Danny Fingeroth. Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero

Danny Fingeroth. Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero. Continuum International Publishing Group Inc. (2007)

Reviewed by Alina Mattison


Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the creation of the Superhero was written by Danny Fingeroth, the former editor of Spider Man Comics. The foreword is by Stan Lee, chairman of Marvel comics. Fingeroth writes as a journalis,t so this book is more enticing then books that are written by professional historians. Even though this book was written in 2007, most of the time, the author is focusing on what is going on in the1940’s, 1950’s, and a little bit of the 1960’s.

In the very beginning of the book, there is a foreword by Stan Lee. I have never read or seen a book with a foreword. I thought this was really interesting because Stan Lee is very famous and is know for his superheroes more so then writing in books. In the foreword he discuses how he came to develop his passion for the superheroes. He also reveals he wished he had never changed his name. I like how this was included in the novel because it allows the reader to be more intact with the book. It is nice to have a famous person who has created the character America has grown to love, tell a little bit about himself in the book instead of hearing it from just the author.

This was a very interesting book to read. I believe the main point of the book that Fingeroth is trying to get across is how the Jewish cultures and attitude impacted the United States. In his book, he shows and discuses how the Jews who came to America were able to use their past to push forward and create the Superheroes which everyone in America has heard of. The first part of the book explains where the Jews came from and what was going on at that time in their lives. The time when the comics started to appear was during world war II. They portrayed the Nazis as the villain and all evil. After this, the comic books started to appear. They creators of the Superheroes were trying to pin point the children of America and this is why they used exciting fun story. The people who supported the comics were the kids who’s parents gave nickels and dimes to bye comics. Therefore the main group who were supporting the comics at the time were kids.

The Jews created the Superheroes in a way that portrayed what America was to them. Many of the superheroes were not just telling a story but were telling the story of what their creators dreamt about. To the Jewish creators of the superheroes, they were telling what America meant to them and why they came to the country. Fingeroth, was able to connect how the Jews which created the famous Superheroes we know today from leaving and coming to America which gave them a bright new future to look forward to.

Fingeroth was able to connect key points in his book. He provided information about what was going on that made the Jewish people create the superheroes they did. He provided what the superheroes meant to the Jews and what they portrayed. Fingeroth used valid information to prove his point in his book. It was very clear and concise about what he was trying to get across to the reader.

I really liked how Fingeroth organized his book. He made it easy for the reader to put things together and see his point clearly. The beginning of the book explains the background of the Jews and what they were going through. Fingeroth explains how the holocaust had a big impact on the Jews and is a big part of their past. He also explains in the book how the main creator such as Stan Lee Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster all grew up in the Same enclave in Bronx in upper Manhattan. Some of the creators even went to the same high schools together. He gives enough background information to show how and why they created the Superheroes they did but not too much informations to where the reader gets bored. Overall, Fingeroth, organized his information very neatly and easy for the reader to follow.

This book was assigned for me to read so I did not pick it out. I am really glad I read this book though because I thought it was really interesting and had a lot of good information that I did not know about. I did not know at all before reading this book that the main Superheroes everyone knows were created by Jews. I thought it was really interesting how if the Jews did not migrate here because of what was going on over in Europe that America probably would not have the Superheroes everyone loves today.

I thought the author carried out his task very well and made his point very clear. I also enjoyed his style of writing. Most of the books about history are written by historian. They tend to be more often then not scholarly books and very factual. A lot of the time I have a hard time keeping interested in scholarly books so it was nice to have a break from it and read a book written by a journalist. Because he was a Journalist, I thought the information he provided was interest and kept the reader tentative instead of being dull. Overall I really enjoyed this book and found the information it contained to be insightful and thought provoking.