GoGirl vs Spidergirl

As I read about Trina Robbins’ GoGirl character, I couldn’t help but think of another young female superhero-Spidergirl. Although they are very different I’m sure, they do have some things in common. They are both female superheroes, they are the daughters of their originals, and they both have to go through teenage issues. GoGirl was created later and may have been influenced by Spidergirl, but the question is who is more popular? Who would win in ‘GoGirl vs Spidergirl’?
GoGirl is created by a female, while Spidergirl is created by a male writer. GoGirl’s mother was previously a GoGirl. Therefore, GoGirl might be more popular with more feminist readers. Since GoGirl is Jewish, She may appeal to a Jewish audience, but Spidergirl is the daughter of the infamous Spiderman. That being said, their heroic exploits or experiences as a teenager might be the tie-breaker.
I wonder if the main audience of these comics is girls, women, boys, or men. They certainly seem to be targeting girls, but I could be wrong. In any case it is certainly interesting to see the theme of superhero daughters in the comic scene today.
Unfortunately, I have not read either of these comic serieses, so I don’t know which female superhero I would like more. As a long-time Spiderman fan, I would imagine I would go with Spidergirl, but I could be mistaken. So with all of this in mind, who would win the popularity between the two of them? GoGirl or Spidergirl? What do you think?

Jewish Comics Through Time

As I read the third section of Ari Kaplan’s From Krakow to Krypton, I noticed that artists felt more comfortable creating openly-Jewish characters. Will Eisner’s A Contract With God was probably the first graphic novel to have Jewish characters, with several comics such as Xmen coming before it. I believe this is because there was more acceptance of Judaism in America by the 70s and that Jews didn’t feel they had to hide their identity to fit in with society.
In addition to Eisner, Art Spiegelman’s Maus revolves around not just Jewish characters but a distinctly Jewish event-the Holocaust. This comfort in creating Jewish characters continued into the ‘80s. Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series portrays several Jewish themes such as a Kabbalistic notion of the Angel of Death being female, a man asking for time to recite the Shema before his death, and a moral man being rewarded by the Angel in the afterlife.
Image comics, created in 1991, offered a female superhero, GoGirl. She was created by Trina Robbins, who was instrumental in the Underground Comix move. Robbins makes a point of having Lindsay Goldman (aka GoGirl) a regular girl who, like Robbins, just happens to be Jewish.
I believe that comic creators during the Bronze Age were not afraid of revealing their own Jewish identity as well as creating Jewish characters. While the characters seem to be made distinctly Jewish in the ‘70s, they are made Jewish almost coincidentily by the ‘90s. This suggests that the acceptance and integration of Judaism in American society has become vastly different than it was in the Golden Age of the ‘30s and ‘40s.

Artwork in 'Megillat Esther'

While reading Megillat Esther, it is easy to see that J.T. Waldman is very creative in his artwork.  Throughout the book, Waldman is careful to follow Biblical and Rabbinic texts that give detail on the characters and their surroundings. One example of this is his attention to detail such as the linens, columns, gold and silver sofas, marble, and precious stones drawn on pages 10 and 11.

While Waldman is careful about what he draws, he is creative about how he draws it. He uses multiple ways of framing such as page 109 where Esther is drawn within a flower, surrounded by the faces of other characters. Hebrew words often surround the characters in a framing effect such as Mordechai on page 74, or divide frames such as pages 88 and 89.

On pages 92 and 93 King Xerxes’ dream is drawn in a cluttered swirl of random pictures. This symbolizes his distress as well as the turning point in the story. As discussed in class today, this might parallel the turning around of the events in the story that is the basis of the Purim festival.

In addition to the creative drawing style, Waldman includes sub-stories within the story. These seem to address conflicts in the Hebrew Bible over the birthright and lineage of the Messiah. I believe Waldman is suggesting that these conflicts between the tribes of Israel were ended when the Judeans were given power by the Persian king. However, I am not quite sure if this is his conclusion or why they were added in.      

Pride in 'Megillat Esther'

One distinct theme of Megillat Esther is pride in one’s heritage. The setting of the story is in Persia where the Judeans are under the rule of King Xerxes. Naturally, the Judeans suppress their heritage in order to avoid conflict with the Persians. The only exception to this is Mordechai who displays pride in his heritage by refusing to bow down to and in a sense worship Haman.

