Daily Archives: 01/14/2009

Looks like Canadians also went ga-ga for Obama Amazing Spider-Man comic.

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Amazing Spider-Man 583 (Obama Variant)

Spider-Man Comic Book Starring Barack Obama Sells Out In 20 Mins. In T.O.
Courtesy of CityTV News

Before I run the quote from CityTV — some background:

Reports are coming in from all over the US that people were lining up at their local comic shop this morning to be among the first to get their copy of Amazing Spider-Man 583, which features Spider-Man saving the President-Elect from assassins at his inauguration ceremony. In the end Obama and Spider-Man meet.

Of course, this really has nothing to do with Canadian comics at all, no – the Canadian connection comes in the form of the reports emerging from the Canadian media (such as CityTV) that Canadians, or at least Torontonians, were also swept up in the excitement over this new release:

It went on sale in Toronto on Wednesday, but it didn’t stay on store shelves for long. The comic sold out at the Silver Snail on Queen St. W. in about 20 minutes, after many people waited in the bitter cold to ensure they got their copy.

Maurie Sherman was one of the first in line. “It’s a little piece of history to have something with the coolest president we’ve ever had in it,” he explains. “I mean Obama’s like the coolest guy ever … I mean he seems that way, anyway.”

Well… he’s not really OUR president Mr. Sherman, seeing as we live in Canada and we have a completely different system of government and a Prime Minister, but one can’t begrudge the excitement that any popular release, whipped into a frenzy by the media, can do to help Canadian comics retailers in an otherwise quiet January Wednesday.

On a side note, it is kind of odd that there’s very little mention in the media of the fact that DC Comics character Batman dies in the final pages of Final Crisis #6 (no doubt to return again), which also came out today. Then again, they ran the story that he had died last month in the last issue of the Batman R.I.P storyline and DC has spent the last month trying to explain that he didn’t. So one can understand the confusion there.

UPDATE: Jason just reminded me that the highly prized Obama variant cover was coloured by Canadian colourist Chris Chuckry, so there is a Canadian connection after all!

In the news: Graphic novels take on anti-Semitism and the Holocaust

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Courtesy of: The Canadian Jewish News
By SHLOMO SCHWARTZBERG, Special to The CJN

The continuing rise in popularity of graphic novels has seen all manner of subject matter examined within their pages, including numerous books on Jewish issues and themes.

Among the best-known graphic novels are Israeli novelist Rutu Modan’s award-winning Exit Wounds; James Sturm’s The Golem’s Mighty Swing, a fascinating portrait of a Jewish baseball team touring rural America in the 1920s; and Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Holocaust parable Maus. And, of course, the many Jewish-flavoured novels of the late Will Eisner, including A Contract with God, Dropsie Avenue and Fagin the Jew, are well-known.

Two recent graphic novels, Judenhass (Aardvark Vanaheim) and Good-bye Marianne: The Graphic Novel (Tundra Books), tackle anti-Semitism and the Holocaust with differing results.

The article goes on to review Dave Sim’s Judenhass and Kathryn E. Shoemaker’s adaptation of Irene Watts’ young adult book Good-bye Marianne: The Graphic Novel in greater detail.

The 5th Annual Joe Shuster Awards: Saturday, June 27, 2009.

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The date has finally been confirmed and set:  Saturday, June 27th, 2009 is the presentation date for the 5th Annual Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards.

The awards will once again be presented at the Toronto Public Library’s Lillian H. Smith Branch Auditorium, 239 College Street, Toronto, Ontario.

Toronto Public Library's Lillian H. Smith Branch, home of the Merrill Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy

Toronto Public Library's Lillian H. Smith Branch, home of the Merrill Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy

Current plans are to continue the 2008 tradition of having a “Sequential Art Symposium” during the day — including Canadian comics industry related talks and a modest artist alley for attending Canadian creators to display and sell their work, as well as this year’s Visions of an Icon: Wolverine Art Gallery show.

Headlines: Exhibits explore role of Jews in comic book genre

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Source: The Globe & Mail

ERIC TUCKER
Associated Press
January 14, 2009

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — In the 1930s, amid the Great Depression and Nazi Germany, Cleveland writer Jerry Siegel and Toronto artist Joe Shuster conceived an iconic superhero with rippling biceps, long-flowing cape, impeccably coifed hair and a virtuous calling to stamp out evil.

Superman may not be Jewish like his creators, but some scholars, comic book historians and rabbis see the superhero and his introverted alter ego Clark Kent as subtly influenced by the authors’ heritage and informed by themes of assimilation and conflicted cultural identities.

Two related exhibits at Brown University explore the seminal role of Jews in the comic book genre, including the founders of satirical Mad magazine and the creators of Superman, Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, Batman and Captain America. The displays also include contemporary illustrators such as Art Spiegelman, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for his Holocaust-inspired comic Maus.

To read the rest of the article, follow the link above.