Jewish Comics

Saturday, August 09, 2008

Drawing together - the first Israeli-Polish comic book

Jerusalem Post article (Jul. 31, 2008) by Asi Gal

The full article is online at http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1215331158275&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

If you didn't know, 2008-2009 is Israel-Poland year. One of the many events taking place in this framework is the launching of Polisra, the first Israeli-Polish comic book - to be featured at an exhibition at Holon's Israeli Cartoon Museum and at the Tel Aviv comic books festival. The Polish Mickiewicz Institute, which initiated the book, hopes it will be a channel in creating dialogue on topics considered taboo in the two nations' histories.

On the Polish end of things, the obvious taboo is that period that began in the late 30s - and the never fully resolved questions of complicity with the Nazis.

"Polish people feel a lot of hatred from Israelis visiting Poland," says Amitai Sandy, publisher, art director and editor of the comic book. Sandy, along with four other Israeli comics writers, including Ze'ev Engelmayer and Noa Abarbanel, worked with five Polish comics writers on this joint project.

"When Israelis come to visit the camps, they always have security around them and are not allowed to talk with the Poles." The Poles, he says, "feel that all Israelis view them as anti-Semites."

For their part, he asserts, many Poles "view Israelis as militant extremists who have brought Russians to Israel to use as war machines against Arabs."

Sandy views Polisra as an opportunity to deal with history and the stereotypes connected to it. One story in the book, for instance, portrays a Polish woman who buys a picture of a Jew counting money for her new house. According to Polish tradition, such a picture brings prosperity to a new home. When no such prosperity arrives, the woman complains of the picture's failure to the salesman. The next frame depicts the salesman in his villa, surrounded by such pictures, exclaiming that, "It works for me!"

sketch of One-Punch Goldberg by Evan Dorkin

Here's a sketch of One-Punch Goldberg drawn by Evan Dorkin for "lantern75", which was found on his Flickr page. Of course, the note below the sketch, saying that it well probably never come out, ended up being wrong. The One-Punch Goldberg story appeared in Biff Bam Pow! #1, which has been reviewed at Kids' Comics, Richard Burton's Fictions, Read About Comics, Playback:STL and Line of Fire.

Comic-Book Idols Rally to Aid a Holocaust Artist

New York Times - Aug. 8, 2008

As all-star comic-book team-ups go, this one beats the first meeting of Superman and Spider-Man. Three of the elder statesmen of comic books — Neal Adams, Joe Kubert and Stan Lee — have joined forces to combat what they see as a real-world injustice.

The men are lending their talents to tell the tale of Dina Gottliebova Babbitt, who survived two years at the Auschwitz concentration camp by painting watercolor portraits for the infamous Nazi Dr. Josef Mengele. Some of the artwork also survived, but it is in the possession of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Poland. Now 85 and living in California, Mrs. Babbitt wants the artwork back, but the museum has steadfastly refused to return it.

“I’m at a total loss,” Mrs. Babbitt wrote in an e-mail message. “I feel just as helpless as I did when I was at camp. Totally disempowered.”

Now Mrs. Babbitt’s story has been captured in a six-page comic-book story illustrated by Mr. Adams, who helped take Batman back to his dark roots after the ’60s television show made him seem campy; inked partly by Mr. Kubert, whose comics career stretches back to the 1940s and who has drawn everyone from Hawkman to Sergeant Rock; and featuring an introduction by Mr. Lee, a co-creator of the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and many other Marvel heroes.

The text was written by Rafael Medoff, director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, which has championed Mrs. Babbitt’s cause. Mr. Medoff and Mr. Adams have offered the story to DC Comics and Marvel Entertainment in the hopes of getting it published, but no deal is yet in place.

You may read the whole story online at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/09/arts/design/09comi.html

The 6-page comic may be read online at http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/08/09/arts/Babbitt_pages1-6.pdf (Acrobat format)

Monday, July 28, 2008

The Comix Side of the Association of Jewish Libraries Conference in Cleveland (2008)

My AJL convention / vacation in June went amazingly well.

I had worried that my session would have a low turnout, but that was not the case. The room had about 40 seats and most of those seats were filled throughout the session. I had made 40 copies of the handout, but was asked to make an additional 20 more for a handouts table (they had disappeared by the end of the convention).

I ran into people who said that they were interested in my "Israel in Comics" presentation, but were unable to attend. I told them about how the session was recorded for a podcast file which will be available online later this year (I'll announce it with the address once I find out). I also told people the website address for the presentation blog - http://israelincomics.blogspot.com.

Miriam Libicki read from her graphic works (with the graphics displayed on a screen as she read) "Towards a Hot Jew: The Israeli Soldier as Fetish Object", The jobnik! Manifesto, and an as-yet-unpublished essay which will appear in an anthology titled The Jewish Graphic Novel: Critical Approaches.

I bought the jobnik! volume 1 trade paperback, Ceasefire and Towards a Hot Jew, which all got signed by Miriam.

Among the factoids I learned at Steve Sheinkin's panel were : Steve had to rewrite & redraw a story in which Rabbi Harvey would have "accidentally" rolled up a paper that would have condemned him to death and used it to make a cigarette which he then smoked (the book editor didn't think a role model like Rabbi Harvey should be shown smoking) ; Steve has used Rabbi Harvey to explain Jewish wedding customs for a pamphlet given out at a friend's wedding ; Steve has written & illustrated a book review of The Rabbi's Cat 2 for Jbooks in a comix format using Rabbi Harvey as the reviewer.

Steve signed one of my Rabbi Harvey books (the other one was already signed) and also drew a Rabbi Harvey sketch for me.

I bought a copy of Mendel's Daughter : A Memoir and got Martin Lemelman to sign it for me.

At Bill Rubin's session (which was part of the special Celebration of Jewish Children's Literature program), he gave insight into the creation of the award-winning graphic history book Homeland : The Illusterated History of the State of Israel, such as the decision to use a modestly-dressed female university professor as the narrator of the book, the attempt to try to provide rock-solid historical accuracy to avoid criticism from both sides of the political spectrum, the intentional blurring of the depiction of the Biblical Isaac (to avoid reader dissatisfaction about Isaac's age, since that is a subject under debate among Biblical scholars) and Marv Wolfman's insistence on the double-page spread that appears at the end of the book. Truth to tell, that was one of the parts of the book that disappointed me. As Bill exsplained, Marv felt that the book should show how the ghosts of Herzl and Moses are still with us in the present. I do understand that, but personally I felt that it was already implied by the way that Moses and Herzl both saw blurry visions of the same Tel Aviv "skyline of the future" which appears in crystal-clear color as the students of today are looking at it. I agree with the sentiment, but felt that the reader should have realized that the spirits of our ancestors are still with us, by making the connection on their own and that having Moses and Herzl drawn as ghosts kind of spolied it.

At the Jewish Publication Society table, I had a chance to peruse the galley for Arie Kaplan's forthcoming book From Krakow to Krypton : Jews and Comics. At the Ben Yehuda Press table, I learned that the Yudelsons (the co-publishing couple at BYP) were interested in the work of Aaron Freeman & Sharon Rosenzweig (who co-write the comics that appear on the Comic Torah website).

Among the tourist attractions and other places we visited, there were additional opportunities to see comics art - some intentional, some not so much.

