Jews and Comics Books - lecture & discussion @ SAJ - tomorrow night

Adapted from
http://www.thesaj.org/story/community/this-friday-disguised-as-clark-kent-jews-comics-and-the-creation-of-the-superhero

Tomorrow night (Friday, May 14), after services (at 6:30 PM) and potluck dinner at The Society for the Advancement of Judaism Synagogue (15 W. 86th Street, Manhattan), Danny Fingeroth will speak about his book Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero. In his book, Danny explores how the creators' Jewish backgrounds helped make superheroes the most familiar pop culture icons of all, far beyond the comic books that spawned them: on TV, in movies, and in electronic media. He'll introduce the audience (figuratively speaking) to such legendary Jewish comics creators as Stan Lee (co-creator of Spider-Man), Jerry Robinson (creator of Batman's nemesis The Joker), and many others. Discover the Jewish elements of heroes you would never have connected with Jewish culture!

Danny Fingeroth was a longtime group editor of Marvel Comics's Spider Man line. He is Sr. Vice President of Education at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, and has taught and spoken about comics at many prominent venues. He celebrated his bar mitzvah at the SAJ in 1966.

Signed books will be available for purchase (don't worry, you don't need to carry cash ; they'll be using an honor system involving envelopes --- sort of like the Israel bonds drive on Yom Kippur).

One Book One Bloomington and Beyond - Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

The residents of Bloomington (Indiana) have been invited to read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay as part of this year's One Book One Bloomington and Beyond program.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is the Pulitzer Prize award winning novel about a fictional pair of Jews who become a successful comics-creating team.

This past Sunday (May 9th), Hollywood producer Michael Uslan gave the lecture "The Golden Age of Comics : How Jewish Immigrants and First Generation Jews Created the Comic Book and Its Super-Heroes" at the library of Indiana University in Bloomington.

Jews & Comic Books - lecture & discussion @ PSJC on Friday

On Friday night (May 14th), Kabbalat Shabbat Services at the Park Slope Jewish Center with Cantor Judy Ribnic (at 6:30 PM) will be followed by a pot luck dinner and program on the Jewish contribution to and content in American comic books.

• In the 1930s, did Goebbels denounce Superman as a Crypto-Jew?
• What comic book supervillain is not only a Jew but a Holocaust survivor?
• Was the crackdown on comic books in the 1950s an anti-Semitic movement, or was it started by Jews, or both?
• With so many Jews involved in comic book writing and publication since the 1930s, why were there no Jewish characters in mainstream comic books until the 1970s and why did it take a guy named Chris to create some?
• Which of the X-Men are Jews? Which of the Fantastic Four?
• What Jewish-themed comic book won a Pulitzer Prize?

For answers to these and other burning questions join Dale Rosenberg - PSJC Member and sometime comic book fan - as she shares what she has learned about the Jewish influence on American comics. Whether you think comics foster truth, justice and the American way or believe that comics cause seduction of the innocent, you’ll learn something about the influence American Jews have had and continue to have on this quintessentially American art form.
Park Slope Jewish Center
1320 8th Ave
Brooklyn, NY
Phone: (718) 768-1453

James Sturm in conversation with Miriam Libicki in Toronto - May 8th

Two Jewish cartoonists - 3 opinions?

On May 8th, James Sturm (author-illustrator of The Golem's Mighty Swing) will read and present from his new work (Market Day). Joining him on stage will be British Columbia-based artist Miriam Libicki. Libicki was an American Jewish girl from a religious home who has become the author-illustrator of the biographical jobnik! series, the first volume of which has been collected in trade paperback, the illustrated essays "Towards a Hot Jew: The Israeli Soldier as Fetish Object" and "Jewish Memoir Goes Pow! Zap! Oy!" & the illustrated mini-journals Ceasefire and Fierce Ease.

The event will take place at the Al Green Theatre in the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre (750 Spadina Ave.).

Both artists will have prepared audio/visual presentations, and will participate in a moderated Q&A with the audience. Market Day, jobnik!, and other works by both Sturm and Libicki will be available on site for purchase courtesy of The Beguiling Books & Art.

This FREE event is part of The Toronto Comic Arts Festival, being held Saturday May 8th and Sunday May 9th at the Toronto Reference Library in Toronto, Canada. For more information on TCAF events, please visit http://www.torontocomics.com.

free presentation in Toronto - Four-Color Faith: Comic Book Approaches to Scripture

During the New Narrative Conference: Narrative Arts and Visual Media, Kalervo Sinervo and Jack Prus will be delivering a paper titled "Four-Color Faith: Comic Book Approaches to Scripture" during the session on Adaptation, from 1:30 - 2:45 PM on May 6th. The presentation will include an analysis of Will Eisner's A Contract with God.

The session will take place in the Jackman Humanities Building (170 St. George Street) in Room 616.