Contrary to this, Esther, as queen, is in a position of power. Although she has power, Mordechai commands Esther to not speak of her lineage on page 45. He is afraid that if the king finds out, Esther will be replaced by another woman. Esther takes a chance by revealing her identity in order to save her people from Haman’s attacks. Fortunately, her request is honored by the King, who reverses the command, bringing power to the Judeans.

The Judeans at the beginning of the story somewhat resemble the Jewish immigrants of the early 20^th century who suppressed their heritage by assimilating in the new culture. At the end of the story, the Judeans somewhat resemble the Israelis who gained their own country in the 1940s and fight to protect it to this day. The amount of power that is given to the Judeans at the end of Megillat Esther seems to be a bit exaggerated, and Waldman suggests this also with the students who are hearing the story on pages 142 and 143. It would appear that the book of Esther was to some point edited to boost Jewish pride and nationalism.   

'Megillat Esther'

Thus far, I have enjoyed reading Megillat Esther. I find the idea of illustrating a Biblical story fascinating and somewhat creative. It is especially interesting that J.T. Waldman illustrates the Biblical text by chapter and verse. Oddly enough, I was not previously familiar with the book of Esther, and find the story to be new and exciting. It certainly has a good plot with interesting characters.

In addition to Waldman closely following the storyline of the Biblical text, I think it is important that it contains the Hebrew text. Waldman uses the text in interesting ways to frame scenes or add effect to the artwork as opposed to the typical page setup. As Hebrew is read from right to left, I am under the impression that the first half of the book is in ‘mirror image’ to accommodate the English text, and that the second half is in the original format. One thing that I wonder is whether the book was originally planned to have both languages. It almost seems like the English is added in white or open spaces.

I am looking forward to the rest of the story as written in both the Bible and in Waldman’s graphic novel. Esther seems like an interesting character and is put in quite a predicament as she has to save her people, but would risk her own position as queen in doing so. It will be interesting to see how the story plays out.

Review of 'Waltz with Bashir'

I quite enjoyed the movie Waltz with Bashir. It is based upon the 1982 Lebanon War, which I am not too familiar with. Despite this, the movie was not too hard to follow. I enjoyed the main character’s story of regaining his memories as well as the depictions of war in the film. I think there was a good mix of both. There are several things that I like about the movie. I wonder if there is a graphic novel form of it, and if it is in Hebrew and English.

One particularly interesting aspect of the movie is the psychological issues the main character faces. As a Psychology major, it was interesting for me to see how the character was affected by war. There is a bit of repressed memory as well as dissociation that occur as a result of the traumatizing massacre. I find it interesting that as the story progresses, and the character speaks with former comrades, his memory resurfaces bit by bit. It makes me want to do a little research on the topic of war trauma and psychology.

Another thing that I like is that the film is retained in Hebrew. I don’t find it annoying to have to read subtitles and this makes the film more realistic. Obviously Israelis would not be speaking English. In addition to this, I enjoyed the artwork of the film. It is amazing how realistic the movements of the characters are. This shows the artist’s attention to detail, also boosting credibility in a narrative such as this.

A Second Look at 'Jobnik!'

My opinion of Miriam Libicki’s Jobnik! changed considerably after the discussion in class on Wednesday. More specifically, the background information that was given at the beginning of class helped me to understand more of the references in Jobnik!. I feel that my lack of understanding of these references significantly affected my initial opinion of the book.

First, I did not know that Jobnik! was a collection of issues and not a one-shot graphic novel. This made me realize that there is more to the story than what I had read in this collection. For example the trip to Canada made more sense when considering it is only a small fraction of the entire story. It would be interesting to read more and see how the story continues.

Second, I did not realize much of the Israeli culture. I did not know that the military is so important to Israel and that people are required to serve for 2 years. This explains why so many young people were in the IDF and the seniority effect. I also didn’t know all of the reference to the Israel-Palestine conflicts that occurred around 2000. Not knowing this made the story a little more difficult to read. Additionally, the ‘Sabra’ ideal explains why the men are so gruff and unemotional at times.

