From Krakow To Krypton

Upcoming Appearances

2009-05-04T15:36:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to let you know about a few appearances I have coming up. Please click on the links for more information.

On Thursday, May 7, 7PM (this week!), I'll be the guest speaker at the Cartoonist Roundtable at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art:
http://www.moccany.org/events.html

On Tuesday, May 12, 7:30 PM, I'll be in Los Angeles, giving a lecture at the Skirball Cultural Center, talking about the history of Jews in comics and my book, From Krakow to Krypton:
http://www.skirball.org/index.php?option=com_ccevents&scope=prgm&task=detail&oid=525&ccmenu=d2hhdcdzig9u

On Friday, May 22nd, 7:30 PM, I'll be at the 92nd St. Y Tribeca, hosting a Comic Book Shabbat:
http://www.92y.org/shop/event_detail.asp?productid=T-MM5SH15

New York Comic Con appearances

2009-01-30T08:17:00.005-05:00

Arie will be at numerous events at next weekend's New York Comic Con at the Jacob Javitz Center in NYC, Feb 6-8, 2009. (www.nycomiccon.com)

JPS will be exhibiting all weekend at booth #2443. Other than Arie, JPS authors JT Waldman (Megillat Esther), and Josh Lambert (American Jewish Fiction: A JPS Guide) will be featured panelists at events being held at Comic Con, and will be signing copies of their books. We'll post the signing schedule as it's confirmed.

In addition, Arie will be on two panels.

WWII and Comics
Friday, February 6, 2009 from 2:00-3:00 pm in room 1A18

World War II started 70 years ago, in 1939. From the beginning, comics were intimately involved with subjects and themes relating to that momentous conflict -- or with escapist fare designed to distract readers from the intensity of the war. The first boom in comics was fueled in large part by GIs interest in them, and many of the earliest creators went on to serve in the war effort, including in the messages contained in their stories. Arie Kaplan (From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books) moderates a panel of comics veterans including Jerry Robinson (Batman), Al Jaffee (Mad magazine), and Irwin Hasen (All-Star Comics), as they discuss the War and the medium so closely identified with it. And comics critic N.C. Christopher Couch (The Will Eisner Companion) offers a historical perspective.

Jews and Comics: A Cottage Industry
Sunday, February 8, 2009 from 12:15-1:15 pm in room 1A18

In the past few years, there have been multiple books dealing with Jews and their role in the creation of the comics industry. Could this be because, as we lose more and more of the Greatest (Comics) Generation, there is a collective need to understand the roots, ethnic and otherwise, of the medium? Authors Arie Kaplan (From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comics), Danny Fingeroth (Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero), and Simcha Weinstein (Up, Up, and Oy Vey!: How Jewish History, Culture, and Values Shaped The Comicbook Superhero) and comics creators AL Al Jaffee (Mad magazine) and Jerry Robinson (Batman) discuss the rise of interest in the Jewish side of comics. Moderated by David Hajdu (The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How it Changed America).

Awards Season Is Upon Us!

2009-01-27T13:56:00.008-05:00

And by "us," I mean "bookworms."

Arie here. Okay, so I've been really bad about posting lately. Like, super-mega-ginormously-bad. However, that's gonna change, starting now. I'll even be blogging about my book tour. Last year, when I went on the first few stops on the tour, I kept a "journal" of sorts, talking into a digital recorder and verbalizing my thoughts, feelings, and neuroses. Basically, it was a very "in the moment" record of the book tour. So I'll be typing that up and posting it soon. (And by "soon" I mean by the time my great-grandkids are in grad school.) Think of it as some very belated blogging, a "retro-blog" if you will.

And I made a promise to myself that I'd keep a "cartoon diary" on the tour. The idea was this: I'd bring a sketchbook on every one of my tour dates and I'd draw at least one page each time I went to a new city - and with a few exceptions, that's what I did. I sketched people I saw in hotel lobbies, the flight crews at various airports, people sitting next to me on the train (until they started glaring at me as if to say, "Knock it off or I'll knee you in the groin"). You know, that sort of thing. The cartoon diary continues to this day, and it's a work in progress. I'm going to a lecture tonight, and I may be able to squeeze in yet another drawing today. But I'll be posting the first several drawings from the cartoon diary on this blog soon as well. Basically, there's a backlog of material that you can look forward to seeing on this site in the near future. But enough about that. I've got news! So...

A couple of weeks ago, I learned that From Krakow to Krypton was selected as a 2008 National Jewish Book Award finalist. And earlier today, I was told that From K to K is a 2009 Sophie Brody Honor Book. The Sophie Brody Medal is an award given by the American Library Association. The nominations were announced last fall, but the winners were just announced today. My book didn't win, but being an "Honor Book" is pretty much the same thing as second place. Which is nice. Hell, it's a cliche, but it really is just nice to be nominated.

