The comix side of the Ashkenaz Festival - Sunday

Paul Buhle will be at Toronto's Ashkenaz Festival to speak about the anthology Yiddishkeit : Jewish Vernacular and the New Land which he co-edited with the late Harvey Pekar. Buhle will present images and insights about the anthology and about his late co-editor, the iconoclastic underground comic book writer, music critic, and media personality Harvey Pekar.

Venue : Miss Lou’s Room
             Harbourfront Centre
             235 Queens Quay West
             Toronto, Ontario
Date :     Sunday, Sep. 2, 2012
Time :     3:00 PM
Cost :      FREE

Full description at http://www.ashkenazfestival.com/paul-buhle

last chance to pre-order Golem : A Graphic Novel by Hilary Goldstein

The plot of Golem : A Graphic Novel is as follows :

They framed her for the murder of the President, executed her husband in front of her, and nearly took the life of her infant son. Big mistake. Exiled from America, Danya Ben-El'azar and her six-year-old son Jonah have become the international mercenary team known only as Golem. With sword and pistol, mother and son travel the world hunting the people who ruined their lives.

Golem is written by Hilary Goldstein, illustrated by Giovanni P. Timpano and colored by Laura Schumacher. It will be published as 4 issues, collected as a 100-page graphic novel with additional content not available in other editions. Although Goldstein has surpassed his Kickstarter fundraising goal, there is still time to use his Kickstarter project page to pre-order copies of the story.

* Those who pledge at least $10 will receive a PDF of the complete mini-series and will be thanked on the website.

* Those who pledge at least $20 will also receive an e-book story collection of 3 all-new short stories exploring the world of Golem.

* Those pledging at least $30 will also receive an exclusive Golem trade paperback exclusive to Kickstarter funders with writer notes and bonus art which will not be available in future editions ($15 extra required if it needs to be shipped outside of the U.S.).

* Those pledging at least $35 get the same rewards as they would get for $30, but their trade paperbacks will be signed ($15 extra required if it needs to be shipped outside of the U.S.).

 To take a look at all of the pledge rewards, please go to http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hil/golem-a-sci-fi-graphic-novel-swords-guns-and-reven?ref=live

 As of this writing, the Kickstarter campaign has just 14 hours to go until it ends.

People of the (Comic Book) retreat - CANCELLED!

Last night was supposed to be the first day of a 3-day program of speakers at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center.

Alas, the event has been cancelled. Below are the details of what had been planned (& will hopefully take place somewhere sometime in the future).

* Arie Kaplan, author of From Krakow to Krypton : Jews and Comic Books, speaking about his book

* Trina Robbins (author of Lily Renée, Escape Artist, co-author of "Zog Nit Keyn Mol : the Partisans Song" and author of "The Triangle Fire" which was published in both Corporate Crime Comics #2 and Lilith Magazine #2) - "Writing Comics & Graphic Novels".

* Sarah Lightman (co-curator of the travelling exhibition "Graphic Details : Confessional Comics by Jewish Women") - Confessing your Graphic Details

* Rabbi Simcha Weinstein (author of p, Up and Oy Vey! How Jewish History, Culture and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero), speaking about his second book Shtick Shift: Jewish Humor in the 21st Century

* Hussein Rashid - Wham! Bam! Dishoom! Muslims and Americaness in Graphic Novels * David Wolkin (Executive Director of Limmud NY) - Reading Between the Panels

* Danny Fingeroth (author of Disguised as Clark Kent : Jews, Comics and the Creation of the Superhero) - The Life and Art of Will Eisner

* Eric Greenberg - When Superman was Judenrein (a refernce to his 1998 article Is SUPERMAN ‘Judenrein?’

* Liana Finck - author of the A Bintel Brief cartoons in The Forward talking about her work

* Jeff Newelt - Remembering Harvey Pekar: The Art of Appreciation

* Lawrence Klein - Founding the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art

* Arthur Kurzweil - Comic Books and Super Heroes: What do the Jewish Sages Say?

* Holy Shabbos, Batman! Observe the Sabbath the superhero way with our special services and delicious farm-to-table kosher homemade meals.

* Is Superman Jewish? A conversation with Danny Fingeroth, Arie Kaplan, and Simcha Weinstein Moderated by Eric Greenberg

* Women & Comics A conversation with Liana Finck, Sarah Lightman, and Trina Robbins Comics as a Religious Activity A conversation with all presenters

Rabbi's Cat discussion / reading circle in Toronto tomorrow night

Tomorrow evening (Aug. 9th) at the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Center, Keith Friedlander will lead a discussion / reading of Joan Sfar's graphic novel The Rabbi's Cat (book 1 only).

The event is part of the "People of the Comic Book : Jews and the Graphic Novel" series, which started on July 19th.

Date : Thurs., Aug. 9

Time : 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM

Location : Miles Nadal J.C.C.
                 750 Spadina Ave.
                 Toronto, ON
                  M5S 2J2

For inquiries, please contact Sharoni Sibony at (416)924-6211 x154 or e-mail her at jewishlife@mnjcc.org.

Cost : $12 drop-in / $6 students with valid ID + HST (already included if you paid $45 for the full series)

The Rabbi's Cat and other books in the series may be borrowed from the Toronto Public Library or purchased from The Beguling bookstore.

 The other topics that were covered by Friedlander in previous weeks were :

* History of Jewish Contributions to Comics (July 19th)

* A Contract with God (July 26th)

* Maus (Aug. 2nd)