18 Reasons to Attend Comic-Con International (San Diego)

For info on the con, please go to http://www.comic-con/cci/

(1) Sunday afternoon panel on "The Jewish Side of Comics"
(a) JT Waldman (Megillat Esther)
(b) Rabbi Simcha Weinstein (Up Up and Oy Vey : How
Jewish History, Culture and Values Shaped the Comic
Book Superhero)
(c) Danny Fingeroth (Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews,
Comics and the Creation of the Superhero)
(d) Marv Wolfman (Homeland : The Illustrated History of the State of Israel)
(e) Steven M. Bergson (jewishcomics.blogspot.com), moderator

(2) The Rabbi's Cat by Joann Sfar is nominated for 3 Eisner awards (Friday night)

Guests will include :

(3) J. Michael Straczynski (Rising Stars #16 -
synopsis at
http://worldsofjms.com/rs/synopses/rs_syn16.htm ;
Spider-Man #502 - character sketch of Leo Zelinsky at
http://www.spiderfan.org/characters/leo_zelinsky.html)

(4) Sergio Aragones (adaptation of "Jonah" in
Testament ; illustrator of Fanny Hillman : Memoirs of
a Jewish Madam)

(5) Peter David (who infamously used the names of
seder plate items for aliens in a Star Trek novel and
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)

(6) Ernie Colon (illustrator of Mendy and the Golem)

(7) Ben Raab (The Lost Tribe graphic novel, debuting
at the Comicon ; info with art at http://www.benraab.com/lost_tribe.html)

(8) Judd Winnick (Caper miniseries - see
http://www.thexaxis.com/misc/caper1.htm)

(9) Jimmy Palmiotti (writer on the series Monolith -
see
http://www.thefourthrail.com/features/1203/monolith.shtml)

(10) Douglas Rushkoff (Testament - see
http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=5891)

(11) Mark Evanier (wrote a "Crossfire" story involving a Holocaust survivor who tries to kill a suspected Nazi war criminal)

(12) Neal Adams (illustrator of "The Adventures of
Zimmerman" and "Son O' God", which appeared in the
pages of National Lampoon)

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

(14) Paul Levitz (author of the 1-page 9/11 story
"Tradition" in DC Comics' 9-11 September 11th 2001 - see
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/911/images/01905v.jpg)

(15) James Sturm (The Golem's Mighty Swing)

(16) Neil Gaiman (Jewish author of novels and comics)

****

(17) Diana Marsh ("The Bleeding Tree" Jewish folk tale adaptation) has told me she will be there, as well.

(18) I have been told that Sammy Harkham (Avodah
Books) will also be there.

Pilgrimage : Two Weeks in G-d's Country, a mini-comic by Neil Kleid

Since I don't have a copy yet (having only just noticed it at the bottom of Neil's Rant Comics website), all I can present you with is the website description :

PILGRIMAGE, an illustrated travel journal, documents thoughts and musings upon the author's return to his homeland of Israel after seven years. In the spirit of Craig Thompson's Carnet de Voyage and Josh Neufeld's A Few Perfect Hours, Pilgrimage arms readers with sketchbooks,and anticipation as they walk G-d's Country alongside one of its long-missed sons

Migdal David sample pages

Brownsville and "Shomer Negiah" author Neil Kleid has released the first 12 (13?) pages of Migdal David online at the Seraphic Secret website. Personally, I predict it will be one of 2007's shining stars of Jewish graphic storytelling.

Criminal Macabre: Feat of Clay (golem comic)

from The Comic Brief (CBR News) :

STEVE NILES’ "CRIMINAL MACABRE" RETURNS TO DARK HORSE IN SPECIAL ONE-SHOT!
by Jonah Weiland, Executive Producer
Posted: March 29, 2006
Official Press Release

He’s ba-aaaack! Cal McDonald—the hair-triggered, smart ass, tough guy, private dick- monster hunter comes back to Dark Horse this month, and he’s brought his strangest nemesis with him.

Horror maestro Steve Niles collaborated with fantastic artist Kyle Hotz (Marvel’s Manthing, Dark Horse’s Billy the Kid ) to bring to vivid, spooky life Cal’s first-ever encounter with a real-deal golem. From the folklore of Jewish mysticism, the earthy homunculus is given shape and purpose by a grief-stricken father, out to exact vengeance on the man who attacked his daughter. In a bizarre twist of fate, the golem is loosed on the world with no master and only one known purpose—to kill! Cal’s gotta do whatever it takes to stop this marauding hunk of clay from a pointless killing spree or . . . or, there’s gonna be a pointless killing spree!

Criminal Macabre: Feat of Clay features story by Steve Niles with art by Kyle Hotz. This special one-shot arrives on sale May 31 with a retail price of $2.99.

review of Brownsville

One of the books reviewed by Greg at Comics Should Be Good on 9th was Neil Kleid's Brownsville :

The high concept of Brownsville is "Jewish gangsters of the 1930s." We tend to think of gangsters as Italian, but in Brooklyn and parts of Manhattan in the 1930s the Jews ran things, and Kleid and Allen do a great job of bringing this forgotten world to life. They focus mainly on Albert Tannenbaum, who begins like a lot of youngsters, in awe of the riches and power of the local gangsters and is looking for a way to rebel against his father. He starts small, as usual, but eventually gets in tight with the gangsters and the bosses, including Louis Buchalter. The book is about his rise and fall, but also the rise and fall of organized crime in New York, as it spans the decade of the 1930s and shows the violence these men were willing to commit and the consequences of their actions.

It's not the most original idea, but it is interesting to see it from a Jewish perspective. The book is full of historical figures and what I can only assume is factual data, and Kleid keeps everything humming along, showing what these men do and how they eventually sell each other out. There is no honor here, only looking out for themselves, which is an interesting counterpoint to the myth of the Mob. Allie, especially, is a fascinating character, as he never quite seems to fit in with the gang, even when he's committing murder. He's very much a man who yearns for his father's approval, even after he rejects everything his father stands for. In the last act of the book, when he has been arrested and must choose whether to testify against his former employers, it is his family and the reminder that you can be someone in this world even if you're not rich and powerful that pushes him to his choice. It's an interesting arc for the character.

The art is stark and powerful. Each character looks vaguely the same, but Allen still manages to give them each a distinctive look. The cast is very big, and only once or twice did I have trouble keeping track of who was who based on what they looked like. After some initial confusion, it was easy to identify each person even though they were all dressed alike and were drawn in similar fashion. Allen evokes the time period very nicely, and the book (in black and white) is a pleasure to look at.

One of the few complaints I had about the book is its lack of Jewishness, for want of a better word. Very rarely does Kleid show how these gangsters were so different from Italians. It would have been interesting to see more of a contrast between the Catholic Mob and the Jewish one. He delves into it late in the book, and it made the characters even more interesting, so it was disappointing he didn't do it sooner. After all, we think of gangsters as good Catholics, getting their babies christened while their underlings gun down competitors, and although I wouldn't have wanted Kleid to dip into those sorts of clichés, it would have been nice to see the religious aspect of these men (if it existed) fleshed out a little more.

Behind the spandex: secrets of the superheroes by David Levy

The following article about A. David Lewis and his graphic novel The Lone and Level Sands appeared in The Jewish Advocate (Oct. 20, 2005)

It’s a bird … It’s a plane … No, it’s comic book writer A. David Lewis

BOSTON – When over 8,000 people gathered at the Bayside Expo Center at the start of the month for Boston’s first WizardWorld comics and pop-culture convention, there was the expected smattering of fans dressed like their favorite superheroes waiting in long lines to snag an autograph from the likes of Margot Kidder (Lois Lane in the “Superman” films) and Lou Ferrigno (TV’s ‘Incredible Hulk”). But tucked away in the back corner of the convention hall was a room devoted to a program called Wizard School, a series of classes offering aspiring writers and artists the chance to learn from industry professionals.

Most of the Wizard School classes centered on practical skills and technique. But Saturday night, the room was packed with fans for different kind of class. The session was entitled “Ever-Ending Battle: Superheroes and Mortality.” The brainchild of Allston resident A. David Lewis, the program brought together comic book pros to look at superheroes through the lens of thanatology, the study of death. Thanatology is still a relatively young area of inquiry, but two of its products have already permeated the culture: hospice care, and the stages of grief identified by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross.

Lewis is quick to note that “it’s not a bad thing to be concerned about death.” However, he came to the project through comics first. “Over the last few years, I was finding it curious that all these characters were getting killed and brought back. I don’t have any agenda other than discussing it.”

While his research is at an early stage, he has amassed the support not only of convention organizers, but also of the Popular Culture Association, comics journalists, and comics writers and artists. However, he is not new to the field of comics research, having taught classes on comics at Georgetown University and presented papers at conferences on topics such as “The Relationship Between Biblical Midrash and Comic Retcon.”

Although he’s an academic by day, currently teaching at Northeastern University, Lewis has a secret identity of his own as a comic book writer. “I can never decide if I like writing or writing about them better,” he said.

Lewis’s latest project looks at a different kind of superhero: Moses. His graphic novel “Lone and Level Sands” retells the biblical story of the Exodus from Egypt from the perspective of the Egyptians. “I had the idea a long time ago,” he said. “I went to Hebrew School [at Temple Beth Am in Framingham], had my bar mitzvah, but the first time I really gave it any thought was then the movie “Prince of Egypt” came out and I didn’t like it.”

The film’s account of Moses’s life didn’t mesh with Lewis’s memories of the Torah text, so he launched into a research project to find out what Egypt was really like during the time. “The challenge became how to make history and biblical myths live together.”

Lewis cites films about the Holocaust as well as modern American disasters as providing an important conceptual frameworks for him. “I didn’t want it to paint all Egyptians as evil,” he said. “I wanted to tell the full story, see their reaction to the plagues – not just being freaked out when frogs are falling. When everything is done, was there an emergency response plan to deal with the frogs on the ground?”

While Lewis deals with the details of the events, there’s one big detail he’s left up to the readers’ imaginations: “You certainly don’t see God [in the book]; there’s no guide with a beard, voice from the heaven, or hand pointing down,” he said.
He’s also left open to interpretation whether the Egyptian gods are present in the story. “A lot of characters are asking these questions,” he said. “I just never let them have an answer.”

