15. A Norman Podhoretz might make a "brutal bargain" but Jack Kirby never would. In his broader attitude towards life, his small-d democratic outlook and loyalty to tradition of the popular front, he kept true to his origins. The end.
14. Kiby's rocky superhero The Thing (from Fantastic Four) is often seen as an ultra-ego: with his working class diction, roughneck demeanor & origins in Yancy Street. The Thing with his obdurate frame can also be seen as marker of Kirby's recognition that identity is not easily erased
13. A high school drop out who worked in the low-rent world of comic books and TV animation, Kirby knew that the markers of class & ethnic origin were not easily erased & the brutal bargain meant betrayal of family & friends. That's in fact an obsessive them in his work.
12. The larger story here is that of the "brutal bargain" Podhoretz talked about, where white children of immigrants have to become "facsimile WASPs" to make it. Podhoretz made that bargain & became big editor and right-wing Republican. Kirby had success in own way but never made that bargain.
11. Given dates, it's virtually impossible that Kirby would have heard about Mrs. K's relationship with Podhoretz (which took place after Kirby did story). But Kane would've seen Mrs. K and she had earlier students she might have groomed. Is it possible Kane told these stories to his boss Kirby?
10. In high school, Kane (aka Katz) and Podhoretz had collaborated on comic book stories together. But Kane dropped out of school to work in comics as Kirby's assistant while Podhoretz, under tutelage of Mrs K, became outstanding scholar & Columbia student.
9. The interesting thing is that when Kirby wrote his story in 1943, there was only one degree of separation between Podhoretz & the cartoonist. Podhoretz had an older high school friend named Eli Katz (later known as Gil Kane). In 1942 Kane became Kirby's assistant.
8. Unlike Podhoretz in Making It, Tommy in Kirby's story doesn't accept the "brutal bargain" of upward mobility. It turns out the whole adoption was a criminal scheme. In end he's reunited with his buddies in Newsboy Legion. But the two stories, one a memoir & one fictional, strongly overlap
7. As part of his new life as an adopted rich kid, Tommy has to adopt the mannerism and dress of the rich. When his slum buddies of Newsboy Legion send him a jacket, he has to reject it because it bears the markers of his now shameful class origins which he is trying to erase.
6. The story follow Tommy, member of the rambunctious kids gang The Newsboy Legion (rough but good kids who grow up in "Suicide Slum"). Tommy is offered the chance to live with a millionaire, which offers a new life but means leaving his friends behind.
