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"The History of Invulnerability" - A Review
[Date: April 12, 2010]"The History of Invulnerability" is a stage production about Jerry Siegel, co-creator of Superman, written by playwright David Bar Katz.
- Superman - the man of steel - is invulnerable. Jerry Siegel - the creator of Superman - was far more vulnerable. Siegel was one of a number of Jews who created the cartoon superheroes of the 1930s and 40s in response to the rise of Nazi Germany. Siegel's own tumultuous story intertwines with the tragic events of a world on the edge, a place where even Superman has his limits. A remarkable new play about fantasy and the reality of the 20th century.
By Donald J Wurzelbacher
When Bar Katz's play "The History of Invulnerability", was announced as coming to Cincinnati's Playhouse in the Park, I was ecstatic. Director Michael Evan Haney already had me convinced that this would be a night to remember by taking a small stage and covering it with giant comic book panes from "Action Comics #1".
The play's plot is difficult to describe. It is the story of the creation of Superman as seen through the eyes of his co-creator Jerry Siegel. But it's much more than just a telling of a sequence of events that happened in 1936-1979. It is also a story that reminds us that Superman is a fictional character for us all to hope in when evil enters into our lives. But even Superman has his limits, mostly that he is a fictional character. He cannot really prevent bad things from happening to good people. And in this play we do see the injustice of our world, and we see how this truly was part of Siegel's life and that his creation could not prevent most of his life from being the tragedy that it was.
Sometimes the story becomes a bit confusing because Superman himself is present throughout the story and often interacts with Jerry Siegel. Early in the play we are reminded that Jerry's father was tragically shot twice in the chest in his shop and died. The question still remains: Did this tragedy begin Siegel's dreams for a man who could fight crime and he himself would be invulnerable to this kind of violence?
We are taken through the characters who may have helped pave the way to create Superman: Popeye the sailor and Tarzan immediately come to mind. But Siegel's Jewish heritage played an extremely important role in the telling of this story. Siegel was also inspired to create Superman by remembering the bible characters he read about so often in his life. You can't help but see the similarities between Superman and Moses, the baby who, rather than sent away from his parents and home by rocketship, was placed in a basket and sent down the Nile River in order to save his life from the Egyptian murderers. Eventually he grows up to become a "hero" to the Israelites. Of course, even now we have seen how Superman often symbolizes the Messiah Jesus Christ. This was very clearly symbolized in the film "Superman Returns" as directed by Bryan Singer. Even the Kryptonian names were religious in origin, beginning with the family of EL. The affix "El" is most often translated as "Of God". We find it often in the bible: Ishma-el, Samu-el, Ezeki-el, and even Micha-el, the Archangel. In this play we also see that Clark Kent probably was Jerry Siegel. Kent is the opposite of Superman. Siegel said that everything we see in Superman should be the opposite of what he sees in himself.
We go through the story of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, young kids from Cleveland who had a dream that finally, after many years of frustrating setbacks and rejections, had success. When they introduced Superman to Harry Donenfeld, publisher of the new Action Comics, their job was to create a 13 page spread in a few short days. Jerry wrote the stories and Joe drew the pictures. Both boys had a true love for their character, Joe even saying that he created the Superman red color by cutting himself and seeing his own blood.
We are also treated to meeting Jolan Kovacs who posed as Lois Lane for Shuster. Joe had a crush on her but it was Jerry who married her after leaving his first wife and his son Michael who speaks to us throughout the play. Michael lost his father but still was reminded of him by reading Superman comics.
But their big mistake was when the boys were offered a check for $130 to give up the rights to the character they created. By cashing the check, they began what was depicted as a tragic turn of events. Superman made millions for their publishers while the creators received little compensation in comparison.
We watch Jerry Siegel go through his life where people gradually forget about him and did not believe that he actually created Superman. We see some of his ideas rejected such as when he wrote a story in 1940 which introduced K-Metal. The problem was that in the story Superman reveals his true identity to Lois. The idea was rejected which led to more frustration by Siegel and Shuster. His other idea of Superboy was also rejected at first because it was deemed as being "too confusing". However, the audience is reminded that both of these ideas eventually became an important part of the Superman mythos over time.
