Prehistory of the Jewish Graphic Novel - lecture on Nov. 21st

From Parchment to Comic Book: The Prehistory of the “Jewish Graphic Novel”

The graphic novel – the place where art and literature meet – has become a forum for self discovery and the playing out of Jewish identities and politics. This stratum of Jewish self expression has a pre-history. Join popular lecturer Marc Epstein for a trip into Jewish art history.

Tuesday November 21st at 7:30pm
$18.00
Temple Beth-El
118 Grand Avenue
Poughkeepsie, NY 12603-3097
(845)454-0570

Miriam Engelberg in Lilith magazine

The Fall 2006 issue of Lilith magazine has a 1-page reprint of a page from Miriam Engelberg's autobiographical graphic novel Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person. Miriam z"l passed away last month due to complications from the cancer. She was 48.

Super-Mensch: The Story of Jews and Comic Books - course at Jewish Study Centre

The Jewish Study Center in Washington, DC is offering the course Super-Mensch: The Story of Jews and Comic Books, as part of its Fall 2006 session.

The first session (of 5) was last week, but the second is tomorrow.

Here's the course description from the website :

Super-Mensch: The Story of Jews and Comic Books
Oct. 30 - Nov. 27 ,
(5 sessions)
7:00 - 8:15 PM
Members: $55, non-members: $65


Since the inception of the comic book industry, Jews have been involved as writers, artists, and visionaries. In fact, many heroes and villains have been based on the Jewish-American experience. We will look at how the relationship between Jews and comic books began, how it has grown, and what we can expect for the future.

Richard "Kap" Kaplowitz is a lifelong comic book collector and student of the industry. His son sells comics for "Kap's Komics" online and at comic book shows.

Superman Was a Jew - Beit Midrash class in Spring 2007

Jacksonville Jewish Federation is offering a course called "Superman was a Jew" in Spring 2007 as part of its Beit Midrash offerings.

This class looks at how Jews transformed the comic book industry from 1938—present. The creators of some of our favorite comic book stars — Superman, the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Batman and the X-men - were Jewish. Students will learn about how these creators designed characters and personas to reflect Jewish values and ideals, and will have the opportunity to design their very own story board in this exciting class.
Instructor: Mrs. Karen Morse

Joann Sfar in NY to promote Klezmer - Nov. 6th

Klezmer is the latest translated-into-English Jewish graphic novel by the Eisner award-winning author-illustrator of The Rabbi's Cat, Joann Sfar.

According to Blog@Newsarama, Joann will be at McNally Robinson Booksellers (52 Prince Street between Lafayette and Mulberry) at 8 PM to promote Klezmer Book One : Tales of the Wild East. Call the store at 212.274.1160 for more information.

You may view scans of untranslated pages from Book 2 by going to the First Second blog.

Here are links to 6 sites that discuss &/or review Klezmer Book 1 :

Comics Should Be Good!, Mad Ink Beard, Fuse #8, Jog - the Blog, Jewschool and Klezmer Shack.