New comic 'just like Nazi propaganda'

His fists clenched and muscles rippling beneath a tight blue suit, the yellow-caped character appears poised to take on evil-doers.

But as his name suggests, Foreskin Man is not a typical comic-book superhero, and neither is his choice of adversaries: doctors who practice circumcision and Orthodox Jews who support the religious ritual.

San Diego activist Matthew Hess said he conceived the internet comic series last year as a way to boost his budding national effort to outlaw circumcision, an effort that has led to a measure on San Francisco's ballot in November that would make it illegal to perform a circumcision on a boy under 18.

Recently, though, the series has drawn criticism from those who deride Hess' imagery as anti-semitic and liken Foreskin Man's confrontation with a sinister-looking Monster Mohel to 1930s Nazi propaganda.

In the comic's second issue, the mohel (a specialist in Jewish ritual circumcision) barges into a San Diego home, snatches a baby boy from his mother, and proceeds to circumcise the infant on a pool table before being stopped by Foreskin Man.

"The (Monster) mohel has a dark complexion, hook nose and is practically drooling at the thought of apparently doing harm to a child," said Nancy Appel, associate director of the Anti-Defamation League.

"He even has claws on his fingertips. He is blood thirsty just like the grotesque Jewish stereotypes that appeared in Nazi propaganda. It's absolutely a direct parallel."

Hess is the founder of MGMbill, a national organisation pushing to outlaw circumcision on boys under the age of 18.

MGM stands for Male Genital Mutilation, and the bill refers to proposed legislation drafted and submitted to state and federal politicians to consider passing.

The organisation succeeded in getting the measure on San Francisco's ballot that would make it a misdemeanour to circumcise males younger than 18 without "medical need".