The CANVAS Compendium: Dispatches from the New Jewish Renaissance
By Julian Voloj
Last November 11th and 12th was one of the most exciting Jewish cultural events of the year, when the Center for Jewish History in New York held the inaugural Jewish Comics Experience, or JewCE. All in all, nearly 40 comics creators participated in JewCE, which showcased a wide range of approaches to Jewish content—Jewish superheroes, Torah stories, the Golem, and autobiographical comics. Some 400 participants attended the various panels, addressing topics such as Jewish folklore, queerness, diversity and representation. For many, the focus on arts and culture was a kind of healing moment, shared with allies and fellow comic book lovers.
But first, a little history, because the history of American comics is Jewish history. Superman was the brainchild of two nice Jewish boys from Cleveland, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Batman was created by two Bronx Jews, Bob Kane and Bill Finger, Captain America, by another couple of New York Jews, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. In the 1960s, with Stan Lee, Kirby went on to create nearly all the characters we know today from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Despite the many Jewish pioneers, addressing Jewish identity in comics was for a long time nearly taboo. This changed in the early 2000s when the genre shifted to a more general attention to diversity: The Thing from the Fantastic Four had an adult bar mitzvah; Batwoman’s secret identity, Kate Kane, was openly gay and Jewish, her last name an homage to Bob.
A new generation of Jewish comic book creators proudly and creatively started to explore their identity in comics beyond superheroes: JT Waldman’s Megillat Esther is a graphic adaptation of the Purim scroll; Barry Deutsch’s Hereville features a sword-wielding Orthodox girl as a protagonist. More recently, we’re also seeing graphic biographies, including my own book, Black and White, on the chess genius turned paranoid hate-monger Bobby Fischer.
We’re a long way from Superman lifting a car on the cover of Action Comics in 1938.
From Brooklyn to Bashert
Comics fandom is Jewish history too. In 1970, one Shel Dorf moved to San Diego to take care of his aging parents, and organized there the first Comic-Con; since then Comic-Cons have grown from small fan gatherings in hotel basements to large pop-culture celebrations—an industry in its own right.
Technically speaking, JewCE was not the first Jewish comic con. That one was in 2016, when comics creator and publisher Fabrice Sapolsky—probably best known for Spider-Man Noir and his Intertwined series, which features the first Asian Jewish superhero—helped organize a Jewish Comic Con at Congregation Kol Israel in Brooklyn. Another was held in 2018, but no more after that, because Sapolsky had moved to Los Angeles.
“I always regretted not having another Jewish Comic Con,” Sapolsky said.
More recently, Dr. Miriam Mora, the Center for Jewish History’s Director of Academic and Public Programs, became interested in the idea of a similar event on a larger scale, and contacted Sapolsky, who was serendipitously planning to return to New York.
Mora said, “That made it feel truly bashert,” Yiddish for “destiny.”
E. Lockhart, Frank Miller, Dean Haspiel, and Roy Schwartz participated in a lively panel on Jewish superheroes. Photo courtesy the Center for Jewish History.
Honoring Jewish Comics Creators, Then and Now
JewCE became far more than its Brooklyn forerunners. There was, for instance, “The Museum,” five micro-exhibitions from the Center’s partner organizations, that included, among other things, the rare 1933 “the Reign of the Superman” story by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Then there was “The Laboratory,” an interactive, kid-friendly introduction to comic book storytelling, which included a photo-booth, inviting visitors to take selfies in cosplay. (See featured image; the exhibitions are open to the public until the end of the year.)
Leading up to the convention, there were a number of public programs, most prominently a performance of the musical adaptation of Hereville and an awards ceremony.
Macher and Macherke Awards for lifetime achievement went to Jules Feiffer and Trina Robbins (Feiffer, 94, sent a video message). The Israeli cartoonist Asaf Hanuka was awarded Artist Honoree of the Year, and Neil Kleid is Writer Honoree of the Year. (You can see the full list of honorees here.)
“Sequential art is a key player in doing the work, sometimes flawed, sometimes impeccable, in transmitting knowledge about the Jewish experience,” Mora explained at the ceremony. “And nothing, nothing, combats fear, misunderstanding, and hate, like knowledge and familiarity.”
For his part, Sapolsky hopes the awards “will inspire many creators to come up with new original Jewish graphic novels looking to be the next recipient.”
Celebrating Diversity, Strengthening Community
Mora explained in her welcome speech that “comics and graphic novels are an invaluable contribution to Jewish literary history and contemporary Jewish culture,” and that “creations in this medium are not only a treasure of the Jewish global experience, worthy of recognition and celebration, but are one of the ways in which the rest of the world learns about us as a people.”
One encouraging aspect to note: not all the participants were Jewish. The artist and writer Dean Haspiel told me that, “JewCE was an eye-opening, warm and welcome event. Like a lot of native New Yorkers, I grew up Jew-ish. It’s in my culture. Jews invented comic books, and, arguably, created the tenets of what makes a superhero, a concept I’ve dedicated most of my life to exploring in my own work.”
One highlight was a panel discussion with legendary creator Frank Miller who underlined his appreciation for the Jewish pioneers of the medium. The non-Jewish artist even donated an original drawing of one of his Sin City characters with a Star of David and the words “Stop Antisemitism” for the silent auction, raising over six thousand dollars for the convention.
“JewCE was a great experience,” said Peter Rostovsky, an accomplished painter who recently published a graphic novel, Damnation Diaries. “It was not only a welcoming and hospitable environment, but an exciting and unique opportunity to connect with so many accomplished Jewish comics creators as well as enthusiastic readers.”
“It was a day of joy and celebration in an uneasy time,” Mora said. “For me, a lifelong comic fan and Jewish historian, it was bliss.”
Bonus Jewish comics content!
- Julian Voloj’s autobiographical comic illustrated by Wagner Willian
- Historian and author Jeremy Dauber’s “Artists on Artists”
- “Pow! Zap! Oy! (Jews and Comics)“
Support Jewish arts and culture. Donate to CANVAS today.