We made certain to drive to Columbus so that we could visit the Cartoon Research Library at Ohio State University. I had a chance to look at original artwork from Jeff Smith, creator of the epic Bone series currently being republished in color by Scholastic. The exhibition "Jeff Smith : Before Bone" displays pages from the comic strip "Thorn", which ran in the Ohio State University student newspaper The Lantern. I hadn't realized that Smith was a student at OSU nor known that he used Thorn to flesh out the characters who would later figure prominently in his Bone series. I also took a look at 2 Jewish cartoon books by Joe Nebesky that were in the collection : Ring around the Talis and Rabbi Knows Best.

One of the special exhibits at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum was a look behind the scenes of the Beatles movie Help!. Among the photos on the walls were at least 2 which showed that Paul McCartney enjoyed reading American comic books, specifically Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen. I had never even known there were such photos ... but someone else apparently knew about them and posted them on his blog.

At the Eton mall in Woodmere, I couldn't help stepping inside the Dick Kleinman Fine Art Gallery, the portraits of the current US presidential candidates having captured my attention. At the back of the gallery, there was a display of artwork by the great children's author and illustrator Dr. Seuss. Among the familiar illustrations which went into his classic picture books were illustrations and sculptures I'd never seen before - self-portraits, a bronze sculpture of a group of turtles standing one on top of the other in a tower formation and 3-dimensional pieces from Seusss's "collection of unorthodox tapestry". If you're in that area, I reccommend that you take a look for yourself.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Israel in Comics - the blog

At the AJL convention in Cleveland last month, a Powerpoint presentation on the portrayal of Israel & Israelis in comic books, comic strips, and graphic novels was given.

A podcast of the session will be available via the AJL website at http://www.jewishlibraries.org

Tonight, I put the finishing touches on the official presentation blog for "From Tintin to Waltz with Bashir", which may be found at http://israelincomics.blogspot.com

Even if you were among the 30-something people who attended the session, you'll probably want to take a look at the blog. Not only will doing so enable you to take a second look at the all of the scans I showed, but you will be able to see dozens of additional ones which time didn't permit me to share.

The blog is arranged into 11 sections for those who don't want to read it all at once (and the downloading of the images is quicker).

To see the full-size scan of any image, simply click on that image (a hyperlink will take you to the image file).

the 11 sections :

Introduction
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
Works Not Yet Published (as of June 2008)
Bibliography of Articles

additional features :

* hyperlinks to selected webcomics

* promotional videos

* hyperlinks to selected fulltext magazine, journal, & newspaper articles

* description of each of the scans, sometimes with additional commentary

* hyperlinks to reputable online vendor sites that sell the items under discussion

* hyperlinks to cartoonist bios and websites

Your feedback (positive or negative) is welcome and appreciated.

Enjoy!

Sunday, July 20, 2008

50 Jewish Reasons to Attend Comic-Con International in San Diego

Tomorrow night will be the preview night for one of the biggest comics events of the year - San Digeo Comic Con International aka SDCCI.

As I try to do every year, I've made a list of "Jewish" people and sessions that atand out from the less "Jewish" ones.

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

(2) Antarctic Press (publisher of Families of Altered Wars [which included the "Stars of David" storyline] and Dictators of the Twentieth Century : Hitler #1-4)

(3) Arsenic Lullaby (issue #12 contains "Pilsbury Doughboy at Auschwitz"")

(4) Kyle Baker (Eisner-winning author-illustrator of the King David graphic novel from Vertigo, as well as a funny 1-page cartoon in his Kyle Baker : Cartoonist TPB in which a Jewish Cinderella has a mishap under the chuppah)

(5) Mike W. Barr (author of the story "Sympathy for the Führer!" (Adventures of the Outsiders #35)

(6) Howard Chaykin (author-illustrator of American Flagg, as well as Batman / Houdini : The Devil's Workshop)

(7) Aron Coleite (author of the online Heroes stories "Wireless", "The Path of the Righteous", and "The Death of Hana Gitelman", all featuring Israeli character Hana 'Wireless' Gitelman and all reprinted in the Eisner-nominated Heroes volume 1)

(8) 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)

(9) Tony Dezuniga (illustrator of the stories "Black Crossing" and "There Comes Now Raging Fire" in Strange Tales #176 & #177)

(10) Colleen Doran (illustrator of a one-page illustration in The Death Gallery, in which Death is at a concentration camp

(11) 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)

(12) Al Feldstein (author of "Master Race"Impact #1)

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

(14) Robert Loren Fleming (co-author of the Ragman miniseries)

(15) Keith Giffen (illustrator and co-author of the Ragman miniseries and author-illustrator of the Heckler series which introduced the characters Rabbi Zone and Dreidel)

(16) Mike Gold, editor

(17) Mike Grell (author-illustrator of Green Arrow #57-58 and Jon Sable : Freelance #22-24)

(18) Pia Guerra (one of the illustrators of the Eisner-nominated Y: The Last Man)

(19) Jaime Hernandez (co-author of the graphic novel Love & Rockets X)

(20) Al Jaffee (one of the cartoonists featured in the online article "Jews and the Graphic Novel")

(21) Phil Jimenez (illustrator of Wonder Woman: Donna Troy #1 and the Heroes online comic " Wireless Part One)

(22) Arie Kaplan (author of From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books, who will be signing copies of his Speed Racer comic book at the IDW Publishing booth (#1705) on Thursday July 24th from 4-5 PM)

(23) Neil Kleid (author of the graphic novel Brownsville, as well as the forthcoming Migdal David and The Big Khan)

(24) Peter Kuper (author-illustrator of the short biographical story "Promised Land"(Bleeding Heart #2), as well as the book-length autobiographical Stop Forgetting to Remember : The Autobiography of Walter Kurtz)

(25) 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")

(26) 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)

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

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

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

(30) Rutu Modan (author-illustrator of the Eisner-nominated graphic novel Exit Wounds)

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

(32) Jim Ottaviani (author of Wire Mothers: Harry Harlow and the Science of Love and Fallout : J. Robert Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard, and the Political Science of the Atomic Bomb)

(33) Jimmy Palmiotti (co-creator of the short-lived golem series The Monolith from DC Comics)

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

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

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

(37) Ariel Schrag (editor of Stuck in the Middle)

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

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

(40) James Sturm (author-illustrator of The Golem's Mighty Swing, reprinted in the Eisner-nominated God, Gold, and Golems)

(41) Roy Thomas (who had the Thing battle the Golem in Marvel Two-in-One #11 and introduced Jewish superheroes Nuklon {Infinity Inc. / JLA} and Golem {The Invaders})

(42) Jim Warren (publisher behiod Warren Publishing, whose titles included After Hours, Creepy, Eerie, Famous Monsters and Vampirella)

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

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

(45) G. Willow Wilson (author of the graphic novel Cairo)

(46) Marv Wolfman (author of The Tomb of Dracula #27, The New Teen Titans #24 and Homeland : The Illustrated History of the State of Israel)

(47) session - Comics Arts Conference Session #4 (Thurs., July 24th, 2:00-3:30 PM) Superman’s 70th Anniversary— Price Hamilton (American Falls High School) compares three different versions of the Superman origin story and three versions of the Jewish folk tale "The Golem of Prague" to demonstrate how certain images begin to appropriate larger meanings through their consistent repetition.