Third, the stars scene did not really make sense to me at first. I thought it was just supposed to be artistic or something. After hearing that there was a similar picture drawn by a Jewish illustrator in the early 20^th century, this scene makes more sense. I found Miriam Libiki’s knowledge and respect for other artists quite interesting.  

My opinion changed after learning the background information for Jobnik!. I am still not a big fan of the book, but I understand it better and would be interested in seeing how it continues in further issues.

My Opinion of Jobnik?

I’m not really sure how I feel about Jobnik! at this point. I find the idea of an autobiographical graphic novel about a woman fighting in the Israeli army to be intriguing as well as original. However, I feel that this story would be more useful if it was looking at a woman’s relationships with male soldiers in general rather than looking at her intimate relationships with over-eager men. Somehow I get the feeling that I am not getting the whole picture of what it would be like as a woman soldier.

Another issue I have is that the dialogue in the first book is so unorganized. It seems that several people are talking at once, and I don’t know what is going on. This pattern seemed to decrease as Jobnik! progressed, but I often found it hard to keep up with the almost irrelevant shifts in the story. Most notable were her flashbacks in book five and the trip back home in book six. Perhaps I missed something in the story, but I really did not see how these fit in with the story.

While I have opinions on some things about the story and frankly do not understand other things, I do feel that there is potential for Libicki’s graphic novel. I am sure that I did not read into things as fully as I could have and that there are themes that I did not pick up. Hopefully the essays in The Jewish Graphic Novel will clear some of this up.

A Second Look at 'Rabbi's Cat'

After reading Paul Eisenstein’s article in The Jewish Graphic Novel, I was able to pick out a few major themes in Rabbi’s Cat. Something about professional essayists- they are always able to pick up on things like that. Anyway, one theme that I quickly identified in my own reading of the story was questioning tradition. Jewish tradition is definitely seen in Rabbi’s Cat and is most certainly challenged by the cat as well as the French Jews in the story.

Eisenstein argues that the cat can be seen as a nontraditional Jew. While this can be explained by the cat’s argument over his Jewish-ness with the rabbi, I think the main idea is that the cat (now able to speak) challenges the traditional beliefs of Judaism, held by both the rabbi and the ‘rabbi’s rabbi’.

The cat’s challenge of Jewish tradition in ‘Rabbi’s Cat’ reflects the issue of adaptability in modern-day religion. Tradition in general means rejection of new ideas and sometimes objects in order to keep religious belief and practice safe from corruption. I believe that through the challenges highlighted in the book by the cat, Joann Sfar is making the point that religion should not be dictated by the tradition of a paternal authority, but rather it should involve a personal interpretation. According to Sfar, without personal interpretation of Judaism and taking on new ideas and objects, the religion loses its authenticity. 

For the Love of Cats

As I started reading ‘Rabbi’s Cat’, I was wondering to myself what the message of the story would be. The story seems to revolve around the cat and his perspective on Jewish life in Algeria. At this point I thought maybe the author just loves cats and wants to write a story revolving around the cat. Once the cat started speaking I thought of a possible deeper meaning: the cat is a metaphor for humans and the fall to sin in Genesis.

Similar to Adam and Eve who desire to be like God, the cat desires to speak as the humans in the story do. He succeeds by eating the parrot- the forbidden fruit. Similar to the account in Genesis, the cat lives a life that is not what God intended, as the rabbi points out. The story started to have a meaning at this point, and I was interested in how it would play out. However, when the cat lost the ability to speak, I was confused. If he is a metaphor, how does this fit in? Was it God’s punishment for disobeying?

I am really not sure what the point of the cat speaking was or even the message of the story, but Joann Sfar does bring up some interesting religious topics. The cat debates with the rabbis on several issues and questions traditional beliefs held in Judaism, which reflects the questions that many people face in their religions. Also, Jules’ parents are very secular, but are still considered respectable people by the rabbi in the end of the book. This addresses the question of whether people can be ‘good’ in the eyes of God even without living piously.

Again, I am not sure what the message of the story is supposed to be. It could be a metaphor for the Genesis account, a reflection of modern critiques of religions, or a simple portrayal of life. In any case the story revolves around the cat, so I conclude that the Joann Sfar just loves his cat.

