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Thursday, July 21, 2022

Jewish Side of San Diego Comic Con (SDCCI) 2022 - an abridged post

 Those who've been following my blog for over 2 years might recall that I usually put quite a bit of time and effort into highlighting the Jewish content of comic conventions. Alas, while life got busy for me personally, I kept putting off looking into this year's SDCCI until I had already missed day 1.

Therefore, this will be a very brief post highlighting the most significant individuals I wish I would have been able to meet (or meet again) and panels I wish I could have attended, had I been able to get to San Diego this year. I apologize for what I'm certain will be many unintended omissions, but I chose brevity and speed over trying to be thorough and not getting the post published before I head to sleep.

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The SDCCI (which officially started today [July 21st] and had its preview night [July 20th]) will have plenty of Jewish comics professionals in attendance, as well as some non-Jewish comics professionals who have done "Jewish" work and 5 sessions which I would specifically recommend to those who will be there.

Friday, July 22, 2022

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Room 28DE

The New Face of Jewish Comics

DESCRIPTION :

The portrayal of Jews in comics and Jewish people making comics has grown and changed immensely from titles involving Nazis or neurotic New Yorker stereotypes. This panel profiles the best and brighest up-and-coming Jewish talent and titles, moderated by Barbra Dillon (editor-in-chief, Fanbase Press). Barbra has kindly shared with me that the panelists will include Dani Colman, Fabrice Sapolsky (past organizer of Jewish Comic Con), Ramy Dubrow, and Arnon Shorr (writer of the PJ Library graphic novel José and the Pirate Captain Toledano).

Friday, July 22, 2022

1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Room 28DE

Spotlight on Danny Fingeroth

DESCRIPTION

Danny Fingeroth has had a long and accomplished career in and around the comics industry. After 18 years as a writer and Group Editor at Marvel, best known for his work on Spider-Man, Danny has worked in executive positions at digital entertainment companies Virtual Comics and Visionary Media and created and packaged Write Now! magazine for TwoMorrows. He’s taught comics-related topics at venues including NYU and the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, where he was the director of education. Danny serves as Chair of Will Eisner Week for Will Eisner Studios and as a consultant to the current traveling exhibition. His books on popular culture include Superman on the Couch and Disguised as Clark Kent : Jews Comics and the Creation of the Superhero. His most recent book is A Marvelous Life: The Amazing Story of Stan Lee, chosen as an Entertainment Book of the Year by the Times of London and SyFy. Danny discusses his life and career with pop culture historian Jerry Beck (The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons).



Saturday, July 23, 2022

3:30 PM - 4:30 PM

Sails Pavilion: AA07

Real Comics, Real Issues

Panelists include Jerry Craft (Class Act), Johnnie Christmas (Swim Team), Terri Libenson (Remarkably Ruby, the comic strip The Pajama Diaries, and a compilation of strips titled Bat-Zilla), Laura Gao (Messy Roots), Yehudi Mercado (Chunky, Chunky Goes To Camp, Throne of Secrets)


Sunday, July 24, 2022

1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Room 4

Spotlight on Miriam Libicki

DESCRIPTION
Comic book author, illustrator, and critic Deb Aoki (Bento Box) interviews Miriam Libicki (jobnik!,  But I Live, illustrated essays "Towards a Hot Jew: The Israeli Soldier as Fetish Object" and "Jewish Memoir Goes Pow! Zap! Oy!" & the illustrated mini-journals Ceasefire and Fierce Ease) about her path in comics, from art school to the indie con circuit, academia and beyond. Miriam is a pioneer of the graphic essay and plumbs American-Jewish identity using multiple perspectives and mediums.

Sunday, July 24, 2022

1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

Room 26AB

Comics Arts Conference Session #15: The Jewish Graphic Novel: From A Contract with God to Tunnels

DESCRIPTION
When asked to compare his graphic novels to the prose work of Jewish-American novelist Saul Bellow, Will Eisner replied, “Bellow is doing nothing more than I'm doing . . . I've been selling the same pretzel on the same corner." Having innovated comics in the 1940s with his legendary The Spirit, Eisner burst back onto the scene with his pioneering 1978 graphic novel A Contract with God. He devoted the rest of his career to telling stories of Jewish life in 20th-century America. In Contract’s wake, new generations of Jewish graphic novelists followed in Eisner’s footsteps. Trina Robbins (A Minyn Yidn Un Andere Zakhn), Ken Krimstein (When I Grow Up: The Lost Autobiographies of Six Yiddish Teenagers), and Karen Green (Columbia University) discuss how the Jewish graphic novel developed in the years after Eisner’s groundbreaking publications. Danny Fingeroth (Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero) moderates.

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It's too late to announce these, but I would like to recognize two interesting panels which I wish I had promoted in time to let people know about them.

Thursday, July 21, 2022

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Neil Morgan Auditorium, San Diego Central Library

Podcasting 101

DESCRIPTION
Aziz Al-Doory (History of Westeros, Podcast of Surprise), Jonathan Eigen (Sagas and Sass, Vassals of Kingsgrave Podcast), Michal Schick (Nice Jewish Fangirls, Podcast of Surprise), and David Hsieh (CEO of GlocalStar, Bastards of Kingsgrave Podcast) offer tips and tricks for and the intricacies of planning, recording, editing, releasing, and promoting your own podcast. Moderated by Amin Javadi (A Podcast of Ice and Fire). 

Thursday, July 21, 2022

1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

Room 4

Art from The Holocaust: Art as a Lifeline

DESCRIPTION
David Beck Brown (artist/creator, The Unknown Artist-History Erased), Sandra Scheller (USC Shoah Foundation interviewer), Stephen D. Smith (CEO, StoryFiles), and Heidi S. Straus (USC Shoah Foundation interviewer, Holocaust educator) examine and discuss drawings, illustrations, and graphics made by Holocaust prisoners in the face of potentially mortal consequences. They will discuss such prisoner artists as Horst Rosenthal, Dina Babbitt, and Otto Ungar and offer a special tribute to Neal Adams, creator of the Artist from Auschwitz graphic. 


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