(48) session - screening of Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist (Thurs., July 24th, 7:00-9:00 PM)

(49) session - Will Eisner Tribute (Sat., July 26th, 1:00-2:00 PM)

(50) session - Jack Kirby Tribute (Sun., July 27th, 10:00-11:00 AM)

Thursday, July 17, 2008

David Gantz, Jewish Cartoonist, 1922-2007

David Gantz, author-illustrator of the book Jews in America : A Cartoon History and the online article "Jews and the Graphic Novel" passed away on Dec. 14th.

Blogger Mike Lynch gave a tribute to him at http://mikelynchcartoons.blogspot.com/2007/12/david-gantz-1922-2007.html
.

Monday, June 23, 2008

People of the (Comic) Book - article by librarian Wendy Wasman

Jewish Book World v.26(2) Summer 2008, p. 26-29.

This is just part 1 of a 2-part article.

Among the works mentioned in this article are : Palestine, Disguised as Clark Kent, Up, Up, and Oy Vey!, Jews in America : A Cartoon History, Maus, A Contract with God, I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors, We Are On Our Own, Mendel's Daughter, Yossel : April 19, 1943, Jew Gangster and Brownsville.

Among the works that will be mentioned in part 2 will be Miriam Libicki's jobnik!.

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Lauren Weinstein at MOCCA Fest 2008 - TODAY!!!

Due to Lauren Weinstein's last-minute e-blast message about her scheduled appearances at MOCCA (Museum of Comic & Cartoon Art) Fest this weekend - and due to my own busy schedule this weekend - I was unable to post about this until now. Lauren is the author-illustrator of the anthology Girl Stories, which includes the story "Chanukah Blues" and writer-illustrator of the story "Horse Camp" which appeared in the anthology Stuck in the Middle).

I'll paste the relevant parts of her message below.

The Goddess of War: Volume One, the first installment of my sprawling epic masterpiece, will debut at the MOCCA art festival this weekend!

For anyone who is used to my memoir-ey work, this is a HUGE departure, but don't be afraid. IT will knock your socks off, because it is funny, sexy, romantic, and sad and poignant, but also epic and sci-fi and all about the world's wars... PAST AND FUTURE!

Picturebox signing schedule for Sunday (today) :

11-12: Frank Santoro & Lauren Weinstein
12-2: Michel Gondry, Paul Gondry, Lauren Weinstein
2-3: Frank Santoro, Matthew Thurber, Lauren Weinstein
3-5: Michel Gondry, Paul Gondry, Matthew Thurber

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Jewish Side of MOCCA Fest 2008 - June 7th & 8th

Next weekend, the annual MOCCA (Museum of Comic & Cartoon Art) Festival will take place at the Puck Building in Lower Manhattan (in New York).

The most well-known of the Jewish guests at this year's MOCCA Festival is, without a doubt, Art Spiegelman, author-illustrator of the Pulitzer-prize-winning Holocaust memoir Maus (although he had done plenty of work prior to that and has been busy since then creating new works & giving lectures).

Other guests of interest to readers of this blog, in no particular order (well, alphabetical order, actually), include :

* Willow Dawson, a talented Canadian artist, who has illustrated the upcoming anthology No Girls Allowed : Tales of Daring Women Dressed as Men for Love, Freedom and Adventure, written by Susan Hughes & to be published by Kids Can Press. The anthology includes the story of Esther Brandeau, the first Jewish person to immigrate to Canada.

* Evan Dorkin & his wife Sarah Dyer, the couple responsible for the story "One-Punch Goldberg" in Biff Bam Pow! #1, as well as the one-page comic "How to Cook a Gentile" (Heeb #15)

* Arie Kaplan, author of the forthcoming book From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books, who was interviewed by Wizard Magazine last month

* Neil Kleid, author of the graphic novel Brownsville, as well as the forthcoming Migdal David and The Big Khan

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

* Chari Pere, author-illustrator of the Jewish humor calendar "A Yearly Shpritz of Jewish Bits: The Ultimate Illustrated Calendar of Jewish Jokes (Old and New)"

Monday, May 19, 2008

Miriam Libicki and Ariel Schrag at the JCCSF - tomorrow (May 20th)

There's an article in the May 9th issue of j - the Jewish news weekly of Northern California - "Comic expressions", reproduced online at http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/35208/format/html/displaystory.html, which gives the background of Miriam Libicki (author-illustrator of the comic book series jobnik!) and Ariel Schrag (editor of the anthology Stuck in the Middle, which contains one of her stories, "Shit"). Schrag and Libicki will be speaking tomorrow night at Intersection for the Arts as part of the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco’s "Serial Boxes" series, an exploration of the graphic novel.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

sketch of Steven M. Bergson

Last year, while attending an exhibition of artwork by Tatiana Yuditskaya and Eugene Zhilinsky, Steven M. Bergson was sketched by Eugene.

The sketch - and commentary in Russian - may be viewed at the Éditions Tchaï blog. To see a larger image, click on the first graphic (top-left).

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Association of Jewish Libraries conference (June 2008) in Cleveland

The tentative schedule for the annual Association of Jewish Libraries conference in Cleveland, Ohio may be found at the AJL website (Acrobat format). This year's convention will be held from June 22nd to the 25th.

Per diem registration for Monday or Tuesday (which includes all of the day's sessions, as well as that day's breakfast & lunch) is $200 USD. Registration for the post-conference program on Wednesday (which includes breakfast, the luncheon & the dessert reception) is $75 USD. The registration form may also be found on the AJL website (Acrobat format).

4 sessions at the conference should be of interest to readers of this blog.

Session 2A - Mon., June 23rd, 10:30-11:45 AM, Salon IV
Jewish Wit and Wisdom
"From Jewish Wisdom to Jewish Comics" by Steve Sheinkin, author-illustrator of the graphic novels The Adventures of Rabbi Harvey and Rabbi Harvey Rides Again

Session 2C - Mon., June 23rd, 10:30-11:45 AM, Salon V
Speak Memory
"Mendel's Daughter : The Art of Remembering", Martin Lemelman, author-illustrator of Mendel's Daughter : A Memoir

Session 3D - Mon., June 23rd, 2:00-3:15 PM, Salon VI
Yikes! Pow! Zap! Oy! Israel Graphically
"From Tintin to Migdal David : Representations of Israel and Israelis in Comic Books, Comic Strips, and Graphic Novels", Steven M. Bergson, blogmaster of The Jewish Comics Blog
"Tales of a Tank Secretary : IDF Comix with a Twist", Miriam Libicki, author-illustrator of jobnik! : an american girl's adventures in the israeli army

Post-Conference Program, Session 2A, 2:00-3:15 PM, Salon V & Salon VI
Illustrated Non-Fiction with Christos Nicola & Peter Lane (the author & illustrator of The Secret of Priest’s Grotto: A Holocaust Survival Story), Deborah Heiligman (author of 10 books in the Holidays Around the World series), and Bill Rubin (Executive Editor of Nachshon Press, publisher of the graphic history book Homeland : The Illustrated History of the State of Israel

The Political Graphic Novel - Toronto, June 8th

On Sunday, June 8th at 7:00 PM, 4 comics professionals will take part in a program on political graphic novels at the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre as part of the annual Luminato Festival of Arts & Creativity. Hosted by Peter Birkemoe, owner of The Beguiling, Toronto's top graphic novel and comics bookstore.