Surviving the Holocaust

As I read the second book of Maus, I thought about the accounts of a few Holocaust survivors. It seems that each one has a different explanation for how they survived the Holocaust. While there may be legitimate arguments for why people survive and others do not, it is also plausible to say that it is just random as the therapist in book II says. One thing that we do know is that the explanations of survival that many prisoners must have taken before they died are not known. 

The first account is Art’s father, Vladek. He did not elaborate much on his explanation except that he survived because he used his head. It was made apparent that throughout his story, he was clever in avoiding starvation and sickness. He takes on jobs as a tin man and a shoe maker in order to stay a valuable asset to the soldiers. Being smart is Vladek’s explanation for why he survived.

The second account is that of Victor Frankl. He received his Masters in Psychology in 1928, and was very observant of people’s behavior in the concentration camps. He misdiagnosed patients to save them from being exterminated. Along with this, he was taken to a concentration camp, had a near death experience with typhoid fever, and questioned whether life was worth living at times. His explanation for survival was hope. He hoped that his family, including his wife, was still alive. This, he argued, for many was why he survived.

The third account is that of the therapist’s in book II. He listens to Art speak about his father’s explanation of survival and discounts it saying that it was random who survived and who did not. This made me question the explanations of Vladek and Frankl. It is true that one can survive by being clever and also through the motivation of hope, but death was mostly out of their control at some point. What am I to think?

A Family Affair

Book II of Maus brings attention to the problem that children with aging parents must all face- who will take care of them? After Mala leaves Vladek, it is up to Art and Francoise to look after him. To their surprise, Vladek expects them to stay with him through the summer. Art makes it obvious several times in book II that he will not take his father in or stay with him indefinitely.

I believe that Art is unwilling to look after his father because of their tense relationship. If Vladek lives with Art, he will surely drive Art crazy. On the other hand, Art demonstrates his guilt towards abandoning his sick father in his conversations with his wife, Francoise. He realizes that he has an obligation to take care of his father, but has much anxiety about it.

In our society it is very unheard of for adult children to live with their parents. I think the reason for this is similar to Art’s reason for not wanting to take care of his father. Inevitably, there are going to be differing opinions and ways of doing things that will come up in a multi-generational family.  

This thought came to me when I got new neighbors a few years ago. The first generation was from Bangladesh, the second generation was from New York, and the third generation was born in Wisconsin. I often wondered how it would work for grandchildren to live with their parents and their grandparents together. I still have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, we as Americans value our independence on a very personal level. Living with more authority figures would impede this feeling of independence. However, a little more family support and involvement would certainly benefit a person. Not to mention, the house would be run more efficiently with more people living there.

Speigelman's Tragedy

One thing about Art Speigelman’s ‘Maus’ that has gotten my attention is the personal story of his mother’s suicide. Upon reading the section of Maus book 1 where Speigelman voices his feelings of guilt and frustration about the suicide, I realized that Art was deeply affected by the suicide. He apparently feels that he neglected his mother and her emotional needs. As a result, he feels depressed and imprisoned by the guilt. I found it fascinating that this section of the graphic novel was not illustrated with the use of mice. It almost seems like Speigelman was trying to emphasize that this was a personal tragedy aside from the Holocaust tale that his father tells.

Lisa Naomi Mulman addresses this theme in her article in ‘The Jewish Graphic Novel’. I agree with her statement that Art is troubled by the fact that he is unaware of his mother’s account of the tale. I think that Art is disappointed in himself that he had not spent more time with his mother. He clearly shows his frustration at the end of book 1, when he discovers that his father burned his mother’s diaries. To Art, the memories of his mother are seemingly lost forever.

 It is certainly easy to understand how Anna could feel depressed after enduring the tragedies of losing most of her family to the Holocaust. It is unfortunate that after surviving all of that Anna got so depressed that she felt she can’t go on, and committed suicide. This is definitely a thought provoking theme in the story.

Speigelman's Personal Account

So this is the first time that I have read Art Speigelman’s ‘Maus’ and I am quite impressed with it. The use of animals is a creative new idea for a graphic novel. It also does a decent job of portraying the events of the Holocaust. However, I find the personal narrative to be especially interesting. Speigelman’s perspective as the son of a Holocaust survivor gives the reader a new outlook on the event.

