From Krakow To Krypton: Jews & Comix

Is Superman Jewish? Yes! And so are Spiderman and Wolverine. Virtually all of the iconic American superheroes were created by children of European Jewish immigrants, who had fled persecution and war in Europe in the hopes of building a better, more secure life in the United States. In this course, we will explore how so many superhero narratives derive from the instabilities of the immigrant position in America, including: an alien discovering a foreign land, like Superman; a figure plagued by guilt for not having saved his family, like Spider-Man; a battle against a historic evil, like Captain America’s defeat of the Nazis; and, finally, outsiders persecuted for being different, like the X-Men. In addition, we will venture beyond the realm of superheroes in order to examine the ways in which Jewish life has been portrayed in graphic novels both in the United States and beyond. We will see how Will Eisner, a giant of the comics industry, came to create graphic novels illuminating various aspects of the (Jewish) immigrant experience in New York City.