The Religious Affiliation of
The Acidic Jew
Moshe Chomsky

From: "Religion of Comic Book Characters" forum discussion, started 29 March 2006 on the AllSpark.com website (http://www.allspark.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4168; viewed 1 June 2007):

Speedbreaker
post Mar 29 2006, 08:38 AM

I found this great resource entirely by accident:
http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/comic_book_religion.html

Spark
post Mar 13 2007, 06:17 PM

It cracks me up to no end that Image had a character called "The Acidic Jew". That's just wrong...

From: "Sacreligious amd anti-Christian Comic characters" forum discussion, started 28 February 2007 on the official DC Comics website (http://dcboards.warnerbros.com/web/thread.jspa?threadID=2000107545&start=30&tstart=15; viewed 19 July 2007):

dragonbat
Posted: Mar 1, 2007 11:32 AM

In response to: mrterrific: "I think it is implied if not explicitly stated that they are Christian, not Jewish or Muslim...

I would tend to agree with that one. I'm an Orthodox Jew. (Hair covered, long sleeves, keeping kosher, etc.) I often find myself torn between wishing that there were more Jewish superheroes in comics and wincing when TPTB write them as, essentially whitebread Americans whose sole affiliation with Judaism is a Star-of-David necklace and a menorah at Hannukah.

Actually, that's not as problematic for me. I realize that the majority of Jews in the US today are not Orthodox, and while I wish that the characters showed more knowledge of their heritage, I can understand that the depiction is accurate by today's standards.

What really bugs me (and I've seen this more in the movies and on TV) is when a character is written to be Orthodox and the writer gets it wrong. Or the writer tries to incorporate Judaism into an episode and messes up.

I think it makes me cringe more when they get the religious aspects wrong, then when they don't bother with them at all.

From: David Thompson, "Secret Knowledge, Revealed", posted 1 March 2007 on the David Thompson: Culture, Ideas and Comic Books blog website (http://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/comic_books/index.html; viewed 15 May 2007):

[A picture of Acidic Jew was included alongside this post.]

Zounds! The religious affiliations of your favourite comic book heroes have finally been documented in a disturbingly thorough database. This improbable cataloguing project may well define a whole new stratum of nerdish preoccupation. But, given the effort involved, it's hard not to be impressed and, dare I say it, just a little curious. I was vaguely aware that Spider-Man is sort-of Protestant, that Ben Grimm is Jewish and that Bruce Wayne seems to have that whole lapsed Catholic thing lurking in the background. And, being an ageless Amazon, Wonder Woman obviously leans toward the Greco-Roman deities.

But, shamefully, I didn't know the names of every prominent Hindu, Sikh or Muslim character, or the issues in which their faith plays a prominent role. And, even worse, I'd forgotten all about Moshe Chomsky, the Acidic Jew. Thankfully, these oversights can now be corrected, complete with sources, discussions and extensive supporting material. Ditto Shintoists, Taoists, Wiccans and adherents of Teutonic Paganism. Naturally, the database also includes extraterrestrial belief systems (e.g. Kryptonian metaphysics and Apokolipsian Darkseid Worship), along with characters who, via circumstances far too involved to relate here, came to meet God Himself.

Those secretly intrigued can search for particular characters by name or see heroes, villains and supporting characters grouped by religious subscription. Now where the hell's my copy of Kingdom Come...?

From: "The Religious Affiliation of Comic Book Characters" forum discussion, started 27 June 2007 on the City of Heroes website (http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=8576731; viewed 6 July 2007):

Darc_Reign
06/27/07 02:31 PM

The Religious Affiliation of Comic Book Characters [link to: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=8576731]

My Local newsradio station pointed this site out.

Let the battle begin.

[http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=8576731&page=0&fpart=3&vc=1]

TroyHickman
06/27/07 09:10 PM

I dig this site, as it features at least one of my characters:
Here [link to "Religious Affiliation of The Acidi Jew" webpage at: http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/AcidicJew.html]

[This poster is Troy Hickman, the creator of the Acidic Jew character.]

Nemo_Utopian
06/27/07 10:11 PM

Ah yes, the one the filter will not let us type.

TroyHickman
06/27/07 10:14 PM

Nothing can stop me from talking about my character, the Acidic Jew...

From: Brad Meltzer, "Jewish Superhero Website Listing" forum discussion, started 28 June 2007 on the Brad Meltzer's official MySpace website (http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=70196334&blogID=281610033; viewed 9 July 2007):

[This content is also accessible here: http://www.bradmeltzer.com/labels/Comics.html]

Thanks to Jack G. for this. And I so admire The Acidic Jew [link to: http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/AcidicJew.html].

Jewish superhero website listing:

http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/comic_book_religion.html

http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/comic_collage.html#Jews

[reader comments posted in response to this:]

Posted by Brodie on Thursday, June 28, 2007 at 8:30 AM

Common Grounds. I have been trying to find the name of that series for a couple of years now. Thank you.

Posted by COMIC CRYPT on Friday, June 29, 2007 at 6:38 PM

Shalom Brad,
You're a real mensch!

From: "Religious Affiliations of Super Heroes..." forum discussion, started 3 July 2007 on the Fukushima Forums website (http://www.fujet.net/Forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=09a3ae0abf6efb8de2134680e092aee6&topic=815.msg7854; viewed 2 August 2007):

Stirling
July 03, 2007, 12:11:58 AM

Now this is interesting...
http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/comic_collage.html

BetterthanBrent
July 03, 2007, 08:55:19 AM

I like how there's a Jewish superhero called "Acidic Jew."