Home > COMICS > 'FROM KRAKOW TO KRYPTON' INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR ARIE KAPLAN
'FROM KRAKOW TO KRYPTON' INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR ARIE KAPLAN
The author of the new book exploring the Jewish influence on comic book history takes some time to chat about his historical findings.
By Steve Sunu
Posted 10/7/2008
Looking for a book about Jews and comic books?
Arie Kaplan's got your hook up—as his new book From Krakow to Krypton shouts in a talk bubble blazoned across its cover—with a tome entirely about Jews and their influence on and in the world of comics.
Though it may be less of a book and more of a historical record, From Krakow to Krypton is a comprehensive illustrated history of Jews in comic books and explores the contribution that the Jewish culture has had on the genre that has become so revered in homes and Hollywood alike.
Wizard got a chance to catch up with Kaplan to discuss some of his findings and why he decided to become a comic book historian, humorist and writer. Check out the interview below, and the book's official Web site here.
WIZARD: What is the overview of From Krakow to Krypton?
KAPLAN: From Krakow to Krypton is about the unique contribution that Jews have made to the art form of comics and I specifically talk about American comics, not to slight Manga or any of the other Mexican comics or any of the other important comics movements around the world, but just because when you're talking about Jews in comics, you're really starting with the beginning of the comics movement in America seventy years ago. I tried to keep it as focused as I could, so really talking about American comics.
That having been said, a lot of other books on the subject have really talked more about superhero comics and about the golden and silver ages. This book by contrast is more like a documentary on paper; it's sort of like an oral history. I expanded it to include not only superhero comics, but also humor comics like Mad and autobiographical cartoons like those created by Harvey Pekar and Lauren Weinstein and Howard Chaykin's American Flagg, which is not exactly a superhero; it's sort of a cross-genre piece. It's not exactly what you'd call a superhero comic.
I also interviewed people like Will Eisner—it was one of the last interviews he gave, Art Spiegelman, Al Jaffee from Mad Magazine,—because I write for Mad so that gave me an insider's view of Mad—Trina Robbins, Chris Claremont...a lot of people don't know that Chris Claremont was Jewish, so I uncover a lot of things that people didn't know, like what influence did Chris Claremont's experiences on a kibbutz in Israel in the late '60s have to do with is creation of Kitty Pryde for X-Men? What did that have to do with his decision to create a Jewish backstory for Magneto? What was Al Jaffee's birth name? What was his given name? It wasn't Al Jaffee, and I reveal that in the book. What was the real fight for Siegel and Shuster to get their byline restored on Superman in the '70s? I tell that story in lurid detail. Is The Spirit Jewish? Well, Jules Feiffer used to say he was. [He] still does from time to time, I believe. So, I got it straight from the horse's mouth—Will Eisner explained that to me, and I have interesting self-portraits from each of these artists. I got Lisa Kirby to give me a self-portrait of her father, Jack Kirby. Eisner and Jaffee and a lot of other folks gave me self-portraits that I use in the book, so I tried to really let people know who these people were and who these people are, the people who create these comics.
What drove you to start pursuing this project?
KAPLAN: A few years ago, I was writing for this Jewish magazine called Reform Judaism magazine, and one of my big clients was Mad Magazine. The people from Reform Judaism knew I was a Mad writer and they were like, "Well, Arie knows a lot about comics, why don't you have him write something on the history of Jews in comics?" because I think Kavalier and Clay had just come out, and this was around 2001 to 2003.
It was a big hit and that was the subject that started becoming a hot button issue, started really being on peoples' minds; the subject of Jews in comics. They really have had a disproportionate contribution to the comics industry, not to slight the contribution that African-Americans, Asian and Latino creators have had, but really in the '30s through the '50s [it] was very disproportionately Jewish. What's the story behind that, what are the socioeconomic factors?
I wrote this three part series for them, and people like Neil Gaiman and Mark Evanier were talking about it on their blogs, which was really nice of them. It got a lot of play within the comics industry, people were passing it around. I started getting offers to turn it into a book. It took years and it took a ton of research, and people I called up—fellow authors like Danny Fingeroth and Peter Sanderson—and asking them, "Is this fully researched, is this okay?" And I also interviewed people like Judd Winick and Leela Corman and just tried to make it as well-rounded as possible—more gender balanced than a lot of books on the history of comics. I tried to include a lot of female creators like Miriam Katin and Lauren Weinstein and Trina Robbins and Diane Noomin and really tried to give a sense of the entire scope of the industry.
