My parents allowed me to read comic books for several years in the early 60s when, as an Army brat living in Europe, I lost access to American TV. Not until I read this Michael Chabon's terrific yarn, however, did I realize that a German psychiatrist who testified before a Senate subcommittee exploring juvenile delinquency less than a year after my birth alleged that Batman and Robin were corrupting the youth of America by encouraging same sex relationships. This former 10-year-old Batman & Robin fanboy AND a budding homosexual who wanted nothing more to be kidnapped by a cute guy in my 4th grade class categorically refutes the notion. Although I was attracted to Batman--just as I was to Superman, primarily because of their chiseled chins and costumes that accentuated the broadness of their chests and the bulge of their biceps--it never occurred to me that the Caped Crusader might be schtupping his young ward! Methinks the pot was calling the kettle black, Mr. Wertham!
That said, the thing I'll remember most about Sam and Joe, a pair of Jewish cousins during the golden age of comics is the embedded gay romance on steroids, with seductions of Sam in the Empire State Building 86th floor observatory and beneath the 1939 World's Fair perisphere by Tracy Bacon (!) a goyische hunk hired to play one of his creations on the radio. Joe's horrifying sojourn in Antarctica during the war runs a close second.
Chabon also draws a compelling parallel between Citizen Kane and the graphic artistry of comics as they evolved. Hollywood should return the favor and make this doorstopper into a limited series NOW!
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