{"id":58912,"date":"2017-12-26T12:40:07","date_gmt":"2017-12-26T17:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=58912"},"modified":"2017-12-31T04:15:19","modified_gmt":"2017-12-31T09:15:19","slug":"looks-like-made-ou-chabad-conquer-comic-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/looks-like-made-ou-chabad-conquer-comic-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Looks Like We Made It: OU, Chabad Conquer Comic Books"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since 1939, when the Human Torch and Sub-Mariner first appeared in Marvel Mystery Comics<\/em> #1, one question has plagued aficionados of four-color literature: does the Orthodox Union exist in the Marvel Universe? Finally, that question has been laid to rest thanks to Ms. Marvel<\/em> #25, released on December 20, 2017.<\/p>\n

First, some background. For the longest time, all the major Marvel superheroes were a bunch of white guys. Captain America? A white guy. Spider-Man? A white guy. Thor? A white guy. Wolverine? A white guy. Iron Man? A white guy. The Hulk? A white guy who turns green. In recent years, however, things have changed. In the interest of greater representation, Marvel has replaced many of their iconic characters or supplemented them with counterparts of gender and ethnic diversity, including: a black Captain America and Spider-Man; a female Thor and Wolverine; a black and<\/em> female Iron Man (who goes by the name \u201cIronheart\u201d because, you know, not a man); an Asian Hulk. Part of this expansion was the introduction of a new Ms. Marvel, Marvel Comics\u2019 first Muslim superhero.<\/p>\n

DC Comics has not followed Marvel\u2019s lead in replacing their flagship heroes with more diverse characters, though they did introduce a Muslim Green Lantern more than a year before the new Ms. Marvel made her debut, and they promoted Cyborg, an African-American hero, to a position of prominence as a (retroactively founding) member of the Justice League. What neither company has done, however, is introduce any new, Jewish versions of their classic heroes.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say that there are no Jewish superheroes (or supervillains), it\u2019s just that the modus operandi<\/em> is usually to reveal that some existing character happens to be Jewish. At Marvel, this includes such characters as the X-Men\u2019s Kitty Pryde and Magneto; over at DC, it includes Batwoman and fan-favorite Harley Quinn. (It\u2019s just as well that Jewish characters are usually \u201cregular\u201d cast members revealed as such because actual Jewish creations, like Marvel\u2019s Sabra and DC\u2019s Seraph, tend to be unsubtle and heavy-handed.) The most famous Jewish comic-book character is no doubt Marvel\u2019s the Thing, a member of the Fantastic Four.<\/p>\n

\"\"With this background, let us return to Ms. Marvel<\/em> #25, which introduces the title character\u2019s friend, the yarmulke-wearing Naftali. On Wednesdays, Naftali has afternoons off from his unnamed yeshiva, so he makes a sandwich run for himself and Ms. Marvel\u2019s secret identity, Kamala Khan. (They lunch together because both have \u201cweird dietary restrictions.\u201d) On this particular Wednesday, Naftali appears bearing \u201cpaper-thin OU-certified corned beef, toasted bread, enough horseradish to set up your bowels for a week, fresh from Elite Meat on Newark Ave.\u201d While the store appears to be fictitious, the certifying agency is most definitely real. Slam-dunk! The OU definitely exists in the Marvel Universe, alongside the likes of the Avengers and the Silver Surfer. This may be the first pop culture shout-out the OU has enjoyed since the television show Breaking Bad<\/em>.<\/p>\n

What? You don\u2019t remember the OU being mentioned on Breaking Bad<\/em>? That\u2019s because we weren\u2019t actually in the dialogue. Rather, the OU logo appeared on tubs of batter from series eatery Los Pollos Hermanos. (One must ask why a non-kosher chicken restaurant would bother having their proprietary batter certified kosher \u2013 the very definition of an act of futility as no one who keeps kosher would ever have occasion to eat it! Presumably, the prop masters copied elements from real-life tubs that included the OU logo.)<\/p>\n

As gratifying as a mention in a Marvel comic is, the OU nod was completely outclassed by the shout-out that Chabad received in DC\u2019s Teen Titans Go!<\/em> #25, which was released the same day as Ms. Marvel<\/em> #25. In this Chanukah-themed issue, the Teen Titans were visited by Colossal Boy, a Jewish member of the 31st<\/sup>-century Legion of Super-Heroes (DC Comics). The following dialogue then ensues:<\/p>\n

\"\"Raven:<\/strong> I don\u2019t know anything about Chanukah.<\/p>\n

Starfire:<\/strong> Nor I. Although I did once visit a Lubavitch outreach center on my home planet of Tamaran\u2026<\/p>\n

Beast Boy:<\/strong> Those guys are everywhere<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not about whose shout-out is better (#sourgrapes), it\u2019s just great to see Jews acknowledged. For non-Jewish readers \u2013 many of whom may not even know a Jew \u2013 it helps to normalize us. For Jewish readers, it\u2019s a good feeling to be included. When I was a kid, I would have loved an actual Chanukah-themed issue of a comic book and not just a perfunctory mention in a \u201choliday\u201d (read: Christmas) special. And while Elite Meat may not be real, Naftali sure does make that sandwich sound delectable!<\/p>\n

Now, if we can only get some Jews into Archie\u2019s hometown of Riverdale \u2013 there’s certainly no shortage in the real thing!<\/p>\n

************************************************
\nArt credits:
\n<\/em>Ms. Marvel TM<\/small> and \u00a9 Marvel Worldwide, Inc.
\n<\/em>Teen Titans Go!\u00a0TM<\/small> and \u00a9 DC Comics<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since 1939, when the Human Torch and Sub-Mariner first appeared in Marvel Mystery Comics #1, one question has plagued aficionados of four-color literature: does the Orthodox Union exist in the Marvel Universe? Finally, that question has been laid to rest thanks to Ms. Marvel #25, released on December 20, 2017. First, some background. For the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":384,"featured_media":58920,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\nLooks Like We Made It: OU, Chabad Conquer Comic Books - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For seven decades, readers have demanded to know: does the Orthodox Union exist in the Marvel Universe? 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