Funny, They Don't Look Jewish!

• Fantastic Four Vol. 6 #5, (Legacy 650), 2018 Creators: Written by Dan
  Slott Drawn and inked by Aaron Kuder Colored by Marte Gracia & Erick
  Arciniega Lettered by VC's Joe Caramagna 4 out of 9 covers feature
  Ben in Jewish regalia! Esad Ribic cover - Ben in tallis and kippa
  holding Alicia, surrounded by heart and doves Mark Brooks variant -
  Ben in tallis and kippa holding Alicia in wedding dress Elizabeth
  Torque variant - Ben in tallis and kippa kissing Alicia under the
  chuppah Alex Ross variant - Ben in kippa kissing Alicia, surrounded
  on either side by superhero battles
  In an interview with CBR, Dan slott reveals he was building to Ben proposing to Alicia in the Thing #25, but was told the wedding
  would have to be in FF (then written by J Michael Straczynski
  First, a flashback with art by Mike and Laura Allred, very touching story about Sue teaching Ben to dance for the wedding
  while flashing back to playing matchmaker Then bachelor party
  with art by Adam Hughes. Serpent Society burst out of cakes
  Wedding in Benson, AZ??? Rabbi Lowenthal traveled with everyone
  to officiate Meet Aunt Petunia and Uncle Jake, who says kids
  being teenagers is meshugana Benson?? Don’t think there’s many
  Jews in Benson. The nearest synagogue is a 37 minute drive south
  (Temple Kol Hamidbar in Sierra Vista) Finally get to the wedding
  There is a chuppa. Ben wears a tallis “Alicia Reiss Masters and
  Benjamin Jacob Grimm” both sound more Jewish with their middle
  names (Jacob Reiss was her deceased father, Phillip Masters her
  stepfather) Doom interrupts with a worldwide projection announcing
  Galactus has returned and he'll defend earth, but nobody better
  enter Latverian airspace. The FF immediately think they need to
  spring into action “Remember what the rabbi said” Alicia asks Ben
  to have patience. Definitely what happens, people lose their
  identities, become just THE rabbi LITERAL CHUPPAH Reed uses a
  coronal displacement device (a 4-minute time bubble) to give those
  under the chutzpah time to finish the wedding while everybody else
  is frozen Amazing literalization of the chuppah as sacred time.
  Time literally freezes under the canopy They give vows. Not a
  traditionally Jewish thing, but more popular these days Typical I
  do moment No harei at, no ketubah, no sheva brachot Rabbi
  Lowenthal: “It is said that, at our weddings, the crash of a glass
  ends the hush of mythic time under a huppah… allowing the world and a
  new beginning to come rushing in. Never before has that been more
  true.” Seems entirely taken from Anita Diamant's The Jewish Wedding
  Now, which is reprinted on myjewishlearning. Pretty sure Dan just
  googled chuppah She writes “The crash of glass ends the hush of
  mythic time under the huppah, and the world rushes in. Everyone
  exhales, claps and shouts, “Mazel tov!” The celebration begins”
  Bubble snaps as they shout mazel tov, team rushes off in just married
  fantasticar
  Marvel Holiday Special 1994 The Thing in “Losin’ The Blues” Creators: Written by Greg Wright Drawn by Mike Manley Colored by
  Greg Wright Lettered by Brad Joyce Wright- early 90’s work like
  Deathlok and Morbius the Living Vampire Thing saves a group of
  ice skaters from a Christmas tree about to smash them Young girl
  named Amy starts asking lots of questions complaining about Xmas
  and Trees Intersperse their conversation with Ben stopping various
  crimes - a Salvation army robbery, a jewelry store robbery. People
  keep yelling at Ben for causing damage as he saves “I'm Jewish.