The product is a 160-page story, illustrated by mpMann [yes, that’s how it’s spelled on the cover] that debuted in a black and white edition last April, published by the authors. It generated enough press and sales that Archadia Studios Press has picked it up for broad release. The publisher is now readying a full-color, hardcover edition for December.

“I would love for Hebrew Schools and Jewish groups to read and discuss this,” Lewis said. “But it’s not toeing the company line. It’s

4 Joe and Monkey comic strips

How long canyou keep an in-joke going? Zach Miller managed to keep a joke about Judaism and wearing pants going for 2 years!

Here are the links to the 4 strips :

Totally Drewish!
It's Gotta Be The Pants
Post-Weekend Unwrapping
Required Reading

Is Superman gay? Jewish? Christian? (online comic strip)

Thanks to rhiannonstone for telling us about this PVP cartoon.

Superman #226 - "NEVER AGAIN!"



Daniel Crandall's summary at The Flickering Mirror of the scene that compares the 1950's US of A to Hitler's Germany :

In Superman 226, an Infinite Crisis Crossover title, Superman is reliving his life as a Superman from an alternate earth smacks him around. During these flashbacks Superman tries to stop Hitler but cannot. Something about Dr. Fate and Hitler possessing the Spear of Destiny.

Flash forward a few years and Superman is fighting no greater a foe then ... Wait for it ... The United States of America. Why, you ask? Because, a thought bubble tells us, "The witch hunts have begun." In this rendition of Congress's investigation into Communist spying on American soil, the Justice Society of America has been hauled before the Congress and ordered to remove their masks. Never mind that half that folks standing there aren't wearing any masks. Superman makes his grand entrance to call a halt to this outrage.

In case you failed to get the analogy between the America during the 50s and Nazi Germany, the writers spell it out for you. In a full page panel Superman stands before an empty concentration camp and cries out, "NEVER AGAIN." As Superman flies into Congress during hearings on Communist Spies in America, his thoughts are "NEVER AGAIN." Being asked to testify before Congress on Communists in America is no different than being in a Nazi Concentration Camp.

Nick Newman gives us the following in his review in the "Mild Mannered Reviews" section of the Superman Homepage :

My favorite part was definitely the World War II scenes though. I've always liked the idea of tying the heroes into the conflict, and watching the whole JSA go to war is a great concept. The holocaust page was also very appropriate, and very in key with the Earth-2 Superman.

I also loved the scenes with the JSA standing up to congress (if you haven't read The Golden Age, by James Robinson, go do so now... I'll wait) and Superman standing up to congress was great.

Rats : A "Sin City" Yarn



Commentary below is from "Rasp-Barrie Clart" at Hmmmmmm - The Musings of a Bear :

Having loved the collection of short stories from 'Booze, Broads & Bullets' i remebered this one rather vividly. It is (i assume) the last day of a former Concentration Camp refugee who has survived but still has memories of his time in captive and takes his frustration out on the rats that live with him. They are perhaps a metaphor for the other captives who were brutally gassed in many of the camps. Basically watch the vid, then compare it to the actual comic strip. It is word perfect, shot perfect and colour perfect. A masterpiece.

Testament - Responses to Criticisms of Douglas Rushkoff’s comic

JP gives his opinion of Loren's commentary on Testament at Chickity China :

One complaint from the this-is-history viewpoint regards Moloch as the deity worshiped at Mount Moriah’s altar. Moloch isn’t specifically mentioned until much later in the Bible, so Rushkoff placing him as the altar’s god seems very odd, if not totally inaccurate. Criticisms like that often stem from a belief that the Bible sprang from the ethers completely formed as we see it today. The truth is that myths and stories from the Mesopotamian areas all fed off one another, and the Hebrew myths changed as the people’s environments and experiences changed. If that is Rushkoff’s view, then it would make sense that the Moloch he uses in the story is really an amalgam of various versions of Moloch’s archetype. Moloch could just as easily be called Ba’al, while Astarte go by Inanna, Ishtar, or Aphrodite. It makes more sense to view Moloch as Inanna as continual forces of violence and sexuality despite any name changes.

The Further Adventures of the Wandering Jew by Andrew E. Harrison and Norman J. Finkelshteyn

This work-in-progress was entered in an online Comic Book Idol contest.

The Silk Road Design Arts website has sample pages, as well as a concept summary :

Not quite 2000 years ago, Yishai was mistakenly cursed by a powerful magician named Jesus.

Condemned to live forever, he pledged to fight against earthly magical beings and mystical forces, so that no one would suffer his own fate. In medieval times, he was known in legends as the Wandering Jew.

Now, calling himself Jesse, he has decided to reclaim his once mundane life. He works as a temp in an office to avoid his extraordinary destiny. But the powers that be aren't having it. Jesse's old nemesis Merlin has returned, and is running an electronics store. The Archangel Michael still wants to use Jesse for his own purposes. And - his old brain inundates him with quixotic hallucinations.

Somewhere in between past and present, magic and banality, tradition and assimilation... is the Wandering Jew.

At the comics shop, religion goes graphic by Alex Johnson

Judeo-Christian themes woven into comic books you might not expect

from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12376831/

“With comics,” said Greg Garrett, the author of “Holy Superheroes! Exploring Faith & Spirituality in Comic Books,” “the fact that we’re dealing with ultimate questions of good versus evil — all of those things that we wrestle with in theology — it makes it a natural place for those to be part of any important story.”

Those ultimate questions are being asked in unexpected places. Four years ago, we learned that The Thing is Jewish when he was shown praying in Hebrew over the body of a friend he had sought to protect. (“It’s just ... you don’t look Jewish,” a surprised character tells the enormous, destructive orange rock-man, who explains to another character that he never said anything about it because he didn’t want to embarrass other Jews, seeing as he was, after all, an enormous, destructive orange rock-man.)

Reading the roll
You can track who’s what by diving into a database at ComicBookReligion.com, a project of the exhaustive religion reference site Adherents.com. The database links to closely argued, heavily referenced essays that, for the most part, build compelling cases for its identification of a particular character’s church ways.

Why is Israel relevant today? Read this comic book by Chanan Tigay

from http://www.jewishtribune.ca/tribune/jt-060202-21.html

NEW YORK (JTA) – Glimpsed from certain angles, the wild tufts of white hair that leapt skyward from David Ben-Gurion’s head looked like wings. Even so, the diminutive first prime minister of Israel seems an unlikely comic book character.

But if William Rubin has his way, Ben-Gurion – along with Moses, Theodor Herzl, Golda Meir, Ariel Sharon and a host of other historic Israeli heroes and heroines – will grace the pages of a new graphic novel set to tell the story of Israel from the Bible to statehood and right up through the present day.

“People today aren’t reading the great works of Zionist history,” says Rubin, executive director and CEO of the Community Foundation for Jewish Education of Metropolitan Chicago. “We require ways to teach this magnificent living history for the general and Jewish marketplaces in a real engaging and exciting framework.”

That’s where HOMELAND: The Illustrated History of the State of Israel, comes in.

Its creators hope the book will tell Israel’s story in an accurate and entertaining way, educating both Jews and non-Jews about the Jewish state, encouraging readers to visit Israel and answering one overriding question: why is Israel relevant in the modern world?

“I happen to love comics and I think it’s a form of storytelling that returns stories to where they belong – to the people, not just experts,” says Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, vice president of CLAL – The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership.

HOMELAND will target an audience ranging from sixth-graders through adults. It seems a wide swath at which to take aim, but Rubin sees the enormous success of the Harry Potter books as instructive.

“My 9-year-old son reads Harry Potter before he goes to bed,” Rubin says. “Then my wife takes it and reads it, too.”

The text is being written by Marv Wolfman – an award-winning comics and cartoon writer who created Blade The Vampire Hunter and co-created the very popular Cartoon Network show, The New Teen Titans. He is aided by members of the foundation staff. Mario Ruiz, an evangelical Christian and president of Valor Comics, is composing the art.

Scheduled to hit the presses in May, Homeland – the first title by Nachshon press, an imprint of Chicago’s community foundation – will become available to the public the following month.

The story will be told through narration by a female professor teaching a Middle East studies course at an American university. Students’ questions will serve as jumping-off points for Israel’s narrative.

The project is being funded largely by the Rosenwald School Initiative, and the Chicago foundation has backed it with significant use of its staff’s time. Information is available at Nachshon’s preliminary Web site, www.nachshonpress.com.

Some 10 per cent of the 120-page book will focus on the biblical period; another 10 per cent will deal with the post-biblical period; and 80 per cent will tell the country’s story from the 1860s through today. It will include 24 pages of archival photographs.

Aware that Israel’s history is controversial and hoping to take the rug out from under those who might challenge the book on a factual basis, the creators are making a point of depicting Israel in its entirety – warts and all.

It will include, for example, episodes dealing with Jonathan Pollard, the Jewish US Navy analyst imprisoned for spying for Israel, and the massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps by Christian militiamen in Lebanon, for which many blamed Israel.

“This is a look at Israel with its blemishes, because it has to have academic integrity,” Rubin says.

Jacob Lassner, a Jewish Studies professor at Northwestern University, has been engaged as a consultant to check the book’s historical accuracy. The authors have also included a poem on Page 1 that, Rubin says, acknowledges that the Palestinians have their own narrative about the region’s history.

Eventually, the foundation hopes to translate the book into Hebrew and other languages, and plans to write a teaching curriculum to accompany it in both formal and informal Jewish educational situations, from day schools to adult education classes.

Comic books began to appear in the late 1920s and early 1930s. At that time, they were essentially compilations of strips that had appeared in newspapers. Will Eisner, a Jewish writer and artist and a father of the modern comic book, later coined the term graphic novel to refer to longer collections comprising self-contained stories.


Today, Charles McGrath wrote in a New York Times Magazine article in July 2004, comics are “enjoying a renaissance and a newfound respectability.

“In fact,” he went on, “the fastest-growing section of your local bookstore these days is apt to be the one devoted to comics and so-called graphic novels.”

As editorial and creative director for the American Bible Society’s Metron Press, Ruiz – the HOMELAND artist – drew 2001’s Samson: Judge of Israel and 2003’s Testament, a compilation of stories from the Hebrew Bible told in a pub. Their popularity was unexpected, he said.

