{"id":27921,"date":"2023-05-01T09:00:26","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T09:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=27921"},"modified":"2023-04-24T17:44:31","modified_gmt":"2023-04-24T17:44:31","slug":"siegel-and-shusters-funnyman-the-first-jewish-superhero-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2023\/05\/01\/siegel-and-shusters-funnyman-the-first-jewish-superhero-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Siegel and Shuster\u2019s Funnyman: The First Jewish Superhero"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Jerome<\/strong> Siegel<\/strong> & Joe Shuster<\/strong> with Thomas Andrae<\/strong>, Mel Gordon<\/strong> & various (Feral House)
\nISBN: 978-1-932595-78-9 (TPB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

The comics industry owes an irredeemable debt to two talented and ambitious Jewish kids from Cleveland in the right place at the right time who were able to translate their enthusiasm and heartfelt affection for beloved influences and delight in a new medium into a brand-new genre which took the world by storm.<\/p>\n

Writer Jerome Siegel and artist Joe Shuster were a jobbing cartoonist team just breaking into the brand-new yet already-ailing comicbook business with strips such as \u2018Henri Duval\u2019<\/em>, Doctor Occult <\/em>and Slam Bradley. <\/em>Thanks to editorial visionary Sheldon Mayer, they hastily rejigged a frequently rejected newspaper strip concept for an upcoming new title and manifested the greatest action sensation of the age – if not all time\u2026<\/p>\n

Superman<\/strong> captivated depression-era audiences and within a year had become the vanguard of a genre and an industry. In those early days, the feature was both whimsical and bombastic – as much gag strip as adventure serial – and it was clear the utterly inspired whiz kids were wedded to laughs just as much as any wish-fulfilling empowerment fantasies.<\/p>\n

As even the most casual scholar knows, Siegel & Shuster were not well-served by their publishers and by 1946 no longer worked for National Periodicals (today\u2019s DC Comics). In fact, they were in acrimonious litigation which led to the originators losing all rights to their creation and suffering years of ill-treatment until an artist-led campaign at the time of the 1978 Superman movie shamed the company into a belated reversal and financial package (consisting mostly of having their names returned to the character\u2019s logo and company medical benefits).<\/p>\n

Long before this however, the dynamic duo produced an abortive \u201cLast Hurrah\u201d: another unique character based on early influences, but one who sadly did not catch the public\u2019s attention in those post war years when the first super-heroic age was ending.<\/p>\n

Based broadly on performing sensation Danny Kaye, Funnyman<\/strong> was a stand-up comedian dressed as a clown who used comedy gimmicks to battle criminals, super-villains and aliens: initially in 6 issues of his own comic book and thereafter as a Daily\/Sunday newspaper strip.<\/p>\n

A complete antithesis to the Man of Steel, Larry Davis<\/em> was a total insider, no orphan or immigrant, but a wealthy, successful man, revered by society, yet one who chose to become a ridiculous outsider, fighting for not the common good but because it gave him a thrill nothing else could match. The series was light, beautifully audacious, tremendous fun and sank like a concrete-filled whoopee cushion.<\/p>\n

Here social historians Thomas Andrae and Mel Gordon carefully re-examine the strip in the much broader context of Jewish Identity and racial character, with particular reference as it applies to Jewish-Americans, and make some fascinating observations and postulates.<\/p>\n

Following an intriguing preface by author, writer, editor and comics historian Danny Fingeroth, this book assiduously dissects the history and psychology of the Judaic experience in a compelling series of astoundingly illustrated essays gathered under the umbrellas of Gordon\u2019s \u2018The Farblondjet Superhero and his Cultural Origins\u2019 <\/em>and Andrae\u2019s \u2018The Jewish Superhero\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The former (and Farblondjet<\/em> translates as \u201cmixed up\u201d or \u201clost\u201d) probes \u2018The Mystery of Jewish Humor\u2019<\/em>, \u2018The Construct of Humor in Everyday Jewish Life\u2019<\/em>, \u2018The Old Theories:<\/em> Laughter-Through-Tears\u2019<\/em>; \u2018A Laughing People\u2019<\/em>; \u2018Outside Observer\u2019 <\/em>and \u2018The Badkhn Theory\u2019 <\/em>(Badkhn being performers hired to insult, offend and depress guests and celebrants at social gatherings such as weddings or funerals).<\/p>\n

