sketch of Steven M. Bergson
The sketch - and commentary in Russian - may be viewed at the Éditions Tchaï blog. To see a larger image, click on the first graphic (top-left).
This blog is primarily for announcements of new stories in comic books or strips that have a Jewish character in them, announcements about events related to Jewish comics (e.g. article publication, book publication, museum exhibitions, lectures, etc.) and for discussion about the Jewish comics themselves.
Jerusalem lies in ruins, and the war humanity must fight in the wake of its destruction is like nothing anyone on Earth could have anticipated. When an alien race begins plucking swarms of people from everyday walks of life, they are told to brace themselves to fight in a battle to decide the fate of Earth.
What do you get when you cross "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and Isaac Bashevis Singer?
You get cartoonist Barry Deutsch's latest project, an online comic book called Hereville, about "the magical adventures of a 12-year-old Hasidic girl fighting monsters."
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Deutsch has taken numerous college-level art classes, including a few at the School of Visual Arts in New York, where he studied with Will Eisner, "one of the greatest cartoonists of all time."
The story is leisurely and steeped in cultural tradition; even troll killing must wait until after Shabbot rituals. Smart, yet heartwarming, quiet, yet with a genuine sense of adventure.
exceptionally beautiful visuals. The drawings are detailed and seem like a lot of work has gone into getting things right. It's the confident work of a professional artist. The division of panels is deliciously non-traditional.
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The dialogue caught my interest right away. We're thrown right in the middle of a philosophical debate in the first few panels. Do we have free will or does God just make our lives difficult? In another early strip, we're invited to ponder on the ethics of eating animals vs. slaying dragons.
a fascinating and, at turns, educational read.
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an interesting comic with a unique cultural identity. It’s worth a look for fans of fantasy or for anyone who feels there is no new territory to explore in the genre.
Here, Here for Hereville
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I will definitely be buying a copy of Barry Deutsch's Hereville.
It's glorious, deep, clever, and intelligent; finally, a take on the hero's tale which doesn't look like it was cribbed straight outta G.I. Joseph Campbell. Mirka won me over from the start.
Comix 101 Forbidden Images and The Art of Outrage
A Lecture by Pulitzer Prize Winning Author, Art Spiegelman
Thursday, April 3 at 7:30 p.m.
at the Isabel Bader Theatre
93 Charles St.
Toronto, Ontario
Students and Seniors: $25
Regular Admission: $40
As arguably the most influential comic illustrator of our time, Art Spiegelman (author-illustartor of the Holocaust memoir Maus) has changed the literary landscape and has carved out an important place for the graphic novel as a tool to weave complex narratives.
Through his writing, Spiegelman makes lessons of the Holocaust, issues of political engagement, and freedom of speech accessible and meaningful to a generation of young people. His approach to history and politics as seen through the unique lens of the graphic novel, has an uncanny ability to uncover the many-layered nature of conflict and identity.
Spiegelman believes that "open discourse ultimately serves understanding" (Spiegelman, June 2006) and that the principles of freedom of speech and the open exchange of ideas are the cornerstone of a free society. Spiegelman will present his view that silencing alternative voices/images is not an acceptable form of political engagement.
Please join us for an amazing evening that is not to be missed. You can purchase tickets now at www.uofttix.ca, or by phone at 416-913-2424. If you can't attend please consider donating a ticket to a student by calling the number listed above.
Presented by Hillel of Greater Toronto and the Latner Jewish Library in cooperation with the Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Office University of Toronto, the Lonsdale Annex foundation, NJCL, NOW Magazine, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, and UJA Federation of Greater Toronto
Media inquiries please call:
Daniel Abramson
Hillel of Greater Toronto
416-913-2424
daniel.abramson@hilleltoronto.org
http://www.hilleltoronto.org
Fingeroth’s book covers the territory thoroughly — but haven’t there been a heap of other similar tomes on the relationship between Jews and comics? Fingeroth insists that he brings an added insight to the genre.