“Who would have ever thought that comic fans would get excited over Bible stories?” he asks.

But graphic novels have addressed Jewish themes in the past, from Eisner’s semi-autobiographical A Contract with God, considered the standard-bearer for the genre, to the extremely successful Maus, a Holocaust book by Art Spiegelman.

CLAL’s Hirschfield, an Orthodox rabbi who wrote the introduction to the Bible society’s Testament, says he “made the shidduch,” or match, between Ruiz and the Chicago foundation.

“You can tell a story for a particular audience that people beyond that audience want to hear about,” says Hirschfield. Israel’s story is “both dear to Jews and important to Christians,” he says.

Arye Mekel, Israel’s consul general in New York, said he hadn’t been familiar with the HOMELAND project. While he thought it was potentially a good idea, he wasn’t sure that it would achieve the desired effect.

“There’s a reason why the Hebrew world hasbarah cannot be translated into English,” says Mekel, using a Hebrew word that means something like public relations. “This unique word deals with the unique situation which is called Israel. By and large, what we have found out over and over again is that what you might think of as regular techniques do not necessarily apply to hasbarah because the situation is unique. Experiments may not work here.”

Nevertheless, Rubin says, “We are going to find a way to really nail this – for us, for our children and for our grandchildren.”

David Campbell and Passover (the comic book, that is, not the holiday)

from Dave's Long Box

In honor of the holiday, I present the comic Passover, from Maximum Press and the year 1996.

I got this comic back in the day so that one day I could teach my daughters the story of the Jews’ deliverance from bondage. Imagine my surprise when I found that Passover the comic and Passover the holiday have very little in common. I know, you’d think I would have figured that out by the cover alone. I thought maybe they were just embellishing the Passover story a little with the scary angel with the bloody axe. You know, jazz it up for the kids.

But no.

Apparently this comic is about the Angel of Death, who is responsible for the ten plagues that afflicted Egypt and goes by the name Passover.

That is stupid. That’s his name? Passover? What did all the other angels call him before the ten plagues? I guess Passover is a better choice than Lord of Boils or Frogsummoner, but still – lame.

Dave then goes on to reproduce choice panels and then adds his own biting commentary.

This is followed by 29 cxomments from visitors to Dave's blog.

Some examples :

kjmrcr said...

Did they ever release that team up issue with Tom Kippur?

Scott said...

"Belongeth" ?? That's worst than Thor-speak

bostonpenguincat said...

Passover and Good Friday in tag team action Vs. ARR-borday and Killer (C)Kanukah!

Rasselas said...

Is it stupid to wonder whether Passover is part of a super-team with Easter?

Graphic novels drawing the young to faith by Mark I. Pinsky

from http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/living/14544506.htm :

For more than 2,500 years, Jews have been telling their faith's sacred stories, in written words on parchment and the page, and through the oral tradition of rabbinical debate.

Now they're trying something new: a graphic novel.

The Jewish Publication Society, a venerable group that is the closest thing to an official press for all the religion's denominations, is turning to a very modern way to reach young Jews. "Megillat Esther" is a graphic novel - an extended, black-and-white comic book - based on the holiday of Purim, and probably rated PG-13 for a few borderline racy drawings.

"We all understood that it was a way to reach a much younger generation," says Ellen Frankel, CEO and editor in chief of this Philadelphia-based publisher. "Even though it is a stretch for JPS, it is right on point because it's Bible commentary."

This Jewish foray into the world of graphic novels is just the latest example of believers creating alternative forms of religious messages in print.

...

Nor did the Jewish Publication Society want to limit itself to already committed observant Jews with "Megillat Esther."

The story, about a Jewish maiden in ancient Persia who becomes a queen and saves her people from genocide, is told both in the original Hebrew and English, although some pages are wordless. Other pages have numbers at the bottom indicating rabbinical commentaries from books such as the Talmud, and there is a detailed, scholarly bibliography at the back.

At the same time, it is a typical graphic novel: Female characters tend to be voluptuous, and the pages are peppered with self-deprecating wisecracks. Near the end of the story, one small character says, "The whole thing seemed a bit overdrawn to me."

The author, JT Waldman, spent seven years working on the book, including 18 months in a Jerusalem yeshiva learning Hebrew and studying the Bible and commentary.

"First came the love of comics and that way of storytelling," says Waldman, 29, who is now studying computer graphics in Canada. "The Bible and Jewish angle didn't come until I graduated from university and was trying to flesh out my Jewish identity. I wanted to merge my new interest in Judaism with my more established language and vernacular of illustrating comics."

Turned down by religious and commercial publishers, he was about to self-publish the book when the offer came from the Jewish Publication Society.

"I looked at it and thought it was amazing, but I thought that JPS would never agree to publish it," Frankel says, even though it includes every word of the Hebrew scroll. She was uncertain how the board of her 118-year-old press would respond.

"Before the meeting, I took a number of Post-its and flagged the pages that were the most outrageous," she says, but to her surprise, "They all loved it. Their response was: 'It's time.' "

In the introduction, Rabbi Moshe Silverschein, Waldman's teacher at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem, calls the book an "expanded biblical narrative" and "not just a simple comic book."

Neil Kleid's special day

MAZEL TOV to cartoonist Neil Kleid, who recently got married
to Laura Sternberg. A 4-page mini-comic of how L & N met was included
in the program/processional. Neil has kindly reproduced it at his
blog.

Steve Bergson on Sirius

The host of this Jewish comics blog (Steven M. Bergson) is scheduled to be interviewed on the Covino & Rich Show broadcasting on Sirius sattelite radio on June 29th at approximatley 11:30 AM EST. The topic will probably have something to do with the alleged Jewishness of Superman which has gotten quite a bit of press lately.

Tonight : Graphic Novelist Miriam Katin at Harbourfront in Toronto


Miriam Katin at International Readings at Harbourfront Centre
In support of her new graphic novel We Are on Our Own
Tonight, Wednesday May 31, 2006 @ 7PM
Brigantine Room @ Harbourfront Centre
Cost: FREE if you come to The Beguiling today…!

International Readings at Harbourfront Centre is pleased to welcome
celebrated New York graphic artist Miriam Katin to the Brigantine Room
stage as a part of International Readings at Harbourfront Centre. Katin
will read from her new memoir We Are on Our Own, along with readings by
Laurie Gough and Alayna Munce, on Wednesday, May 31, 2006. Katin’s
captivating and elegantly illustrated book tells the story of her and her
mother’s struggle for survival in Hungary during WWII. This book has
garnered much critical praise and was recently called, “a powerful reminder
of the lingering price of survival” by Publishers Weekly, where it also
received a starred review.

Miriam Katin presents her first full-length graphic novel, published at
age sixty-three. The captivating and elegantly illustrated We Are on
Our Own is the story of Miriam and her mother’s struggle for survival in
Hungary during WWII. Miriam first worked as a graphic artist in the
Israel Armed Forces. After moving to the United States, she worked for
both Disney and MTV.

Rex Mundi #17

Greg at Comics Should Be Good points out the issue's weak points, but then concedes that "there's a nifty fight with a golem" which helps makes up for them.

Moishe Hundesohn comic strip

A German-speaking, walking, talking Jewish dog?

Take a look for yourself at http://www.israeli-art.com/satire/islam.htm.

X-Corporation

Just what the comics-reading world needs : another "X" book from Marvel. I'm still waiting for the day when the House of Ideas becomes so strapped for ideas that they must publish the comic about obese mutants trying to lose weight fast : X-Lax.

At least this comic (X-Corporation, that is) takes place in Israel, according to Dino Pollard.

summary of X-Corporation #1 : Warren Worthington plans to open an X-Corporation office in Jerusalem, but the Israelis may not be too happy about a pro-mutant organization operating in their holy city! Meet the division heads of the X-Corporation in part one of "Holy Land," by Eric Faynberg!

summary of X-Corporation #2 : Mousa al-Ghoul has been behind numerous terrorist attacks in Israel and now he has his eyes set on getting rid of the X-Corporation! But Warren and the other X-Corp board members have plans of their own, because they've discovered al-Ghoul's dirty little secret! It's the conclusion of "Holy Land," by Eric Faynberg!

more about Elsewhere #2

Gary Sullivan, at his Elsewhere blog reveals that the comic will include a "Jewish 2 pp spread, posters, bumperstickers, signage".

Earlier, he described the layout of the book :

In laying the comic out, I'm paying attention to a number of specific
constraints:

1. Images must generally fall sequentially in order of where they were photographed, moving northward up Coney Island Avenue. The immigrant population on Coney Island Avenue is very diverse, but more or less clustered as such, moving south to north:

Russians
Turks
Israelis & Jews from Russia, Poland, Ukraine, and elsewhere in the former Soviet Union
Pakistanis, Kashmiris, and Punjabis
People from the West Indies
Mexicans and other Central Americans

The Thing #5

According to Benito Cereno, The Thing #5 has some Jewish content in it :

Slott again shows that, hey, continuity's not a swearword by referencing that well-publicized but probably mostly unread "The Thing's a Jew" issue of FF. I dunno. It's a pretty cool issue. The Thing on Yancy Street, learning lessons.

Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person - a graphic novel by Miriam Engelberg

At her blog, Miriam wrote :

I am Jewish, of course, so you've intuited correctly. There is a small amount of Jewish content in the book--but more general pondering about spirituality than specific Jewish tenets. I am a huge fan of Our Cancer Year (and Pekar in general), and found his book helpful to re-read when I came down with cancer myself. My book is completely different though -- it has a narrative, but is more of a morbidly humorous look at various aspects of being seriously ill.

Jewish comics multimedia

2 webcast videos

The Comic Book Report : Israeli Comic Books


Israel & Comics (Sabra, Magneto, Wolverine)

Shaw Island comic strips on the Web

Jan. 28, 2005 - what model guillotines are NOT for

Dec. 23, 2005 - the dreidel nightmare

more recognition for The Rabbi's Cat

Joann Sfar's The Rabbi's Cat has been chosen as on the best comics of 2005 by Now Playing magazine (my thanks to bangitout.com for the tip).

Arnold T. Blumberg's review of it appears on the NP website.

