of course) survivor of Auschwitz, who doesn’t believe a successful and easily scapegoated group will ever be accepted by the world at large.
Stan Lee, the most prolific of all the big comic book names (who, incidentally, has a cameo in every Marvel comic book movie), also invented Iron Man, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, and Spider-Man.
In other words, with the exception of Wonder Woman, every single comic book character the man on the street has heard of has a Jewish origin. This information, evidently, did not filter down to Mr. Syaf.
Anyway . . . Happy Passover.
