Journal of Graphic Novels and 363 tder­ reading Tama Leaver's essay about the influence of 9 I II on the Spider-Man film tril­ ~ of ogy, she details at great length the August 2001 trailer for the original Spider-Man film I set (featuring the Twin Towers - the trailer was withdrawn after the traumatic event). The trailer depicts bank-robbers fleeing in a helicopter, only to be caught in a / I I. between the towers. Where an image would have sufficed, I found myself getting acquainted fe a­ with the scenario by watching the scene unfold on YouTube. In a time when reproduc­ who tions of images are a general requirement for visual scholars, it seems a shame that 1 the this collection was lacking in visual material. A similar lack of imagery was afforded min to McFarland's (2012) The Ages of . This could possibly be reflective of the ely extant problems in gaining permissions for image reproductions; something that is at hers the heart of comics academic discussion, and an issue all too familiar with this very :acle journal. no re Notwithstanding this, the collection will provide an invaluable resource for any ona l researcher and ' Spidey-phile' alike. m. a it h 1tion :tion Reference 1an: Darowski, Joseph, J. 2012. The Ages of Superman. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. m to ana William Grady University of Dundee lOO k [email protected]. uk non, © 2013, William Grady If a n. http://dx.doi.org/10 .1080/21504857.2013.790834 nee. der­ IOOd zing Siegel and Shuster's Funnyman: the first Jewish , from the creators of of Superman, by Thomas Andrae and Mel Gordon, Port Townsend, WA, Feral House, 2010, rep­ x + 183 pp., US$24.95 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-9325-9578-9 lllgh -cui­ tons Every fanboy, every comic-book historian, every sci-fij fantasy buff, and every student of llose American popular culture knows that and created the world' Ha n most recognizable comics figure, the character that helped spawn the Ameri can comic­ ccu­ book industry, and archetype of the superhero as we know it. What most people do not tri ng know is that the two creators also gave birth to an equally curious hero, but one whose 68). popular and economic fate was markedly different from that of the Man of Steel" s. In Siegel hise and Shuster's Funnyman: Th e First Jewish Superhero, from the Creators of Superman. ngst Thomas Andrae and Mel Gordon reveal the history behind a highly obscure, and large[ :a tor forgotten, comic-book figure from the late 1940s who stands alongside Superman in a number of curious ways. Perhaps more importantly, they al so contextualize this unlikely aca ­ superhero in light of post-war America and what he tells us about its cultural assumptions n of surrounding humour, ethnicity, and masculinity. IJla l­ Funnyman is the alias of Larry Davis, a television comedian who at one point poses as e. It a hero for a publicity stunt, one that goes wrong, and then discovers that he enjoys fighting rhen 364 Book Reviews crime. Upon first inspection, Funnyman seems to be a comedic reflection of the Superman Funnyr prototype. Much like Clark Kent, Larry Davis is a member of the media, although the latter more d does not so much report the news as makes light of it. Also similar to the mild-mannered various reporter, Davis lives a conspicuous double life, separating his civilian responsibilities from mark his escapades as a brightly coloured crime fighter (Funnyman's 'uniform' bears more of work o a resemblance to circus clowns than it does men in tights). In addition, just as Superman Gangs1 is physically outstanding and, as such, is easily recognizable to all who encounter him, comic I Funnyman is similarly striking, although his defining features are exaggerated slapstick, a Th skinny body and a stock of bright red hair. Indeed, these physical characteristics make him and Gc a not-too-veiled comics embodiment of the comedian Danny Kaye (whom Shuster appar­ book.t ently used as a visual model). Yet, while there are similarities between these two heroes the autl born of Siegel and Shuster's imagination, there are, nonetheless, significant differences. the Sw Whereas Superman was able to defeat his enemies through his strength and enhanced Indeed powers, Funnyman is always weaker than his opponents, prevailing instead through the use wonder of comedic props, gimmicks and creative mind games. Even more notable is Funnyman's complc inversion of superhero genre expectations. Readers easily laugh at the feigned ineptitude of publi h Clark Kent, the fa9ade masking the real character underneath, a super-being who demands and Q1J serious respect. But with Siegel and Shuster's comedic creation, it is the everyday man scal e.~ behind the hero, Larry Davis, who is drawn more seriously, and it is his crime-fighting In 1 alter ego, Funnyman, who comes across as the constructed, albeit wacky, fictional dis­ Siegel guise. Given Siegel and Shuster's growing frustrations with National Periodicals (now DC their Comics) over ownership of Superman in the late 1940s, it is no surprise that they created Th e Sp an upended version of their pre--eminent superhero. stand ; Yet, while the primary focus of Siegel and Shuster's Funny man is on the long­ work ; overlooked, and short-lived, superhero- the Funnyman ran for only six issues, Kra ko1< between January and August 1948, and in daily and Sunday newspaper strips between and Ra1 October 1948 and October 1949 - Andrae and Gordon use their discussions to high­ Up. p light many of the cultural issues raised by the comic creation. Indeed, the book is almost ume or equally divided between critical analysis in the first half and reproductions of the origi­ comr nal comics in the second part. After a preface by , himself an authority 96) one on the Jewish-inspired superhero, Mel Gordon opens the book with an essay on the roots serious of Jewish humour, its defining characteristics and its various translations onto the text of be said American popular culture. (Andrae and Gordon do not co-write the book as a whole, but hi s hw instead contribute separate sections, each of which bears the single author's name.) Thomas deveiOJ Andrae follows with two contributions of his own: a brief essay on the Jewish 'superhero' image leading up to Superman (e.g. the golem legend and popular strongman Siegmund Breitbart), and a more involved exploration of Jewish masculinity and its dichotomous expressions into the schlemiel and the tough Jew. Refere This second essay by Andrae is by far the most salient portion of the book. His first Bask inci entry, 'The Jewish Superhero', is underdeveloped, and Gordon's survey of Jewish humour, Pisc Brook_ while engaging in its own right, seems almost out of place. Certainly a discussion of ~ · Rut humour and its place within Jewish culture is necessary when approaching Siegel and Bu hle.l Shuster's comedic anti-hero, but most of Gordon's essay .is divorced from the actual con­ Yorl text of Funnyman. As such, Gordon's contribution is a useful companion piece to other Epstein. recent studies of Jewish humour and American popular culture-for example, Lawrence J. Pub Epstein's (2001) The Haunted Smile: The Story ofJewish Comedians in America, Vincent Fingero L()(l Brook's (2003) Something Ain't Kosher Here: The Rise of the 'Jewish' Sitcom, David GreenSJ Zurawick's (2003) The Jews of Prime Tim e and Leonard Greenspoon's (2011) Jews and Jone .( Humor - even though it does not reveal much about the creation and significance of Bas Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 365

