Earlier this month, a major exhibition opened in the Jewish Museum in Berlin, Germany, which tries to illustrate the Jewish element in comics.  “Heroes, Freaks and Superrabbis — the Jewish Colour of Comics” looks at 45 of the most successful comic creators .  The exhibition tries to trace the history of Jewish illustrators, scriptwriters and publishers of comics throughout the twentieth century, starting from the European Jewish immigrants who thought up Superheroes that would be able to fight the Nazis, to the influence of Jewish humour in Mad Magazine, Jewish female cartoonists like Aline Kominsky-Crumb and Diane Noomin, Art Spiegelman’s Maus, arguably the best known explictly Jewish comic around. It presents heroes and anti-heroes, hard-hitting opponents of Hitler, and the neurotic petty bourgeoisie.

(a page from the exhibition’s catalogue)

Veterans of the medium such as Rube Goldberg  and Harvey Kurtzman are represented along with contemporary artists such as Art Spiegelman, Rutu Modan, Joann Sfar and Ben Katchor, with numerous original drawings, sketches, and comic books.  Special attention is paid to the EC legacy, underground comics, and Eisner’s importance as ‘inventor’ of the graphic novel.

The point of the exhibition is not to claim comics as a Jewish invention, but rather to show how Jewish themes and values have always played a part in American comics, be it mainstream or underground.  Even a hero like Captain Marvel is steeped in Old-testament references, with the first letter of his acronym referring to King Solomon.

Next to the exhibition, the Museum has organised a series of film shows, special educational events for school children and a comics quiz for specialists and amateurs alike.  A catalogue for the exhibition is available exclusively at the Museum (19,80 euros, ISBN: 978-3-9813045-1-0).

The Berlin exhibition was created together with the Joods Historisch Museum in Amsterdam (which hosted earlier versions of the exhibition) and  the Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme in Paris. It has been expanded to contain more than 400 objects, including original art and rare sketches signed by the artists.

The exhibition runs until August 8th, Monday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Tuesday–Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m at the Jewish Museum, Lindenstraße 9–14, 10969 Berlin.

(Image of Jason Lutes from D&Q bio)

Another in Brian Heater’s series of major interviews, this time with the author of Jar Of Fools and Berlin; Jason Lutes.

Daily Crosshatch interviews Jason Lutes: Part 1, Part 2.