Jewish Side of MOCCA Festival 2010 (Apr. 10th & 11th)

This weekend (April 10th and 11th), the annual Museum of Comic & Cartoon Art Festival will be held at the Lexington Avenue Armory (Lexinton and 25th) in Manhattan (New York), between the hours of 11 AM and 6 PM.

Among the creators of Jewish comic stories / art who will be in attendance are :

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

* Kyle Baker (author-illustrator of the Vertigo graphic novel adaptation King David)

* Josh Bernstein ("Mitzvah 4" in Royal Flush Magazine)

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

* Willow Dawson (the talented Canadian artist, who has illustrated the anthology No Girls Allowed : Tales of Daring Women Dressed as Men for Love, Freedom and Adventure, written by Susan Hughes & published by Kids Can Press). The anthology includes the story of Esther Brandeau, the first Jewish person to immigrate to Canada.

* Danny Fingeroth (author of Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero)

* Dean Haspiel (illustrator of Harvey Pekar's autobiography The Quitter)

* Al Jaffee (cartoonist best known for his work in Mad magazine, who also contributed artwork to Moshiach Times)

* Peter Kuper (author-illustrator of the short biographical story "Promised Land" in Bleeding Heart #2, as well as the book-length autobiographical Stop Forgetting to Remember : The Autobiography of Walter Kurtz)

* Miss Lasko-Gross (author-illustrator of the graphic autobiography Escape from "Special" and A Mess of Everything)

* Dylan Meconis (author-illustrator of the webcomic Family Man, about a Jewish academic named Luther Levy, who was unable to defend his dissertation because he was not Christian)

* Josh Neufeld (author-illustrator of A Few Perfect Hours)

* Jeff Newelt (Pekar Project, Heeb)

* Paul Pope (author-illustrator of the story "Berlin Batman" in The Batman Chronicles #11 [reprinted in Batman : Year 100] in which Batman is a Jewish painter named Baruch Wane)

* Jonathan Rosenberg (author-illustrator of the webcomic Goats, which includes the Jewish character "Jon", as seen in the strip from Nov. 24, 2005)

* James Sturm (author illustrator of The Golem's Mighty Swing and Market Day)

*******

Sessions that may be of interest to Jewish visitors

Saturday, April 10th

11:30 AM
Titans of Comics: Living Cartooning Legends
Humor comics geniuses Al Jaffee (Mad Magazine – creator of the “fold-in”), Arnold Roth!(Humbug, Trump, National Lampoon), and Gahan Wilson (New Yorker, Playboy)! We dare you to keep a straight face during this panel! Moderated by the moderately amusing Danny Fingeroth (Superman on the Couch, Rough Guide to Graphic Novels)

Sunday, April 11th

10:30 AM
A Special Holocaust Remembrance Day Presentation: Disney and Neal Adams Take on the Holocaust
Legendary comic book artist Neal Adams (Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Avengers: Kree Skrull War), Disney Educational Productions chief Lisa Clements, and Holocaust historian Dr. Rafael Medoff unveil their new collaboration: "They Spoke Out: American Voices of Protest Against the Holocaust," a stunning series of motion comics that will revolutionize Holocaust education. Featuring the premiere of the first two episodes in the series.

11:30 AM
James Sturm and Paul Karasik in Conversation
James Sturm (The Golem's Mighty Swing) and Paul Karasik (City of Glass)conduct an overview of Sturm's comics work as well as the founding of The Center for Cartoon Studies, culminating in a look at the creation of Sturm's latest graphic novel, Market Day.