  They don't have a million Hanukkah specials on TV, or big sales,
  or tons of decorations. People think Hanukkah’s like eight days of
  Christmas, and it isn't! It wouldn't be so bad if Christmas stuff
  wasn't everywhere for three months, you know. I'm proud if my
  religion, but this stuff makes me feel--like--less or something.”
  Goes on yo explain how she doesn't see peace or goodwill, just
  fighting over presents Punk kids steal Amy's coat. Ben goes to
  offer her his, but a homeless person gives his coat first.
  Supposed to be sweet, but it's super creepy Ben gives his coat to
  the homeless man, who managed to convince Amy the season is about
  goodwill She gives Ben some felt as a Hanukkah present she just
  had lying around Ben offers to get all three hot cocoa Funny, I
  remembered the first time I read this story that it felt like Ben had
  never heard of Hanukkah before. But it comes across as him playing
  cou, leaving Amy room to articulate her own position. It could fit in
  with a narrative of Ben as someone who turned his back on his Judaism
  Marvel Holiday Special 2004 “The True Meaning of...” Creators: Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa Drawn by Duncan Rouleau Inked by
  Aaron Sowd Colored by Morry Hollowell Lettered by Clem Robins
  Franklin has to write a report for school on what his family does for
  the holidays, so he dictates it to HERBIE Thing identifies himself
  and Shadowcat as the only two openly Jewish superheroes Bull. Even
  if Moon Knight is still secretive and Magneto is evil at the time,
  there's Sabra Celebrates Hanukah with Mr. Sheckerberg and orphans
  Franklin offers to host the Hanukkah party at the Baxter building,
  Ben reveals Reed and Sue have offered. But he's not interested He
  likes that it's low key
  “This is personal. Between me and God. You understand?” Ben doesn't strike me as religious.
  Franklin finally talks to Reed about whether he believes in God Ends with an equation of all religious holidays as the same
  “Christmas and Hanukkah and Kwanzaa...other holidays like Ramadan”
  Frustratingly shallow read of holidays
  Marvel Holiday Comic 2011 “Chinese Food for Christmas” Creators: Written by Jamie S. Rich Drawn by Paco Diaz Colored by
  Jean-Francois Beaulieu Lettered by Jeff Eckleberry Jamie is
  currently group editor for Batman comics FF era Ben
  Ben on the phone with Kitty Pryde, who is teasing him about his pumpkin spice eggnog latte and the fact Sasquatch and Moon
  Knight will eat all the sesame chicken
  Thing also brings up stereotypical Jewish drink, manischewitz Ben is hunting down this monster that keeps stealing Xmas
  decorations “It may be Christmas time for the gentiles, but for
  you...it's clobberin’ time!”
  Turns out the monster is stealing everything for orphan children whose charity Christmas was canceled
  Ben invites them to Jewish Christmas Weird that he asks if they have heard of Hanukkah (they have, and they know it's over)
  instead of whether they know what Jews do on Christmas All the
  Jewish superheroes celebrating together:
  Moon Knight, Songbird, Shadowcat, Thing, Sasquatch, Wiccan Gold, Langkowski, Kaplan Wiccan is lighting a hanukkiyah, which is
  cool except… He's not lit the central shanah candle We established
  Hanukkah is over!
  Marvel Two-in-One #8 (1975) - Thing and Ghost Rider team up Ghost Rider witnesses Three Wise Men recreation Thing insists that
  Mr. Fantastic celebrate Christmas with his family while he goes to
  investigate. Interpretive room for him being Jewish