In April of 1947 we see a penniless and frustrated Siegel and Shuster attempt to take DC comics to court to sue them for $5 million. They not only lost the case but they were fired and their names were removed from all Superman comics and other media.
Siegel tried to create characters that he felt would be just as great as Superman. We learn about his best character since Superman called "The Spectre" which was about a policeman who was granted supernatural powers to avenge his own murder. But this character never even came close to the popularity of the famous Kryptonian. His other creation, "Funnyman" was a complete flop.
Over time the play depicts how Superman turns into a completely different character than his creator wrote about in 1938. Siegel's Superman was faster than a speeding bullet and more powerful than a locomotive. He leapt over tall buildings in a single bound. But the new writers turned Superman into a being who could outrun light beams and lift mountains. He was a GOD now. Superman is compared to a Golem, a being from Jewish folklore who was created out of clay and brought to life only to become so powerful that he also turns against his own creator. The Golem can be stopped by etching out the E in "Emet" which is written on his forehead. EMET means "Truth or reality". MET means "Dead". When Siegel confronts Superman in dialogue who clearly has become a super-god, Siegel uses Kryptonite to immobilize him and then etches EMET on his forehead.
By the late 70s Siegel gave up hope when it was announced that a new blockbuster Superman film was in the works. Out of anger Siegel cursed the film publicly hoping it would be a "Super FLOP". He wrote thousands of letters to news outlets all over the country to get responses about his outrage. Here we see where one letter was placed in the hands of Mr. Phil Yeh, editor of a small newspaper called "The Cobblestone". Yeh helps Siegel get word out that he and Shuster created Superman years earlier and, after many interviews and telecasts about his poor treatment by DC, an agreement was finally made to not only restore Siegel and Shuster's names to the Superman character but they both received $20,000 a year for the rest of their lives. This was a major help particularly for Joe Shuster who was legally blind by this time. Siegel was ecstatic when he saw his name along with Joe Shuster's name emblazoned on the big screen. It was one of his few moments of triumph in his life.
Throughout the play the audience witnesses a kind of "side story" of the Nazi Concentration Camps where a small boy named Joel discovers a copy of Action Comics and believes that Superman will rescue him and all the prisoners in the camp from the terror of Nazi soldiers. During the war, it was forbidden for Siegel to write stories depicting Superman getting involved in a war in which the United States stood neutral for many years. However Siegel was able to write a story of Superman in "Look" magazine in which Superman quickly ended World War II.
The Jewish concentration camp side story was not actually part of Siegel's personal story but it certainly was a violent reality of what was happening to the Jewish people during World War II. Superman, although wanting to stop the violence, is incapable of doing so just as Siegel himself cannot prevent all tragedy in the world. At the end of the play we see young Joel killed by a Nazi soldier and finally we see Superman standing alongside a group of Jewish people who are huddled together naked in the gas chambers. Superman is helpless to save them. After all, Superman is fiction. Death is real.
Finally, it is important to stress that this play is not for children. It contains mature themes and adult language. No one under 18 is admitted into the theatre. This story will be meaningful to those who still remember that Siegel and Shuster created Superman. It is a story that depicts a fictional hero who was created as a symbol of justice to right the wrongs of a violent and unjust world. It's the story of two boys who made a major mistake in their careers and lived with it for the rest of their lives. It is also about the most famous superhero ever created who has stood the test of time since his first appearance in Action Comics #1, a ten cent comic book that just recently was bought at an auction for $1,500,000. This is not the first time Superman was on stage. In the 1960s "It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman" premiered and was supposed to be a smash musical starring Bob Holiday as a singing Superman. Unfortunately it did not live up to the hype. My hope is that this new production, although not meant to be "fun" and family friendly throughout, will be able to touch the hearts of those who have the privilege of attending this performance. It is well worth watching and remembering that not only was a superman created in 1938, but a legend was created filled with wonders in the imagination of Jerry Siegel who strived to create a man who would show the world that even though injustice exists, in some places in the imagination and in some moments of all of our times, good will always triumph over evil.
This review is Copyright © 2010 by Steven Younis. It is not to be reproduced in part or as a whole without the express permission of the author.