"Riesman hammers on the notion of Lee as a credit thief. Published as part of Yale’s Jewish Lives series, Leibovitz’s book presents Lee as the contemporary equivalent of Harold Bloom’s J: Spider-Man is 'a direct descendant' of Cain, Mr. Fantastic is 'a nuclear age Hasid,' Iron Man embodies 'a stern reminder, drawn from the core of Jewish theology, that redemption comes only when human beings get together and pursue common goals.' With regard to The Fantastic Four, Leibovitz writes, 'anyone with even a hint of familiarity with the Bible would recognize the pattern of the flawed and conflicted leaders wrestling with their stiff-necked people.' Lee’s comic books are like Bob Dylan’s songs, 'an ongoing dialogue with the artist that mirrors the ancient Talmudic logic of constant conversation.' Riesman makes no such elevated claims, although he may be said to contribute to the conversation when he notes that, while Lee’s immigrant parents were observant Jews, Lee himself 'felt no kinship with the Jewish community and was allergic to the very idea of religion.' Riesman is most insistent in questioning Lee’s integrity, specifically with regard to [Jack] Kirby, considering it 'very possible, maybe even probable, that the characters and plots Stan was famous for all sprang from the brain and pen of Kirby,' adding that 'it’s already provable that Stan lied blatantly and often about Kirby’s contribution to their comics together.'"
From "Marvel’s Ringmaster/Under Stan Lee’s guidance, Marvel marketed not only its characters but also the men who created them" by J. Hoberman (NYRB), which reviewers "True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee" by Abraham Riesman and "Stan Lee: A Life in Comics" by Liel Leibovitz.
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Tom writes:
"Is there really anything left to say about Lee and Kirby at this point? Leibovitz's analysis is such a high level of generality that any story could be made to fit into Jewish legend. Riesman is probably right that Lee took credit for work done by Kirby, but no one today would remember Kirby if it weren't for Lee, so the scales probably balance."
I'll say:
There are 2 new biographies, so if there's nothing to say, that's a whole lot of nothing.
Personally, I don't care about these comics but obviously they are extremely important within American culture today, so there must be some reason to want to understand them. I agree that you can bullshit connections to the Bible for all eternity. As for the stealing, it matters if the artist behind the work matters. That's apart from whether we're concerning ourselves with whether Kirby was treated fairly.
Assistant Village Idiot writes:
""...drawn from the core of Jewish theology, that redemption comes only when human beings get together and pursue common goals." No one would have said that was from the core of Jewish theology until about a hundred years ago, and I think most Jews would want to correct that at least a bit even now.
"I offer that as an example of how these theories too often fall apart. People strain and try to fit the second half of the data into their interesting idea. So there might be something Jewish about the Marvel universe. How he is going to separate that from the general Judeo-Christianness of the morality of Western Civilisation seems like a bit of a challenge, to put it mildly. I'm thinking that a clever mind could find ways that universe is very Catholic, or very Anabaptist, very black or very white."
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