Arie
I’ll Be at JewCE (Version 2024) TOMORROW!
Tomorrow, Sunday November 10th, I’ll be appearing at JewCE: The Jewish Comics Experience. JewCE is a Jewish-themed comics and pop culture event, and it’s happening at the Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues, in Manhattan.
I’ll be a panelist on two panel discussions at JewCE:
From 11:30am-12:30pm, I’ll be on a panel called “American (Jewish) Splendor: Celebrating Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner,” which will take place in the main auditorium (aka the Leo And Julia Forchheimer Auditorium). Aside from myself, the other panelists are Dean Haspiel, Josh Neufeld, Jeff Newelt, Peter Kuper, and Danny Fingeroth, who will be moderating.
And then, from 1:00-2:00pm, I’ll be on a panel called “Exploring Jewish Humor in Comics,” which will take place in the Kovno-Shavl Room. Aside from yours truly, the other panelists for this one will be Chari Pere, Hilary Price, Terry LaBan, and Uri Fink. Jenny Caplan will be moderating.
For more info on both panels, go HERE.
When I’m not on those panels, I’ll have a table in the Artists Alley section of the convention, where I’ll be signing copies of my new graphic novel, The Day I Became a Potato Pancake, which was written by me and illustrated by Beilin Xu. For a floor plan of the venue, and to find out where (specifically) you can find me, go HERE.
Also, after the convention proper (which ends at 5pm), I’ll be presenting an award at the JewCE Awards, which begins at 6:30pm. For more info on the JewCE Awards, go HERE.
Oh, and in case you’re interested, HERE is my “convention speaker” bio on the JewCE site.
Hope to see you there!
(And if all of this sounds familiar, it’s because I also appeared on a panel at JewCE last year (in 2023), which was the first year of the event’s existence.)
It’s the Danny & Arie Show on “Dollar Bin Bandits”!
Not long ago, my friend Danny Fingeroth and I were both guests on the “Dollar Bin Bandits” podcast, where host Oren Phillips spoke to us about the history of Jews in the comic book industry. Danny and I are both experts on that topic (since we’ve both written books on it), and we had a wonderful time talking to Oren about the impact and legacy of legendary Jewish comic book creators like Will Eisner, Stan Lee, and Jack Kirby. I think it made for a really fun episode of “Dollar Bin Bandits.”
Oh, and did I mention that the episode is out NOW? Because it IS! You can check out the episode right this very minute, on YouTube and all podcast platforms. HERE is the YouTube (video) version.
And you can listen to the Apple Podcasts version of the episode HERE.
“The Day I Became a Potato Pancake” Is Out NOW!
What if – by some miracle of modern science – you were transformed into a walking, talking, sentient potato pancake? How would it affect your relationships with other people? How would it affect your rapport with your best friend? That’s the premise of The Day I Became a Potato Pancake, a Hanukkah-themed graphic novel which was written by yours truly and illustrated by the incredible Beilin Xu.
And today is the book birthday of The Day I Became a Potato Pancake, because that book was published TODAY by Behrman House!
Here’s what Publisher’s Weekly said about this book: “This speculative, character-focused graphic novel highlights aspects of Jewish identity and culture through multiple lenses to craft a goofy yet nuanced read.”
Read the full PW review HERE.
The Day I Became a Potato Pancake also appeared on a recent Publisher’s Weekly list of Jewish Holiday Books for Children.
And it’s mentioned in Booklist’s Fall Youth Preview for 2024.
Here’s the official publisher description of the book:
A fun-packed graphic novel with Hanukkah-themed, science fiction adventure.
Naomi and her best friend Ben love playing with the cool inventions Naomi’s scientist mother always works on, like the holographic simulation room where they can fight dinosaurs. One day, using special finger-print copying gloves, she and Ben break into her mom’s top-secret lab (otherwise known as the garage) to see what other cool stuff they might find. There they find a device called the Transfogram, an experimental machine that transforms you into whatever you’re thinking about at the moment. While eating potato pancakes, Ben reaches for the button to see what it does– and next thing he knows, he’s transformed into a life-size walking, talking potato pancake!
While Naomi’s mom finally concocts an antidote, Ben discovers that he enjoys being the center of attention at school, and he delays changing back to a human. But the clock is running out and if he doesn’t take the antidote soon, he’ll remain a potato pancake forever.
To make matters worse, there’s a mysterious figure watching Ben’s every move. It’s an alien, called a Dreideltopian, who collects Hanukkah-themed objects from around the galaxy for his museum, and now he wants to collect Ben!
To order The Day I Became a Potato Pancake on Amazon, go HERE.
And to order the book on the Behrman House site, go HERE.