Jerry Robinson, a major figure in the development of comic books and superheroes in the 20th century for his early artwork and storytelling, including creating Batman’s arch-nemesis, The Joker, and his sidekick, Robin, as well for books and museum exhibits on the history of comics, died Dec. 8 at 89.
"The streets of Gotham City are a little lonelier today," said Mike Marts, editor of the Batman series at DC Comics, who called Robinson, "a pioneer in storytelling.
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"Jerry brought a realism to comics – and a sense of humor," said comics editor Charles Kochman, who published a book about him last year. "He saw the value of comics as an art."
In 2004, Robinson curated one of the first museum-level exhibitions of comics, “The Superhero: The Golden Age of Comic Books 1939 – 1950, at the Breman Jewish Museum of Atlanta. Two years later, he curated an expanded version of the exhibition, “The Superhero: Good and Evil in American Comics,” at the Jewish Museum in New York.
>In an in-depth interview with an website devoted to comics in 2007, Robinson spoke at length about the Jewish origins of the comic book industry in the US. Speaking of the almost overwhelmingly Jewish background of early comic book artists, writers, editors, and publishers, Robinson said:
They did dominate the genre the first few years, as well as Jewish publishers…My research indicated there were a number of reasons. And it happened in other disciplines with other ethnic groups, so it’s not that surprising. In the case of those who were of Jewish heritage, many of them were first or second generation Jews who had fled Europe. They were often intellectuals and scientists, including Einstein and others who were so important in the development of the atomic bomb. Anyway there were many from other countries that were also fleeing persecution and poverty. Among the Jews there were many intellectuals and artists. I think that accounts for part of it. Many of them became teachers in New York. A lot of them taught some of these early pioneers of the comic book industry.
Robinson also worked on behalf of comics artists facing legal and political problems, including copyright, trademarks, censorship, First Amendment and human rights, among them Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, creators of Superman, jailed and tortured cartoonists in Uruguay and the Soviet Union, and others.
He published more than 30 books, including, The Comics: An Illustrated History of Comic Strip Art. Three books were released in 2010, alone, including a two-volume set of his 1950s sci-fi strip, Jet Scott (Dark Horse), and a biography, Jerry Robinson: Ambassador of Comics.
He was president of both the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists and the National Cartoonists Society and taught at New York’s School of Visual Arts.
Robinson was born in Trenton, N.J. He was 17 and a journalism student at Columbia University when he met Batman creator Bob Kane at a Catskills resort, where Robinson was spending a summer selling ice cream.
The Eulogizer highlights the life accomplishments of famous and not-so-famous Jews who have passed away recently. Write to the Eulogizer at eulogizer@jta.org.
