Batman, Superman, The X-Men, The Fantastic Four, The Spirit, Thor, Captain America, and dozens of other the other heroes that form the foundation of the super hero genre–all conceived of and brought to life by Jewish creators. As has been well documented elsewhere, the fantasy of strong-man in tights fighting robbers and dictators for all that truth and justice was, if not entirely conceived of, certainly hand-delivered by second generation Jewish immigrants. And yet, the heroes themselves lacked any Jewish identity; just as these creators hid behind their fictional goyim names (“Kirby”, “Lee”), their Jewish heroes lived behind fictional goyim characters–is it in any wonder so many heroes created by Jewish men writing under aliases sported alter egos to hide their true identities? I know that’s an odd way to start a review of Howard Chaykin’s Dominic Fortune–the story of a swashbuckling man-of-adventure who screws the pretty girls and punches the evil men of pre WWII America; however, the focus of this book is Chaykin’s determination to assert Mr. Fortune’s Jewish identity, to create a swashbuckling man-of-adventure who screws the pretty girls and punches the evil men and who happens to also be Jewish. Thus in the midst of the a comic that revels in its trashy throw-back sensibility, we have multiple references to Dominic being a member of the “tribe” along with references to a Jewish Femme Fatale (who, presumably like Mr. Fortune, is hiding her true name) and, on almost every page, subtle and not too subtle reminders of the anti-Semitism that permeated and plagued the world during this time period. Fortune is a mercenary of sorts who cares little about who he’s fighting for or who he’s sleeping with–as long as he’s fighting something and sleeping with someone, he’s doing well. In this issue he finds himself in Hollywood as the target of some South American based fascists, and he’s eager to punch and pork his way to victory. Chaykin tells the story well, and if you like his recent art style (I do, but I have to admit it does take some getting used to), you’ll like this book. It’s all standard pulp fair, not quite as good as Ennis, but well above average. What elevates the story from a 3 or 4 to a 5 is Chaykin’s insertion of the Jewish theme, his almost steel-willed determination to take back the manly clichés created by Jewish creators and turn them into Jewish manly clichés. Memorably and similarly, Flagg in Chaykin’s American Flagg was also Jewish, but his Judaism did not seem to impact the work as a whole. Here the central tension of the book is that we are watching a Jewish character without loyalties operating in a world of men and women loyal to people who hate Jews. The characters Jewish identity fuels his passion, as, on some level it fueled the passion of the creators of the super-hero genre and in turn, fueled the characters they created. Through this work we can see some of that anger and aspiration come to the forefront, and this display illuminates not only Fortune but also Batman, Superman, Captain America, and all the other Christmas-celebrating angry Jewish men who continue to schlep through our funny pages.