graphic and comic torahs are fruitful, multiply

8142019 Graphic and Comic Torahs Are Fruitful Multiply

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullgraphic-and-comic-torahs-are-fruitful-multiply 16

9831549831419831581048681983141983159983155 173

1048625 See Joseph Witek Comic Books as History The Narrative Art of

Jack Jackson Art Spiegelman and Harvey Pekar (Jackson UniversityPress of Mississippi 983089983097983096983097)

1048626 See for example Stephen Houston and Karl Taube ldquoAn Archaeology of the Senses Perception and Cultural Expression in

Ancient Mesoamericardquo Cambridge Archaeological Journal 983089983088 no 983090(983090983088983088983088) 983090983094983089ndash983097983092 for a discussion of speech balloons or bubbles andtheir medieval (or earlier) origins in a European context

1048627 Douglas Rushko852070f Testament Akedah (New York DC Comics983090983088983088983094) 983093

Graphic and Comic Torahs Are Fruitful Multiply

Although a life poring over biblical manuscripts ina monastic setting in the Middle Ages might haveexposed one to illuminated illustrations of biblicalscenes it is not the case today that intensive Old

Testament study cultivates visual literacy This holdstrue despite the fact that the current era is de1048678983145ned bythe proliferation of digital and social media and readyaccess to libraries of images and other content thatdwarfs even the great Library of Alexandria in size That

the study halls of yeshivas and Protestant theologicalseminaries are packed with able-minded scholars whoare not art a1048678983145cionados is not troubling per se but itdoes mean that there may be few who have developed

imagination for biblical choreography even at the toplevels of scholarship There are too many rabbinicalstudents I think who can recite medieval commentar-ies by heart but have never asked themselves aboutthe color of Abrahamrsquos cloak or Deborahrsquos height On

Passover the Haggadah charges Seder participants toproject themselves into the biblical narrative and toimagine themselves as if leaving Egypt literally whichis surely the domain of biblical theater I wonder how well that can be achieved without delving deep into the

Biblical text with some kind of artistic templateOne modern genre that aims to inspire the imagi-

nation is biblical-themed cartoons comic books andgraphic novels If William Blakersquos chapel has ldquoThou

shalt notrdquo inscribed over the door biblical comicstripsmdashwhat Joseph Witek calls ldquopreachiesrdquo1048625mdashhavecartoon bubbles written over their doorposts Althoughthat might appear sacrilegious the Bible actually lendsitself to conversation bubbles very well1048626 and many

medieval manuscript depictions of New Testament

scenes as well as Hebrew illuminated manuscriptsincorporate speech indicators that anticipate the car-toon balloon form ldquoThe Bible may have actually beenbetter o852070f as a comic bookrdquo begins Douglas Rushko852070f in

his controversial introduction to his graphic novel1048627The Testament series which was illustrated by Liam

Sharp and includes re983142983148ections on West of Eden Babel and Exodus integrates both biblical and futuristic narra-tives The introduction to Akeidah Genesis 983090983090 mdash which

invokes ldquoso-called men of Godrdquo ldquophony politiciansrdquoand ldquoscripture-thumping mind controllersrdquomdashlocatesthe almost alchemical transformation of the Bible froma ldquosacred documentrdquo to a mass-produced book around

the time of the invention of the printing press ldquoNolonger dependent on a centralized priesthood for theholy word people read the Bible for themselves devel-oped their own opinions and reinvented Christianityas Protestantismrdquo (983093) Rushko852070f writes Just as many

clergymen were unhappy to lose control over the Biblepost-Gutenberg Rushko852070f says that after presentingthe Bible as an open-source collaboration he has hadhis own run-ins with ldquofundamentalists of more than

one religionrdquo who ldquojust didnrsquot want their story messed withmdasheven though I had been able to prove it was written with that very intentrdquo (983093)