I noticed that there are big differences between Art and his father, Vladek. I assume this is mostly due to the cultural differences in their upbringings. Vladek was born and raised in Europe, and Art was born and raised in America. I’m also guessing that the Holocaust had much to do with the way that Vladek acts. He seems a little more cynical and complains a lot, while Art is more care-free and positive.

 I also noticed that there are some issues with the family. I feel that Vladek does not give enough attention to his son, Art, and his new wife, Mala. This is no doubt a result of his past and his first wife’s suicide. I am not sure at this point why she killed herself, but I suppose it will not be covered in the novel as it is a very personal matter to Speigelman.

As mentioned, I find the personal aspect of this narrative to be quite interesting. I especially like that it is from the perspective of a Holocaust survivor’s son. The account of the life of Vladek makes it easier to understand the events in the story and how they shaped his life.   

The Marvel Age of Comic Books

In the 1960’s Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created many successful comic book characters such as the Fantastic Four, Spiderman, and the X Men. This period of success was appropriately called the Marvel Age of comic books. The comics of the 60s were definitely based around the events of the decade such as the space race and the civil rights movement, and this is clearly shown through such characters as the Fantastic Four and the Black Panther. These events certainly made more interesting characters that more people could relate to. However, I believe that the real reason for Marvel’s success in the 60s was the development of its characters.

Before the 60s superheroes were pretty much just men in suits fighting crime. The characters were missing an important element-personality. Perhaps the closest hero to having personality was Batman who was very troubled by his parents’ death, and felt guilt for not being able to do anything about it. In the 60s, Marvel’s Lee and Kirby came up with dozens of characters who were fully developed in personality. Whether it is the Thing feeling down about being a monster or Johnny Storm showing off his flame tricks, the Fantastic Four had personality.

Most notably of Marvel’s characters is Spiderman. A teenage kid with superpowers, he feels compelled to fight crime after the guilt of not stopping his uncle’s killer. Aside from this, Peter Parker is a typical boy with problems in school and relationships. I believe Spiderman’s success was due to readers being able to relate well to Parker.

The X Men are similar to Spiderman in that people can relate to them. They are the perfect metaphor for any minority group that may feel like an outsider in the American society. Of course, the characters of the X Men later develop quite unique personalities, such as Professor Xavier and Magneto. This gives a more realistic explanation for why the two are enemies. Indeed, it is often hard to tell whether Magneto is the ‘bad guy’ once we learn his background.

I believe the development of superhero personality by Marvel’s Lee and Kirby in the 60s was the biggest contribution to their success in comic books. Along with character development, the duo reflected the events of the time in their storylines. Readers of the comics of the Marvel Age are definitely able to relate well to the superhero characters.  

The Jewish Influence on Comic Books

Upon reading Ari Kaplan's 'From Krakow to Krypton, I realized that many of the early comic book creators such as Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Bob Kane, Jack Kirby, and Stan Lee, were Jewish. At first I was surprised that I had not known that, but as I read more, it became clear that they had not publicised their religious affiliation due to Anti-semetic feelings that were common in 1930s America. In fact many of these men had gone so far as to change their name to avoid poor reception of their work.

The fact that the early comic book creators were Jewish apparently had an effect on their characters. One example that was given was the connection of Superman to a common Jewish immigrant. He came from another world where he had to escape persecution to a new world where he has to hide his identity and assimilate into the new culture. Though this is a good storyline for a super hero comic, it certainly does reflect the experience of a Jewish immigrant.

Other superheroes share a similar Jewish quality. The mythical Jewish creature, called Golem, is a superhuman being that saves helpless citizens from anti-semitic attack. While most superheroes were not based on this creature, they certainly do resemble him in one way or another. After all, a super hero comes to the rescue of those who cannot help themselves. This is further supported with the superhero involvement in World War II commonly seen in 1940s comics.

Finally, Stan Lee's character The Thing has some distinctly Jewish qualities. He is a Golem-like being. He comes from a neighborhood that faces bullying, and he is different than his fellow team mates. Many Jews could probably relate to The Thing's experience. At The Thing's creation in 1961, there was no intention of him being Jewish; however, he was further developed into a Jewish character in 2002.

