40 Reasons to Attend New York Comicon in 2008 ...

... and 1 reason not to. It's amazing (& astonishing & shocking --- and all those other cool adjectives they threw onto the covers on Silver Age comics to try to get our attention) to me that there are more "Jewish" reasons to attend NYCC this year than there were last year.

(1) Session discussing Jews and superheroes in general and in particular the book Disguised as Clark Kent : Jews, Comics and the Creation of the Superhero, written by

(2) Danny Fingeroth (who will be in attendance), moderated by

(3) Arie Kaplan, author of the forthcoming book From Krakow to Krypton: A History of Jews in Comics

(4) A confidential source has it on good authority to believe that legendary Batman series artist Jerry Robinson (who also did illustrations for Bible Tales for Young Folk) will be in attedance.

(5) Session discussing the book Our Gods Wear Spandex : The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes - a book whose sections include People of the Book (chapter 4) ; Harry Houdini (chapter 8) ; Founding Fathers: Harry Donenfeld and Martin Goodman (chapter 12) ; Chapter 16. The Golems ; Jack Kirby (chapter 20) ; Neil Gaiman (chapter 20)

(6) The above session will feature the book's author, Christopher Knowles ; the aforementioned Danny Fingeroth ;

(7) Douglas Rushkoff (writer of the Testament series from Vertigo) ;

and (8) A. David Lewis (co-organizer of the recent "Graven Images" conference and author of The Lone and Level Sands, a graphic novel adaptation of the story of Exodus).

(9) tribute to Joe Kubert, who will be in attence at NYCC

(10) tribute to Will Eisner

(11) tribute to Steve Gerber (author of "A Monster Reborn" in Monsters Unleashed #4)

(12) A tribute to Jack "King" Kirby and discussion of the book Kirby : King of Comics with

(13) the book's author Mark Evanier (who also wrote a Crossfire story for a Free Comic Book Day comic involving a Holocaust survivor who tries to kill a suspected Nazi war criminal)

(14) Neal Adams (illustrator of "The Ventures of Zimmerman" [parody of Bob Dylan] and "Son O' God", which both appeared in the pages of National Lampoon)

(15) Dick Ayers (illustrator of "Lonely Are the Brave" in Combat Kelly and the Deadly Dozen #2, in which the titular heroes liberate a concentration camp)

(16) Kyle Baker author-illustrator of the King David graphic novel from Vertigo, as well as a funny 1-page cartoon in his Kyle Baker : Cartoonist TPB in which a Jewish Cinderella has a mishap under the chuppah)

(17) Nick Bertozzi (illustrator of Houdini : The Handcuff King)

(18) Jon Bogdanove (author-illustrator of issues of a Superman storyline in which Superman went to the Warsaw Ghetto)

(19) Peter David (who infamously used the names of seder plate items for aliens in a Star Trek novel and who wrote the stories for The Incredible Hulk #386-387 ; see
http://www.leaderslair.com/noexcuses/hulk2-386.html and http://www.leaderslair.com/noexcuses/hulk2-387.html)

(20) Garth Ennis (author of the limited series Unknown Soldier, in which the title character, in a flashback to WWII, is shown massacring Nazi guards at Dachau)

(21) Gary Friedrich (author of "Lonely Are the Brave" in Combat Kelly and the Deadly Dozen #2, in which the titular heroes liberate a concentration camp)

(22) Neil Gaiman (Jewish author who contributed to the anthology Outrageous Tales of the Old Testament and who both retold a midrash on Adam's 2nd wife and had a Jewish musician meet Death in the pages of his Sandman series)

(23) Keith Giffen (author of the Ragman miniseries that reintroduced the title character as a Jewish superhero and also creator of the characters Dreidel and Rabbi Zone, who both appeared in the pages of the last issue of the series The Heckler)

(24) Dan Goldman (author-illustrator of a short piece titled "Schmear", which he describes as "Jewish porn", since it takes place in the backroom of a Brooklyn bagel shop. The story appeared in Smut Peddler #2). In all fairness, Dan's done other - & better-known - stories (e.g. Shooting War) but "Schmear" is the only "Jewish" work of his that I've seen.

(25) Justin Gray (co-creator of The Monolith series)

(26) Dean Haspiel (illustrator of many Harvey Pekar stories, including his graphic novels The Quitter and Ego & Hubris : The Michael Malice Story)

(27) Phil Jiminez (illustrator of a Heroes online comic featuring an Israeli Mossad agent named Hana Gitelman)

(28) Alisa Kwitney (writer on the Vertigo series Token. Set in Miami Beach in the 1980s, Token tells the story of Shira, a sheltered young Jewish girl, who finds herself rebelling against her family and falling for Rafael, a boy who knows how to make acting bad feel way too good.

(29) Stan "The Man" Lee (Jewish co-creator of classic Marvel characters & series, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four)

(30) Rob Liefeld (illustrator of stories in the Youngblood series, which included the Israeli superheroine Masada)

(31) Steve Niles (author of the golem story Criminal Macabre: Feat of Clay)

(32) Jerry Ordway (illustrator of an issue of Superman in which he went to the Warsaw Ghetto, as well as an All-Star Squadron story in which Steel ended up in a Nazi death camp)

(33) Jimmy Palmiotti (co-creator of the short-lived golem series The Monolith from DC Comics)

(34) M. K. Perker (illustrator of the Vertigo graphic novel Cairo. Set in bustling modern-day Cairo, this magical-realism thriller interweaves the lives of a drug runner, a down-on-his-luck journalist, an American expatriate, a young activist, an Israeli soldier, and a genie as they navigate the city's streets and spiritual underworld to find a stolen hooka sought by a wrathful gangster-magician.)

(35) Josef Rubinstein (an illustrator of the 2nd Mendy & the Golem series and contributor to both Journeys : The Collected Edition and Balm in Gilead)

(36) Steve Rude (author of many Nexus stories ; one of the main characters in Nexus is Judah Maccabee aka "The Hammer")

(37) Gail Simone (who wrote the story "Li'l Krusty in Give a Hoot, Stay in School" in Simpsons #62)

(38) Louise Simonson (co-author of issues of a Superman storyline in which Superman went to the Warsaw Ghetto)

(39) Len Wein (writer of the golem story in Strange
Tales #174 - see http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/golem1.htm)

(40) G. Willow Wilson (author of the Vertigo graphic novel Cairo.)