FROM KRAKOW TO KRYPTON: JEWS AND COMIC BOOKS

Starting with a foreword in comic book format by Harvey Pekar and J.T. Waldman, you are introduced to the Jews and comics equivalent of Jules Feiffer’s Great Comic Book Heroes. From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books by MAD magazine writer, Arnie Kaplan.

I first came across the basis for this book in a series of articles in Reform Judaism magazine, and right away I thought this had to be a book. From the early days of Famous Funnies and Max Gaines, the start of what would become DC Comics, and up to today’s independent publishers, the importance of Jews to the creation and success of the comic industry is discussed.

This book covers creators (Eisner, Kane, Kirby, Chaykin, Spiegelman), creations (Superman, The Spirit, Ragman), and the importance of being Jewish and using Jewish themes in the development of the comics history (Maus, The Escapist).

To paraphrase the old Levy’s Rye Bread commercial, ‘You Don’t Have to be Jewish’ to enjoy Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books!

See PREVIEWS page #385.