Sfar's book has also been nominated for the prestigious Eisner award.

If it wins, it will be the 2nd Jewish graphic novel to do so (Maus II won Best Graphic Album: Reprint in 1996).

Ex Machina #19

According to Stephanie Kay's post to the Comixfan forum, in this issue :

In the aftermath of the attack there has been a lynching and tempers are running high. After a Muslim representative berates the Mayor at a meeting of the City’s religious leaders, a rabbi steps in to ask about how the “obligatory reminder that Islam is synonymous with peace” is a defense for allying with a group that supports Hamas. Snippets and half scenes such as this allow readers to laugh at the awful truths of the world while still enjoying the non political and social fallout of such an event.

The Forward newspaper reviews J.T. Waldman's Megillat Esther

The review is by Jay Michaelson and gives a nod to Douglas Rushkoff and Liam Sharp's Testament miniseries, as well.

Rabbi Encounters by Rob Woodrum

Rob Woodrum (aka soulsurfer) presents the webcomic Rabbi Encounters, described as "strange tales of encounters with an odd rabbi somewhere in the Middle East." Click on the "Archive" link to get to the comics.

Y : The Last Man

Spiros Derveniotis provides a description of the series, while Kevin provides this mini-review :

It’s a witty, smart-edge-of-your-seat adventure and survival story, where Yorick is being taken by a secret agent named 355 and a scientist who is working on cloning (after all – no men, no reproduction. Hence, the end of the species – and not just ours: the animals die out too. This comic really knows every angle of this situation, and that’s part of the impressiveness of this story). They’re being pursued by militants, a psychotic woman’s group named the Amazons (every member cuts off their right breast, and is dedicated to showing everyone how better off they are without men. Yorick’s sister was a part of them), Israelis, and sex-starved women everywhere.

Israel goes after Brother Eye

Charles Wisniowski reports at FanBoyWonder that The OMAC Project: Infinite Crisis Special has Israelis in it :

When the remains of the Brother Eye satellite-containing secret detailed information on every hero and villain- crashes into the Rub Al-Khali Desert in Saudi Arabia, the various international governments race to the scene to grab the goods.

The forces dispatched to the still active satellite include Checkmate's Sasha Bordeaux and Fire (former Justice League bimbo and even more former Brazilian spy and killer as Rucka reminds us), as well as Israeli Commandos, a Chinese metahuman and Russia's Rocket Reds (Wow! We're having an '80s flashback)

Pizzeria Kamikaze by Etgar Keret & Asaf Hanukah


A mini-review by Sam Teigen

"Who cares about the source so long as the point's made?"

A comic strip statement by Tony-Allen about anti-Israel press, the importance of bias and learning from history.

Sgt. Rock : The Prophecy - a slide show

David Bellel provides a summary of the series at Pseudo-Intellectualism, along with a link to a "virtual slide show" of several pages from the first issue.

My review of Brownsville by Neil Kleid

Kleid, Neil and Jake Allen. Brownsville. NY : NBM ComicsLit, 2006. 207 p. $18.95 (ISBN 1-56163-458-1)

Rather than glamorize the lucrative lifestyle of the Jewish mafia of the 1930's or present the usual good-vs.-evil morality tale, Kleid delivers a more complex story in this graphic novel. The protagonist, Allie Tannenbaum, isn't a poor kid trying to escape poverty. His concerned father doesn't forbid him from joining Lepke's gang, but tries to emphasize to Allie how such choices are his to make --- and that they can be very costly.

In addition to the cast of fictional and real-life Jewish characters (such as Meyer Lansky, Dutch Schultz and Harry Strauss), there are Jewish references sprinkled throught the book : Yiddish phrases and terms thrown around, a mobster telling how Mendy Weiss doesn't kill on shabbos, a Star of David necklace used in arranging a surrendering to the authorities.

Allen's illustrations and pacing maintain the suspense and action, while Kleid's script blends fictional narrative with well-researched facts. A bibliography of novels, non-fiction, films and websites appers at the end, encouraging readers to learn even more about this forgotten dark chapter of Jewish history.

Though the violence in the book isn't gratuitous, it is present quite often, along with coarse language. I would reccommend this book for the Judaica graphic novel sections of public, synagogue and high school libraries.

My review of Jetlag by Etgar Keret

Keret, Etgar and Actus Comics. Jetlag New Milford, CT : Toby Press, 2006. 80 p. ISBN : 1-59264-155-5

The first thing that one notices about the 5 graphic novellas in this collection is how different they seem, despite all being written by the same author. This is partly due to the way Keret varies the personalities and characteristics of his protagonists from one story to the next. It is also a result of the unique artistic style of each of the individual artists who illustrate his stories here (in dazzling color).

On the surface, none of these tales seem to be particularly Jewish or even particularly Israeli (the locale chosen for each story is different, though part of the first story takes place in Tel Aviv). Taken as a whole, though, the reader is exposed to a world where mundane normalcy is horribly interrupted by death, dismemberment or the threat of violence - symbolically evocative of the unpredictable terror that has become a fact of everyday Israeli life.

There are no wars, suicide bombers or terrorists in this book. There aren't even any true antagonists, in the sense that we're used to reading in literature. Instead there are such "Twilight Zone"-style absurdities as a rabbit's severed head being pulled out of a magician's hat, a woman who becomes infatuated with a dead man, a plane that is deliberately crashed to teach a lesson, a disabled monkey driven around in a wheelchair and a boy's beloved piggy bank.

I would reccommend this title for the general adult (and teen) graphic novel collections of public, academic and synagogue libraries, as there are scenes which are inappropriate for children.

Up Up and Oy Vey

You can now pre-order copies of the book Up, Up, and Oy Vey : How
Jewish History, Culture and Values Shaped the Comic Book
Superheroes by Rabbi Simcha Weinstein by going to http://leviathanpress.com/details.cfm?Group_ID=4,-42&Product_ID=18

Up, Up, and Oy Vey chronicles how Jewish history, culture, & values helped shape the early years of the comic book industry.

The early comic book creators were almost all Jewish, and as children of immigrants, they spent their lives trying to escape the second-class mentality which was forced on them by the outside world. Their fight for truth, justice, and the American Way is portrayed by the superheroes they created. The dual identity given to their creations mirrors their own desire to live two lives—privately as a Jew, and publicly as an American.

Their creations are the descendants of a Jewish tradition littered with stories of super strength from Samson to the Golem of Prague. An increasing number of fans and amateur historians, obsessed with back-story "mythology," claim they've uncovered the secret "Jewish-ness" of the comic book characters. Superheroes, they claim, are usually outsiders; gifted yet misunderstood, and strangers in a strange land.

This book observes comic book superheroes through three different lenses—historical, cultural, and biblical/spiritual. Utilizing a bibliographic and subjective methodology, the author (an ordained rabbi) charts how the superhero model has unconsciously tapped into the deepest core of Jewish spiritual understanding.

Both teenagers and adults, especially those that are history enthusiasts, pop culture fans, seekers of Jewish spirituality, new-age mysticism cohorts, and of course, comic book readers, will enjoy reading this exciting and inspiring account of the birth and mythical origins of the comic book.

Book on the history of Jews in comics

Arie Kaplan is currently writing a book on the history of Jews in comics to be published by JPS in 2007. Interviewees include Art Spiegelman (Maus), Trina Robbins (GoGirl!), and the late, great Will Eisner (The Spirit).

The Jewish Graphic Novel : Artist's Panel
April 26 at 7 pm

Miriam Katin has been added to the HUC panel, according to Arie Kaplan.

Multicultural super-team with a Jewish superhero (cartoon series)

That's right!

As "The Human Resource" reports at Start Snitching, the Minoriteam consists of

a wheelchair bound Asian, a bulletproof Indian clerk, a super fast Black man, a Jewish guy and a hard-working Mexican

The Jewish guy is young Neil Horowitz, who shouts "Hidal Didal Didal" to transfrom into Jewcano - "a man with all the powers of the Jewish faith --- and a volcano".

Special Haggadah with Comic Art

A special Haggadah was recently put together by Rachel Barenblat (aka "The Velveteen Rabbi", using donations of material from such artists as Yaron Livay, Allan Hollander and Alison Kent Emily Cooper, Beth Budwig, and Eisner-award-winning comics artist Howard Cruse.

Cruse's rendering of "The Four Sons" (the wise son, the wicked son, the simple son and the son who does not know how to question) appears at the bottom of page 18 in Rachel's haggadah. At his blog, Cruse shows and explains the process of drawing this illustration.

You may view Barenblat's Haggadah by going to http://velveteenrabbi.com/2006-Haggadah.pdf (Acrobat format).

Brownsville review & offer

Jason Rodriguez provided a mini-review of Neil Kleid's Jewish mob story at his "The Moose in the Closet" blog --- and he also offered to mail the book to someone who would agree to review it (chosen at random from those who posted comments at his blog).

I can't wait to read & review it.

:)

Superman again - Jews in pop culture

Tim Lieder briefly discusses Action Comics #835, the Pulitzer-winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and the miniseries Sgt. Rock: The Prophecy at weirdjews2.

The Bible and Graphic Novels: A Review and Interview with the Authors of "Marked" and "Megillat Esther"

The above article by Dan W. Clanton, Jr. may be read at the Society of Biblical Literature website. Apparently, it was posted between Jan. 17th and Feb. 21, 2006.

And it happened in the days of Achashverosh...

Over at The Last Trumpet, Drew Cohen tells us that he picked up a copy of Waldman's Megillat Esther :

It's a beautiful graphic novel with both Hebrew and translation of the Megilla, as well as some midrash regarding various aspects of the story. I hope to gain some insight from it in planning our Purimspiel.

Drew also shares a graphic from the book at the top of the entry.

Rescue Of Lubavitcher Rebbe From Nazis Made Into DC Comic Book (Sgt. Rock: The Prophesy)

from http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2006/02/rescue_of_lubav.html :

Famous comic book artist and creator Joe Kubert has drawn a six-part series for DC comics. Sergent Rock: The Prophesy, 'based' on Brian Mark Rigg's book Rescued From the Reich, "tells the story" of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn's rescue from the Nazis early in WW2. The New York Jewish Week reports:

A U.S. Army reconnaissance unit parachutes into Vilna in 1943.