Welcome to Funny,They Don’t Look Jewish, where Judaism appears in the panels.
Our purpose is to find characters, stories and issues of comics that explore explicitly Jewish content.

In this episode, we cover the canonical Judaism of Benjamin Grimm, THE THING.

Fantastic Four #56 (485) (2002)

Credits: "Remembrance of Things Past"
Writer: Karl Kesel
Penciler: Stuart Immonen
Inker: Scott Koblish
Cover: Gabriele Dell’Otto
Colourist: Liquid!
Letterer Richard Starkings
Albert Deschesne
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Special Thanks to Greg Rucka
Jen Rucka
Steve Leiber
Eve Celsi

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Fantastic_Four_Vol_3_56

Henry's notes::
Man wandering around downtown, lost and on his cell phone wondering if it’s not a nice part of town, when all of a sudden Thing appears and says, “This part of town...some things ain’t so nice.” Splash page with Thing in trench coat under a street lamp at the corner of Yancy St and unnamed st. with title and credits.
Flashback to Mr. Sheckerberg lecturing young Ben Grimm about throwing a stone through his window. Older brother Daniel Grimm tries to pay him off. Fast forward, Danny is limping, mentions the other guy got “clobbered.” Fast forward to cop talking to Mrs. Grimm about her “loss.” It appears Danny has died from nefarious circumstances. Cop says danny is in a better place and Ben responds, “But God left us here.”
Fast forward to Ben running away from Mr Sheckerberg with a stolen Magen David, to give to the Yancy street gang. Until reading this point I always thought of the gang as like a lovable group. I didn’t think of them as actually terrorizing the neighborhood.
Back to present Thing is in the store and Mr. Sheck is threatening whomever is there with a baseball bat. Sheck tells Ben he’s never been afraid of hoodlums. Flashback to Ben looking for the gang, flash forward to Ben being pummeled by garbage and paint. It seems like the gang is basically telling him to go away of panel. I don’t really understand this part. Why are they talking off panel in the past and here? All of a sudden Powderkeg attacks. Punchy punchy fight fight until Ben realizes Sheck is on the ground. It seems like Thing thinks he’s dead because he says both lines of “Shema.” This is unprecedented and one of the most Jewish moments in comics. Shema, being the central prayer of the Jewish people, is said by a major Marvel character. This panel brought tears of joy to my eyes. Sheck wakes up and points out that it’s good to see Ben hasn’t forgotten everything he learned at Temple. He speculates that perhaps Thing has been hiding his Judaism. Ben basically shares that you could find out on the internet but never wanted to draw attention to it. Doesn’t want people to think Jews are monsters like him. This seems very meta to me. It seems like it’s almost what writers and other artists were thinking. Hiding in plain sight, fitting in etc. They share a tender moment saying perhaps it’s Yom kippur and Ben returns Sheck’s Magen david. Sheck humorously does not forgive him and they continue. Sheck says that he doesn’t forgive Ben because there’s nothing to forgive him for. It’s not Ben’s fault what happens to him. He compares Ben to the Golem of Prague and gives him the Magen David to protect until he needs it back. It ends with Ben holding up Powderkeg and he says the age old joke, “You don’t look Jewish.”

Overall I’d give this book ⅘ Stars of David. There are only a few explicitly Jewish moments but they are rich, heavy and meaningful. I can’t overstate how much seeing the Shema in a comic book means to me. If I had seen this in a comic when I was 9 or 10 I imagine it would’ve had a tremendous impact on me. Sheck seems like a stand-in for Jack Kirby. The two of them seem to be sharing an inner monologue that Jack might have had with himself, wondering how much of his Judaism to share with the world.
On Word Balloon Podcast, Karl Kesel confirms that he was the one that made Ben officially Jewish. “Tom Breevort wanted important stories, and I said, “y’know, Jack drew Ben as Jewish, why don’t we do that story?” I’m convinced that at the beginning, Ben was just a character, but I’m convinced the longer Jack worked on him, the more of himself he put into Ben Grimm. Stan Lee has said they never intended the character to be Jewish at the start, but I think by the end he was clearly a stand in for Jack himself in so many ways.”

The Thing #8
Writer: Dan Slott
Artist: Kieron Dwyer
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Release Date: July 5, 2006

The Thing has a Bar Mitzvah! 5 pages including splash page. Thing wears a kippa and tallis. Job as Torah portion – no such Torah portion exists. Location of Bar Mitzvah is possibly the Eldridge St synagogue
https://www.google.com/maps/place/12+Eldridge+St,+New+York,+NY+10002/@40.714752,-73.9937083,3a,75y,89.95h,150.02t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s9G9mDHOtz71BfWNe2PJ1kQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!4m5!3m4!1s0x89c25a28605536c3:0x75a62ace8cfe8dae!8m2!3d40.7146872!4d-73.9934249
15 minute walk from parts of Delancey Street

Brandon's notes:
Thing first appeared in Fantastic Four #1, published in November 1961, by Stan the Man Lee and Jack the King Kirby

