Tag Archives: superheroes

The Cremation of Jewish X-Man Kate Pryde

In a review for Marvel Comics’ Marauders #11, Bleeding Cool reporter Jude Terror writes:

The X-Men gives Kate Pryde’s body a Viking funeral, as Jewish tradition dictates.

This, of course, is grossly in error; Jewish tradition dictates no such thing. And even if the (pseudonymic?) Mr. Terror had his tongue deeply in his cheek, it’s a joke in poor taste.

Why’s that? Because, as writers like Rachael Knight at Women Write about Comics point out, it’s a pretty large insult to her religious heritage, particularly as one of the most prominent and long-time Jewish superhero characters.

Marauders #11 Buries Kate Pryde’s Jewish Legacy

Continue reading The Cremation of Jewish X-Man Kate Pryde

Prominent Muslim Characters Continue to Expand in Comics

Kismet, Man of Fate (2018)

With Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel) soon coming to video game systems as part of Marvel’s Avengers game, it seemed a fitting time to look back at this 2017 CBR article on 15 notable Muslim characters in comics:

15 Muslim Characters In Comics You Should Know

More characters have arisen even since the article’s publication, including Red Dagger & Amulet in Ms. Marvel or Sofia & Nasser of Sheriff of Babylon. Currently, funding is being raised on Patreon for a second new volume of CBR’s number-one Muslim character, Kismet, Man of Fate.

Jewish Grandpa Created Legendary Supersoldier

Cover to MY CAPTAIN AMERICAEarlier this month, Jewish Boston sat down with Newton’s Megan Margulies to discuss the legacy of her grandfather Joe Simon (born Hymie Simon) , co-creator of Captain America. Her new memoir, My Captain America: A Granddaughter’s Memoir of a Legendary Comic Book Artist, examines how her grandfather-artist was both “supremely proud of being Jewish” while simultaneously “not very religious.”

His parents were very strict and religious, and I think that sort of scared him off from it a little bit. But obviously with his creation of Captain America and fighting Nazis and giving his voice to that showed how important his lineage is and his family who came from Europe and England. And whenever I brought home a guy, he always asked, “Is he Jewish?” He was very concerned about that. I think Captain America is definitely his most Jewish-related character, but a lot of the creators back then in the Golden Age were children of immigrants and Jewish.

Margulies’ book goes on sale next week, and she will be speaking virtually at Brookline Booksmith next Friday, August 7th.

Interfaith-ish Delivers Again on Comics

The folks over at Interfaith-ish, led by Jack Gordon, have been doing extraordinary work over the last few years, not the least of which because they frequently bring the subject of comics and religion to their audience’s ears.

Therefore, with their latest episode entitled “The Punjabi Black Panther,” we wanted to showcase a few of their other episodes on the subject near and dear to our hears. Our readers are encouraged to subscribe to their podcast, but here are the standout installments for S&S:

 

Deena Mohamed: “It’s kind of a myth that people won’t support ‘diverse’ work.”

Self-portrait by Deena MohamedEarlier this year, Egyptian comics creator Deena Mohamed, perhaps best known internationally for her work originating the superheroine Qahera, spoke with Egyptian Streets about her latest creation, the graphic novel trilogy Shubeik Lubeik which won Best Graphic Novel and the Grand Prize at Cairo Comix Festival in 2017.

Comic Artist Deena Mohamed on Representation, Authenticity, and Egyptian Art

In addition to minding a balance between authentic, native Egyptian themes and interest by Western audiences, Mohamed also looks to dispel myths not only about women but also about “diverse” work:

“It’s kind of a myth that people won’t support ‘diverse’ work. What actually happens is the opposite – people want you to write about ‘the issues’ (for Westerners, Islam and feminism, for Egyptians, feminism) but they want you to write about it in a very specific way,” she told Egyptian Streets.

“They want really superficial, easily-quoted takes,” she elaborates. “They love women empowerment, if women empowerment means sharing [online] a hijabi superhero comic without ever reading the messages behind it. […] At some point you start to feel very patronised.”

See more of her work at DeenaDraws.art and on Twitter @itsdeenasaur.