Surrounded by the Nazi and Russian armies, under heavy shelling, the American soldiers rendezvous with a Lithuanian partisan, a bearded hulk of a man named Bear. Stepping out of the rubble, Bear declares “We got package for you, very valuable, very … breakable.”

Then the soldiers overpower a pair of German tanks. Bear and the resistance fighters find refuge from the barrage in the shell of a building. Bear departs, and returns with his “very valuable package,” someone covered with a cloak.…

Kubert’s story is based on a true tale, the rescue of Rabbi Joseph Schneersohn, leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch chasidic movement, from Warsaw in 1940. It was the subject of Bryan Mark Rigg’s 2004 book “Rescued from the Reich: How One of Hitler’s Soldiers Saved the Lubavitcher Rebbe.”

A friend gave Kubert the book last year. “I felt it was a real interesting story,” he said.

Rigg's book does tell an interesting story, but it is not the story Joe Kubert tells. Kubert has changed the facts and distorted the story to make his comic book more exciting. This would be fine if no mention was made about the historical event that inspired him. To to promote the comic book on that event while distorting that event in the comic book is reprehensible.

Perhaps DC Comics can clarify the issue and explain their marketing. I'll keep you posted.

For the actual details of the rescue along with other posts about Chabad and the Holocaust, please click the Chabad and the Holocaust link at the bottom of this post, scroll down to the bottom of the page and read upward. Thank you.

UPDATE: In this article written last month, Kubert describes the rabbi as a "snotty kid." I'm still waiting a reply from DC Comics, but it appears the comic book does not mention the Lubavitcher Rebbe by name, and does not mention Rigg's book either, so the only link between Chabad and the comic book is the Jewish Week article linked above. This would explain why Chabad's spinmeisters have not yet attacked Kubert. I suspect this will turn out to be a case where Kubert simply wanted to acknowledge Rigg's book for the basic idea of a rabbi being rescued from the clutches of the Nazis, but no more than that. Perhaps he even made this clear in his Jewish Week interview, but the JW blew the coverage. Or, perhaps he was not clear enough. More on this if and when DC Comics and others involved respond.

February 09, 2006

Comments
Joe Kubert, by the way, used to (still does?) draw for the Lubavitch "Moshiach Times," along with Mad Magazine's Al Jafee and the late Dave Berg.

Posted by: Nachum * February 10, 2006 at 08:03 AM

Havoc 21 #2

Baz reviews the first 3 issues of this "Definitive Irish Anthology" by Wolfman Productions at his Owl in Daylight blog.

In discussing the 2nd issue, he writes :

Indeed, the anthology kicks off with a story about pacts and regrets set against the backdrop of the holocaust. It’s a brave move to start a comic with the words ‘Heil Hitler’, and I’m not entirely sure that The Grave has the maturity or skill to pull it off, rather it seems to revel in the horrors of torture in order to provide a basis for the story’s final twist. The artwork is unconvincing too and appears to consist of delicately hand-drawn pictures that have, at some point, been mangled by a computer leading to some clumsy shading and an unnecessary pixelation and an overall cut-out feel. The pixelation in particular is a shame and there really is no excuse for it, there are hundreds of tutorials on the internet about scanning techniques and image preparation for the small press scene and allowing your art to be presented to the public in such a state shows not only a lack of quality control but a contempt for your audience, in my opinion.

Jewish superheroes audio interview

I was interviewed in December by Heidi Estrin for her podcast "The Book of Life". You may listen to the episode by going to http://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2006/02/book-of-life-on-heroes-february-2006.html.

Beowulf #4

Johnny Bacardi provides summaries of and page scans from DC's Beowulf #3 and #4 (from the 1970's).

In #4, Beowulf and his companions battle Vlad Tepes the Impaler, who is in conflict with the Ashers, the Lost Tribe of Israel, who hunt him for his atrocities.

As Wulfy and company trek across the desert, they are attacked by the Ashers, who mistake them for Vlad and his men. Beowulf convinces them of the truth by virtue of a huge chain. Seeing the error of their ways, the Asher leader introduces himself as Bruzz-Solomon and his second-in-command as Yusashia Ben Simon, and explains how Vlad Tepes, the evil Wallachian, has invaded the desert from the north- not to conquer but to plunder, torture and kill. In a really nice montage, artist Villamonte depicts him and his men dealing death and Vlad in one scene refusing to drink wine, instead preferring a cup of blood. He says, that's right, "Fool- I never drink...wine!" Anyway, the Ashers apologize and Beowulf says "You may dress differently and believe in a different god, but we fight for the same cause. Beowulf stands WITH you against the madman Dracula!" They then retire to the campfire to plot strategy.

[T]hey are suddenly set upon by the Wallachians, with Vlad Tepes at the head! The battle rages on, with one unfortunate casualty for the Ashers: Solomon, who gets a death scene which made me a huge fan of this series in just one page.

After they're gone, the two remaining warrior chiefs say their goodbyes, with Ben Simon leaving Beowulf with a Star of David for good luck.

A scan of the page showing Solomon getting killed is at http://img158.imageshack.us/my.php?image=beo4pg160yx.jpg. As he lies dying, Solomon recites the Shema prayer (often said by Jews who are near death). Yushashia then begins to recite the kaddish (mourner's prayer).

German and the Jew by Mazokuni

A student whose blog name is "Mazokuni" is writing a story called The German and the Jew for a graphic novel class.

You may view sketch pages at http://eldritch-sky.livejournal.com/26024.html.

Rendsberg

rough translation from http://www.fumetto.ch/02/elke_steiner.cfm :

Receiving a scholarship from the Jewish Museum in Rendsberg allowed Elke Steiner the chance to transpose the story of a small Jewish Community from 1695-1942 into comic form.

Flash Comics #38 (Feb. 1943)

According to the entry at Grand Comics Database, the 6th story is "The Story of Daniel: Part One", reprinted from Picture Stories from the Old Testament.

All-American Comics #47 (Feb. 1943)

According to the entry at Grand Comics Database, the 12th story is "The Story of Joshua -- Part 1", reprinted from Picture Stories from the Old Testament.

Rhymes with Orange - Jan. 2, 2006

from http://www.rhymeswithorange.com/home.php?date=20060102

We Are On Our Own by Miriam Katin

from http://comics.212.net/2006_02_01_895549105537747170_archive.html#114002915529865124 :

We Are On Our Own
Miriam Katin
HARDCOVER book, 136 pages, 8 x 8.5 inches, full color.
$ 19.95 USD

A stunning memoir of a mother and her daughter’s survival in WWII and their subsequent lifelong struggle with faith. Miriam Katin retells the story of her and her Mother’s escape on foot from the Nazi invasion of Budapest. With her father off fighting for the Hungarian army and the German troops quickly approaching, Katin and her mother are forced to flee to the countryside after faking their deaths. Leaving behind all of their belongings and loved ones, and unable to tell anyone of their whereabouts, they disguise themselves as a Russian servant and illegitimate child, while literally staying a few steps ahead of the German soldiers. Katin, whose short stories first appeared in the Drawn & Quarterly anthology, has completed her first full-length graphic novel at the age of sixty-three.

Crickets #1 by Sammy Harkham

from http://comics.212.net/2006_02_01_895549105537747170_archive.html#114002915529865124 :

[T]his two-colour "Ignatzesque" graphic novella starts off with the first installment of the ongoing story, about a man who seemingly can't die, a golem, and frontier America.

from http://luckycreature.blogspot.com/2006/02/2-indies-one-major-comic.html :

Harkham, who edits the Art Comic anthology Kramer's Ergot, tells a story of a Golem and his master here in 6 panel pages. The artwork is highlighted by a green and yellow pressing, and it moves along nicely.

Hatzelem (הצלם) by Avraham Guy Barchil

from Jerusalem Post (Feb. 23, 2006)
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1139395474350&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Hatzelem, a graphic novel, illustrates the life of a cubist man in a cubist world, and his quest for a circular form. The work is somewhat autobiographical, an allegory for the artist's own search for spiritual truth. The idea for the circle within the square comes from Jewish sources, illustrated as geometric diagrams of a square within a circle, and another one of the converse, in the Babylonian Talmud (Succot). Hatzelem opens with a text by Rabbi Isaac Luria (Ha'arizal), discussing the square steps to the higher levels of this world and the primordial round steps that will return in the world to come. It closes with another dozen Jewish sources - midrashim, Etz Ha'hayim, Sfat Emet and the Zohar among them - all discussing the symbolism of the circle and square. But Barchil uses only a minimum of text, and only as a framing device. The viewer is shown the mystical narrative through the elegant black-and-white pictures alone.

There's something revolutionary about this venture - what's called avant-guard in the art world, and perhaps even prophetic in the religious one. Barchil takes the most esoteric Jewish texts and makes them accessible to the masses through the "low" medium of comic book art.

The portrayal of his spiritual quest is worth seeing.

Jewish Graphic Novels exhibition at Hebrew Union College (a repost)

The Jewish Graphic Novel, an exhibition where image and text are linked in a powerful form of contemporary art, features the original works of three generations of pioneering graphic novelists, from the late Will Eisner and Joe Kubert, to second generation artists Peter Kuper and James Sturm, and the newcomer JT Waldman.

Graphic novels represent an important genre in artistic expression and assert the intensity of word and image in conveying narratives that speak eloquently to the contemporary viewer. Reflecting the Jewish heritage of many of the founders of the American comics and cartooning art forms, this exhibition focuses on artists whose works are based on Jewish historical experience or Jewish literary sources and who tackle the themes of anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, belief, and survival. Their visual narratives of human experience and historical jeopardy are gritty, realistic, and raw. Humor, irony, and fantastic imagination trigger a visceral reaction from the viewer.

"The Jewish Graphic Novels highlighted in this exhibition have been selected for their intense visual elucidation of Jewish historic and literary events," explains Laura Kruger, Curator. "The artists combine intense illustration with searing social issues. Each of these artists reveals an aspect of Jewish social history, literature, traditional text, and mythic heroism through their own unique work."

The late Will Eisner coined the term 'graphic novel.' He used the phrase 'sequential art' to describe the visual flow of ideas across the page. A master of the graphic novel field and mentor to generations of comic book and graphic artists, he authored A Contract With God, Fagin the Jew, The Name of the Game and The Protocols of Zion.