Transformed into a rock monster

Fantastic Four Vol. 3 #56 (legacy #485), 2002
The Thing Vol. 2 #8, 2006
Fantastic Four Vol. 6 #5, (Legacy 650), 2018
Marvel Holiday Special 1994
Marvel Holiday Special 2004
Marvel Holiday Comic 2011

Hanukkah Card

Incredibly cool artifact - 1976
You have the Thing wearing a kippa and a tallis, clutching a siddur in his hands
Star of David on one side, what appears to be a couple letters on the other side. IT looks like yud bet, which might be a reference to the 12 Tribes.
The greeting - ee-chulim l’hanukkah, or wishes for Hanukkah
Is it common?
Most common error in depicting a hanukkiyah is actually showing a menorah as found in the Temple. Rather than 9 or 7 branches, this one seems to only have 5. I assume it’s a matter of simplicity in the artwork more than design error
I like to imagine this means he’s davening hallel on a Hanukkah morning

Fantastic Four Vol. 3 #56 (Legacy #485), 2002
Written by Karl Kesel
Drawn by Stuart Immonen
Inked by Scott Koblish
Colored by Liquid!
Lettered by Richard Starkings and Albert Dechesne
Karl Kesel - what a mentsch. He and his wife adopted a baby that was ADDICTED TO HEROIN. So he sold his comic book collection to pay medical bills
So Carlos Pacheco had been the artist on the book and plotting, and they brought in writers to help him out with dialogue. For 55 and 56, Karl is writing solo. Waid/Wieringo run starts with #60
Fantastic Four Headquarters - a UK based website. Karl Kesel interview
It's inevitable that the FF issue you’ll always be most known for is Remembrance of Things Past, a funny and poignant tale where the Thing finally reveals that he’s Jewish. How much editorial approval did you have to get to do this story, and what was the reaction in the industry?
Tom Brevoort asked for single-issue pitches, but he didn’t want them to be filler— he wanted them to be consequential and worth reading. I remembered that Kirby had done a drawing of Ben in a yamika and prayer shawl, reminded Tom of it (he knew exactly what I was talking about, of course), and said “How about a story where we reveal Ben is Jewish?” Tom gave a quick thumbs up, and there was no editorial problems after that, that I remember. The biggest problem was finding the right villain for the story! I’d add that I doubt Kirby thought Ben was Jewish when the character was created, but as years went by and he put more of his own personality and personal background into the Thing, the idea that he’s Jewish isn’t that big of a leap of faith. So to speak.
Open with a guy telling his friend he's lost after a day wandering NYC
“This part of town, some things ain't so nice” downtown, LES
First 6 pages - Dark colors give way to lighter flashback. Halcyon days, better remembered, compared with crummy modernity (closed stores, XXX)
Mr. Sheckerberg keeping Ben in line
More concerned with morality than $
Danny wants Ben to fight for what's his. Ben points out the stars (FF, but also Abraham and covenant?)
P. 6 - Alluded to Danny died, Ben seems to lose faith
Officer: “I'm sure Danny was a good kid, and I'm sure God took him to a better place.” “But God left us here, didn't he?”
P. 7 - Ben tries out for Yancy street gang
Sheckerberg, “You're no better than your brother, may he rest in peace!” - so Jewish
Steals Sheckerberg's star of David, which is one piece not for sale
Implication that his pride in identity cannot be bought
P. 8 - pawn shop is still there
Rest of Jews moved uptown. Henry, I imagine this hit a particular resonance for you (Family in Chicago)
P. 9 - Sheckerberg thinks Ben is extorting him for protection money. Typical comic book coincidence
Reveals first name: Hiram, “high-born” in Hebrew
Both II Samuel 5:11 and I Kings 7:13-14 mention a King Hiram of Tyre who helped Solomon with building of the Temple
P. 11 - a flip. Now modern day is bright (orange Thing) and memories are hazy, faded colors)
Ben confronts the Yancy Street Gang, hijinx ensue
Returns to shop to discover true villain is “Powderkeg, the man with the explosive aura!”
Teams with Yancy Street to take him out
P. 19 - the big one
Ben thinks Sheck might be dead, can't give CPR
realizes all he can do is recite the shema, a prayer (from the Torah) rec