Disney Presents Marvel Comics

As some of you may not know, Marvel comics are no longer owned by themselves. As of the end of 2009, they were bought up by Disney.  Now, I do not know your opinions on Disney or what you may think that might happen with the Marvel franchise due to this merger, but I find it ironic that a company whose founder was rumored to be very anti Semitic has acquired a company that was founded by Jewish comic writers and illustrators.

Now, I can not make any assumptions on the views of the late Walt Disney, its just that for years that I had heard that he was anti Semitic.  I always tried to push it out due to the fact that I was raised on Disney movies as a child as were many children my age.

However, the biggest irony is that Michael Eisner, the current head of Disney is he himself Jewish. A Jewish man in charge of a company that is supposedly anti Semitic. The world really does work in mysterious ways.

Getting back to the merger of these two companies, I have no idea what is in store for the future of Marvel comics.  It could go very badly by over saturating the market with crappy merchandise and even crappier everything else.  It could go very well and the company would flourish.  Or, and this is probably the best bet, it would pretty much stay the same.

I did learn that even before the merger, Disney had footholds in the company such as rights to animated features and their DVD releases.

All I can say for sure is that Disney has not screwed up the company or its intellectual property yet, so I guess that it will be just fine with this.

Until next time.

The Golem, the Original Superhero?

The Golem has been a huge mythic figure in the realm of Judaism for at least a couple of centuries.  A creature made of clay set to help the Jewish people. A protector if you will. Its story is akin to that of a modern day comic book superhero.  Super strong, indestructible, and it even has a weakness like most superheroes do. 

I had thought about this during the discussion on Wednesday.  Besides the legends of the Greek and Roman gods and their pantheon of deities, the legend of the Golem seems to be that of the original superhero.

The Golem legend does still impact the comic world.  In the Marvel universe there is the character of the Golem.  He is the Golem of Jewish legend.  There were even a few others that donned the name of Golem.  One was of a man in World War 2 that had accidentally gained the power to turn into a golem and defended Jews in Poland.

The Golem does have influence on the comic world besides its own character.  There are many parallels between the Golem and a couple of superheroes of today.  Some have considered Superman to be a golem like figure as he is seen as a protector.  Also the Hulk is is very Golem like as he is indestructible and super strong.  But perhaps the character most influenced by the golem legend is the character of the Thing.  A man with a body made of stone and also super strong says it right there.  It also helps that Ben Grimm is Jewish, but that was not revealed until the 2000's.  The Thing is the closest equivalent to the Golem that we have in modern day comic book lore.

It is with these findings that I would say that the Golem is the original superhero.

Until next time.

The Death and Rebirth of Captain America

Captain America.  He is one of those heroes that most people can really look up to.  The original all-American hero.  A symbol that stood for the American dream, the defender of the weak and protector of the innocent.  There is a reason why he fought with a shield back when he began his fight for America during World War 2.

Captain America was brought back to life after he was found frozen in ice in the North Atlantic. After being unfrozen, he again fought for the American ideal, just like he did back in the 1940's.  He continued to do this up until the end of the Civil War of the Marvel universe.  During this Civil War, superheros were split among each other on the issue of registering super powered individuals.  Even villains were joining their enemies to stand up for their beliefs. Near the end of this war, Captain America surrendered and was eventually arrested.  Before his trial could take place, Captain America was fatally shot on the steps of the courthouse.

The reason I am talking about Captain America is for the reason that he was a symbol of the protector for many Jewish children, and possibly some adults, during World War 2.  He was seen as the hero against the Nazi regime in Germany and the savior of Jewish people.

Though the original Captain America is dead, or possibly alive again due to rumors that I have heard, there will be a resurgense of Captain America fandom due to a movie that is in the works. I am personally looking forward to this movie.

For more information on the death of Captain America and what it means go to http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2934283&page=1.

Until next time.

The Journey Begins

Having been a comic book reader my entire life, I had never really thought about the impact that Judaism, or anything else for that matter, has had on the comic book world.  I did know that the character of Magneto from the Marvel comic series X-Men was Jewish, but that was about it for my knowledge on the subject.

After reading A Contract with God, I am beginning to see the impact of the Jewish culture on the entire comic world, and I must say that it is one of the best things to happen to the comic industry.  Just by the fact that Will Eisner was there at the beginning of comic books says a lot.  Also by the fact that he started the sect of graphic novels says quite a lot too.  If it wasn't for that first publication of Contract with God, we would not have the groundbreaking series of Watchmen, V for Vendetta, or even the lesser known, but still respected, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.  And for that I thank Will Eisner.

On the subject of A Contract with God, I thought it to be a very well written piece of work.  The stories bring you into a world of a multitude of characters that seem to be the victim of the world that they live in. Victims of their own vices and of the culture that has been forced upon them.  All the while, it slowly brings you into the culture lives of Jewish people.  He does not flat out state that they are Jewish, save the fact of the main character of the title story is explicitly stated to be just that. 

I may not know much about the history of Judaism or its culture, but i do know this.  I cannot wait to learnso much more through the readings.