\u2018Characteristics of Modern Jewish Humor\u2019 <\/em>are subdivided and explored in \u2018Aggression\u2019<\/em>, \u2018The Yiddish Language\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Self-Mockery\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Inversion and Skepticism\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Scatology\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Gallows Humor\u2019 <\/em>and \u2018Solipsism and Materialism\u2019 <\/em>before Gibson\u2019s compelling, contextual potted-history concludes with \u2018American-Jewish Comedy Before 1947\u2019 <\/em>(the year Funnyman<\/strong> debuted), \u2018Weber and Fields\u2019<\/em>, \u2018On the Boards\u2019<\/em>, \u2018The Borscht Belt\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Cartoons and Jokebooks\u2019 <\/em>and \u2018Hollywood Talkies and Syndicated Radio\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Then, in \u2018The Jewish Superhero\u2019 <\/em>Andrae examines Siegel & Shuster\u2019s possible influences; everything from German expressionist cinema masterpiece The Golem: How He Came into This World <\/strong>to real-life strongman Sigmund Breitbart<\/em>, a Polish Jew who astounded the world with his feats in the early 1920s. On his American tour Sigmund appeared in Cleveland in October 1923. Siegel, a local resident, would have been 9 years old – which as everyone knows is the actual \u201cgolden age of comics\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2018Funnyman, Jewish Masculinity and the Decline of the Superhero\u2019 <\/em>explores the psychology and landscape of the medium through the careers and treatment of Siegel & Shuster in \u2018The Birth of Funnyman\u2019<\/em>, \u2018The Body Politic\u2019<\/em>, \u2018The Schlemiel and the Tough Jew\u2019<\/em>, \u2018The Decline of the Superhero\u2019 <\/em>and \u2018Comic Book Noir\u2019 <\/em>before going on to recount the story of the newspaper strips in \u2018The Funnyman Comic Strip\u2019 <\/em>and \u2018Reggie Van Twerp\u2019 <\/em>(a last ditch attempt by the creators to resurrect their comic fortunes) before the inevitable axe falls in \u2018End Game\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Thus far this engaging tome is a compulsive and hugely informative academic work, but in \u2018Funnyman Comic Book Stories\u2019 <\/em>the resplendently vintage fan fun truly takes hold with a full colour section reproducing a selection of strips from the 6-issue run.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Kute Knockout!\u2019 <\/em>(Funnyman<\/strong> #2, March 1948) pits the Hilarious Hero against a streetwalker robot built to seduce and rob Johns after which \u2018The Medieval Mirthquake\u2019 <\/em>(Funnyman<\/strong> #4, May 1948) propels our Comedy Crusader back to the time of Camelot. From the same issue comes \u2018Leapin\u2019 Lena\u2019 <\/em>as Funnyman faces a female bandit who can jump like a kangaroo whilst yarn #5 (July 1948) catches him chasing a worrisome new crime wrinkle in \u2018The Peculiar Pacifier\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Also included are the striking covers of all 6 issues, the origin of Funnyman from #1, lots of splash pages and a selection of Shuster\u2019s Superman<\/strong> art, but the most welcome benefit for fans and collectors is a detailed precis of the entire run\u2019s 20 tales.<\/p>\n

The same consideration is offered for the newspaper strips. As well as similar synopses for the Sundays (12 adventures spanning October 31st<\/sup> 1948 to the end of October 1949) and the Dailies (another dozen larks covering October 18th<\/sup> 1948 to September 17th<\/sup> 1949), there are 11 pages of full-colour Sunday sections plus the complete monochrome \u2018Adventure in Hollywood\u2019 <\/em>(December 20th<\/sup>-January 12th<\/sup> 1949) to enjoy and marvel over.<\/p>\n

Like Funnyman himself, this book is an odd duck. Whereas I would have loved to see the entire output gathered into one volume, what there is here is completely engrossing: a wonderful assessment and appreciation of genuine world-altering hugely creative comics pioneers enjoying some well-deserved acclaim and compelling cultural contextualization for something other than their mighty Man of Steel. This is a fabulous tome with an appeal extending far beyond its arguably limited funnybook fan audience.
\nSiegel and Shuster\u2019s Funnyman<\/strong> \u00a9 2010 Thomas Andrae and Mel Gordon. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jerome Siegel & Joe Shuster with Thomas Andrae, Mel Gordon & various (Feral House) ISBN: 978-1-932595-78-9 (TPB\/Digital edition) The comics industry owes an irredeemable debt to two talented and ambitious Jewish kids from Cleveland in the right place at the right time who were able to translate their enthusiasm and heartfelt affection for beloved … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Siegel and Shuster\u2019s Funnyman: The First Jewish Superhero”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[90,119,125,127,111],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cartooning-classics","category-comicsacademic","category-humour","category-nostalgia","category-satirepolitics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7gl","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27921"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27922,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27921\/revisions\/27922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}