Jewish Side of SDCCI Part 1 (of 3) - The Creators

Tomorrow, the 2010 San Diego Comic Con begins. If you don't have a pass for it yet, forget it ; they're all sold out!

In attendance will be a whole bunch of writers and artists who have worked / are working on Jewish comic stories (and many of them are Jewish themselves).

Below is a list I have compiled.

Neal Adams (illustrator of "The Ventures of Zimmerman" [parody of Bob Dylan], "Son O' God", both of which appeared in the pages of National Lampoon and of the Batman story "Night of the Reaper" in Batman #237, in which Batman must confront a Holocaust survivor who is killing Nazis)

Sergio Aragonés (who illustrated the "Fanny Hillman : Jewish Madam" books and adapted the Jonah story for Testament)

Brian Michael Bendis (author-illustrator of Fire, a comic series about a Jewish-American college student named Benjamin Furst, who is recruited into a Central Intelligent Agency operation known as Project Fire)

Chris Claremont (who introduced the Jewish character Kitty Pryde [aka Shadowcat] and who wrote stories which implied that Magneto was Jewish, both in the pages of The Uncanny X-Men)

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)

Vanessa Davis (author-illustrator of the graphic book Make Me a Woman, as well as cartoons which have appeared in Tablet).
Vanessa's most recent contribution was a tribute to the late Harvey Pekar z"l.

Mark Evanier (author of a Crossfire story for a Free Comic Book Day comic involving a Holocaust survivor who tries to kill a suspected Nazi war criminal)

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

Arie Kaplan (author of From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books, as well as the story "Not a (Green, Slimy) Creature was Stirring" in The Simpsons Winter Wing Ding #3)

Scott Kurtz (author-illustrator of PVP, the Eisner-award-winning online comic strip which in 2006 made a joke about the Superman Returns movie being "a Jewish conspiracy to convince Christians that Jesus was gay")

Stan Lee (Jewish comics legend who co-created the Fantastic Four, which has a Jewish chartacter called The Thing and who appeared in the story "What if the Original Marvel Bullpen was the Fantastic Four?" in What If? #11)

Paul Levitz (author of "Tradition" in DC Comics' 9-11 September 11th 2001)

Miriam Libicki (author of the jobnik! series, the first volume of which has been collected in trade paperback)

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

Ron Marz (author of the "Crown Heights" story arc in Witchblade #120-124 which invloved a dead rabbi, a Jewish-black race riot and a golem, reprinted in Witchbalde volume 7 trade paperback)

Todd McFarlane (co-plotter of the story "Remains" in Spawn #103)

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 ; volume 1 may be purchased in person at Comicon or ordered online)

Peter Milligan (author of the Vertigo series The Minx which featured Jewish youth Anna Schwarz)

Arvid Nelson (creator of the Rex Mundi comic book series, whose protagonist is a convert from Judaism who is helped by a rabbi and who encounters a golem)

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

Dennis O'Neil (author of the Batman story "Night of the Reaper" in Batman #237, in which Batman must confront a Holocaust survivor who is killing Nazis)

Jimmy Palmiotti (co-creator of the Monolith)

Stephan Pastis (author-illustrator of the syndicated comic strip Pearls Before Swine, which had a strip about a bombing in Jeruslaem)



Chari Pere (author-illustrator of the webcomic Of Biblical Proportions) [Chari will be an attendee, not an exhibitor]

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)

Jerry Robinson (Batman series artist who also did illustrations for Bible Tales for Young Folk)

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

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

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

Steven T. Seagle (author of the graphic novel "It's a Bird ..." which examines various aspects of the Superman mythos, including his creation by 2 American Jews)

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

J. Michael Straczynski (author of the Spider-Man story "You Want Pants with That?" and the Rising Stars story "Selah")

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

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

Al Wiesner (author-illustrator and creator of the Jewish superhero Shaloman)

Judd Winick (author-illustrator of Pedro and Me and Caper #1-4)

Marv Wolfman (author of the story "Return from the Grave!" in Tomb of Dracula #27, "Introducing the Hybrid" in The New Teen Titans #24 and Homeland : The Illustrated History of the State of Israel)