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Marvel Comics Edits Over ‘Immortal Hulk’ Issue Due To ‘Anti-Semitic’ Cartoon
By Mikelle Leow, 08 Feb 2021
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Image via Marvel
Marvel Comics has promised to reprint a new issue of Immortal Hulk after readers alerted of an illustration with possible anti-Semitic undertones. Before that happens, it has erased the offending images from the digital copy of Immortal Hulk #43.
Bleeding Cool reported last week that fans had spotted a scene in a jewelry store, named after horror film director David Cronenberg, where the word “jewery” [sic] had been displayed above what looked like the Star of David.
Here’s the most visible issue with the latest issue of Immortal Hulk. The other shop windows with visible names on them are all references to well-known comic creators - Kirby, Starlin, Lee & Milgrom - but the jewellers’ window appears to say ‘Cronemberg Jewery’...🤔 pic.twitter.com/svAZTiTntv
— A Very Very Tired Man (@PaulWurgisnacht) February 4, 2021
@marvel can you tell me what disciplinary action is happening in regards to this blatant anti-Semitism in today's issue of the Immortal Hulk? I'm pretty sure "Jewery" and the Star of David on the window of a jewelry store wasn't a mistake. The artist needs to be fired. pic.twitter.com/X8OEOXSl8Y
— TTMRT (@TTMRT4) February 3, 2021
In the panel, Joe Fixit/Bruce Banner could also be seen having a conversation about money with the shop’s employee. One reader noted that the image adds to the hurtful stereotype of Jews being “greedy… and that’s why [we] like being bankers, lawyers, and jewelers.”
The illustration undoubtedly left a bitter taste in readers’ mouths. “Does Marvel not have someone [whose] job is to make sure their books don’t offend minority groups?” one tweeted. He added, “How do you accidentally misspell ‘Jewelry’ to ‘Jewery’ and add a Star of David to it? I don't buy that this was ‘accidental.’”
Echoing this sentiment, one wrote, “I’m pretty sure ‘Jewery’ and the Star of David on the window of a jewelry store wasn’t a mistake.”
Following the disdain, the comic’s artist Joe Bennett issued an apology but maintained that the misspelling was an “honest” mistake.
“I’ve been including references to famous horror directors to pay respects to the genre throughout the series, and in Immortal Hulk #43, I included a nod to David Cronenberg,” Bennett shared in a Facebook post. “The misspellings on the window were an honest but terrible mistake – since I was writing backwards, I accidentally spelled both of those words wrong.”
As for the graphic resembling the Star of David, the artist explained that he had “failed to understand this troubling and offensive stereotype” before being alerted of it.
He added, “After listening to you all, I now understand my mistake. This was wrong, offensive, and hurtful in many ways. This is a mistake I must own, and I am sorry to everyone who I hurt by this. I am working with Marvel to correct this, and I am using this lesson to reflect on how I approach my stories and my work.”
Marvel Comics confirmed to retailers last week that it would edit and reprint main and variant copies of Immortal Hulk #43, and that readers who wish to exchange their copies with the updated version may make a request to do so.
However, Bleeding Cool reported that some customers have decided to bank on the blunder by reselling the original copies on marketplaces like eBay, even going so far as to advertise them as “Anti-Semitic.”
Marvel’s swiftest response was to wipe out the store’s offending branding from the digital version of the comic, leaving behind an empty window. You can view the revised version here.
[via Bleeding Cool, images via various sources]
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