{blog editor's note : Actually, the latter title is The Plot, which is about the Protocols}

In a career that spanned more than 50 years, he touched every nerve of social consciousness and Jewish history. Joe Kubert, has been working for more than 50 years in both the comic book industry and the graphic novel genre. He is featured in this exhibition with four searing works. Yossel, April 1943, depicts the life of a young boy in the final days of the Warsaw ghetto. In Jew Gangster, Kubert traces the history of Murder, Inc. in Brooklyn circa 1930. Growing out of the despair of the depression he creates a retaliatory aggressor rather than the meek victim. Currently, Kubert has revived a comic book creation of his, Sgt. Rock, who together with his troops goes into Vilnus, Lithuania in 1940 to bear witness to the atrocities and to rescue the Rabbi who will tell the true tale of the victimization of the Jews.

Peter Kuper uses The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and other of Kafka's short stories as the bases for his own landmark graphic work. Kuper's darkly-humored comics express adaptations of Kafka's works into graphic novels that merge American cartooning with German Expressionism. Kuper adapts the nine tales of paranoia and alienation in Kafka's Give It Up: And Other Short Stories to black- and-white comics. Kuper is challenged by the complexity of human decisions and in The System, he quotes from William Blake, Alexander Pope, and Darwin to create a 'flow chart' of the parallels, coincidences and interconnections of urban life.

James Sturm has taken the historical episode of an evangelical group of baseball players from the early 1920's who play under the team name of The House of David. When these players fall into a losing streak they bring to life a 'golem,' a mighty hitter, in hope that they will be delivered, like the 19th century Jews of Prague, to victory.

JT Waldman's interpretation of the biblical story, Megillat Esther, or The Book of Esther, is the basis for his just-published graphic novel of assimilation, oppression, self-defense, and vindication. Throughout the ages artists have illustrated the story of King Ahashverosh, Queen Esther, her Uncle Mordechai and their enemy Haman. Visually translating the text into dramatic, often violent, images, Waldman contributes to this continuing tradition.

Published works by the artists will be available for purchase in the exhibition or by contacting Rachel Litcofsky at rlitcofsky@huc.edu or 212-824-2205.

PROGRAM An Evening with the Artists of the Jewish Graphic Novel

Reception and Program: Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Artist's reception: 5:30 PM
Program: 7:00 PM
Moderator: Arie Kaplan, MAD Magazine writer & screenwriter
Panelists/Graphic Artists: Joe Kubert, Peter Kuper, James Sturm

RSVP: rlitcofsky@huc.edu or (212) 824-2205 by March 16, 2006

Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Museum
One West 4th Street (between Broadway and Mercer Street), Manhattan

Museum Hours: Mondays-Thursdays, 9 AM-5 PM; Fridays, 9 AM-3 PM; Selected Sundays, 10 AM-2 PM, Feb. 12, 26; March 12, 26; April 9, 23

Information/Tours: (212) 824-2205
www.huc.edu/museums/ny

Admission: Free, Photo ID Required.

Alien Loves Predator - the Jdate cartoon

In cartoon #171, Alien decides to use Jdate to prey on sexy Jewish females --- just like many of the guys that use Jdate.

The Lone and Level Sands by A. David Lewis - preview

The 8-page prologue may be accessed (Acrobat format) by going to http://captionbox.net/lals/.

Crazz's reviews of 3 Jewish comic books

from The Comic Book Observatory

Testament #1 & 2 Vertigo
What do you get when you combine a story about an oppressive government in a society that is on the brink of social and political upheaval with religious mysticism and prophecy? You get Testament, and it's a pretty cool book! There are themes that may offend someone or group now that religious imagery in comic format is such a political hotbed, but I'm thinking that if you are of that mind set then you're probably not going to be reading ANY comic.

The main character is Jake, who has just become eligible for the newly instituted draft. His father is a scientist that developed a tracking chip that everyone is required to have to keep track of them and register them for things such as the Draft. Jake is also friends with a group of young radicals that are fighting the system by removing their chips and hacking into government computers. As the characters are introduced the story moves towards a confrontation between the government and those protesting the draft and such. Throughout this modern plot biblical interpretations are placed that seem to be mirroring or foretelling events that are happening to Jake and those around them. The biblical pages tell of Abram and his relationship and devotion to God.

The art is good. Very solid and for the most part are believable looking, with the occasional awkward pose of a character in spots. The colors, inks, and letters are all solid, yet I think the style of the art would be better suited for a fantasy story than this mostly modern tale. It's still good, but I think it's not a perfect match.

If this kind of a story interests you, I think it's worth checking out. I've enjoyed it, and I think you will too.

Sgt. Rock: The Prophecy #2 DC
WWII is back in full swing and Sgt. Rock and Easy Company have been asked to go into disputed territory and retrieve and item of great importance. The item just happens to be a Jewish prophet that has an attitude. Stuck between German and Soviet fire, Rock and Easy CO try to make the extraction point.

I was really excited when I heard they were doing a new Sgt. Rock series by Joe Kubert, but after two issues I find it to be a bit substandard. Maybe it just smacks too much of the Silver Age for my tastes, but I'm not going to be picking up any further issues. I don't particularly like the art, the colors, or the story. It's not bad, but it's extremely bland for my tastes and I would rather spend my money elsewhere.

Crazz also had the following exchange with BRant W. Fowler via the comments area :

Brant W. Fowler said...
Months ago I read an interview with the writer of Testament, and his views were so twisted and so far fetched (and they were his actual views, not just something he imagined) that there's no way I could give that book a try. He was misquoting scriptures and making up meanings for words and everything.

I got in a heated debate on the Newsarama boards about it (one of two debates I got in there and learned my lesson that it was pointless because of their attitudes) providing scriptures and breaking down the Greek and Hebrew meanings and everything. This book really got to me.

It's not the book itself or the fictional nature of it, but rather that this is what the guy believes and is trying to pass off as fact that offended me.

Anyway, rant over for the night. :)

11:43 PM
Crazz said...
Yeah, I agree with you Brant. I read some of his personal statements at the end of the 1st issue and I thought the guy was a total looney tune. I don't know where he "thinks" his facts are proven, but I would love to see them at length, especially as a historian who has studied scripture. I didn't want to mention that stuff because I wanted my review to be base soley on his work, not on his psychosis!!

12:06 AM
Brant W. Fowler said...
Lol. That's understandable, man. :)

More publicity for J.T. Waldman's Megillat Esther

The Velveteen Rabbi reviews the Megillat Esther graphic novel :

I am really impressed with this book. First of all, it's a good graphic novel; each page is striking, the pictures collaborate with the words in a way Scott McCloud would surely applaud, and I would like to spend time contemplating the visual prosody of every page in the book. (The art is also a style that really works for me -- black-and-white, like woodcuts, but elaborate and detailed. Apparently the iconography is largely drawn from Persian art from 600-400 B.C.E.) Secondly, it's a faithful retelling of the original: the whole megillah is in here, in Hebrew and in English. Most often the English words are boxed and the Hebrew calligraphy is woven into the frame, but one way or another, Waldman's respect for the text is clear.

Mixed Blessings by Lawrence Schimel

Mixed Blessings, a full-color graphic novel about a gay WASP and a gay Jew in NYC who decide to get married (and how their families react) is currently being written for German publisher Heinz und Horst verlag.

Esther Unplugged (Arie Kaplan interviews J.T. Waldman)

from http://www.92y.org

JT Waldman and Arie Kaplan

Prepare yourself to experience the Book of Esther, the basis for the holiday of Purim, in all its shocking, violent glory through JT Waldman's stunning new graphic-novel version, Megillat Esther. Waldman's drawings explode from the page, offering an unforgettable Esther for the 21st century. He is joined by author, screenwriter and animation writer Arie Kaplan, a contributor to Mad magazine and the creator of the children's comic strip Dave Danger, Action Kid. Kaplan is also the author of the book Masters of the Comic Book Universe Revealed!, coming this fall from Chicago Review Press.

Tickets are $12 in advance; $15 at the door.

Date & Time: Wed, Mar 8, 2006, 7:00pm

Location: Steinhardt Building, 35 West 67th Street Directions

Code: T-MM5LE63-01

Price: $12.00

Josh Bernstein - the comic book

Those who don't watch the History Channel may be unaware of the show The Adventures of Josh Bernstein : Digging for the Truth. The show's star / archaeologist is Jewish, as he pointed out in the description of the episode "The Lost Tribe of Israel" (http://www.historychannel.com/diggingforthetruth/?page=eighthjournal) :

As viewers will learn during this episode, I'm Jewish (as if the name 'Josh Bernstein' wasn't enough of a clue). My father was born in the Old City of Jerusalem and I have spent a lot of time both living in Israel and learning about my heritage.

Alas, Josh's Jewish heritage isn't even mentioned in his Free Comic Book Day debut comic, available free at participating comic shops on May 6, 2006. You don't have to wait until then to read it, though ; an online version is available at http://waidev2.com/diggingforthetruth/index.php?Page=Comic.

Scipio has posted a review on her blog (with reproduced panels) at http://absorbascon.blogspot.com/2006/02/my-hero-josh-berstein.html .

"Pivotal Moments In History, Starring A. Hitler" (Jamming with Aleksandar Zograf)

There's a description of the story in R.J. Carter's review at http://www.the-trades.com/article.php?id=1470 :

"Pivotal Moments In History, Starring A. Hitler," was a tale I initially found more than a little disconcerting. In it, artists Wostok and Zograf illustrate a young Adolph bear witness to the humiliation of his impoverished mother at the words of 'Mr. Jewish,' the neighbor from down the hall. Mr. Jewish is every Jewish stereotype rolled up and overblown to the point of lampoon. Charles Alverson (co-screenwriter of Jabberwocky and Brazil) uses humor that, if not entirely black, requires that we create a whole new shade of dark, to illustrate how people can generalize from a single instant and apply that generalization to an entire class of people.

“Untitled” by Winston Rowntree (SPX 2004)

The SPX 2004 anthology includes “Untitled” by Winston Rowntree.