I think that a lot of the books on superhero comics are all well and good and I love superhero comics, but that's not all there is. It's hard to just pick one, because even when you're talking about the golden age, you're talking about superheroes and you're also talking about western comics and horror comics and humor comics. It felt like if you're just talking about superheroes, you're not telling the whole story. If you don't, you have to leave out Mad, you have to leave out Tales of the Crypt, you have to leave out Archie Comics and even the crime comics that a lot of Jewish creators worked on. Even these kid gang comics like Newsboy Legion. That's not superheroes, but it’s Simon and Kirby and you have to talk about Simon and Kirby. That led to the decision to make it an oral history and to include the entire industry and all genres.
What was the most interesting thing that you uncovered during your research?
KAPLAN: When I wrote the magazine series, I got an interesting letter from one of John Broome's descendants. He created the silver age Green Lantern. He created a lot of the supporting characters for the Barry Allen Flash. He had a huge run on that series in the late '50s and '60s. I don't know if I said that he wasn't Jewish or if I just left out the fact that he was, but one of his cousins—Larry Broome—e-mailed me and mentioned that John Broome was Jewish. He told me a lot about what he was like. His name was Irving Broome and a lot about his career and his friendship with Julius Schwartz and so I get into that a little bit in the book. That's something that a lot of people might not know.
Also, what Jack Kirby's life was like when he was a kid. He often painted his life as being a Warner Brothers 1930s gangster movie, and it kind of was. I got a real sense of that from people who knew him. I talked to Jerry Robinson about the creation of the Joker and his friendship with Siegel and Shuster and also how Robinson co-created not only the Joker, but also Robin. I've got the real story behind that.
There's a great story about how Robinson and Siegel and Shuster took a college course—a one time seminar—on communism given by this very left-wing professor. It had to be sometime in the '30s and '40s. As they were leaving, they thought, "Isn't this funny? Superman and Batman attending a course on communism." There's a lot of great nuggets like that. They give you an idea of what these people were like.
Also, Joe Kubert. If his situation had been a little bit different and he hadn't gotten out of Poland, he and his family would have been massacred during the Holocaust. That's something not a lot of people know. He did a graphic novel for iBooks a few years ago called Yossel and it's about the Warsaw ghetto uprising. It's basically a "What If...?" story, because the main character of Yossel is this kid who wants to be a cartoonist and the Nazis use him to draw pictures and entertain them and it's basically what would have happened if he had been left behind.
Stories like that really humanize the writers and artists and editors and publishers who created this industry.
I also touch on other things like African-American creators in the golden age and some of the gay and lesbian cartoonists who have been most influential recently, but it's mostly been about the Jewish influence.
How has some of your other work in comics contributed to your drive to pursue this project?
KAPLAN: First of all, I started getting really into who these people were as characters, because I think that's the only way this book is going to work. I think the only way this book is going to work is if I humanize these people and if I got a sense myself of what they were like. Some of these people are icons. Stan Lee is an icon, but what's he really like?
I actually interviewed him and he was a really great interview. He talked not only about his superhero work, but his work for FDR's Federal Theater Project that the works progress administration put out in the late '30s and early '40s. A lot of people don't know that he wanted to be an actor and he would've! He's got such a great speaking voice, he does all this voice-over work in Robot Chicken and things like that—he used to narrate the Spider-Man cartoons because he's got an amazing speaking voice.
I also worked on some of these other projects like Speed Racer. In Speed Racer: Chronicles of the Racer, the miniseries that I wrote for IDW which came out earlier this year, the basic premise is that Speed discovers that he's the last in a long line of racers that goes back centuries to the dawn of human civilization. I had a lot of fun creating these racers in other eras. I turn him into a legacy character, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Green Lantern or the Immortal Iron Fist. I was writing one of the last drafts of From Krakow to Krypton while I was writing this Speed Racer mini for IDW and what's funny is that From Krakow to Krypton—which is a history book about legacy and heritage—influenced Speed Racer, which is a legacy book about history and heritage. [Laughs] They're both kind of about the same thing. There are a lot of parallels because I was writing them at the same time. I think one leaked into the other. While I was writing a lot of the race sequences, I was thinking, "How would Bill Finger have written this when he was writing Batman Batmobile race sequences?" When I was doing a lot of the parodies and setting them in different eras, I was thinking that it would be a Neil Gaiman for kids because Neil Gaiman said that you could do a Sandman story in Roman times, you could do a Sandman story in any time period because it would work. He's immortal. He's been around forever. I was thinking that was one of the things that would appeal to kids about this take on Speed Racer. You could plop him into any era and you could just let you'd imagination go crazy.