It is worth quoting Rushko852070f at length because theposition he stakes out and the boundary he navigates

between biblical comic interpretation and blasphemyis at the heart of the entire biblical comic mediummdash

which at 1048678983145rst blush forces a sacred text into one ofthe most colloquial and limiting of languages ldquoIrsquomnot bashing the Bible at all Irsquom actually attempting to

restore its integrity as perhaps the most transcendentnarrative ever developed If just a few people wouldtruly read these stories we wouldnrsquot be led around

copy Koninklijke Brill NV Leiden 983090983088983089983091 IMAGES 983094 Also available onlinemdashbrillcomima DOI 983089983088983089983089983094983091983089983096983095983089983096983088983088983088-983089983090983091983092983088983088983089983096

R Crumb The Book of Genesis New York W W Norton amp Company 983090983088983088983097 983090983090983092 pp $983090983095983097983093

Aaron Freeman and Sharon Rosenzweig The Comic Torah Reimagining the Very Good Book TeaneckNew Jersey Ben Yehuda Press 983090983088983089983088 983089983090983096 pp $983090983094983094983088

Tom Gauld Goliath Montreal Quebec Drawn amp Quarterly 983090983088983089983090 983097983094 pp $983089983097983097983093

Sheldon Mayer (story) and Joe Kubert and Nestor Redondo (art) The Bible New York DC Comics983090983088983089983090 983095983090 pp $983090983097983097983097



174 9831549831419831581048681983141983159983155

like zombies anymorerdquo Rushko852070f writes ldquoThe Bible hasbeen intentionally framed as a dry and sanctimonious

tome just to keep thinking people from getting near itIn reality itrsquos powerfully dangerous stu852070f the ultimate

handbook for psychic revoltrdquo (983094)Many will disagree with Rushko852070f rsquos characteriza-

tion of the Bible as dry and zombie-inducing and thesuggestion that some of historyrsquos greatest religious com-mentators are anything other than ldquothinking peoplerdquois as unfair to Maimonides as it is to Augustine Inhis chapter ldquoCartoons and Comicsrdquo in Mark Roncace

and Patrick Grayrsquos Teaching the Bible through Popular

Culture and the Arts Dan W Clanton Jr describescomics as a ldquowonderful pedagogical toolrdquo to teach theBible1048628 ldquoComic art can assist in the teaching of biblicalcontent because in the process of rendering a biblical

text for the purposes of humor a cartoonist will ofteneither reinforce or subtly change the textrsquos contentrdquo1048629he writes Though he is referring more to newspaperfunnies than artsy graphic novels like Rushko852070f rsquos1048630

Clantonrsquos point can be applied to Rushko852070f rsquos mediumtoo which also reinforces and subtlymdashor in Rushko852070f rsquoscase not so subtlymdashchanges the content

Although biblical comicsmdashwhich are cataloguedin the Library of Congress under multiple headingsldquoBiblemdashcartoons and comicsrdquo ldquoBible NT Actsmdashcartoons and comicsrdquo ldquoBible storiesmdashcartoons and

comicsrdquo ldquoBible storiesmdashNTmdashcartoons and comicsrdquoand ldquoBible storiesmdashOTmdashcartoons and comicsrdquomdashare hardly new it is a particularly exciting time forthe medium1048631 In these new graphic novels and comicbooks there is nothing short of a ldquographic re-invention

of the novel as a radical re-statement of Jewish artisticidentityrdquo writes Ori Soltes in ldquoSports and the GraphicNovel from Diaspora to Diaspora James Strumrsquos The

Golemrsquos Mighty Swing and JT Waldmanrsquos Megillat

Esther in the Tree of Contextsrdquo1048632 But Soltesrsquos diagno-

sis aside it is worth noting that biblical comics andgraphic novels are totally absent from Paul Buhlersquos