Here's a description from a review of the book by Jessa Crispin (http://www.bookslut.com/fiction/2004_12_003819.php) :

“Untitled” by Winston Rowntree begins with two teenagers, late for some unspecified event, talking down a country road. The conversation quickly turns to politics. “Can I assume you’re referring to old you-know-who, the leader of a certain country which shall remain nameless?” the boy asks. The girl responds, “One look at that beady-eyed monster and it’s hard not to just give up on life.” It becomes obvious they’re talking about the Bush administration, with the references to a stolen election and a non-responsive left wing. But no! It’s not Bush, but Hitler! These are two Jewish youths late for their meeting… with DEATH! Nazi soldiers strip the girl and kill them both and the inevitable comparison to Hitler has been made. It’s a lazy, boring political statement, and unfortunately, Rowntree is not the only writer to use it.

Israel : The Cartoonists' Diagnosis: A Viewpoint From Within

Cartoon Art Museum exhibit information from their website - http://www.cartoonart.org/

About the Exhibition:

Israel: The Cartoonists’ Diagnosis: A Viewpoint From Within explores the top 15 political cartoonists’ share their viewpoints of contemporary Israeli issues in a first-time U.S. exhibit of their work. This exhibition will be on display from Wednesday, February 1st through April 9th, 2006.

Israel’s complex affairs - made all the more provocative with the recent turn of events with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s illness - provide prolific fodder for cartoonists. Every part of Israeli life has political overtones, making the medium of the published cartoon a perfect vehicle with which to respond to the continual contentious affairs. The artists featured in this exhibit are an impressive mix of political and social activists who bring their front-line experience to their work in a candid yet comical view of issues as they unfold. A true demonstration of democracy, the Israeli political cartoon allows artists to deal with highly sensitive issues with a mix of humor and seriousness. Appreciated for their provocative nature, these cartoons are often as effective a means of providing opinion as any political speech, newspaper article or newscast.

Israel: The Cartoonists’ Diagnosis is a project of The Israel Center of the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties in partnership with the Cartoon Art Museum and the Contemporary Jewish Museum. For more information, contact the Israel Center, 415.512.6203, israelcenter@sfjcf.org.

New Zionist's interview with J.T. Waldman


http://www.newzionist.com/2005/11/intervew-jt-waldman

Posted by Yoav on Monday, November 7th, 2005 at 1:02 am

We present to you our newest interview with the wonderfully creative JT Waldman, author of the recent graphic novel Megillat Esther. Many thanks to Arielle Levites at the Jewish Publication Society for being the catalyst. Read our review of the book here.

New Zionist: Let’s begin from the beginning. When did you come up with the idea of making a graphic novel about Megillat Esther, and what was your motivation behind this project?

JT Waldman: The spark of inspiration to make the Book of Esther into a comic book came to me in the summer of 1998 in a cornfield in Upstate New York. I was with a new friend, who was Modern Orthodox and she related to me the story of Esther, as she was taught-and I was simply floored. Her recounting of the tale of Esther was nothing like what I remembered from my Reform Hebrew School education. I was so intrigued by the discrepancy between my recollected version of the story and the actual story that something just clicked. I thought that if I had no clue about the real text, other American Jews like me would be clueless as well- and there’s a lot of crazy stuff going on in this story! Almost immediately I thought that it would make a great comic. Just after college I was determined to flesh out my understanding of Judaism on my own terms and in a language that felt comfortable and authentic to me. So I thought why not kill two birds with one stone and satisfy my childhood dream to make a comic book while exploring a text that is essential to Jewish ritual and thought. Along the way, my motivations and angles of interest changed, but the initial impetus of making Megillat Esther stayed the same.

NZ: Rumor has it that you spent 7 years, on and off, researching, preparing, and creating. Is this true? What happened over those seven years?

JTW: When I started the project, I thought I would make a 22-page comic- Ah naivety! I started my research where I felt most comfortable, in Art History and Comparative Literature. I snuck into the University of Pennsylvania Libraries with a friend and began digging. Soon I ran into all the academic debate surrounding the historic veracity of the text, the multiple versions of translations, and all these weird and confusing elaborations called Midrash. I couldn’t get a clear picture of what the story was really about. I felt shaky deriving my understanding of the text and its cultural significance from other people’s opinions. I wanted my own voice not an amalgam of regurgitated academic scholarship. And the only way to do that was to the learn Hebrew and get down and dirty with my own translations, while also discovering how the Book of Esther fits into Judaism in terms of history (Diaspora), literature (Midrash) and ritual (Purim). There’s a lot to digest there and only one place where I could really get my serving. So in January 2000, I moved to Israel, did a Kibbutz Ulpan and enrolled in the now defunct Liberal Yeshiva in Jerusalem.

In Jerusalem I worked with Bible Studies professor, Amira Meir of Hebrew University, on the literal translations of the text. I also worked with my mentor of Midrash, R. Moshe Silberschein to understand how the Book of Esther related to the rest of the Bible and where to look for the meatiest commentaries and interpretations of the text to validate my retelling. When it was all said and done I had spent three years researching the Book of Esther placing it within an academic and Jewish framework.

Then I entered the production cycle of the project. I moved to Spain and took advantage of the then favorable exchange rate and lived the vida loca in Barcelona while I illustrated the book. Months went by and the book kept growing and eventually I had 160 pages of drawings.

When the money ran out I returned to Philly where I began work as an academic tutor for kids and as a Hebrew School teacher (Perish the thought!) Once my finances were sorted out I began the tedious and most time consuming phase of the project- inking and scanning the book. There was a big learning curve and I had to teach myself design and layout programs to assemble the book while concurrently beginning the daunting task of finding a publisher. So from conception to completion seven years had passed.

NZ: Why Esther? Why not Noah or the Ten Commandments?

JTW: Call me crazy, but what kinda chutzpah would send a secular American Jew raised in the Burbs to make a comic book version of Moses or Abraham? What more could I say about those seminal texts of religious doctrine? But a story on the fringe…a tale set in the Diaspora, with no mention of God, and attached to a holiday devoted to bamboozlement and drunken irreverence… even I could take a stab at that! And again, the fact that the real story was so clouded and lost to me proved that the educational system that reared me had missed a step. So Esther became an appropriate means to align my secular and religious identities in the helter-skelter world of comics

NZ: Did you have difficulty finding distribution considering the Biblical subject matter?

JTW: When I started, I naively spouted off about the personal goals and vision of the project. Distribution was some vague term I learned in Accounting class. Somewhere in year three of the project my mentor’s cousin who works in book publishing got wind of the idea and told Moshe, my mentor, that this project had great commercial potential. I was sort of stunned. I knew that there was commercial viability in biblical themed entertainment a la the ecumenically watered down Prince of Egypt cartoon. However, it was the success of Gibson’s Passion that really got me going in the hunt for a literary agent and or publisher. But graphic novels are still a hot potato in the book industry. I’ve been told my work is too Jewish and esoteric and just too risky. And that’s what I heard from the half-dozen publishers I specifically courted. All my rejection letters asked, “Who’s the audience for this book?”

The comic book industry, though politely intrigued, stayed away with a ten-foot pole. Religion and God have a hard time finding shelf-place next to X-men, Sin City or anything Manga. So self-publishing soon became my daunting task, and one that is quite common and esteemed in the Independent niche of the comic book industry. I was two weeks away from going this route when the Editor-in -Chief of JPS, who had balked on the project, nearly two years prior, came back and said, “Hold off on going to print, we want to publish Megillat Esther.” It took a lot of courage for JPS to even make the offer. And I guess life-imitated art here, for just as in the story, a crazy amount of back and forth negotiation ensued in a condensed period of time and produced triumphant results.

NZ: Now that your book is completed and heading to mass publication next
month, what are your final goals for this project?

JTW: I’m just glad the book is done! I have no master plan to adapt the entire Bible into some edgy comic or turn Esther into a cartoon. I used this project as an apprenticeship to hone my storytelling skills while learning about my heritage…STAM.
I’m exhibiting artwork of the book at galleries and doing some talks and workshops on using comics to generate Midrash, but aside from that, no grandiose plans.
Right now I’m more interested in the educational and academic value of comics and the disproportionate participation of Jewish minds in the creation and production of this medium. Where do comics fit alongside Medieval Illuminated manuscripts, Talmud, or artist books? Is the union of text and image in comics mending the Golden Calf and leading to our destruction or enlightenment? Books like, Gerard Jones’ Men of Tomorrow, or the literary investigations of Will Eisner’s work by academics like Laurence Roth of Susquehanna University spark my interest. But, it’s time for me to move one…I’m actually going back to school in January for Interface Design.

NZ: Your book presents some of the ugly glossed-over undersides of the story of Esther; the sex, the boozing, the vindictive nature of the main characters. In addition, your drawings are not necessarily provocative, but definitely suggestive of the more hedonistic and animalistic nature of human beings. How has your more corporeal interpretation of the story been accepted by the more religious audience, who might possibly expect a children’s novel at first glance?

JTW: Orthodox folks don’t know what to make of the book or me, for that matter. The female characters are far from sneas. Even thought there is nothing overtly explicit in the drawings, the text itself points to lewd and violent conduct that would be characterized as PG-13. My book was never intended for little kids. But comics in the USA are just coming out of the puerile stereotype that many old school people still hold onto. If anything, I’ve found that my use of Midrash, and my presentation of variant commentary that strays from Tradition is more of a thorny issue for Orthodox people.

NZ: For that matter, how has your book been received by the secular community?

JTW: When I previewed the book at the San Diego ComicCon in 2003 I was pleasantly surprised by how well received the book was by Goth kids! Other people seemed interested in the “historic” elements of the book or the value of the piece as an example of Jewish folklore. Most people appear familiar with the name of Esther but unclear of her participation in the Bible. That curiosity, along with the apparent feminist aura of the book has been my hook with many secular readers.

NZ: Speaking of the back-story of Megillat Esther, your drawings depict a boorish king who is easily manipulated because of his penchant for hedonistic pleasures. What does this say about government today?

JTW: I started the book during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. I thought it was just too perfect to have a nice Jewish girl subverting the Head of State with her womanly wiles. Then came along the current monkey in the White House known for his penchant for boos and so apparently manipulated by his advisors. It’s a pretty transparent comparison and a testimony to how little has changed because of the base human values that, to borrow a term, have been intelligently designed.