The professionals are :

* Anthony Lappé - author of The Shooting War

* Dan Goldman - illustrator of The Shooting War

* Bernice Eisenstein - author-artist of the illustrated autobiography I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors

* Spain Rodriguez - illustrator of Che: A Graphic Biography, as well as "Raid on Entebbe" (The New Two-Fisted Tales #1, 1993).

Tickets are $10 CDN and may be purchased via the Luminato website.

This program is presented with support from The British Council.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Toronto Jewish Film Festival screenings

This year, the Toronto Jewish Film Festival has included 2 movies in its lineup which should be of interest to readers of this blog.

On Thursday, May 8th at 10 PM, the Bloor Cinema will be showing the documentary Will Eisner : Portrait of a Sequential Artist. To watch a trailer of the film, go to http://montillapictures.com/media/trailer.mpg (MPG format) or http://montillapictures.com/media/trailer_264.mov (MOV format).

On Saturday, May 10th at 11:30 PM, the Bloor Cinema will be showing Wristcutters, the adaptation of the Etgar Keret graphic novel Pizzeria Kamikaze.

If you're unfamiliar with the work of Will Eisner or the graphic novel Pizzeria Kamikaze and want to familiarize yourself with them before (or after) seeing the films, I would recommend that you drop by my favorite comics shop, The Beguiling. It's a short walking distance from the Bloor Cinema, so you can buy some graphic novels to have something cool to read while waiting in line. In addition to books by Will Eisner, The Beguiling should have books about Will Eisner, e.g. Will Eisner : A Spirited Life.

Drafted - FCBD preview (Devil's Due Publishing)

Among this year's Free Comic Book Day offerings (available at participating comic books shops on Saturday, May 3rd) will be Drafted from Devil's Due Publishing.

As described on the FCBD website,

Jerusalem lies in ruins, and the war humanity must fight in the wake of its destruction is like nothing anyone on Earth could have anticipated. When an alien race begins plucking swarms of people from everyday walks of life, they are told to brace themselves to fight in a battle to decide the fate of Earth.

Two of the characters shown on the first pages of the preview are Ben (an Israeli soldier) and Nasr (his Palestinian friend). You can see a free preview of the 1st 3 pages of the free comic book by going to http://www.freecomicbookday.com/download/3p_samples/Devils_Due-FCBD08sample.pdf.

The New Narrative? Comics in Literature, Film, and Art - Toronto conference

The FREE conference will take place at University of Toronto on May 10th and 11th.

Full program schedule (including room assignments) may be found at http://www.andrewlesk.com/program.rtf (richtext format).

It looks like there are only 2 rooms being used simultaneously, which means an attendee will only miss half of the total sessions. The percentage is a lot lower at other conferences where there are several concurrent sessions.

Of possible interest to readers of this blog are 2 presentations that are part of Panel 3B (Endings 2) on Sunday, May 11th in Room UC 179 (2 – 3:15 PM)

Anthony Enns - “Media, Memory, and the Metropolis in Jason Lutes’ Berlin: City of Stones”

Amir Hussain - “Representing Muslim Lives: Pedagogy and the Comics Journalism of Joe Sacco”

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Hereville : How Mirka Got Her Sword - available May 2008

I have to admit that I haven't had the time yet to sit and read through the first Hereville story, "How Mirka Got Her Sword". However, I have looked at several pages and have been impressed with what I've seen : a strong-willed Orthodox Jewish girl as the main character, a Sabbath evening scene, a Havdallah scene (Havdallah is the ritual done at the end of the Jewish Sabbath), the intricate knitting scenes using double-page spreads. If nothing else, there is a sense of originality in its concept - when's the last time anyone's seen a comic story involving a troll-hunting Jewish girl? I think Hereville has the first.

When I posted to my Jewish comics forum (at Yahoo) about the webcomic (message #698), it was hosted at Girlamatic. Now, cartoonist Barry Deutch has gotten Hereville its own domain name to display his sample pages at : www.hereville.com.

For those who prefer reading their comics on dead trees, there's great news. Hereveille : How Mirka Got Her Sword will be published as a trade paperback next month!

Although I haven't read much of the story, at least 6 others have --- and those 6 have written reviews or made comments.

Below are excerpts from those readers :

Mary Ellen Slayter - "A Shrinking Drawing Board for Cartoonists" The Washington Post, Dec. 12,2004

What do you get when you cross "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and Isaac Bashevis Singer?

You get cartoonist Barry Deutsch's latest project, an online comic book called Hereville, about "the magical adventures of a 12-year-old Hasidic girl fighting monsters."

...

Deutsch has taken numerous college-level art classes, including a few at the School of Visual Arts in New York, where he studied with Will Eisner, "one of the greatest cartoonists of all time."

The Webcomics Examiner Advisory Board (upon Hereville being chosen as one of the Best Webcomics of 2004)

The story is leisurely and steeped in cultural tradition; even troll killing must wait until after Shabbot rituals. Smart, yet heartwarming, quiet, yet with a genuine sense of adventure.

Deniselle at A Blog About Comics :

exceptionally beautiful visuals. The drawings are detailed and seem like a lot of work has gone into getting things right. It's the confident work of a professional artist. The division of panels is deliciously non-traditional.

...

The dialogue caught my interest right away. We're thrown right in the middle of a philosophical debate in the first few panels. Do we have free will or does God just make our lives difficult? In another early strip, we're invited to ponder on the ethics of eating animals vs. slaying dragons.

Eric Lindberg of Broken Frontier

a fascinating and, at turns, educational read.

...

an interesting comic with a unique cultural identity. It’s worth a look for fans of fantasy or for anyone who feels there is no new territory to explore in the genre.

Ragtime at Comic Book Thoughts

Here, Here for Hereville

...

I will definitely be buying a copy of Barry Deutsch's Hereville.

Samuel John Klein Portlandiensis of The ZehnKatzen Times

It's glorious, deep, clever, and intelligent; finally, a take on the hero's tale which doesn't look like it was cribbed straight outta G.I. Joseph Campbell. Mirka won me over from the start.

If you'll be in the Portland area on April 26th or 27th, you can drop by the Stumptown Comics Fest, where Barry Deutsch himself will be on hand at an exhibitor booth to talk to you and sign your copies of Hereville. Don't have a copy? No problem! You can buy them at his booth.

40 Reasons to Attend New York Comicon in 2008 ...

... and 1 reason not to. It's amazing (& astonishing & shocking --- and all those other cool adjectives they threw onto the covers on Silver Age comics to try to get our attention) to me that there are more "Jewish" reasons to attend NYCC this year than there were last year.

(1) Session discussing Jews and superheroes in general and in particular the book Disguised as Clark Kent : Jews, Comics and the Creation of the Superhero, written by

(2) Danny Fingeroth (who will be in attendance), moderated by

(3) Arie Kaplan, author of the forthcoming book From Krakow to Krypton: A History of Jews in Comics

(4) A confidential source has it on good authority to believe that legendary Batman series artist Jerry Robinson (who also did illustrations for Bible Tales for Young Folk) will be in attedance.

(5) Session discussing the book Our Gods Wear Spandex : The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes - a book whose sections include People of the Book (chapter 4) ; Harry Houdini (chapter 8) ; Founding Fathers: Harry Donenfeld and Martin Goodman (chapter 12) ; Chapter 16. The Golems ; Jack Kirby (chapter 20) ; Neil Gaiman (chapter 20)

(6) The above session will feature the book's author, Christopher Knowles ; the aforementioned Danny Fingeroth ;

(7) Douglas Rushkoff (writer of the Testament series from Vertigo) ;

and (8) A. David Lewis (co-organizer of the recent "Graven Images" conference and author of The Lone and Level Sands, a graphic novel adaptation of the story of Exodus).