Jews and American Comics An Illustrated History ofan American Art Form1048633 and from Matthew Baigellrsquos American Artists Jewish Images10486251048624 Baigellrsquos Jewish Art

in America An Introduction10486251048625 devotes three pages tographic novels but does not mention biblical themes within the medium and although Simcha WeinsteinrsquosUp Up And Oy Vey 10486251048626 views superheroes like Batman

1048628 Mark Roncace and Patrick Gray Teaching the Bible Through Popular Culture and the Arts (Atlanta Society of Biblical Literature983090983088983088983095) Robert Koops observes that comic book scriptures canhelp readers get beyond the printed text to the original authorrsquos vision in ldquoWhen Moses Meets Dilbert Similarity and Di852070ference inPrint Audio and Comic-strip Versions of the Biblerdquo in Similarity

and Di983142ference in Translation Proceedings of the International

Conference on Similarity and Translation ed Stefano Arduini andRobert Jr Hodgson (Bible House New York City May 983091983089ndashJune 983089983090983088983088983089) 983089983094983097ndash983090983088983088

1048629 Dan W Clanton Jr ldquoCartoons and Comicsrdquo in Roncace andGray Teaching the Bible 983091983091983088

1048630 It is not unusual to 1048678983145nd religion treated in a humorous wayDonald B Lindsey and John Heeren note in ldquoWhere the Sacred

Meets the Profane Religion in the Comic Pagesrdquo Revi ew of Religious Research 983091983092 no 983089 (September 983089983097983097983090) 983094983091ndash983095983095 But there isa ldquoseeming paradoxrdquo in those depictions the authors note becausereligion is generally a sobering rather than entertaining or come-dic enterprise Biblical cartoons however can present a ldquokind ofshorthand communication between author and audiencerdquo theynote ldquoIn this sense placing moderns in Biblical situations com-mentary on current events as well as on our distinctly modernconsciousnessrdquo (983095983093)

1048631 In May 983090983088983089983090 DC comics reprinted the 983089983097983095983093 comic The Bibleand in March 983090983088983089983090 Drawn amp Quarterly published Goliath The Bookof Genesis was published by W W Norton amp Company in October983090983088983088983097 and Ben Yehuda Press released The Comic Torah Reimagining

the Very Good Book in October 983090983088983089983088 Some comics and graphicnovelsmdashsuch as Rob Suggsrsquos The Comic Book Bible (Uhrichsville

Ohio Barbour Books 983089983097983097983095) and Earnest Graham and Shirley SmithGrahamrsquos The Unlikely Chosen A Graphic Novel Translation of

the Biblical Books of Jonah Esther and Amos (New York SeaburyBooks 983090983088983088983096)mdashare just north of the stylized cartoons of The Little Midrash Says (Brooklyn Benei Yakov Publications 983089983097983096983095) in termsof their professionalism But others dig far deeper than merekitsch In the latter category are M C Gainesrsquo Picture Stories from

the Bible The Old Testament in Full-Color Comic-Strip Form (New York Ktav 983089983097983092983091) Megillat Esther by J T Waldman (Philadelphia Jewish Publication Society 983090983088983088983094) and the 983089983097983096983095 Outrageous Tales

from the Old Testament (London Knockout Publications) whichcollects the works of Arthur Ranson Donald Rooum Dave Gibbons Alan Moore Hunt Emerson Neil Gaiman Mike Matthews JulieHollings Peter Rigg and Dave McKean Slightly less mature and

ambitious are The Action Bible (Colorado Springs David C Cook983090983088983089983088) edited by Doug Mauss and illustrated by Sergio Carielloand Sikursquos The Manga Bible From Genesis to Revelation (ColoradoSprings WaterBrook Press 983090983088983088983096)

1048632 Leonard J Greenspoon ed Jews in the Gym Judaism Sportsand Athletics (West Lafayette Purdue University Press 983090983088983089983090) 983090983093

