Jew Gangster is a 2005 black-and-white graphic novel written and drawn by famed Comic Book artist Joe Kubert. Originally published by John Colby's ibooks imprint, it was later picked up by DC Comics and reprinted as part of their re-releases of Kubert's works.
The story follows Reuben "Ruby" Kaplan, a young Jewish man adrift in a tough Brooklyn neighborhood during the Depression-riddled 1930s. Desperate for a better life, Ruby ignores the admonitions of his immigrant parents and soon falls in with a local mobster named Monk Shapiro. As Ruby gets deeper into the criminal underworld, he begins to develop feelings for Monk's wife Molly, while his lawless activities tests and threatens his family and friends.
Jew Gangster demonstrates the following tropes:
- The Corrupter: Ruby becomes this to his friends Heshel and Hymie, recruiting them into the gang's various criminal activities when they need a few extra hands.
- Disappointed in You: With his dying breath, Isaac expresses disappointment that Ruby ignored his admonishment and became a gangster.
- The Don: The Jewish mafia is run by The Big Guy, a shadowy leader whose identity is only known to the top members of the gang.
- Ethnic Menial Labor: Ruby's father Isaac works in a sweatshop as a fabric cutter, while his mother cooks for a small restaurant she runs from a rented storefront.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Even as Ruby gets mired further and further into the criminal underworld, he always makes sure to visit his mother and ensure she is financially taken care of.
- Evil Mentor: Monk is this to Ruby, teaching him the ways of the gangster life, along with ancillary skills such as driving (and stealing) cars.
- Eye Scream: Monk gets stabbed in the eye with a broken pool cue.
- Fingore: After Ruby promises to repay a delinquent butcher's loan, the enforcer settles for chopping off one of the butcher's fingers as a "down payment".
- Foreshadowing: On the way to drive off some pro-union picketers, Monk tells Ruby, "When people make trouble or do you wrong, there's always a payback." This foretells Monk raping Ruby's sister in retaliation for Ruby sleeping with his wife.
- Good Hair, Evil Hair: The Big Guy has a messy, unkempt beard and a head of hair to match.
- The Great Depression: The story is set in the middle of the Great Depression, and characters wonder if it will ever end.
- Harmful to Minors:
- The story begins with Ruby and his friends spying on several mobsters killing a delinquent loaner.
- Monk shoots an Italian baker in the head in front of his young son.
- Immigrant Parents: Ruby's parents are Jewish immigrants from Poland who arrive in the United States via Ellis Island.
- In Love with the Gangster's Girl: Molly, Monk's wife, throws herself at Ruby, and he soon reciprocates in kind, despite the risks.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ruby may be a hardened criminal without any regrets, but he'll occasionally intervene on behalf of others, such as promising to repay a loan on behalf of a delinquent neighborhood butcher.
- Karmic Rape: When Ruby's sister Rifke is raped, he tries to gather up the gang and get revenge. Then he learns that Monk raped Rifke as retaliation for Ruby sleeping with his wife Molly.
- Klingon Promotion: Ruby becomes The Dragon to The Big Guy after he kills Monk in a bar brawl.
- Kosher Nostra: The story follows Ruby as he goes from an overconfident teen delinquent to a hardened member of the local Jewish mafia.
- The Mafia: The main rivals of the Jewish mob are the Italian mafia.
- Makes Us Even:
- After the Jewish Mob and the Italian Mob agree to be Friendly Enemies and mutually profit from the sweatshop-union feud, Monk shoots one of the Italian gangsters as equalization for them killing one of the Jewish gangsters.
- Monk invokes this to justify him raping Ruby's sister Rifke, in response to Ruby sleeping with his wife Molly."We're pals, ain't we? Share 'n share alike. What's yours is mine an' what's mine is yours."
- No Ending: The story ends with Ruby taking Rifke home after he's further ingrained with the Jewish mob. What happens next to any of the characters is anyone's guess.
- Nothing Personal: Invoked first by the Italian mob for killing one of the Jewish gangsters, because they were hired by the Union to do so. Invoked right afterward by Monk after he kills one of the Italian gangsters as equalization."This ain't personal. Strictly a tab fer a tab. So we're even."
- Pragmatic Villainy:
- When Monk learns from Gino, the boss of the Italian mob, that their gangs are on opposite sides of a sweatshop unionization conflict, he proposes that they become Friendly Enemies to play both sides and mutually profit without hurting each other.
- Ruby justifies his criminal behavior as this, seeing a life of crime as the only way to make enough money to take care of himself, his mother, and his sister Rifke.
- Protection Racket: Monk's gang is hired by the owner of a garment sweatshop to drive off some union organizers who are planning to protest in front of his business.
- A Real Man Is a Killer: Monk congratulates Ruby for being "in the big leagues" after he participates in the shooting of the baker, and gives him a gun as a gift.
- The Runaway: Ruby, determined to quit school and become a full-time gangster, runs away from home in the dead of night. He still stays in touch with his family, but lives at the pool hall.
- Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Ruby's father forcibly slaps him when Ruby offers to give him five dollars (several days' wages at the time) that he earned by being a courier for the mob."I don't want your money, Reuben. Not this kind of money. ...I didn't bring my family to America for my son to be a gangster."
- Sex for Solace: After he returns from his father's funeral, Ruby finds Molly and has sex with her.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: As he ascends in the mob, Ruby goes around dressed in a tailored suit, tie, and hat.
- Shame If Something Happened: The Big Guy tells Ruby to stay in line by warning him to protect his family."We live in a dangerous world at a perilous time, Reuben. Anything can happen... to your sister, your mother. Do not put them in peril."
- Sudden Name Change: The story begins with Reuben watching Monk Greenberg kill a man for failure to repay his loans. However, when Ruby starts working for Monk, his name is given as Monk Shapiro instead. Either there are two burly men named "Monk" in the Jewish mob, or Joe Kubert made a mistake in the script.
- Would Hurt a Child: Played with; after Monk kills a baker in front of his young son, he lets the boy leave, but warns that he will return for the rest of the family if the son tells anyone about the shooting.
