not your parents' comics - Sunday April 3rd in LA



On Sunday, April 3rd, the Western Regional AJL Conference on Jewish Literature for Children will be held at the American Jewish University Conference Center in Los Angeles.

I've copied the details below.

10:00 AM to 3:00 PM – SUNDAY, APRIL 3, 2011

Price: $55 ; additional $45 manuscript consult

Featured Speakers:

Sid Jacobson was editor in chief at Harvey Comics, where he created Richie Rich, and was the executive editor at Marvel Comics. His collaborations with illustrator Ernie Colon include the fascinating 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation, and the new illustrated biography of Anne Frank entitled, Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography.















William J. Rubin is the executive editor of Nachshon Press and the
chief architect of the National Jewish Book Award winner, Homeland: The Illustrated History of the State of Israel.















Barry Deutsch is the 2011 Sydney Taylor Award winner for Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword.















Anastasia Betts is a well-known education professional with an expertise in graphic literature.

10:00 AM Registration and Bagels

10:30 AM Questions and Answers about graphic literature with authors
Sid Jacobson, Barry Deutsch and William Rubin

12:00 PM Buffet Lunch with special presentation by Sydney Taylor Award
winner Barry Deutsch

1:15 PM History of Graphic literature for children with Anastasia Betts

2:30 PM Literature marketplace and autographing by local children’s
literature authors

Manuscript consultations available

Conference will be held at American Jewish University,
15600 Mulholland Dr., Los Angeles

Sponsored by Sinai Temple Blumenthal Library, Association of Jewish Libraries, AJLSC, and American Jewish University

Ariel Schrag interview

On Monday, the blog Jewesses with Attitude posted an interview with cartoonist Ariel Schrag who will be in Toronto this Sunday as part of the programming for Graphic Details.

Q: How does your Jewish identity influence your work?

AS: It doesn't especially. I'm half Jewish, the wrong half at that, but I look Jewish (imagine what you will) and I have a Jewish name (first and last) so I FEEL very Jewish. And actually have quite a strong Jewish identity for myself. Plus my family celebrated Hanukkah and Passover. Passover has always been my favorite holiday. I love that there's an elaborate story you spend hours going around a table telling through various songs and acts of eating food. But as far as writing about being Jewish I haven't done it that much explicitly. Though I'm sure there's a certain Jewish sensibility present in whatever I write.

Ariel Schrag in Toronto on Sunday

This Sunday (March 27th), Ariel Schrag - author-illustrator of the graphic novels Awkward, Definition, Potential, and Likewise and editor of the anthology Stuck in the Middle : 17 Comics from an Unpleasant Age - will be in Toronto to promote herself, her works, and the exhibition "Graphic Details" which has her artwork in it.






To help promote Ariel's upcoming appearance, The National Post published an article about Schrag and her work. The article includes a reprint of Ariel's 1-page comic "The Chosen", which is about her relationship with a Hasidic real estate broker that she liked. "The Chosen" originally appeared in a 2007 issue of the magazine Heeb.

The graphic beside the article is rather small and the size of the jpg that it is hyperlinked to is quite large. For a more eye-friendly online version of the 1-pager, please go to interfaithfamily.com.

Date : Sunday, March 27th
Time : 2:00 P.M.
Venue : The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen Street West (Toronto, Ont., Canada)
Cost : Free

Graven Images

Comics scholarship is a challenging but fascinating area of academic study. Requiring familiarity with both the theories of other academics and with the comic books, comic strips, and graphic novels that have been produced since the 1930s (or even earlier), comix scholars have attempted to produce innovative research and essays that allow comic fans a window into the "ivory tower" of universities and provide a glimpse into the "geek world" of comicdom for academics. It can be a slippery slope. If a particular paper or presentation is too comics-heavy and too light in theory, it may be dismissed by the academy. On the other hand, if the work is too heavy on theory and too light on comics, it'll probably bore the heck out of comic fans and general readers.

The acceptance of comics scholarship has been demonstrated at both academic conferences (most notably the annual one for the Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association) and at large comic conventions (most notably the ones in San Diego and New York). The Graven Images conference took place on the campus of Boston University in 2008 and was an eclectic ingathering of students, professors, comic creators and comic fans.


The book Graven Images: Religion in Comic Books and Graphic Novels attempts to combine not only academic scholarship and comix, but does so through the "lens" of religion. Since it is an anthology, it tries to do what comic anthologies
















(e.g. Outragous Tales from the Old Testament, Testament, Cargo : Comic Journalism) do so well, i.e. offer something for everyone and bring together a diversity of viewpoints, voices, and artistic styles. Although full comic works are not reproduced in full, several of the essays do reproduce comic pages (e.g. there are 9 reproductions of comic art in the essay "Tell Tale Visions : The Erotic Theology of Craig Thomspon's Blankets"). Although most of the contriburors are researchers, there are also contributions from those who create comics : G. Willow Wilson, Douglas Rushkoff, and Mark Smylie.

Although I was only able to look at a limited part of the book (the foreword, introduction, 2 essays, and the index), the preview gave me the impression that the editors (A. David Lewis and Christine Hoff Kraemer) have done quite a commendable job in assembling this potpourri of religion-based comix scholarship. This is a book that is, in my humble opinion, worthy of a Harvey award or an Eisner award (perhaps both).

Triangle Fire - comic by Trina Robbins

In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, I reproduce (with the writer-artist's permission) "The Triangle Fire" by Trina Robbins, one of the cartoonists whose work is currently on display at the Gladstone Hotel for the Graphic Details exhibition put on by the Koffler Centre. This cartoon was the cover story of the 2nd issue of Lilith Magazine.

A longer (4-page) version was printed in Corporate Crime Comics #2 (April 1979).