“What I bring to the table of any study in a comics-related topic is the point of view of someone who actually has created comics and characters professionally for decades,” he argues.
Weinstein’s book, in particular, indulges in far-fetched exegesis ... Fingeroth, at least, notes that the themes he’s hunting for are mostly “unconscious and subconscious” on the part of comics creators.
I went into Disguised As Clark Kent thinking it would be about the same book as Up, Up And Oy Vey!: How Jewish History, Culture, and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero by Simcha Weinstein (Oy Vey is jokier and with more Biblical parallels tossed in), but, despite having nearly the same title and subject, Disguised, I have to admit, is really the leader on the topic with greater contemporary historical detail and wonderful captured social and emotional subtleties. At least in my humble little opinion, it seems to be about Jews first, particularly the immigrant Jewish psyche, and comics we drew second.
a plethora of books have recently appeared that explore the Jewish origins of the comic-books creators. Among the better studies are Up, Up and Oy Vey! How Jewish History, Culture, and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero by Rabbi Simcha Weinstein (Leviathan Press) and, now, Fingeroth’s latest work.
I interviewed some fascinating Jewish comics creators including Stan Lee, Irwin Hasen, Joe Kubert, Jerry Robinson, Jules Feiffer, Neil Gaiman, Brian Bendis, and the late Arnold Drake. Aside from that, Arie Kaplan’s, Simcha Weinstein’s, Jules Feiffer’s, and Gerard Jones’s writing on the topic was very helpful. And thanks to the Internet, I was able to read dozens of articles and essays from all over the world about related topics.
stories about such topics as--especially in post-Holocaust comics--characters who were survivors of one form of tragedy or another--indeed, the 1950s-and-beyond emphasis on Superman’s status as a survivor of the doomed planet Krypton--echoed what was going on collectively in the minds of Jewish Americans. ”Why did I survive, and not my cousins in Europe?” and so on. The whole point of Disguised as Clark Kent is to explore the nooks and crannies where ethnic identity may have crept into the work when no one--including the writers and artists--was conscious that it was
The book wasn't bad at all. My biggest complaint was really that it didn't have enough weight to it; I think a lot more could have been done with the subject matter. Perhaps it's because I've done so much reading on these creators and characters already that I'm far too familiar with the material. This might well be wholly new for many people and, if you didn't know that Bob Kane or Stan Lee were Jewish, this is probably an excellent book to introduce you to those ideas. But it really strikes me as a more introductory text than what I'd be looking for and I have to admit some disappointment with it because of that.
Not all comics dealing with religion need to challenge it. Many of the most lauded incorporate it, examine it, respect it and remain inconclusive yet affected by it. Some examples are Blankets, Persepolis, Maus, The Rabbi’s Cat, Invisibles. Even as they represent some of the most select comics work, they also represent the medium’s scarceengagements with religion as well. It isn’t hard to find religion within American mainstream comics, but finding it addressed meaningfully is. For all of the innovative exceptions named above, it remains the third rail of the adventurous, dominant genre, only temporarily shocking its characters. Thus, religion in comics can be likened to several concepts of God: it is everywhere and nowhere all at once.
While Judaism has its roots in the accomplishments of powerful patriarchs and matriarchs, a special emphasis is also placed upon the tribe: the synthesis of everyone’s talents for the greater good. The Hebrew word for tribes, shevatim, means “branches,” alluding to their separate yet united nature. In Lee and Kirby’s universe, not even superheroes live in a vacuum. Sometimes they have to rely on their fellow super-colleagues to assist them when the going gets tough.
In an age of terror we all – more than ever – need a return to family values, working together to combine our powers and talents for the greater good. Even a flashy Hollywood movie based on a popular comic book can be a way to convey this important message (in between onscreen explosions and corny jokes, of course).
