The Jewish Graphic Novel: Critical Approaches

edited by Samantha Baskind and Ranen Omer-Sherman
contributions by Erin McGlothlin, Brad Praeger, Miriam Harris, Cheryl Malcolm, Paul Eisenstein, Marla Harris, Ariel Kahn, Alon Raab, Miriam Libicki, Samantha Baskind, Laurence Roth, Ranen Omer-Sherman, Jeremy Dauber, Josh Lambert, Roxanne Harde and Lisa Mulman
foreword by J. Waldman

Rutgers University Press, 2008
Paper: 978-0-8135-4775-6 | Cloth: 978-0-8135-4367-3 | eISBN: 978-0-8135-5119-7
Library of Congress Classification PN6714.J49 2008
Dewey Decimal Classification 741.53529924

ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC

ABOUT THIS BOOK

In the 1970s and 1980s Jewish cartoonists such as Will Eisner were some of the first artists to use the graphic novel as a way to explore their ethnicity. Although similar to their pop culture counterpart, the comic book, graphic novels presented weightier subject matter in more expensive packaging, which appealed to an adult audience and gained them credibility as a genre.

The Jewish Graphic Novel is a lively, interdisciplinary collection of essays that addresses critically acclaimed works in this subgenre of Jewish literary and artistic culture. Featuring insightful discussions of notable figures in the industryùsuch as Will Eisner, Art Spiegelman, and Joann Sfarùthe essays focus on the how graphic novels are increasingly being used in Holocaust memoir and fiction, and to portray Jewish identity in America and abroad

Featuring more than 85 illustrations, this collection is a compelling representation of a major postmodern ethnic and artistic achievement.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

SAMANTHABASKIND is an associate professor of art history at Cleveland State University. She is the author of Raphael Soyer and the Search for Modern Jewish Art.

RANEN OMER-SHERMAN is Gabelli Senior Scholar of Arts and Sciences and a professor of English at the University of Miami. He is the author of Israel in Exile: Jewish Writing and the Desert.

REVIEWS

"Few attempts have been made to publish an anthology of academic essays on Jewish graphic novels. The Jewish Graphic Novel is a wonderful attempt to fill this void. The collection brings together four essays on specific books, five essays comparing pairs of graphic narratives, two overviews, two cartoonist interviews, an in-depth look at a Jewish comic book character, and an illustrated essay about Jewish biographical comix. Highly recommended for public, academic, and high school libraries, particularly those that already have significant Judaica graphic novel collections."

— Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter

"Will Eisner coined the term 'Graphic Novel' in 1976 for A Contract with God, his account of the Jewish Diaspora experience. It has since become the label for complex illustrated texts—some fiction, somenon-fiction; most a striking mix of both. The growth of the 'GraphicNovel' also tracks with the rise of a post-modern, global Jewish culturein the later 20th century. The Jewish Graphic Novel is thus both a history of the genre as well as a history of its particular place in the growing, self-conscious world of contemporary Jewish self-representation. A brilliant and original book!"

— Sander L. Gilman, author, Multiculturalism and the Jews

"The People of the Book—the epithet is no longer sufficient. More appropriate: The People of the Book and the Image. Samantha Baskind and Ranen Omer-Sherman, leading a cadre of exegetes, explain what makes the combination Jewish."

— Ilan Stavans, author of Mr. Spic Goes to Washington

"A major contribution to the literature on graphic novels. Highly Recommended."

— Choice

"The graphic novel is a vital and emerging genre, and this is the onlybook that focuses on its relation to Jewish culture, literature, and history. A highly readable and informative collection that will be of great interest to readers across a wide range of disciplines."

— Deborah R. Geis, editor of Considering MAUS: Approaches to Art Spiegelman's "Survivor's Tale"

"A lively, interdisciplinary collection of essays that addresses critically acclaimed works in this subgenre of Jewish literary and artistic culture. This comprehensive volume is a compelling representation of a major postmodern ethnic and artistic achievement."

— Jewish Ledger

"Those who find themselves involved with graphic genres will find this book a welcome resource. It is a strong collection."

— Journal of American Ethnic History

"The Jewish Graphic Novel is a pivotal work of sequential art scholarship: the 16 essays in this volume provide an excellent introduction to an understanding of Jewish experience and culture through the lens of comics. Baskind and Omer-Sherman have produced an original collection of articles that provide new insights into the history and culture of the graphic novel, its writers, and artists."

— Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics

"Those interested in current Jewish literary culture will find it absorbing, as will anyone interested in how the graphic novel contributes to our understanding of Jewish identity."

— The Jewish Reporter

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents
Foreword: Comix, Judaism, and Me
J. T. Waldman
Introduction
Samantha Baskind and Ranen Omer-Sherman
One. The Jewish American Experience
1. Contemporary American Jewish Comic Books: Abject Pasts, Heroic Futures
Laurence Roth
2. Comic Books, Tragic Stories: Will Eisner's American Jewish History
Jeremy Dauber
3. "Wanna watch the grown-ups doin' dirty things?": Jewish Sexuality and the Early Graphic Novel
Josh Lambert
4. "Give 'em another circumcision": Jewish Masculinities in The Golem's Mighty Swing
Roxanne Harde
Two. The Holocaust Across Borders
5. A Tale of Two Mice: Graphic Representations of the Jew in Holocaust Narrative
Lisa Naomi Mulman
6. "When Time Stands Still": Traumatic Immediacy and Narrative Organization in Art Spiegelman's Maus and In the Shadow of No Towers
Erin McGlothlin
7. The Holocaust without Ink: Absent Memory and Atrocity in Joe Kubert's Graphic Novel Yossel: April 19, 1943
Brad Prager
8. Releasing the Grip of the Ghostly: Bernice Eisenstein's I Was the Child of Holocaust Survivors
Miriam Harris
9. Witness, Trauma, and Remembrance: Holocaust Representation and X-Men Comics
Cheryl Alexander Malcolm
Three. The Graphic Novel Outside the United States
10. Imperfect Masters: Rabbinic Authority in Joann Sfar's The Rabbi's Cat
Paul Eisenstein
11. Borderlands: Places, Spaces, and Jewish Identity in Joann Sfar's The Rabbi's Cat (2005) and Klezmer (2006)
Marla Harris
12. From Darkness into Light: Reframing Notions of Self and Other in Contemporary Israeli Graphic Narratives
Ariel Kahn
13. Ben Gurion's Golem and Jewish Lesbians: Subverting Hegemonic History in Two Israeli Graphic Novels
Alon Raab
Four. Jewish Graphic Novelists in Their Own Words and Pictures
14. A Conversation with Miriam Katin
Samantha Baskind
15. A Conversation with Miriam Libicki
16. Jewish Memoir Goes Pow! Zap! Oy!
Miriam Libicki
Further Reading
Notes on Contributors
Index

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