• Art
  • Heroes, Freaks and Super-Rabbis

Art

Heroes, Freaks and Super-Rabbis

DON'T MISS: From Superman to Batman and the Hulk, the best superheroes were created by Jewish artists: the Jewish Museum's new show celebrates the men who made comics what they are today.

Image for Heroes, Freaks and Super-Rabbis
Heeb Magazin, 2006. Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Robert Crumb (c) Courtesy David Zwirner, New York

From Superman and Batman to Captain America, the Hulk and the Fantastic Four, the most popular superheroes were created by Jewish artists.

The Jewish Museum is dedicating an exhibition to the men who developed the comic strip into what it is today: it documents the genre from its birth in late-19th century New York to modern-day comics, with a unique focus on the shock and horror genre of the 1950s.

Although superheroes were fighting the Nazis even before the USA entered the war, comics didn’t overtly take on Jewish themes until the 1970s, with the apparition of graphic novels by the likes of Will Eisner and arguably the most famous comic artist of them all, Art Spiegelman – the creator of the Pulitzer-Prize-winning autobiographical Holocaust tale Maus. (Check out our exclusive interview with Spiegelman!)

HEROES, FREAKS AND SUPER-RABBIS | Through August 8. For more information, visit www.jmberlin.de