(9) tribute to Joe Kubert, who will be in attence at NYCC

(10) tribute to Will Eisner

(11) tribute to Steve Gerber (author of "A Monster Reborn" in Monsters Unleashed #4)

(12) A tribute to Jack "King" Kirby and discussion of the book Kirby : King of Comics with

(13) the book's author Mark Evanier (who also wrote a Crossfire story for a Free Comic Book Day comic involving a Holocaust survivor who tries to kill a suspected Nazi war criminal)

(14) Neal Adams (illustrator of "The Ventures of Zimmerman" [parody of Bob Dylan] and "Son O' God", which both appeared in the pages of National Lampoon)

(15) Dick Ayers (illustrator of "Lonely Are the Brave" in Combat Kelly and the Deadly Dozen #2, in which the titular heroes liberate a concentration camp)

(16) Kyle Baker author-illustrator of the King David graphic novel from Vertigo, as well as a funny 1-page cartoon in his Kyle Baker : Cartoonist TPB in which a Jewish Cinderella has a mishap under the chuppah)

(17) Nick Bertozzi (illustrator of Houdini : The Handcuff King)

(18) Jon Bogdanove (author-illustrator of issues of a Superman storyline in which Superman went to the Warsaw Ghetto)

(19) 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)

(20) Garth Ennis (author of the limited series Unknown Soldier, in which the title character, in a flashback to WWII, is shown massacring Nazi guards at Dachau)

(21) Gary Friedrich (author of "Lonely Are the Brave" in Combat Kelly and the Deadly Dozen #2, in which the titular heroes liberate a concentration camp)

(22) Neil Gaiman (Jewish author who contributed to the anthology Outrageous Tales of the Old Testament and who both retold a midrash on Adam's 2nd wife and had a Jewish musician meet Death in the pages of his Sandman series)

(23) Keith Giffen (author of the Ragman miniseries that reintroduced the title character as a Jewish superhero and also creator of the characters Dreidel and Rabbi Zone, who both appeared in the pages of the last issue of the series The Heckler)

(24) Dan Goldman (author-illustrator of a short piece titled "Schmear", which he describes as "Jewish porn", since it takes place in the backroom of a Brooklyn bagel shop. The story appeared in Smut Peddler #2). In all fairness, Dan's done other - & better-known - stories (e.g. Shooting War) but "Schmear" is the only "Jewish" work of his that I've seen.

(25) Justin Gray (co-creator of The Monolith series)

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

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

(28) Alisa Kwitney (writer on the Vertigo series Token. Set in Miami Beach in the 1980s, Token tells the story of Shira, a sheltered young Jewish girl, who finds herself rebelling against her family and falling for Rafael, a boy who knows how to make acting bad feel way too good.

(29) Stan "The Man" Lee (Jewish co-creator of classic Marvel characters & series, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four)

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

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

(32) Jerry Ordway (illustrator of an issue of Superman in which he went to the Warsaw Ghetto, as well as an All-Star Squadron story in which Steel ended up in a Nazi death camp)

(33) Jimmy Palmiotti (co-creator of the short-lived golem series The Monolith from DC Comics)

(34) M. K. Perker (illustrator of the Vertigo graphic novel Cairo. Set in bustling modern-day Cairo, this magical-realism thriller interweaves the lives of a drug runner, a down-on-his-luck journalist, an American expatriate, a young activist, an Israeli soldier, and a genie as they navigate the city's streets and spiritual underworld to find a stolen hooka sought by a wrathful gangster-magician.)

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

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

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

(38) Louise Simonson (co-author of issues of a Superman storyline in which Superman went to the Warsaw Ghetto)

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

(40) G. Willow Wilson (author of the Vertigo graphic novel Cairo.)

Mysteries of the Alef Beit

Mysteries of the Alef-Beit - Kabbalistic Secrets of the Hebrew Alpha Bet

Lavishly presented in comic style with detailed insights and depths. Perfect
for the beginner or the practiced Mage.

Complete with:
How to properly Scribe the letters
Gematrias
Kabbalistic insights
Many hidden secrets of the letters that formed the basis of all languages

Mysteries of the Alef-Bet

Available now in English and Hebrew Editions from Mahrwood Press.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Happy Passover from Terry & Patty LaBan!

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Bob Andelman (Mr. Media) Jewish comix interviews

Tomorrow, (Wed., April 9th at 1:00 PM EST), Bob Andelman's guest will be Arie Kaplan, author of the "King of Comics" series which appeared in Reform Judaism magazine, author of the "Dave Danger" comics (which also appeared in Reform Judaism magazine), author of "What if Chris Rock Performed at a Bar Mitzvah?" (Mad Magazine #419) and author of the book From Krakow to Krypton : The History of Jews in Comics, forthcoming from the Jewish Publication Society.

You may read the Introduction to the latter book at the Yavnet website.

If Arie were the blogmaster here, he'd also want to add that he's the writer of the Speed Racer : Chronicles of the Racer miniseries, issue 4 of which should be available soon. However, Arie isn't the blogmaster here. I am. Let him get his own darned blog. They're free, ya know.

If your boss won't let you take a break to listen to the show live at 1 (and what sort of meanie he must be, eh?), don't fret too much. Bob has kindly taken it upon himself to make past shows available in 2 ways :

(1) He records the podcast and allows people to listen to the recorded shows on his website ;

(2) He transcribes most of the show for those who'd prefer to skim the best parts rather than listen through the whole thing. I suppose it's also helpful for the hearing impaired.

Having visited Bob's website earlier today, I discovered that Mr. Media has recorded several other interviews which are of interest to those who like to listen to interviews &/or read interviews related to the topic of Jews and comics.

I'll provide a listing of a bunch of these below (with their hyperlinks). Perhaps, in the future, Bob could give me a heads-up in advance so that I can give this blog's readers advance notice about such interviews. After all, not all interviewees are as adept at shameless self-promotion as Arie is.

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

Peter Kuper, author-illustrator of the short biographical story "Promised Land"(Bleeding Heart #2), as well as the book-length autobiographical Stop Forgetting to Remember : The Autobiography of Walter Kurtz.

Trina Robbins, author of "The Triangle Fire" (Lilith #2) and "Zog Nit Keyn Mol : The Partisan's Song" (Wimmen's Comix #10)

Howard Chaykin (author of American Flagg and Batman / Houdini : The Devil's Workshop) ... On Fighting with Will Eisner

Drew Friedman (MAD Magazine cartoonist)... On What’s Wrong With the Biography, Will Eisner: A Spirited Life

Bob Andelman... On Writing the Biography, Will Eisner: A Spirited Life

Benjamin Herzberg... On Working With Eisner to Craft Fagin the Jew and The Plot

Abraham Foxman (National Director, Anti-Defamation League) ... On Publishing Prospects for The Plot in the Middle East

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Graven Images : Religion in Comic Books & Graphic Novels conference - Boston University

April 11–13, 2008
All conference events will be held in Room 201 on the second floor of the Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies, located at 147 Bay State Road (entrance on Sherborn Street).

