"Up, Up, And Oy Vey!"

"How do you circumcise an orange brick?"

Good question. Referring to Fantastic Four’s, “The Thing” as a character with a dominant background of Judaism, had never occurred to me before reading this article. Although I have mentioned it before, I am not an avid graphic novel reader and therefore have not been entirely indulged in the movies they have made based off of comic books. However, I have seen the film version of “Fantastic Four,” which I enjoyed. Although it has been awhile since I have seen the film, I ‘m sure I would be able to pick up certain characteristics of Judaism in the story or some of the characters if I were to watch it again.

“Up, Up, And Oy Vey!” focuses on the characteristics displayed by “Fantastic Four’s” characters, especially that of “The Thing.” Because they are so close with one another, the Foursome is more of a family than anything, reflecting the importance of family in the Jewish Community. The article’s author, Simcha Weinstein, also explains the importance of earth, water, air, and fire in Jewish spiritual practices (which obviously represents the four characters).

I find it extremely surprising that most Jewish authors, according to this article and “From Krakow To Krypton,” did not purposely focus on Jewish undertones. The Jewish references in many instances just happened to arise ironically. I do believe the authors when they explained this situation as well. Because they grew up Jewish, I think they may have touched on Jewish symbolism because it was first nature to them.

I liked the fact that the Fantastic Four didn’t have to follow “clean-cut, all-American” models of heroes, much like Superman. Regardless of their religion, the Fantastic Four are a different group of comic book heroes which gave the industry a fresh new attitude towards these types of literary work.