I have a whole section on Tales from the Crypt in From Krakow to Krypton. So, while I was writing that book, I was also pitching stories to Jim Salicrup at Papercutz for Tales from the Crypt and man, it's such a thrill to be involved with Tales from the Crypt because I read about the history and you're following in the footsteps of people like Harvey Kurtzman and Al Feldstein and Bill Gaines—Bill Gaines whose dad created the comics industry. That's quite a legacy to be a part of, so I feel like I'm the inheritor of that legacy. You look at what these people have done and you just hope you can do it justice. I've done a lot of Mad pieces that have been illustrated by Drew Friedman who I talk about in the book. He was one of the first Raw Magazine artists that Spiegelman hired and again, it connects me to the legacy and gives me a responsibility to do it justice.
What do you most want people to take away from the book after reading it?
KAPLAN: I want then to take away the fact that not only are these the people who created our pop culture mythology, these are sort of the demigods of our world. You know, Superman, Batman, etc., but that comic books and geek culture have had such a pervasive influence on American culture in general.
Not only that, but also the fact that comics are more than just superheroes, they also expand—there's also so much storytelling possibility in comics. I think that they'll hopefully come away from it and see not only did these people create Superman and Batman and Green Lantern, but also a lot of characters in these other genres—autobiographical comics like American Splendor, humor comics like Mad—and that would lead people to think, hopefully, that comics are able to tell all these kinds of stories in all these kinds of genres and that our work isn't quite done. There are so many different stories that can be told in comics that haven't been told yet.
I hope it'll open up people's minds to the possibilities of the art form and get them excited about it. And also, just show them some of the interesting subtext that's inherent in some of these characters that they maybe haven't thought about before—like how is Superman sort of a super-golem. How is Superman an intergalactic Moses? I talk about that in the book. Spider-Man is a hero who is motivated by guilt. Does that make him a Jewish superhero? That's a question I raise in the book. Why do so many comics have the word "America" in the title? Are Americans trying to prove that they're super-American? There's American Splendor, American Flagg, Captain America—that's a question I raise in the book.
Something that actually got cut out was questioning why so many comic book creators are from Cleveland. Siegel and Shuster, Harvey Pekar, Brian Michael Bendis, Robert Crumb —I think Brian Azzarello is too—what's up with that? What's up with the air in Cleveland? Is it radioactive? That section got cut out of the final cut, but it's still something people should think about.
I reveal a lot of points that people haven't thought about before that will start the discussion about comics as an art form. Hopefully, people learn something new about comics from reading this book.
What other projects are you working on now that From Krakow to Krypton has been completed?
Kaplan: I've been doing some work on Archie Comics, I've been writing for some of the Johnny DC titles like Cartoon Network Action Pack and Looney Tunes. That's been a lot of fun. Bugs Bunny seems a little bit subtextually Jewish too, so I don't know if that counts.
There are a few comic book projects, graphic novels as well as single issues, that I am working on right now that I can't talk about. I've got Tales of the Crypt Graphic Novel #4: Crypt Keepin' It Real, and I wrote the cover story, "Jumping the Shark." It's a parody of reality TV.
The trade paperback of Speed Racer: Chronicles of the Racer is out from IDW. I've got to give [Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of IDW] Chris Ryall props. He gave me a great opportunity to write a really fun story and I owe him a lot for giving me my big break. I've worked with a lot of wonderful people in comics.
The Simpsons Winter Wingding #3 comes out from Bongo around Thanksgiving and I wrote a story called "Not a Green Slimy Creature was Stirring." It stars Bart, Lisa, Krusty and a whole bunch of Simpsons characters and a few surprise characters that you wouldn't expect to see in a holiday story, let alone in a Hanukkah story. I'm very proud of that and I don't know when the Archie Stuff and the Johnny DC stuff comes out, and I've been drawing cartoons for Nickelodeon Magazine as well. I've been blogging about the TV show "The Prisoner" on AMCtv.com and writing some animated shorts for PBS kids.