Supennan Funnyman. Andrae's 'Funnyman, Jewish Masculinity, and the Decline of the Superhero' h the latter more directly engages with the comic-book figure, the lives of Siegel and Shuster, their -mannered various uses of cultural temperaments and iconography, and how Funnyman arguably li ties from marks a post-war decline of the superhero genre. In this way, Andrae expands upon the rs more of work of comics historians such as Gerard Jones (2004), whose Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Supennan Gangsters, and the Birth ofth e Comic Book provides a useful introduction to the Funnyman 11nter him, comic book and its place in Siegel and Shuster's oeuvre. :lapstick, a "' The last half of the book is devoted to the Funny man comics themselves, with Andrae make him and Gordon including a generous sampling of reproductions from the Funnyman comic >te r appar- book, the Sunday coloured strips and the black-and-white dailies. In addition to the comics, wo heroes the authors also provide a summary of each of the six comic books and a partial listing of iffe rences. the Sunday and daily storylines. This is the highlight of Siegel and Shuster 's Funnyman. enhanced Indeed, the last half of the book is arguably the most valuable, and one cannot help but g h the use wonder if Andrae and Gordon would have been more successful in providing us with the mnyman's complete run of Funnyman comics, something akin to the .k!nd of collections reproduced by ~ titude of publishers such as Fantagraphics (such as their Peanuts and Krazy Kat books) and Drawn >demands and Quarterly (the Gasoline Alley and Tove Jansson collections), albeit on a much smaller -yday man scale. Still, an incomplete picture of Funnyman is better than no picture at all. te-fighting In this way, Thomas Andrae and Mel Gordon provide a much-needed reminder of tiona! dis- Siegel and Shuster's varied imagination and how their contributions extend well beyond ;(now DC their Man of Tomorrow (and other more traditional comic-book heroes, such as Siegel's ey created The Spectre and The Star Spangled Kid). What is more, Siegel and Shuster 's Funnyman stands as another facet of the recent spike in scholarship on Jewish comics. Alongside such the long- works as Danny Fingeroth's (2007) Disguised as Clark Kent, Arie Kaplan's (2008) From IX ISSUeS, Krakow to Krypton, Paul Buhle's (2008) Jews and American Comics, Samantha Baskind between and Ranen Omer-Sherman's (2008) The Jewish , 's (2009) to high- Up, Up, and Oy Vey and Fredrik StrOmberg's (2012) Jewish Images in the Comics, the vol­ : is almost ume on Funnyman highlights the centrality of Jewish culture in the creation of American the origi- comics and, more specifically, its nurturing of the superhero genre. Philip Roth (200 I, 1 authority 96) once stated in an interview with Joyce Carol Oates that 'Sheer playfulness and deadly 1 the roots seriousness are my closest friends ', and, as Andrae and Gordon suggest, the same could the text of be said of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Their emphasis on the insouciant ' little man' and ~' ho le , but his humorous antics played just as much of a role as their idolization of power in the . ) Thomas development of the American superhero figure . ;uperhero' iegmund ·hotomous References ;_ His first Baskind, S., and R. Omer-Sherman, eds. 2008. The Jewish Graphic Novel: Critical Approaches. h humour, Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press. :ussion of Brook, V. 2003. Something Ain 't Kosher Here: The Rise of the 'Jewish ' Sitcom. Pi scataway. NJ : Rutgers University Press. iiegel and Buhle, P. 2008. Jews and American Comics: An Illustrated History of an American Art Form. Ne-.' crual con- York: New Press. e to other Epstein, L. J. 2001. The Haunted Smile: Th e Story of Jewish Comedians in America. New York : ;rwrence J. PublicAffairs. Fingeroth, D. 2007. Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero. 7. Vi ncent London: Continuum. mr, David Greenspoon, L., ed. 2011. Jews and Humor. West Lafayette, IN : Purdue University Press. Jews and Jones, G. 2004. Men of Tom orrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book. New York : fica nce of Basic. 366 Book Reviews

Kaplan, A. 2008. From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books. Philadelphia, PA: Jewish Publication Society. Roth, P. 200 I. Reading Myself and Others. New York: Vintage. Stromberg, F. 2012. Jewish Images in the Comics. Seattle, WA : Fantagraphics. ( Weinstein, S. 2009.-Up, Up, and 0 Vey!: How Jewish History, Culture, and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero. Fort Lee, NJ: Barricade. Zurawick, D. 2003. Th e Jews of Prime Tim e. Hanover, NH : Brandeis University Press. 1 Derek Parker Royal Philip Roth Studies F Derek@DerekRoyal. com © 2013, Derek Parker Royal http://dx.doi.org/ l 0.1080/21504857.2013.784204 The d isci facil

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