DC Jew-niverse?
Dec. 19th, 2006 09:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sdelmonteSo last week it was revealed that two characters in the DC Universe...
Type your cut contents here.In Firestorm we learned at last that Professor Martin Stein is Jewish. In the DCU Infinite Holiday Special, it was revealed the that new Batwoman, Kate Kane, is as well. (Full disclosure: I haven't read either these yet, only summaries online.)
About the latter, I have to say that this is clearly the work of Greg Rucka, who co-created her, wrote the story, and gave us Atticus Kodiak, the star of most of his novels and also a Jew. I think that DC also decided that if her name is Kane, she could be as Jewish as Batman co-creator Bob Kane. I wonder if this will come into play at all in 52 or the rumored Batwoman spinoff.
About the former, I have to wonder what took them so long. When I was a kid, and my favorite comic was Fury of Firestorm, I used to speculate that with a name like Stein, and a career in physics, he had to be a Jew. Beyond which, he lived in my neighborhood back then, Jackson Heights. I wondered if he even attended the local Conservative synagogue (he was clearly not Orthodox). Now of course, Stein is not entirely a Jewish name, and nothing we saw about Prof. Stein back then told us anything about his background. But I couldn't help hoping that we would get a Jewish hero (or at least a half-Jewish one, as Firestorm is a composite of two people). And his creator, Gerry Conway, was also the man who revealed that Ray Palmer, the Silver Age Atom, was Jewish. So it was possible. And now it's confirmed. It's good to see that I wasn't the only one who wondered about that.
DC has made an effort to make its lineup more diverse. I'm glad that includes people of my faith. How long now till we see a religious hero?
About the latter, I have to say that this is clearly the work of Greg Rucka, who co-created her, wrote the story, and gave us Atticus Kodiak, the star of most of his novels and also a Jew. I think that DC also decided that if her name is Kane, she could be as Jewish as Batman co-creator Bob Kane. I wonder if this will come into play at all in 52 or the rumored Batwoman spinoff.
About the former, I have to wonder what took them so long. When I was a kid, and my favorite comic was Fury of Firestorm, I used to speculate that with a name like Stein, and a career in physics, he had to be a Jew. Beyond which, he lived in my neighborhood back then, Jackson Heights. I wondered if he even attended the local Conservative synagogue (he was clearly not Orthodox). Now of course, Stein is not entirely a Jewish name, and nothing we saw about Prof. Stein back then told us anything about his background. But I couldn't help hoping that we would get a Jewish hero (or at least a half-Jewish one, as Firestorm is a composite of two people). And his creator, Gerry Conway, was also the man who revealed that Ray Palmer, the Silver Age Atom, was Jewish. So it was possible. And now it's confirmed. It's good to see that I wasn't the only one who wondered about that.
DC has made an effort to make its lineup more diverse. I'm glad that includes people of my faith. How long now till we see a religious hero?
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Date: Dec. 19th, 2006 11:44 pm (UTC)