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Thursday, April 14, 2011

Israel and Comics / Discussing the Details

This Sunday (April 17th), Dan Friedman (Arts and Culture Editor of The Forward) will host a discussion titled "Israel and Comics: Beyond Black and White" about the challenges facing many Jews today, simultaneously hugging and wrestling with Israel.

Here's the official description :

While comics are often drawn in black and white, the work in Graphic Details shows that the relationship of North American Jews to Israel is anything but. With deep affection and sincere struggle these artists illustrate the intertwining of the personal and political, from Sarah Glidden’s conflicted experiences on a Birthright Trip to Miriam Libicki’s service in the Israeli army as “the least-kickass soldier in all of comics.”















Presented in association with the exhibition Graphic Details: Confessional Comics by Jewish Women.

The Toronto exhibition is being presented by the Koffler Centre for the Arts.

Time : 7:00 PM
Location : The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen Street West

Earlier in the day, there will be a program titled "Discussing the Details with Graphic Details Artists"

Toronto-based artists Bernice Eisenstein and Sarah Lazarovic, featured in the Graphic Details exhibition will discuss how graphic storytelling became the medium for narrating their own life experiences. Moderated by Dan Friedman, Arts and Culture Editor of The Forward, the Media partner for Graphic Details.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Neil Gaiman in discussion with Paul Levitz - Thursday at Symphony Space

Today's blog entry is a part of this month's Jewish Blog Carnival.

Award-winning comics writer Neil Gaiman will be
appearing on April 14th at the Symphony Space in New York, talking about his life and his writing with Paul Levitz (former publisher at DC Comics).

Neil is probably best known for Vertigo's Sandman series (read the first issue for free at http://www.dccomics.com/media/excerpts/1696_1.pdf, Acrobat format).














Neil also contributed scripts for stories that appeared in the anthology Outrageous Tales of the Old Testament. Cyril Camus recently discussed how Neil's Jewish background contributed both to certain characters and concepts in the Sandman series, as well as to the critical way that he presented his adaptations in the Knockabout anthology (see The "Outsider": Neil Gaiman and the Old Testament in Shofar :An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies vol. 29, N°2).










Among other things, Paul Levitz was the author of "Tradition" in DC Comics' 9-11 September 11th 2001.














Date : Thurs., Apr. 14
Time : 7:00 P.M.
Place : Symphony Space (2537 Broadway at 95th Street)
Cost : FREE for Columbia Affiliates with ID (RSVP in advance and show ID at Box Office window)
Non-Affiliates: $10; Day of Show $15

Sponsored by the Institute for Israel & Jewish Studies and the Center for American Studies.


As a bonus for visitors coming to this blog from the Jewish Book Carnival, here is a video showing Neil discussing how his Jewish heritage has influenced his writing.

Friday, April 08, 2011

Creators of Jewish Comix at MOCCA Fest - this weekend

On April 9th and 10th, the annual Museum of Comic & Cartoon Art Festival will be held at the Lexington Avenue Armory (Lexinton and 25th) in Manhttan (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 :

Jonathan Baylis (author of So ... Buttons mini-comic)

Josh Bernstein (a contributor to the magazine Royal Flush which includes stories of the "Mitzvah 4")

Nick Bertozzi (co-illustrator of Houdini : The Handcuff King)















Richard Codor (author-illustrator of Richard Codor’s Joyous Haggadah, Babushkin's Catalogue of Jewish Inventions and Too Many Latkes)















Willow Dawson, a 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.


Josh Eiserike (writer of the stories in the comic series Assholes, whose Liberal Crap comic strips for University of Maryland's Diamondback student newspaper included a cartoon about Jewish dating websites and a cartoon about the perks (and downside) of being Jewish)









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















Sarah Glidden (author-illustrator of the autobiographical How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less!)















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















Al Jaffee (cartoonist best known for his work in Mad magazine, who also contributed artwork to Moshiach Times, who will be receiving the Klein Award)

Ben Katchor (author-illustrator of The Jew of New York and the upcoming The Dairy Restaurant















Neil Kleid (Xeric award-winning author / illustrator of Stable Rods, "Shomer Negiah", Pilgrimage : Two Weeks in G-d's Country, the graphic novels Brownsville and The Big Khan, as well as the forthcoming Migdal David)















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)















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















David Malki! (author of the Wondermark webcomic, which has been collected in trade paperback). Among the comics that have appeared on the site is one with the punch line "Hannukah bush", one about the Jewish New Year, one that uses the juice/Jews homonym joke and one about Hebephiles.















Jeff Newelt (contributor to Heeb magazine)

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

Mitch Rothenberg (writer of the comic series Assholes, which showed a Jewish date in the 2nd issue)

Leslie Stein (author-illustrator of the semi-autobiographical Eye of the Majestic Creature, as well as a short piece in Comics Festival, in which she made reference to her "Jewish nose")















Seth Tobocman (author-illustrator of Portraits of Israelis and Palestinians : For My Parents and "The Serpent of State")















Li-or Zaltzman (cartoonist currently working on a 100+ page coming of age story that takes place in Tel Aviv)