Tonight : Graphic Novelist Miriam Katin at Harbourfront in Toronto

Miriam Katin at International Readings at Harbourfront Centre
In support of her new graphic novel We Are on Our Own
Tonight, Wednesday May 31, 2006 @ 7PM
Brigantine Room @ Harbourfront Centre
Cost: FREE if you come to The Beguiling today…!

International Readings at Harbourfront Centre is pleased to welcome celebrated New York graphic artist Miriam Katin to the Brigantine Room stage as a part of International Readings at Harbourfront Centre. Katin will read from her new memoir We Are on Our Own, along with readings by Laurie Gough and Alayna Munce, on Wednesday, May 31, 2006. Katin’s captivating and elegantly illustrated book tells the story of her and her mother’s struggle for survival in Hungary during WWII. This book has garnered much critical praise and was recently called, “a powerful reminder of the lingering price of survival” by Publishers Weekly, where it also received a starred review.

Miriam Katin presents her first full-length graphic novel, published at age sixty-three. The captivating and elegantly illustrated We Are on Our Own is the story of Miriam and her mother’s struggle for survival in Hungary during WWII. Miriam first worked as a graphic artist in the Israel Armed Forces. After moving to the United States, she worked for both Disney and MTV.

Rex Mundi #17

Rex Mundi #17

Greg at Comics Should Be Good points out the issue's weak points, but then concedes that "there's a nifty fight with a golem" which helps makes up for them.

Moishe Hundesohn comic strip

A German-speaking, walking, talking Jewish dog?

Take a look for yourself at http://www.israeli-art.com/satire/islam.htm.

X-Corporation

Just what the comics-reading world needs : another "X" book from Marvel. I'm still waiting for the day when the House of Ideas becomes so strapped for ideas that they must publish the comic about obese mutants trying to lose weight fast : X-Lax.

At least this comic (X-Corporation, that is) takes place in Israel, according to Dino Pollard.

summary of X-Corporation #1 : Warren Worthington plans to open an X-Corporation office in Jerusalem, but the Israelis may not be too happy about a pro-mutant organization operating in their holy city! Meet the division heads of the X-Corporation in part one of "Holy Land," by Eric Faynberg!

summary of X-Corporation #2 : Mousa al-Ghoul has been behind numerous terrorist attacks in Israel and now he has his eyes set on getting rid of the X-Corporation! But Warren and the other X-Corp board members have plans of their own, because they've discovered al-Ghoul's dirty little secret! It's the conclusion of "Holy Land," by Eric Faynberg!

more about Elsewhere #2

Gary Sullivan, at his Elsewhere blog reveals that the comic will include a "Jewish 2 pp spread, posters, bumperstickers, signage".

Earlier, he described the layout of the book :

In laying the comic out, I'm paying attention to a number of specific
constraints:

1. Images must generally fall sequentially in order of where they were photographed, moving northward up Coney Island Avenue. The immigrant population on Coney Island Avenue is very diverse, but more or less clustered as such, moving south to north:

Russians
Turks
Israelis & Jews from Russia, Poland, Ukraine, and elsewhere in the former Soviet Union
Pakistanis, Kashmiris, and Punjabis
People from the West Indies
Mexicans and other Central Americans

The Thing #5

According to Benito Cereno, The Thing #5 has some Jewish content in it :

Slott again shows that, hey, continuity's not a swearword by referencing that well-publicized but probably mostly unread "The Thing's a Jew" issue of FF. I dunno. It's a pretty cool issue. The Thing on Yancy Street, learning lessons.

Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person - a graphic novel by Miriam Engelberg

At her blog, Miriam wrote :

I am Jewish, of course, so you've intuited correctly. There is a small amount of Jewish content in the book--but more general pondering about spirituality than specific Jewish tenets. I am a huge fan of Our Cancer Year (and Pekar in general), and found his book helpful to re-read when I came down with cancer myself. My book is completely different though -- it has a narrative, but is more of a morbidly humorous look at various aspects of being seriously ill.

Jewish comics multimedia

2 webcast videos

The Comic Book Report : Israeli Comic Books


Israel & Comics (Sabra, Magneto, Wolverine)

Shaw Island comic strips on the Web

Jan. 28, 2005 - what model guillotines are NOT for

Dec. 23, 2005 - the dreidel nightmare

more recognition for The Rabbi's Cat

Joann Sfar's The Rabbi's Cat has been chosen as on the best comics of 2005 by Now Playing magazine (my thanks to bangitout.com for the tip).

Arnold T. Blumberg's review of it appears on the NP website.

Sfar's book has also been nominated for the prestigious Eisner award.

If it wins, it will be the 2nd Jewish graphic novel to do so (Maus II won Best Graphic Album: Reprint in 1996).

Ex Machina #19

According to Stephanie Kay's post to the Comixfan forum, in this issue :

In the aftermath of the attack there has been a lynching and tempers are running high. After a Muslim representative berates the Mayor at a meeting of the City’s religious leaders, a rabbi steps in to ask about how the “obligatory reminder that Islam is synonymous with peace” is a defense for allying with a group that supports Hamas. Snippets and half scenes such as this allow readers to laugh at the awful truths of the world while still enjoying the non political and social fallout of such an event.

The Forward newspaper reviews J.T. Waldman's Megillat Esther

The review is by Jay Michaelson and gives a nod to Douglas Rushkoff and Liam Sharp's Testament miniseries, as well.

Rabbi Encounters by Rob Woodrum

Rob Woodrum (aka soulsurfer) presents the webcomic Rabbi Encounters, described as "strange tales of encounters with an odd rabbi somewhere in the Middle East." Click on the "Archive" link to get to the comics.

Y : The Last Man

Spiros Derveniotis provides a description of the series, while Kevin provides this mini-review :

It’s a witty, smart-edge-of-your-seat adventure and survival story, where Yorick is being taken by a secret agent named 355 and a scientist who is working on cloning (after all – no men, no reproduction. Hence, the end of the species – and not just ours: the animals die out too. This comic really knows every angle of this situation, and that’s part of the impressiveness of this story). They’re being pursued by militants, a psychotic woman’s group named the Amazons (every member cuts off their right breast, and is dedicated to showing everyone how better off they are without men. Yorick’s sister was a part of them), Israelis, and sex-starved women everywhere.

Israel goes after Brother Eye

Charles Wisniowski reports at FanBoyWonder that The OMAC Project: Infinite Crisis Special has Israelis in it :

When the remains of the Brother Eye satellite-containing secret detailed information on every hero and villain- crashes into the Rub Al-Khali Desert in Saudi Arabia, the various international governments race to the scene to grab the goods.

The forces dispatched to the still active satellite include Checkmate's Sasha Bordeaux and Fire (former Justice League bimbo and even more former Brazilian spy and killer as Rucka reminds us), as well as Israeli Commandos, a Chinese metahuman and Russia's Rocket Reds (Wow! We're having an '80s flashback)

Pizzeria Kamikaze by Etgar Keret & Asaf Hanukah

A mini-review by Sam Teigen

"Who cares about the source so long as the point's made?"

A comic strip statement by Tony-Allen about anti-Israel press, the importance of bias and learning from history.

Sgt. Rock : The Prophecy - a slide show

David Bellel provides a summary of the series at Pseudo-Intellectualism, along with a link to a "virtual slide show" of several pages from the first issue.