Comic artist and historian Arlen Schumer will lecture at Rice University on “Jews ‘n’ Comics.” Schumer’s views on the subject as part of the upcoming lecture are described in Jewish Herald-Voice:

According to Schumer, it’s no coincidence that several pioneers of the America comic book art form were Jews. A short list includes Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, co-creators of Superman; Bob Kane (born Robert Kahn), creator of Batman; Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg), creator of Captain America; and Stan Lee (born Stanley Lieber), co-creator with Jack Kirby of Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, the Hulk, X-Men, Iron Man and others.

Besides their personal Jewish identities, these artist geniuses infused their superhero creations and their sagas with Jewish culture, Schumer explains in his work.

“I try to demonstrate that there’s been a strong Jewish influence in the creation of our modern-day superheroes that go back to stories that go as far back as you want to go back,” he said in an interview with the JH-V.

The Superman creation story, for example, is based on Jewish archetypes spelled out in the baby Moses story and messianic prophecies, Schumer noted. Iconic superheroes like Superman, Batman and Captain America each were created by first-generation assimilated American Jews at times of national crisis.

“When there was a crisis facing the Jewish people, we can look back to the golem myth from late 16th century Prague. The Jews were threatened by pogroms, so the rabbi conjured a man out of earth and gave life from nothingness to save the ghetto and protect the Jewish people,” Schumer said.

American superheroes of the 1930s, like Batman, were a response to the rise of fascism and Nazism. Others superheroes, like Captain America, were created to help raise American consciousness about the war and to change isolationist attitudes, he added.

The whole article can be read here. See Schumer’s website for further examples of his lectures and work.