Although the comic book creators of the Golden Age did not intend to have Judaism or Jewish experience influence their work, much of those themes can be seen in their characters. Superman and the Thing are two such characters. It seems that the creators put some of their own experiences into their character creations. In a way they vicariously show their Jewish-ness through their super hero characters reflecting one aspect of who they are. It is possible that the Jewish aspects in the comic books of the Golden and Silver ages helped America become more tolerant and understanding of Judaism.

The Super Man

I found the origins of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's Superman to be quite interesting. I always thought of creations like this to just suddenly come to its creators, but as Ari Kaplan explains in 'From Krakow to Krypton', it took many incarnations to finally arrive at the Superman character that we know today. As a matter of fact, Superman might not have ever caught on without the final incarnation.

The character of Superman was originally based on characters such as Buck Rogers and Tarzan. Then they made a supervillain character named Bill Dunn who gained powers with the help of a professor Earnest Smalley. The name Superman was acutally derived from Nietzsche's Ubermensch a man who has reached his peak intellectual and creative ability. Siegel and Shuster then decided to make Superman a super hero. The new incarnation was based on characters such as Doc Savage, Flash Gordon, and The Phantom. Superman actually reflected Flash Gordon in that he was an alien coming to Earth fighting human criminals rather than a human in outer space fighting aliens.

The most interesting thing that I learned is that originally Superman had no super powers. Nowadays, we see Superman as almost indestructable with several super powers. He's from another planet after all. I believe that Siegel and Shuster wanted to create a hero that everyday people could relate to especially during the depression. I think that the super powers were added later after the creators lost rights to their infamous character.

The Life of Will Eisner

After class on Wednesday, I was thinking a lot about how Will Eisner identifies himself through his graphic novels. He has an obvious link with Frimme in 'A Contract with God' as pointed out in his preface, and his subsequent novels reflect his life growing up the Bronx during the Great Depression. He even creates scenes in the novels that actually happened to him, such as the one with a young boy and his brother getting picked on by neighborhood kids.
Eisner shows a lot of his childhood in the graphic novels like 'A Contract with God', but he shows his connection to Judaism in later works. It is interesting to see how he defends and defines Judaism in graphic novels like 'Fagin the Jew', and 'The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'. These graphic novels show his dedication to the credibility and reputation of Judaism by defending characters that were otherwise misrepresented or misunderstood. I feel that Eisner shifted to more Jewish storylines because he wanted to contribute to Judaism as well as to the world of comics.
It is interesting for me as a Psychology major to see how so much of Eisner's life comes out in his work. I feel that most people show their personality and experiences in what they do whether it is intentional or not. He definitely shows his personality and religiousity within the storylines of the graphic novels. Perhaps this has a lot to do with why they are so highly acclaimed.

Will Eisner's 'A Contract with God'

      What surprised me about Will Eisner's 'A Contract with God' is that the storyline was not elaborately planned out but was instead a documentary of the environment in which Eisner grew up in the 1930s. This was a very interesting read for me as a Psychology major because I was able to see how the environment influenced him and how he represented himself in the story. For example, in the introduction, written by Eisner, he explains how he had lost his daughter similarly to Frimme Hersh. This made the novel almost autobiographical. There were some interesting themes in the graphic novel though.
      One theme that I found interesting was this idea of a contract with God in which He would bless or punish depending on behavior. This is a very deep theological topic that addresses the fairness and justice of a supreme being. It made me think quite a bit on the subject.
     Another theme of the graphic novel was telling the story of growing up in the Bronx during the Great Depression. As the introduction said, it shows the never ending struggle to prevail or survive. This was seen in almost every tale. The main character was down on luck and there was seemingly no way out.
    Another theme of the novel was male dominance. In almost every tale there was a case of a man taking advantage of a woman for personal gain or pleasure. Often times this also occurred as marital infidelity.
     The novel definitely addresses the ugly side of life growing up under such hard socioeconomic conditions. This reflects on what it was like for Eisner growing up in a Jewish community in the Bronx during that time.

My first Blog

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