Full program may be found online at http://www.bu.edu/luce/calendar/religionincomics.html

The keynote speaker on Friday night (6:00-7:30 pm) will be James Sturm, author-illustrator of The Golem's Mighty Swing.

Of particular interest for those interested in Jewish comics is the Judaism and Identity session scheduled on (of course) Saturday.

Panel 3: Judaism and Identity
1:30 pm - 3:00 pm

"Representing Jewish Identities in Joann Sfar’s Graphic Novel The Rabbi’s Cat"
Marla Harris, independent scholar

"Three Faces of the Comic Book Rabbi"
Laurence Roth, Susquehanna University

"Why Not, in Time, a Judeo-American?"
Vincent Gonzalez, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

There will also be a panel on Sunday (11:00 AM - 12:30 PM) which will include panelists A. David Lewis ( The Lone and Level Sands) and G. Willow Wilson (Cairo)

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Art Spiegelman lecture in Toronto tonight!

from http://torontozinelibrary.blogspot.com/2008/03/art-spiegelman-lecture.html :

Comix 101 Forbidden Images and The Art of Outrage
A Lecture by Pulitzer Prize Winning Author, Art Spiegelman

Thursday, April 3 at 7:30 p.m.
at the Isabel Bader Theatre
93 Charles St.
Toronto, Ontario

Students and Seniors: $25
Regular Admission: $40

As arguably the most influential comic illustrator of our time, Art Spiegelman (author-illustartor of the Holocaust memoir Maus) has changed the literary landscape and has carved out an important place for the graphic novel as a tool to weave complex narratives.

Through his writing, Spiegelman makes lessons of the Holocaust, issues of political engagement, and freedom of speech accessible and meaningful to a generation of young people. His approach to history and politics as seen through the unique lens of the graphic novel, has an uncanny ability to uncover the many-layered nature of conflict and identity.

Spiegelman believes that "open discourse ultimately serves understanding" (Spiegelman, June 2006) and that the principles of freedom of speech and the open exchange of ideas are the cornerstone of a free society. Spiegelman will present his view that silencing alternative voices/images is not an acceptable form of political engagement.

Please join us for an amazing evening that is not to be missed. You can purchase tickets now at www.uofttix.ca, or by phone at 416-913-2424. If you can't attend please consider donating a ticket to a student by calling the number listed above.

Presented by Hillel of Greater Toronto and the Latner Jewish Library in cooperation with the Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Office University of Toronto, the Lonsdale Annex foundation, NJCL, NOW Magazine, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, and UJA Federation of Greater Toronto

Media inquiries please call:
Daniel Abramson
Hillel of Greater Toronto
416-913-2424

daniel.abramson@hilleltoronto.org
http://www.hilleltoronto.org

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Pow! Kosher superheroes!

Now the British newspaper The Jewish Chronicle has published a review of Danny Fingeroth's book (Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero).

Fingeroth’s book covers the territory thoroughly — but haven’t there been a heap of other similar tomes on the relationship between Jews and comics? Fingeroth insists that he brings an added insight to the genre.

“What I bring to the table of any study in a comics-related topic is the point of view of someone who actually has created comics and characters professionally for decades,” he argues.

Disguised as Clark Kent / Up Up and Oy Vey

The book Disguised as Clark Kent : Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero by Danny Fingeroth has been getting quite a bit of attention, both online and in print. The most recent review appeared in The Forward : "Marvel’s Mavens" (along with a review of The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America). My thanks go out to Jana Burkhalter for pointing this out to me.

Some of the articles mention or compare his book to Rabbi Simcha Weinstein's Up Up, and Oy Vey!: How Jewish History, Culture, and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero.

Douglas Wolk's "Just Plain Super" argues that both books are trying too hard to Judaize superhero characters who clearly aren't.

Weinstein’s book, in particular, indulges in far-fetched exegesis ... Fingeroth, at least, notes that the themes he’s hunting for are mostly “unconscious and subconscious” on the part of comics creators.

Amy Gluth wrote a review for Jewcy :

I went into Disguised As Clark Kent thinking it would be about the same book as Up, Up And Oy Vey!: How Jewish History, Culture, and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero by Simcha Weinstein (Oy Vey is jokier and with more Biblical parallels tossed in), but, despite having nearly the same title and subject, Disguised, I have to admit, is really the leader on the topic with greater contemporary historical detail and wonderful captured social and emotional subtleties. At least in my humble little opinion, it seems to be about Jews first, particularly the immigrant Jewish psyche, and comics we drew second.

Jack Fishel, editor of the forthcoming (Encyclopedia of American Jewish Popular Culture) wrote a review for The New Jersey Jewish News :

a plethora of books have recently appeared that explore the Jewish origins of the comic-books creators. Among the better studies are Up, Up and Oy Vey! How Jewish History, Culture, and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero by Rabbi Simcha Weinstein (Leviathan Press) and, now, Fingeroth’s latest work.

In Jennifer M. Contino's interview with Fingeroth (for The Pulse, reprinted at comicon.com), he lists Rabbi Simcha's book as one of his sources for material :

I interviewed some fascinating Jewish comics creators including Stan Lee, Irwin Hasen, Joe Kubert, Jerry Robinson, Jules Feiffer, Neil Gaiman, Brian Bendis, and the late Arnold Drake. Aside from that, Arie Kaplan’s, Simcha Weinstein’s, Jules Feiffer’s, and Gerard Jones’s writing on the topic was very helpful. And thanks to the Internet, I was able to read dozens of articles and essays from all over the world about related topics.

Forbes.com conducted an e-mail interview with Fingeroth :

stories about such topics as--especially in post-Holocaust comics--characters who were survivors of one form of tragedy or another--indeed, the 1950s-and-beyond emphasis on Superman’s status as a survivor of the doomed planet Krypton--echoed what was going on collectively in the minds of Jewish Americans. ”Why did I survive, and not my cousins in Europe?” and so on. The whole point of Disguised as Clark Kent is to explore the nooks and crannies where ethnic identity may have crept into the work when no one--including the writers and artists--was conscious that it was

Jason Berek-Lewis interviewed Rabbi Weinstein for Broken Frontier and discussed the book in the column he wrote a week earlier.

pastordan reposted the press release from State of Belief which was promoting the then-upcoming show (May, 2007) in which Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy interviewed the "Comic Book Rabbi," Simcha Weinstein.

Sean Kleefeld provided a brief review at his blog :

The book wasn't bad at all. My biggest complaint was really that it didn't have enough weight to it; I think a lot more could have been done with the subject matter. Perhaps it's because I've done so much reading on these creators and characters already that I'm far too familiar with the material. This might well be wholly new for many people and, if you didn't know that Bob Kane or Stan Lee were Jewish, this is probably an excellent book to introduce you to those ideas. But it really strikes me as a more introductory text than what I'd be looking for and I have to admit some disappointment with it because of that.

The Jewish Life provides a brief glance at the book with several excerpts from it.

Finally, for those of you who missed Rabbi Simcha's interview on CNN, here's the YouTube video, courtesy of wadeisdead (thanks also go out to the Gruntig blog for pointing it out).

You may read the transcript at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/19/sbt.01.html (scroll down)

Religion as Apart and a Part of Comics

A. David Lewis has written a general article on the subject of religion and comic books titled "Religion as Apart and a Part of Comics" for Publisher's Weekly. Though it doesn't say much about the specific representation of Judaism in comics, it does mention that Kitty Pryde is Jewish and inludes The Rabbi's Cat as an example of a graphic novel that examines and respects religion.