"The Jewish comic book community may seem small, and its creators and fans fewer than the average, but remember that this industry began with names like Kirby, Eisner, Lieber, Kubert and more, many of whom did observe the holidays and rituals that I do. Many of them who might have objected as I do now, to a convention that coincides with the annual commemoration of a great moment in Jewish history and amazing miracles such as the Ten Plagues and the splitting of the Red Sea. Passover may not mean much to the average comic book fan or comic book creators... but I cannot imagine the comics community staying silent if Reed Exhibitions had decided to schedule the New York Comic-Con on Good Friday, Easter or Thanksgiving weekend."
"Thanks for the open letter, my name is Lance Fensterman, and I run New York ComicCon. Needless to say, I'm none too happy about the Passover situation either, so let's get that out of the way right off the bat - we are really sorry about this and certainly intended no disrespect towards anyone. The unfortunate reality is that these were the dates we were given at the Javits Center. Javits is unlike most places in that the demand for the space far outstrips the availability, so customers, such as NYCC, are left with little to no choice as to what dates we are given. To that point, I'll announce here first that the show will be moving back to February next year - because we want to be in February? Nope. Quite simply, these are the only dates we can get next year."
Family Affairs
Here, three highly distinctive writers explore dysfunctional families; mining relationships, love and betrayals, secrets and lies.
When We Were Bad, Charlotte Mendelson's novel, tells the story of a high profile woman rabbi’s family in total disarray. In Rutu Modan’s beautifully drawn graphic novel, Exit Wounds, the search for a man feared dead in a terrorist attack reveals someone neither his son nor his lover knew. Blake Morrison wrote two moving memoirs uncovering the lives of both his parents.
Rutu Modan, an illustrator and comic book creator, is a chosen artist of the Israel Cultural Excellence Foundation. She has created comic strips for the Israeli newpapers Yedioth Acharonot and Maariv and illustrations for The New Yorker, Le Monde, The New York Times and many other publications. Her first graphic novel, Exit Wounds, will be published in June. Rutu Modan, usually based in Tel Aviv, is currently in Sheffield, England.
Charlotte Mendelson was born in London in 1972 and grew up in Oxford. She has written and reviewed for the Guardian, the TLS, the Independent on Sunday, the Observer and elsewhere. Her first novel, Love in Idleness, was largely written in her lunch breaks at work. For Daughters of Jerusalem, she was awarded the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the Somerset Maugham Award, and was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. Charlotte also received the London Arts New London Writers’ Award and was shortlisted for Le Prince Maurice Roman d’Amour Prize and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. Her third novel, When We Were Bad, was published in May 2007. She has been named one of Waterstone’s 25 Authors for the Future.
Blake Morrison is Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a former Chairman of the Poetry Book Society, a member of the Literature Panel of the Arts Council of England and Vice-Chairman of English PEN.
His non-fiction books include And When Did You Last See Your Father?, an honest and moving account of his father's life and death and Things My Mother Never Told Me, a memoir of his mother. As If is about the trial of the two young boys convicted of killing the toddler James Bulger in Liverpool. His poetry includes the collections Dark Glasses, The Ballad of the Yorkshire Ripperand Pendle Witches. He is also a novelist, The Justification of Johann Gutenberg and most recently South of the River. He has written a number of essays, plays and a children’s book.
Hephzibah Anderson is Fiction Editor of the Daily Mail
In association with JLifestyle


Later in the book, Fingeroth discusses a Silver Age contribution to the Superman mythos: the Bottle City of Kandor, a Kryptonian city that had been reduced in size and stolen by the evil Brainiac, and thus survived the destruction of the planet. Superman recovered the miniaturized city and placed it in his Fortress of Solitude (whose name arguably alludes to Superman’s status as an alien on Earth), which Fingeroth correctly describes as “the survivor’s living museum to the memory of Krypton. He was now no longer fully alone and could revisit a piece of the culture and society from which he had been simultaneously saved and exiled” (Fingeroth p. 83).
Two years ago when I was listening to a BBC radio program “Is Superman Jewish?” (see “Comics in Context” #75: “The Rubber Band Theory of Cartoon Art”). I was startled when it made the argument that Kandor represented the nation of Israel: a community of Jews, small compared to the millions who once lived in Europe, that survived after the Holocaust.