Conventions

1111/11/23

I’m Going To Be on a Panel at JewCE Tomorrow!

I am NOT a morning person!

Nevertheless, at 10:00am tomorrow, Sunday November 12th, 2023, I’m going to be a panelist on a panel discussion called “Jewish Roots of the Comic Industry” at the Center for Jewish History at 15 West 16th Street in Manhattan.

The panel is part of JewCE, a Jewish-themed comics and pop culture event. My fellow panelists will be Roy Schwartz and Simcha Weinstein, and the moderator will be Danny Fingeroth. Hey, I know all of those people!

And aside from the “Jewish Roots of the Comic Industry” panel, there are a bunch of other wonderful panels happening on November 12th. You can find out more about them at the JewCE website.

Here’s the official description of the “Jewish Roots” panel, from the JewCE site:

Superman and Batman were created by the children of eastern European Jewish immigrants! So were the Avengers and the X-Men! And the genre of non-superhero graphic novels like Maus was also largely jumpstarted by creators of similar backgrounds. Today, Hebraic historians discuss the Jewish roots of comics, maybe, along the way, dispelling some of the creation myths that have been passed down through time. Join Arie Kaplan (From Krakow to Krypton), Roy Schwartz (Is Superman Circumcised?), Simcha Weinstein (Up, Up and Oy Vey!) and moderator Danny Fingeroth (Disguised as Clark Kent) as they dig deep into comics’ Genesis.

Hope to see you there!

And here’s some info on JewCE in general:

JewCE stands for the JEWISH COMICS EXPERIENCE. It’s the ultimate comics and pop culture event brought to you by the Center for Jewish History in New York City. JewCE is designed to be an inclusive convention, celebrating an industry largely created by Members of the Tribe, and promoting diverse Jewish narratives in comics & graphic novels. JewCE welcomes creators and pop culture fans from all walks of life.

 

 

 

 

162/16/22

Geek Girl Authority interview and John Wilkes Booth humor piece

Here are some things you might not know about me:

  • When I was a very young child, I thought The Count (from Sesame Street) was Jewish because he talked like my maternal grandmother.
  • When my daughter Aviya was a baby, I used to hold her horizontally and pretend she was a tommy gun and that I was using her to obliterate mobsters in the 1920s. See, her legs were the butt of the gun, and her arms were the trigger, and um…Please don’t call Child Protective Services.
  • One time, I formed a boy band with some of my fellow MAD Magazine writers. (Well, more of a “man band,” because we were all adults…technically.) We assigned roles to everyone, because the people in boy bands always have roles, e.g. the leader, the romantic one, the cute one, etc. My role? The sexy weirdo.
  • According to my wife Nadine, the other day I talked in my sleep. I got up (still asleep), stood by the foot of the bed, and yelled, “There should be more comedy concerts!” And I’d just like to say: Sorry, sleepwalking-and-sleeptalking Arie, there’s still a pandemic going on. So there are limits on live indoor entertainment for now!
  • Speaking of the pandemic, one of the things I’ve missed about the pandemic is attending comic book conventions in person. One thing I don’t miss? Being asked by random strangers whether I was cosplaying as Rick Moranis in Ghostbusters, which honestly has happened too many times for me to count. For the record: No, not cosplaying as anyone. This is just what I look like.

Now, I didn’t talk about any of those things when Rebecca Kaplan (no relation) interviewed me for Geek Girl Authority. But here are some of the things I DID talk about in that interview:

Yup, I discuss all four of those writing projects in that interview, which you can read HERE.

Also, just in time for Presidents’ Day, I wrote a humor piece called “Other Catchphrases John Wilkes Booth Considered Before ‘Sic Semper Tyrannis!’” It was published on Weekly Humorist. Check it out!

 

 

 

 

 

1910/19/21

2021 Interviews With Yours Truly!

Last month, I was interviewed by Rebecca Kaplan (no relation) for the geek culture site Comics Bookcase. During the interview, I talked about my career as a comic book writer and children’s author.

Around that same time, I was a guest on Jeramy Moore’s Storymakers podcast. This was a wide-ranging interview about my writing career.

And, just in case you missed them, here are some other press interviews with yours truly from earlier this year:

For Jurassic June (which happened in – wait for it – June), I was interviewed by Thomas Fishenden for the Jurassic Park Podcast. In this interview, I talked about the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World children’s books I’ve written. That interview was broken up into two parts. Part one is here, and part two is here.

In March, as part of WonderCon 2021, I was on a virtual panel that attempted to answer the question: “Who’s the most neurotic superhero?” The other panelists were Travis Langley, Leandra Parris, J.J. Sedelmeier, and R. Sikoryak. The panel was moderated by Danny Fingeroth. 

Also in March, David P. Levin hosted a panel discussion on his Pop Goes the Culture show to discuss the Disney Plus series WandaVision. I was one of the panelists. The other panelists were Danny Fingeroth, Ray Alma, Steve Van Patten, Adam Freeman, and special guest Fred Melamed, who played Vision’s boss in WandaVision.

And last but definitely not least, in February, I was a guest on the MulDiversity podcast, where I was interviewed by Jonita Davis, Mike Majett, Quamani Greer, Avia Knighten, Aaron M. Johnson, and Keisha Malone. During the interview, we discussed my career in comics, my work as a television comedy writer, and more.

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