Not all comics dealing with religion need to challenge it. Many of the most lauded incorporate it, examine it, respect it and remain inconclusive yet affected by it. Some examples are Blankets, Persepolis, Maus, The Rabbi’s Cat, Invisibles. Even as they represent some of the most select comics work, they also represent the medium’s scarceengagements with religion as well. It isn’t hard to find religion within American mainstream comics, but finding it addressed meaningfully is. For all of the innovative exceptions named above, it remains the third rail of the adventurous, dominant genre, only temporarily shocking its characters. Thus, religion in comics can be likened to several concepts of God: it is everywhere and nowhere all at once.

Spider Man is a Jew!

Hana Levi Julian wrote the "Spider Man is a Jew!" article for the online Israel National News, using material from Rabbi Simcha Weinstein's Up Up and Oy Vey : How Jewish History, Culture and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero.

Fantastic Four & Jewish "family values"

The Jewish Press published an op-ed piece titled The Fantastic Four's Jewish Family Values about the Jewish underpinnings of the Fantastic Four written by Rabbi Simcha Weinstein, author of Up Up and Oy Vey : How Jewish History Culture and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero.

While Judaism has its roots in the accomplishments of powerful patriarchs and matriarchs, a special emphasis is also placed upon the tribe: the synthesis of everyone’s talents for the greater good. The Hebrew word for tribes, shevatim, means “branches,” alluding to their separate yet united nature. In Lee and Kirby’s universe, not even superheroes live in a vacuum. Sometimes they have to rely on their fellow super-colleagues to assist them when the going gets tough.

In an age of terror we all – more than ever – need a return to family values, working together to combine our powers and talents for the greater good. Even a flashy Hollywood movie based on a popular comic book can be a way to convey this important message (in between onscreen explosions and corny jokes, of course).

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Happy Purim!

The Festival of Purim is upon us once again.

As good an excuse as any to borrow (or buy) a copy of JT Waldman's Megillat Esther to read - even if you don't plan on attending a public reading of the Book of Esther.

If you don't know much about JT and his book (beyond what is on the website I linked to), you can read the article "Megillat Esther: The Graphic Novel By JT Waldman", which appeared in last month's The Jewish Press. Part of the impetus for the article was the exhibition of JT's original pages at the Bronfman Gallery, which continues until Easter Monday (March 24th).

7 E. 10th St.
NY, NY
Fri. 8 AM - 4 PM
Sun. 9 AM - 9 PM
Mon. 8 AM - 10 PM

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Comics Journal interviews Jewish cartoonists

The February 2008 issue of The Comics Journal contains an interview with Israeli cartoonist Rutu Modan by Joe Sacco, as well as an interview of Peter Kuper by Michael Dean.

Today (Sunday, March 16, 2008) is, unfortunately the last day for the free online preview of issue #288.

To read the interviews (today only), please go to the following sites :

Rutu Modan : http://www.tcj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=785&Itemid=72

Peter Kuper : http://www.tcj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=772&Itemid=72

Saturday, February 16, 2008

1 Jewish reason not to attend New York Comic Con

The subject line above is tongue-in-cheek, a reference to other posts
I've made about "Jewish" reasons to attend previous comic conventions.

The Jewish reason not to attend New York Comic Con this year, however, is a reference to the fact that Javits was so successful at booking dates for events that the NYCC organizers had only 2 choixes available to
them by the time that they needed to book the days for the 2008 con :
(1) Choose not to hold the NYCC in 2008
(2) Book the only available block of dates that Javits had left to
offer them : April 18-20.

Alas, these dates conflict with Sabbath eve (Friday night) and the
first 2 nights of Passover.

The significance of Passover for most Jews - regardless of how
observant they are - is better expressed by others in the comics
community who have expressed disappointment at the unfortunate
scheduling, including cartoonist Neil Kleid.

Neil's open letter to NYCC may be found at
http://rantcomics.livejournal.com/183771.html, along with comments to his post. Among the replies is one from Lance Fensterman (Con Director of New York ComicCon).

An excerpt from Neil's letter :

"The Jewish comic book community may seem small, and its creators and fans fewer than the average, but remember that this industry began with names like Kirby, Eisner, Lieber, Kubert and more, many of whom did observe the holidays and rituals that I do. Many of them who might have objected as I do now, to a convention that coincides with the annual commemoration of a great moment in Jewish history and amazing miracles such as the Ten Plagues and the splitting of the Red Sea. Passover may not mean much to the average comic book fan or comic book creators... but I cannot imagine the comics community staying silent if Reed Exhibitions had decided to schedule the New York Comic-Con on Good Friday, Easter or Thanksgiving weekend."

An excerpt from Lance's response :

"Thanks for the open letter, my name is Lance Fensterman, and I run New York ComicCon. Needless to say, I'm none too happy about the Passover situation either, so let's get that out of the way right off the bat - we are really sorry about this and certainly intended no disrespect towards anyone. The unfortunate reality is that these were the dates we were given at the Javits Center. Javits is unlike most places in that the demand for the space far outstrips the availability, so customers, such as NYCC, are left with little to no choice as to what dates we are given. To that point, I'll announce here first that the show will be moving back to February next year - because we want to be in February? Nope. Quite simply, these are the only dates we can get next year."

Rutu Modan at San Diego Comic Con

Israeli cartoonist Rutu Modan (author-illustrator of the graphic novel
Exit Wounds) will be one of the special guests at San Diego Comic Con International this year (July 24-27, 2008).

There is an interview with her in the Winter 2008 issue of Comic-Con
Magazine (p. 18-21), with a reprint of page 63 of the book.

You may also see reprints of pages 12 & 15-18 by going to the following sites :
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/05/comics_exitwounds_1 http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/05/comics_exitwounds_2 http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/05/comics_exitwounds_3 http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/05/comics_exitwounds_4 http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/05/comics_exitwounds_5

There are also reprinted panels at :
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/?storyID=7099
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/?storyID=7099&p=2 http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/?storyID=7099&p=3
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/?storyID=7099&p=4
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/?storyID=7099&p=5
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/?storyID=7099&p=6
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/?storyID=7099&p=7

Monday, January 14, 2008

Israeli cartoon exhibition (UK)

New Spiro Ark Tzavta Centre
25-26 Enford St, W1

Sunday 17 February to 14 March 2008

Israeli cartoon exhibition

This cutting-edge contemporary exhibition highlights the work of a group of young Israeli illustrators and graphic novelists and is organized by some of the leading British experts in this field.

Feb. 17th at 7.30pm, opening and wine reception

£5

phone : 020 7723 9991

*****

Although I don't know which works or cartoonists will be featured in this exhibition, the graphic at http://www.jewishbookweek.com/new-books/events.php (where I copied thsi info from) suggests that artwork from Rutu Modan's Exit Wounds will be part of the exhibit.

Rutu Modan at Jewish Book Week 2008 (UK)

Rutu Modan, author-illustrator of the graphic novel Exit Wounds will be one of the featured guests at this year's Jewish Book Week. She will be one of the panelists discussing the portrayal of families & relationships in fiction. It's interesting to me that this year JBW has a cartoonist who is not on a panel alongside other cartoonists.