NZ: Besides government, how else is this 2500 year old story relevant to Jews of today?

JTW: I think the story of Esther reinforces the idea that, if one of us is in danger we all are. The global rise of anti-Semitism post Intifada II corroborates this notion. But the greatest lesson I have gleaned from the text relates to how Jews, women, and eunuchs (read as non-breeders)- people on the “fringe” of society- can manipulate communication to achieve their goals and change society. Vashti is banished for trying to buck the system. However, Esther, Mordechai and the eunuchs mold the system through patience, deft word play, and some well-placed liquor.

NZ: One of the most interesting things about your book is that interspersed in the narrative are four separate “interludes”. The first is about Timna, the riches-to-rags convert to Judaism who was the mother of Amalek. The second is about whether the Mashiach hails from the House of Jacob or the House of Yosef. The third is about the conflict between Saul and David over who will be the rightful more about these four side stories and how they relate to Megillat Esther.

JTW: Thanks! I’m especially proud of the “interludes” or subplots- as I call them- since they are my contributions of Midrash to the Book of Esther. There are actually ten subplots in all, one for each chapter of the book. The first page of the graphic novel depicts the Tree of Life. I read this Tree as a family tree, mapping out the relationships between the main characters of the Esther narrative, the relations between their ancestors, and the relations between their descendants. Each subplot intends to connect the story of Esther to another character or situation in the Bible, to try and suggest larger themes in the entire Bible. I developed the subplots on an almost instinctual level. As I discovered the far reach of Midrashim connected to the Book of Esther I wanted to find a way to include them in my work. Developing the English translation and visual translation of Megillat Esther was very cerebral and literal, so I used the subplots as a sort of playground to toy with significant ideas suggested by the text.

There are two threads of the subplots. One concerns Timna, the mother of Amalek and the matriarchal ancestor of Haman. The other thread highlights the rivalry between the House of Judah and the House of Joseph. I wanted to show that family competition lies at the heart of Judaism as insiders and outsiders vie for acceptance.

The prologue with Timna sets the stage for the entire book and suggestions the ramifications of exclusion. Timna returns in chapter 8 with Amalek and Esau for a more expressive moment inspired by a Midrash I found about Timna dissuading Eliphaz and Amalek from attacking the children of Israel. There’s something powerful in the notion that the ancient Jewish Boogieman is really just trying to vindicate his mother, who’s really pro-Semitic, yet he still has it out for the Jews because they hurt her feelings.

Meanwhile, I explore the nature of sibling rivalry between the offspring of Jacob in the other subplots. In chapter 2, the subplot explores the rivalry between Mashiach Ben David and Mashiach Ben Yosef, two characters associated with the End of Days. Mashiach Ben David is depicted as the political and spiritual leader of the messianic age while Mashiach Ben Yosef is more brutish and warlike and responsible for the defeat of Magog. This debate is infamous for being hyperbolic, so I set up this scene as a game-show, an incongruous setting that frames an equally absurd dispute. The placement of the subplot as Mordechai’s dream is an allusion to the Greek addition to the original Hebrew text where Mordechai dreams of two fighting dragons. At the end of the nightmare, Mashiach Ben David is felled; foreshadowing that Esther and Mordechai (in line with Mashiach Ben Yosef) are the heroes of the day.

The Saul/David subplot is connected through a line in the Bible that states that ‘wicked proceeds from the wicked’ (Samuel I 24:13). This line is used in a Midrash to explain “the wicked” ways of Haman. As I connected disparate Midrash to the story of Esther I tried to find the clal (Hebrew for key literary devices or elements) in each chapter and use that as my jump off point with connecting Midrash. So in the fourth chapter of the Book of Esther I found that clothing played a crucial role in symbolizing power. So not only did this episode in the saga of Saul and David include the aforementioned “wicked “ quote but it also used clothing as a symbol of power as well (David cuts off the fringes of Saul’s robe to prove that he could have killed him). Meanwhile in chapter 4, Esther places an odd emphasis on clothing because she is peeved about Mordechai’s fashion sense at the King’s Gate (an arguably petty concern) while the rest of the Judeans in the land don sackcloth to represent their lack of power. It’s hard to describe the midrashic mindset-which is very stream of conscious – but that’s what I was going for in this subplot.

Some subplots are obviously apart from the narrative, like the Tales of Justice comic inside a comic, while others are embedded in the story like the Bezalel/Joshua images or the prophetic musings of Ezekiel at the conclusion of the book. Some are straightforward Midrash, like the quote from Deuteronomy in the beginning of chapter 3, while others are specifically more vague like the Timna/Esau vignette of chapter 8.

The Midrashic subplots are intended to add layers of depth and context to the Book of Esther. I really enjoyed developing them, but if the reader finds them extraneous they can simply skip over them. I wanted there to be some mystery to my interpretation and not have everything be on the nose. The subplots manifest the mystique of the work.

NZ: Another interesting aspect of your book is the extensive use of footnotes and references from various religious sources. Tell us more about these footnotes and their significance.

JTW: The greatest work by Maimonides, his Mishneh Torah, was very controversial because he failed to cite his sources- a requisite that finds biblical precedence in Esther 2:22. I felt that if I included the sources of images and dialogue, then my comic book would be just as legit as any other scholar’s work, except there’d be pictures to get your mind going too. The bibliography and footnotes are my attempt to champion the medium of sequential art as an academic tool.

NZ: Douglas Rushkoff has been hard at work writing his own graphic novel, to be released by DC Comics, entitled Testament, which claims to “expose the real Bible as it was actually written” and “reveal how its mythic tales are repeated today”. Do you think you have started a trend in religiously-tied comics?

JTW: In no way have I started a trend in Bible comics. They’ve been around in the comic industry since almost the beginning. They normally have different distribution than mainstream comics so you don’t hear much about them…but they’ve been there all along. I think the current zeitgeist that I am a part of is the need to take religious texts and filter them through a secular lens. Comics are an amazingly pliant medium for that endeavor, as is film or performance art. But it is a popular trend…Crumb is working on Genesis now and Mike Allred (creator of Madman and Red Rocket) is doing the Book of Mormon. There’s already a comic book called Testament, put out two years ago by Metron Press…the trend is in full swing!

NZ: A recent article came out entitled The New Jew, by Richard Greenberg and Debra Nussbaum Cohen. The article describes how younger, more independent-minded American Jews are discovering plenty of new avenues to explore their Judaism, through paths like Heeb Magazine and Congregation Kol Zimrah. Do you think your book, and the medium of graphic novels as a whole, is part of this movement on either a communal or personal level?

JTW: I guess, but the New Jew sounds like some weird remnant of the Weimar Republic or something?!? The great thing about Judaism is its flexibility. Whether it’s the growth of the Reform movement in 19th century Germany or the transcribing of Oral Law by the Tanaim 2000 yeas ago. Jews are constantly reevaluating their relation to community, God and themselves. As a third generation American Jew, I have the luxury and responsibility to reclaim the heritage that my great grandparents were running from. My grandparents and parents had to fulfill the assimilated American dream of their parents, so figuring out how to relate to Jewish text and ritual wasn’t a high priority for them- Israel was their issue to champion. I don’t know who the authors of that article are but I bet they are of the previous generation so what they deem new I see as evolution or recuperation.

As to graphic novels, I think they are fast becoming the most viable tool for presenting History, Math, Language and Science to kids. The multiple intelligence models, and the wide range of topics now covered in comics point to this. My work is just picking up the Jewish leg of this movement.

NZ: Do you have plans for another project in the future? Is there a second installment in the making?

JTW: No concrete plans as of yet for another project, and no Megillah 2: The Revenge of Amalek in the pipeline. I have some brainstorms brewing but nothing I can coherently describe yet. As I mentioned before I’m expanding on the language of sequential art by going back to school and focusing on Interface Design…we’ll see what ideas come from that!

NZ: Even though we have largely avoided talking politics, we have to ask you the same questions we ask all of our interviewees. First, what do you think will happen in the next 15, 50 years of Israel? (feel free to talk politics here)

JTW: I hope that in 15 years people will be able to bring Jerusalem back onto the table as the crux of the debate. If the religious world leaders can share Jerusalem then maybe the politicians can follow? Maybe it can be an internationally shared city? Am I being too naïve? Who knows? Personally, I see the vain attempt to claim land as a form of idol worship and the root of all this mess.
In 50 years there will be umpteen thousand more Palestinians because they breed more. This will change the face of Israeli demographics forever. Combine this with the growing of global identity politics and there will probably evolve urban Jewish centers among the masses of Arabs. Tel Aviv and Herzilaya will remain Jewish enclaves, Haifa will go to the Ba’hai, Jerusalem will be international, and the rest…

NZ: Lastly, what do you think will happen in the next 15, 50 years of American Jewry?

JTW: Like I said, Identity Politics is the way things are going in the world so Jews will just fall into line. I think that the Jewish communities that started to grow in the Red States during the 19th-20th centuries will dissolve due to lack of retention. The older folks will stick around but the young ones will flock to the coasts or urban centers where other Jews are. J-Date will replace the JCCs as the primary organizer of Jewish social interaction, and the movement to ban circumcision in the USA by those liberal uppity Jews will dissociate American Jews from the global Jewish community. I hope that in fifty years the Deep Space Jew project is underway as the Jewish people head off into Diaspora II and spearhead deep space exploration. We’ve proven competent in thriving in an isolated society and Asimov, Captain Kirk and Spock will become the new figureheads of Jewish Tradition as we leave the Jerusalem below in search for the Jerusalem above!

JT Waldman was born and raised outside of Philadelphia, PA. A proud third-generation inhabitant of the area, he styles himself as an ambassador of the city of brotherly love. As a graduate of the University of Michigan he earned a Bachelor of Arts that prepared him for nothing, but made him suitable for anything. Currently, he is an Artist/Educator working as an independent tutor in his hometown. Megillat Esther was conceived in Upstate New York, researched and translated in Jerusalem, illustrated in Barcelona, and brought all together in Philadelphia, PA.

There's also a review of the GN at http://www.newzionist.com/2005/09/review-megillat-esther-by-jt-waldman/