Also, I guess this is thematically relevant, since it doesn't have to do with my book directly, but it DOES concern Jews and comics (sorta): One of my comics stories, "Not A (Green, Slimy) Creature Was Stirring," is currently featured on page 29-38 of The Simpsons Winter Wingding #3, out now from Bongo Comics. The story was penciled by the incredible Phil Ortiz and inked by the amazing Mike DeCarlo. In "Not A (Green, Slimy)...," Krusty the Clown realizes that there are plenty of Christmas mascots (i.e. Rudolph, Frosty), but there aren't any Hanukkah mascots! So he embarks on a mission to create one...and he comes up with the most grotesque "mascot" imaginable! It's a perfectly cromulent tale for the holiday season, one that promises to embiggen the spirit!(Now, I know that the holiday season is over, but the comic is still in stores, so...uh, well, better late than never, I guess.)

I actually talk about both From K to K and my Simpsons Winter Wingding story in an interview I did with Heeb. (There. That wraps everything up in a nice little bow, doesn't it?) Here's the link: http://www.heebmagazine.com/blog/view/1283

Arie's Lectures this week!

2008-11-03T17:19:00.003-05:00

Arie's all over the place this week!

Tomorrow, Tuesday, Nov. 4th, 8 PM, Arie will be appearing at The Jewish Book Fair in Toronto, Ontario (Don't worry, he absentee voted).

Koffler Centre of the Arts
4588 Bathurst Street
Toronto, Ontario M2R 1W6

On Wednesday, Nov. 5th, 7 PM, Arie will be appearing at the Gersham Y in Philadelphia.

The Gershman Y
401 South Broad St.
Philadelphia, PA 19147

On Thursday, Nov. 6th, 5:30 PM, Arie will be at the University of Penn.

Penn Library
Rosenwald Gallery, 6th Floor
Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center
3420 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6206

Interview in New Jersey Jewish Standard

2008-10-24T13:16:00.003-04:00

Hi True Believers!

This is Nadine, Arie's wife and webmistress. :-) I'll periodically post when Arie is crazy busy being... well, Arie.

There's a new interview with Arie in the New Jersey Jewish Standard, promoting his appearance at Temple Emanu-El on Nov. 2nd.

Wizarduniverse.com interview!

2008-10-10T12:46:00.004-04:00

Check out the new Wizarduniverse.com interview with Yours Truly!

Looking for a book about Jews and comic books?

Arie Kaplan's got your hook up--as his new book From Krakow to Krypton shouts in a talk bubble blazoned across its cover--with a tome entirely about Jews and their influence on and in the world of comics.

Blatant Self-Promotion and Hucksterism

2008-09-25T20:40:00.016-04:00

This weekend, during the Baltimore Comic Con, I'll be signing copies of From Krakow to Krypton at 1pm on both Saturday September 27th and Sunday September 28th. The event takes place at the Baltimore Convention Center, and I'll be at the Comics Pro booth, # 2106.

Here's their official site: http://www.comicon.com/baltimore/index.htm

Also, I was recently interviewed by Joe Franklin, the King of Nostalgia, for his radio show. Today, I spoke to Joe (not to name-drop, but I know everyone in showbiz, and they're all dear dear friends of mine), and he told me when it's airing:

The interview, which will be airing as a two-part, 14-minute segment, can be heard on Saturday September 27th, on Bloomberg Business Radio 1130 AM radio WBBR's "On the Weekend."

You can hear it at 4:37am, 9:37am, 2:37pm, and 7:37pm

The Firestorm Diaries

2008-09-25T19:16:00.010-04:00

I grew up in Baltimore, where I attended an all-Jewish parochial school. When I was in kindergarten, my Hebrew teacher Mr. Manischevitz taught us how to draw an Alef, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, by drawing a picture of Popeye on the board. One of Popeye's arms went straight up, and the other went straight down, just like an the two "arms" that stick out of the sides on an Alef. I think Mr. Manischevitz was trying to use cartoons to get his students hooked on Hebrew. And maybe for the other students, that was true. But as far as I was concerned, he'd used Hebrew to get me hooked on cartoons.

This weekend, I'll be doing a book signing at the Baltimore Comic Con. Yes, I'm going back to my hometown, where I'll see some old friends and reconnect with family. It'll be like a less depressing Garden State (and I put less product in my hair than Zach Braff). The cool thing about going to another city to do a promotional event for a comic -- or a book about comics -- is that people invariably come up and tell you about comic book creators who hail from that area. It genuinely seems to be a point of pride for them. For example, when I did a signing at the Detroit Jewish Book Fair two years ago, a woman told me that (years and years ago) she'd dated Al Milgrom, co-creator of the DC Comics superhero Firestorm. A bunch of other people remembered a Nice Jewish Boy named Sam Raimi who had a crazy idea that he and his friends would get together and make a no-budget splatterfest called Evil Dead. Wonder how that turned out. And a couple of weeks ago, in Ft. Myers, Florida, right after I gave a lecture, one of the people in the audience told me that he was the cousin of comic book writer/movie producer Michael Uslan (The Dark Knight). Ft. Myers is also the home of Firestorm artist Rafael Kayanan. (What's up with every town having a Firestorm connection? Are there any Firestorm artists in Baltimore? Idea for book: "The Firestorm Diaries." Premise: I go to every major city in America and research that city's Firestorm connection.) It's actually pretty surprising though, because comics really do seem like such a niche market these days. And the stereotype of the nerdy comic book geek is still pretty prevalent. For all the noise the media makes about comic book movies, there aren't nearly as many people who'd read a Spider-Man comic book as there are people who'd see a Spider-Man movie. Which...well, it is what it is. (And what it is is a topic for another time.) But in each of these cities, people -- mind you, not necessarily people who are themselves comic book fans -- are eager to share stories of the comics creators they know or have known. And it gives me a sense of the larger comics community out there. But it also makes me think that as much as people openly mock geeks, every city has a strong sense of geek pride. Every adult geek was once a kid geek, be it in Ft. Myers, Detroit, or wherever.

