> The character of Superman isn't used to explore ideas from the Talmud or religious ideas, as far as I know. I guess exploration was not quite the right word,

> The character of Superman isn't used to explore ideas from the Talmud or religious ideas, as far as I know. I guess exploration was not quite the right word, and this is a fair point for sure. I didn't mean it to sound quite as explicit. What I suppose I mean is that there's a sort of narrative exposition of it. It's not subconscious, I think is what I mean, even if it is not explicit. Growing up the way Siegel did it would have been difficult to ignore a whole set of stories and cultural associations and dialogues. The parallels about Superman himself are telegraphed, as you say. He's a refugee, he partially assimilated, and the main brake on his ability to get involved is a very explicit understanding that he cannot break cover without risk (though this is much more evident in the cinema Superman films I think). Both Siegel and Shuster were from families who had changed their names to avoid discrimination. The stories are simple but I am not sure they start off from anything more than that experience. And the notion of justice and injustice is as I understand it very much something the Talmud concerns itself with. As well as at least one story about whether a largely absent Hebrew god should be allowed to to interfere.