The Golem's Mighty Swing (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Golem’s Mighty Swing George Goodman (bio) James Sturm. The Golem’s Mighty Swing. Montreal: Drawn and Quarterly, 2003. 100 pp. Paper, $16.95 U.S., $24.95 Canada. The Stars of David, advertised as the "Bearded Wandering Wonders," is a traveling baseball team in the 1920s in the United States. It is made up of Jewish ballplayers (except for Henry Bell, a black player who spent twenty years in the Negro Leagues but who is now known as Hershl Bloom, a member of the "lost [End Page 149] tribe" in order to play on the all-Jewish club). The team is managed by Noah Strauss, "the Zion Lion," who played briefly with the Boston Red Sox before his knees gave out (and he couldn't crack the regular outfield of Lewis, Hooper, and Speaker). The team travels around the country in an old, run-down bus, playing in every small town that can field a team, and it draws well because the local residents all want to see "the Jews" get beaten. And therein lies the heart of this story: idyllic, rural, laid-back Middle America is seen as comprised of people who are not embarrassed to show their emotions and true colors, baiting the players and openly insulting them with racial slurs and comments that we like to think are reserved for use only by the lowest, least intelligent, and most obnoxious of people. When the team arrives at Cedar Falls for their annual game, they are disappointed to learn that a fair is also in town, which cuts heavily into their gate receipts. Then their bus breaks down, and they find themselves short of money for repairs, food, and hotel rooms. At this point Noah decides to accept a wild scheme proposed to him earlier by a representative of the Big Inning Promotional Agency: add showmanship and spectacle to their games by introducing a "Golem" into their lineup. A Golem, according to Jewish mystical Kabbalah belief, is a creature that man creates out of dirt and water with the aid of secret spoken incantations and whose purpose is to be a servant or a protector. Hershl, the big black non-Jew, is conscripted to play this role in the next game. Advertised as the Jewish medieval monster, the Golem is used to attract a huge crowd, as well as being used by the local ball team owner to whip up even more frenzy and vitriol against the traveling team. When a batter is hit in the head by a ball pitched by the Golem, the players and fans in the stands grab bats and other weapons and attack the Stars of David. How the Golem, and other supernatural forces, help them escape forms the basis for the balance of this story. It is a very old, simple story told here against the background of what has so often been considered one of the basic fabrics of America: baseball, and all the mythic qualities it represents, including fairness, openness, and respect for the abilities of your opponents. Here we are presented with a picture of racial prejudice that is never beneath the surface, with no attempt to suppress or hide it. And it doesn't matter what race it is: if you're "different," then you are subject to this hatred. But this is not a book in the ordinary sense of the word. It is really a comic book, a graphic novel, drawn and written by a cartoonist (James Sturm) who is very adept at presenting his story and characters in images that hold your [End Page 150] interest throughout. The story, showing the seedy underbelly of mid-America and the horrific racism that had to be overcome later by such great players as Hank Greenberg and Jackie Robinson when they broke into the majors, is drawn in simple black and white, with balloon captions minimally used to advance the story but that let it stand on its pictures otherwise. This is a very quick and easy read, yet at the same time it is not an easy read, as it tends to open old wounds and remind us again that things are often...