And maybe in Baltimore today, there's some five-year-old who just learned how to draw an "M", but all she cares about is how -- if you draw stripes on it -- the letter looks like Garfield's ears.

One Nation Under Muffins

2008-09-18T21:36:00.004-04:00

Okay, so I told myself I'd be blogging about From Krakow to Krypton very very very frequently, and make it really "in the moment." Whenever something happened that was book-related, I'd blog about it right away. Of course, that didn't end up happening. Things got too busy real fast.

Oh well.

But ever since the book first started trickling into comic book stores and, um..."book" book stores, I can tell you now that it feels really surreal. Because after several years, From Krakow to Krypton is finally out! And it was a really long pregnancy. In fact, it was on October 4, 2003 that I received that first e-mail from JPS editor-in-chief Ellen Frankel asking if I'd like to turn my articles on Jews in comics into a book.

For those who don't know, this book started as a three-part series of articles that appeared in the fall 2003, winter 2003, and spring 2004 issues of Reform Judaism Magazine. (An interesting side-note: That fall 2003 issue of RJ also contains an article on John Kerry's Jewish roots. That article was written by Jennifer Anne Perez, wife of my fellow IDW Publishing writer Andrew Steven Harris. I first met Andrew at WonderCon in February, when I'd just finished writing the miniseries Speed Racer: Chronicles of the Racer for IDW. In the "civilian" world, there are 6 degrees of separation. It increasingly becomes clear to me that in the comics world, there are like only 2 or 3 degrees. Everyone seems to know everyone, and it freaks the hell out of me.) When I have more time, I'll talk more about the process of interviewing the various comics creators I talk about in the book.

But, as that lovable rapscallion Snoop Dogg would say, "later for dat." I just got back from my first stop on my book tour, in Ft. Myers, Florida. After being in NYC for so long, Ft. Myers really made me feel like a vampire. The city is all sunshine and palm trees and dragonflies and blue skies and wide open spaces. Like, can't they fill up the wide open spaces with some -- I don't know -- buildings or something? It seemed kinda unnatural to me, like they weren't utilizing the space correctly. But again, maybe I've just been in New York too long.

Anyway, I get there and Naomi, who coordinated my lecture gig, gives me this sorta "welcome wagon" bag stuffed with postcards for my event and a Jewish newspaper with ads for the event. Which is really nice of her. But that's not all! The bag is also chock full of the following: a package of pretzels, a package of pretzel sticks, two things of peanut butter crackers, a packet of M&Ms, two peanut butter chocolate bars, three bite-size Twix bars, two bite-size Hershey's chocolate bars, a low-fat oatmeal raisin bar, three Milky Way Midnight minis, a regular Milky Way mini, three Three Musketeer minis, and a Snicker mini. Then we go to have dinner at this place called Mimi's, where the food is amazing. And after I have dinner, the waiter hears that it's my first time at Mimi's, so he gives me a container filled with FOUR BIG-ASS MUFFINS EACH THE SIZE OF A HUMAN HEAD!! Now, unless my name is Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, or Wally West (or if you're a non-geek, Michael Phelps), there's no way for me to burn through all these calories. So I took all this stuff back with me to New York. And I'm not faulting anyone in Ft. Myers for giving me all this food. On the contrary, I actually really appreciated it. Even if I can't eat any of this stuff, it's a really sweet (pun intended) gesture. What's my point? My point is this:

Shame on you, New York, for not showering newbies with free food like they do in other cities!! For shame!! This is why people leave NYC and go to the suburbs! For the big-ass muffins!

From Krakow to Krypton is out now!!

2008-09-06T01:55:00.004-04:00

From Krakow to Krypton is out now from JPS, a few days earlier than it's official publication date, September 10. Ask for it at your favorite bookstore.

Welcome!

2008-09-05T20:40:00.010-04:00

Welcome to my blog, where you'll find all sorts of arcane nonsense related to my new book From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books. I'll be posting creator interviews that never made it into the book, various behind-the-scenes anecdotes about the process of writing the book, and whatever else pops into my geektastic little noggin. Enjoy!