On The Nightstand Thursdays: Disguised As Clark Kent: Jews, Comics and the Creation of the Superhero Books

Disguised As Clark Kent: Jews, Comics and the Creation of the Superhero BooksI went into Disguised As Clark Kent thinking it would be about the same book as Up, Up And Oy Vey!: How Jewish History, Culture, and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero by Simcha Weinstein (Oy Vey is jokier and with more Biblical parallels tossed in), but, despite having nearly the same title and subject, Disguised, I have to admit, is really the leader on the topic with greater contemporary historical detail and wonderful captured social and emotional subtleties. At least in my humble little opinion, it seems to be about Jews first, particularly the immigrant Jewish psyche, and comics we drew second.

A large number of the creators of the most famous superheroes were of Jewish background, secular, religious, or both. Disguised as Clark Kent explores how the Jewish consciousness of these individuals impacted the content of the comics and contributed to making characters such as Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, and Wonder Woman into the most familiar popular-culture icons of all time... Fingeroth... reflects on the phenomenon of the heavily Jewish elements that, consciously or not, went into the creation of the superhero.

Well-researched, filled with interesting history and interviews, Disguised As Clark Kent:

centers on questions of Jewish identity, which is historically about the push and pull toward and away from that very identity. One sees this immediately and most famously in Superman by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the superhero "disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper." It is also a large part of Bill Finger and Bob Kane's Batman, Will Eisner's Spirit, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's Captain America.

Disguised As Clark Kent was released this fall by Continuum International Publishing Group and is available on Amazon, Alibris, Powell's and the like.