By Cailin Acosta
SAN DIEGO – In a Comic-Con panel, Mark S. Zaid, Esq. (Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide advisor; comic book historian, author, GI’s Rabbi) presented a PowerPoint on “The Jewish Experience in Comics: Characters and Creators.”
This lecture on Thursday, July 24, explored how the Jewish identity of iconic comics creators influenced their storylines and arcs. Many of these characters from DC Comics, Marvel Comics and Mad Magazine had fascinating personal backstories of the creators who seamlessly wove their cultural identity into their work. Zaid also discussed how sensitive topics such as the Holocaust have been covered.
Zaid told of his involvement in the comic book Whistleblowers: Four Who Fought to Expose the Holocaust to America by Rafael Medoff and Dean Motter, with an Introduction by Zaid. Medoff is a noted Holocaust and World War II historian.
Zaid also recommended We Spoke Out: Comic Books and the Holocaust by Neal Adams, Rafael Medoff, and Craig Yoe, with an Afterword by Stan Lee, to bring the knowledge and stories of the Holocaust to comic book readers. These books are available on Amazon.
Contemporary presentations of Jews in comic books are favorable, Zaid said. As we know, depictions of Jews many years ago were just the opposite. Many were based on stereotypical presentations of Jews back in the 1920s.
So, how did this start?
Zaid presented a roll call of Jewish contributors to the comic book industry:
A forefather of Jewish comic books was Maxwell Charles Gaines (
né Max Ginsberg) who was born September 21, 1894 and died August 20, 1947. He was instrumental in creating modern comic books and founded educational comics.
Harry Donenfeld (October 17, 1893 – February 26, 1965) created DC Comics and launched Superman with his partner Jack Liebowitz, né Yacov Lebovitz (October 10, 1900 – December 11, 2000).
Then, of course, Stan Lee, ne Stanley Lieber (December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was a founder of Marvel Comics and co-created Spider-Man, Iron Man, Daredevil, Dr. Strange, and Black Widow.
Martin Goodman (né Moe Goodman), January 18, 1908 – June 6, 1992, founded Timely Comics (later known as Marvel).
Jerry Siegel (October 17, 1914 – January 28, 1996) and Joe Shuster (July 19, 1914 – July 30, 1992) were the co-creators of Superman.
Jack Kirby (né Jacob Kurtzberg), Joe Simon, né Hymie Simon (October 11, 1913 – December 14, 2011), were the co-creators of Captain America, Boy Employers, Captain 3-D with Stan Lee, co-created Hulk, Fabulous Four, Thor, Ant-Man, and X-Men.
Robert Kane, né Kahn (October 24, 1915 – November 3, 1998), with Milton “Bill” Finger (February 8, 1914 – January 18, 1974), co-created Batman and Robin.
David “Jerry” Robinson (January 1, 1922 – December 7, 2011) created The Joker.
William Erwin Eisner (March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) created the Spirit and Infamous Wonder Woman.
Joseph Kubert (September 18, 1920 – August 12, 2012) worked at DC, All-American, St. John Publications, and Signature, and created Thor.
Mortimer Weisinger (April 25, 1915 – May 7, 1978) was the sole Superman editor from 1958 to 1970. Weisinger helped introduce Supergirl, Krypto, Phantom Zone, Kandor, Legion of Super Heroes, and a variety of Kryptonite.
Julius Schwartz (June 19, 1915 – February 8, 2004) was hired in 1944 as Editor at DC. He spent 42 years with the company and had numerous significant roles.
Sheldon Mayer (April 1, 1917 – December 21, 1991) was one of the original employees of DC. He also worked for Dell Comics and with M.C. Gaines. He helped create many of the early superheroes.
William Maxwell “Bill” Gaines (March 1, 1922 – June 3, 1992) created EC Comics and Mad Magazine.
Albert Bernard Feldstein (October 24, 1925 – April 29, 2014) edited Mad Magazine from 1956 to 1985.
Harvey Kurtzman (October 3, 1924 – February 21, 1993) worked on Classics Comics. He also created and edited Mad Magazine from 1952 to 1956. William Elder, né Wolf William Eisenberg (September 22, 1921 – May 15, 2008) helped create Mad Magazine.
Allan Jaffee, né Abraham Jaffee (March 13, 1921 – April 10, 2023) holds the world record for the longest career as a comic artist, at 78 years. Jaffee also contributed to Mad Magazine for 65 years. Kurtzman, Elder, and Jaffee all went to high school together.
Gil Kane, né Eli Katz (April 6, 1926 – January 31, 2000) co-created Green Lantern and Atom (DC) and Adam Warlock and Iron Fist (Marvel).
Neal Adams (June 15, 1941 – April 28, 2022) was influential in runs of Batman, Green Lantern, and Deadman.
Jeanette Kahn (May 16, 1947) became the publisher of DC at the age of 28 (1976) and then president five years later in 1981. She spent 26 years with DC.
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Cailin Acosta is the assistant editor of the San Diego Jewish World.