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An EPIC Evening
That Makes An EPIC Impact

BECKY HURVITZ
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

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tion with an exclusive meet-and-greet
EXTGen Detroit, the young
with the Sklar Brothers. After the
adult division of the Jewish
show, everyone is invited to a DJed
Federation of Metropolitan
afterparty with late-night breakfast
Detroit, is setting The Fillmore aglow
and desserts.
on March 3 to ensure a bright
ABOVE:
“We’re hard at work to make
Jewish future in Detroit, in
Scenes from
Israel and around the world at last year’s sure that EPIC is an incred-
its annual premiere fundraiser, EPIC event. ible night out for everyone who
attends,” EPIC Co-Chair Tara Hack
EPIC.
said. “But we’re also focused on
The event, brought to
taking this opportunity to educate
the community by Sue and Alan J.
and inspire about the importance of
Kaufman and family, is a night of
supporting our community. Because
entertainment, live comedy and, of
every attendee of EPIC is required to
course, the ultimate celebration of
make a minimum donation of $100
young Jewish philanthropy in Detroit.
to Federation’s Annual Campaign, we
“We’re thrilled to be returning to
want this next generation of Jewish
Detroit’s beautiful Fillmore Theater,”
donors to know how important their
EPIC Co-Chair Adam Rubin said.
gift to the community is and the many
“Seeing more than 500 young Jewish
ways in which it improves the lives of
adults in one of the city’s historic
Jews here in Detroit and abroad.”
landmarks sums up the night — we
Now in its seventh year, EPIC has
are a generation that is committed to
contributed well over $1 million to the
honoring our community’s past while
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan’s
looking to the future and the many
Detroit Annual Campaign, last year
ways we can improve it.”
raising nearly $300,000.
The Sklar
“EPIC welcomes an average of
Brothers will
take the stage 100 new young adult donors to
Federation’s Annual Campaign each
as EPIC’s
year,” said EPIC Co-Chair Andrew
headlining
Luckoff. “Last year, of the EPIC attend-
entertain-
ees who had given to Federation in the
ment this
past, 42 percent increased their annu-
year. The
al donation. Our peers are investing in
comedy duo
The Sklar Brothers
our community in a very intentional
has starred
way, and it’s truly inspiring.”
in a variety
This year, thanks to the generos-
of series, specials and movies on
ity of the Kaufman family, all new or
HBO, Comedy Central, Netflix, FX,
ESPN, Showtime, Adult Swim, History increased donations will be matched
dollar-for-dollar.
Channel, Fox and more.
“Our family is thrilled to sponsor
“As native Midwesterners, University
NEXTGen Detroit’s EPIC for the sixth
of Michigan alumni and all around
year,” Alan J. Kaufman said. “Having
‘good Jewish boys,’ the Sklar Brothers’
had the privilege of being the present-
brand of comedy is sure to hit close
ing sponsor for the last several years,
to home for this audience,” EPIC
we continue to be amazed at the pas-
Co-Chair Heather Rosenberg said.
sion and generosity of the NEXTGen
While the live stand-up show is the
Detroit community and its emerging
focal point of the event, it certainly
leaders.”
isn’t the only thing EPIC guests have
Registration for EPIC is open until
to look forward to. The party kicks off
Feb. 26 at jewishdetroit.org/EPIC.
at 8 p.m. with a pre-glow reception
Early registration is $60 through Feb.
complete with open bar and an array
18 and general registration is $75
of exciting kosher appetizers. Ben-
beginning Feb. 19. This is a 21+ event
Gurion Society donors of $1,000 or
and dietary laws will be observed. •
more are also invited to a VIP recep-

Jewish Contributions to Humanity

#6 in a series

Meet the
Jewish Parents
of Superman and
Wonder Woman

JERRY SIEGEL (1914-1996). b. Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Superman.
A scrawny, unpopular, bespectacled high school student in Cleveland, Jerry Siegel thought
up Superman one night in 1934 as a solution to a problem common to so many high school
boys—girls. As he said in an interview 40 years later, he thought he’d have better luck if he
could do things like jump over buildings and throw cars. Enter Superman. A journalist by day,
superhero by night, and a character on which Siegel could place both Lois Lane’s yearning
and apathy. She was drawn to Superman, but ignored Clark Kent—her coworker at The Daily
Planet—failing to see him for the hero he really was. Siegel and his friend, comic partner and
illustrator Joe Shuster spent a few years searching for a buyer for their hero, when in 1938
they sold all rights for Superman to DC Comics…for
$130—$10 for each of the 13 pages. The pair continued
writing and illustrating Superman for nearly a decade,
but when they sued for a share of profits in 1946, DC
Comics refused and fired them, instead settling for a
one-time $94,000 payment. Siegel wrote again for DC
Comics for a few years in the 1960s, but the company
eventually let him go, later restoring Siegel’s and Shus-
ter’s bylines—after the former launched a public rela-
tions campaign—paying them each a lifetime annuity
of $20,000, which was eventually raised to $30,000. In
2013, the original check that DC Comics wrote to Siegel
and Shuster (it was $130 for the rights and $282 for their
first actual comic) sold at auction for $160,000.

JOE SHUSTER (1914-1992).

b. Toronto, Canada. Mr. Superman.
The other man behind Superman was as integral
as Siegel in revolutionizing one of America’s great art
forms, which was only five years old when Shuster and
Siegel created Superman. Born in Toronto, Shuster said his inspiration for Superman’s home-
town of Metropolis was the Toronto skyline. And his love for comics was inspired by his father,
who every night after work would read him the vividly colored newspaper comics. Following
his and Siegel’s ill-conceived sale of the Superman rights and his decades of working for and
suing DC Comics, Shuster had to retire from the field in the 1970s due to partial blindness, and
had to rely on his family’s support for most of the remainder of his life. In an interview, Siegel
said Superman was a combination of two people: Harold Lloyd, an actor, and Joe Shuster,
his friend.

WILLIAM MARSTON (1893-1947). b. Saugus, Massachusetts.

Mr. Wonder Woman.

Inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2006,
Marston, a psychologist by training, introduced Won-
der Woman—he initially named her “Suprema”—in the
1940’s, at a time when all the great American superhe-
roes and villains were male. Marston, who was influenced
by the early suffrage movement, made Wonder Woman
strong, independent, and courageous—powerful traits
in an era when many saw women as less capable than
men. She became a feminist icon, and a superhero who
could force villains to tell her the truth with her magic
lasso. Through Wonder Woman, Marston introduced his idea of female rehabilitative justice
as opposed to male retributive justice. Wonder Woman’s homeland, Paradise Island, held her
captives not in a prison, but in Reform Island, a transformation-oriented penal colony.

Original Research by Walter L. Field Sponsored by Irwin S. Field Written by Jared Sichel

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February 15 • 2018

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