The description of the panel is below :

Family Affairs
Here, three highly distinctive writers explore dysfunctional families; mining relationships, love and betrayals, secrets and lies.

When We Were Bad, Charlotte Mendelson's novel, tells the story of a high profile woman rabbi’s family in total disarray. In Rutu Modan’s beautifully drawn graphic novel, Exit Wounds, the search for a man feared dead in a terrorist attack reveals someone neither his son nor his lover knew. Blake Morrison wrote two moving memoirs uncovering the lives of both his parents.

Rutu Modan, an illustrator and comic book creator, is a chosen artist of the Israel Cultural Excellence Foundation. She has created comic strips for the Israeli newpapers Yedioth Acharonot and Maariv and illustrations for The New Yorker, Le Monde, The New York Times and many other publications. Her first graphic novel, Exit Wounds, will be published in June. Rutu Modan, usually based in Tel Aviv, is currently in Sheffield, England.

Charlotte Mendelson was born in London in 1972 and grew up in Oxford. She has written and reviewed for the Guardian, the TLS, the Independent on Sunday, the Observer and elsewhere. Her first novel, Love in Idleness, was largely written in her lunch breaks at work. For Daughters of Jerusalem, she was awarded the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the Somerset Maugham Award, and was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. Charlotte also received the London Arts New London Writers’ Award and was shortlisted for Le Prince Maurice Roman d’Amour Prize and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. Her third novel, When We Were Bad, was published in May 2007. She has been named one of Waterstone’s 25 Authors for the Future.

Blake Morrison is Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a former Chairman of the Poetry Book Society, a member of the Literature Panel of the Arts Council of England and Vice-Chairman of English PEN.
His non-fiction books include And When Did You Last See Your Father?, an honest and moving account of his father's life and death and Things My Mother Never Told Me, a memoir of his mother. As If is about the trial of the two young boys convicted of killing the toddler James Bulger in Liverpool. His poetry includes the collections Dark Glasses, The Ballad of the Yorkshire Ripperand Pendle Witches. He is also a novelist, The Justification of Johann Gutenberg and most recently South of the River. He has written a number of essays, plays and a children’s book.

Hephzibah Anderson is Fiction Editor of the Daily Mail

In association with JLifestyle

Royal National Hotel
Bedford Way
London WC1 0DG

To purchase tickets, go to http://www.jewishbookweek.com/2008/tickets.php

"Maus is in the house"- Simpsons episode #407

Those who missed the episode the first time around (i.e. on Nov. 18, 2007) will have to wait for a rerun to air to hear Jewish cartoonist Art Spiegelman utter the phrase "Maus is in the house".

However, thanks to the screen captures in this post, you can see how Art was drawn - with and without the mask.

Jews, Comics, and Graphic Novels - course at Skirball Centre

8-session weekly course at the Skirball Center for Adult Learning at Temple Emanu-El in New York, taught by Danny Fingeroth

Jews, Comics, and Graphic Novels
Danny Fingeroth
Tues 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Jan. 29, Feb. 5, 12, 19, 26, Mar. 4, 11, 18

Not unlike their role in movies, Jews have been key players in all aspects of the comic book and graphic novel on both creative and business levels. Discuss the Jewish aspects of the content of the comics and graphic novels, as well as the influence the Jewish backgrounds of key creators of the comics had on their work and on American popular culture in general. Read significant works from the past one hundred years, including the work of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Will Eisner, Art Spiegelman, and Harvey Pekar. Touch on everything from the beginnings of comics during the days of radio drama to their modern incarnation in the graphic novel.

Danny Fingeroth was the longtime Group Editor of Marvel Comics' Spider-Man line and has written many comics featuring Spider-Man and other characters. He is the author of Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero and Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society, both published by Continuum. Danny is also editor-in-chief of Write Now! magazine (published by TwoMorrows) and teaches comics writing and analysis at The New School, New York University, and the Media Bistro.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Ninjews claymation cartoon by Josh Bass

I came across this animated cartoon years ago and made a link to it on my online bibliography page. Unfortunately, it became a dead link and I thought that I'd be unable to share it.

However, the author (Josh Bass) has given it a new home on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy0ZUuS_oAw

Technically, it's not a comic, but it would make a good comic if one freezed the frames and reproduced them on paper.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Alan Oirich recognized by Business Week

This week, Business Week takes a look at "five entrepreneurs whose companies reflect their beliefs". One of these businesspeople is Electric Comics founder Alan Oirich seen pictured in the fifth slide on its webiste. Also pictured are 4 models in costume, whom I assume are his wife and 3 kids.

Sunday, December 09, 2007

review of Homeland graphic history book

Wolfman, Marv, Mario Ruiz, and William J. Rubin. Homeland : The Illustrated History of the State of Israel. Skokie, IL : Nachshon Press, 2007. 124 pp. $19.95. ISBN : 978-9771507-0-0 Pbk.

In 1958, on the occasion of Israel’s 10th anniversary, Thomas Yoseloff Inc. published Pictorial History of Israel, which used over 600 black-&-white photographs (as well as a small number of black-&-white illustrations) to show readers how Israelis live and have lived, how they came to establish the modern state and how its history has been a combination of joyous triumphs and bitter struggles. Two more (updated) editions followed. However, the latest edition (published in 1968) appeared just one year after the Six Day War, on the occasion of Israel’s 20th anniversary. As useful and interesting as these books have been, there has certainly been a need for a more contemporary treatment.

Earlier this year, Nachshon Press published Homeland : The Illustrated History of the State of Israel. A visual panorama of images for the eyes, the book not only includes previously published photos (color photos, as well as monochrome ones which stand out on the page, due to the use of varied color backgrounds), but also contains lushly painted colored illustrations rendered by the talented comic book artist Mario Ruiz. Though the book’s authors admit to their particular viewpoint and bias early on in the narrative (which takes the form of an academic class being taught), the book occasionally introduces contrary ones (e.g. pg. 42, where a student challenges the professor by asking if Zionists had considered the rights of the Arabs who were living in the country).

One of the beautiful visual “tricks” that Ruiz uses in the book could be described as “unity of vision”. On pages 12-13, when Moses looks out towards Israel from atop Mount Nebo, what the reader sees (through his eyes) is not an ancient land of fig trees and stone wells, but a somewhat blurry modern skyline. This image is mirrored on pages 42-43, but here it is Theodor Herzl who is viewed from behind and the skyline looks a bit clearer. On pages 118-119 – the final pages of the book – the photo of the skyline is shown in focus in front of a group of young students. Another visual “trick” occurs on pages 30-31. At first glance, there appears to be a single man’s face divided along the spine of the book. However, a closer examination shows that the left side is half of a face of a Muslim, while the right side is the face of a Christian crusader.

In addition to discussing the many aspects of Jewish & Israeli life that I expected it to cover (including a condensed account of Biblical history, various periods of invasions and wars, the Holocaust, terrorism), Homeland also touches on topics that surprised me (e.g. Shlomtzion [the first female Jewish ruler], the complexity of Zionism and its subgroups, and the explanation of the Birthright program). In my review copy, some of the text in the “1991-present” section was obscured by the photos, but I feel certain that this problem was corrected for the published editions. A newer 60th anniversary edition is planned for 2008.

Overall, I would highly recommend this stunningly visual, textually engaging book for public, school and synagogue libraries. It is well-suited for elementary students, but adults should find it worthwhile as well.

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