1048633 Paul Buhle Jews and American Comics An Illustrated History

of an American Art Form (New York The New Press 983090983088983088983096)10486251048624 Matthew Baigell American Artists Jewish Images (Syracuse

Syracuse University Press 983090983088983088983094)10486251048625 Matthew Baigell Jewish Art in America An Introduct ion

(Lanham Rowman amp Little1048678983145eld Publishers Inc 983090983088983088983095)10486251048626 Simcha Weinstein Up Up And Oy Vey (Baltimore Leviathan

Press 983090983088983088983094)



9831549831419831581048681983141983159983155 175

and Superman as stand-ins for biblical characters likeMoses Weinstein does not address graphic novels or

comic books that trace biblical narratives literallyIf there seems to be a gap in the scholarship on the

topic Soltes is one of the few who takes the mediumseriously The ldquopeople of the textrdquo can double as the

ldquopeople of the imagerdquo Soltes argues in his essay In Waldmanrsquos work on the book of Esther Soltes noticesan interesting and chaotic interplay between theHebrew and English textsmdasha biblical ping-pong matchSince not all of the original Hebrew text is translated

into English there are places where the graphic novelallows the comic characters to o852070fer parts of the Englishnarrative instead of just a straightforward translationldquoMoreover the involvement of the reader is intensi1048678983145edby Waldmanrsquos swaying interweave of passages from

the story with passages commenting on the story thatreinforce the notion that it is part of a larger narrativerdquoSoltes writes ldquoSo we step out of the text by seeing oth-ers reading and reacting to itrdquo (983092983089)

A somewhat parallel interpretation surfaces in TomGauldrsquos Goliath which imagines the giant Philistinechampion as a bookish paci1048678983145st deserter rather than aparticularly heroic and larger than life warrior Giventhe opportunity Gauldrsquos Goliath would rather push

papers than wield a shield and spear but he is throwninto the position of biblical trash-talker and intimidatoragainst his will David does not seem to get the jokehowever and the novel ultimately stays largely true to

the original book at least in terms of its ultimate nar-rative trajectory Throughout the text Gauld oscillatesbetween biblical text and his own invented words buthe is careful to distinguish between the two by usingserif font for biblical passages that he transcribes and

sans serif for his textual adaptationsThat is a decision that Joe Kubert and Nestor

Redondo also make in their Bible illustrations wheredivine words from the bible appear in red text o852070fsetby yellow highlighting Unlike Gauld however Kubert

and Redondo do not make a clear distinction betweentexts of their own invention and those which they haveborrowed from the original text The only passages thatthe artists single out are the divine utterances which

means for example that Adamrsquos invented declarationldquoWhat names shall I give these creatures Deer Birds Rabbits Foxes There are manyrdquo is givenequal treatment to ldquoIn the beginning God created the

heaven and the earth The earth was without form And was emptyrdquo The graphic novel includes analysisthat ties biblical passages to archeological discoveries

and it also o852070fers a fresh narratorrsquos perspective as in

ldquoBeyond the sight of their mother and father Cainstruck Abel a mortal blow in a 1048678983145t of rage Thus occurredthe 1048678983145rst murder To be executed again and againthrough manrsquos bloody history upon this earthrdquo10486251048627

In husband-and-wife duo Freeman and RosenzweigrsquosComic Torah by contrast there is no mistaking theauthorsrsquo words for the biblical text When Godmdashwhois incidentally green-skinnedmdashorders Abraham tocircumcise himself and his household Abraham

shown fearfully eying the knife begs ldquoCouldnrsquot I justpinky swearrdquo Told to sacri1048678983145ce Isaac the sweating Abraham wonders ldquoCouldnrsquot I just limit his internetrdquo

The authors envision the green-skinned YHWH (thatrsquosher name and she doesnrsquot answer to Sally she says)launching the 983142983148ood by switching a pipe valve whileswimming in scuba gear but even in that creativeinterpretation of the original biblical tale Freemanand Rosenzweig illustrate the water pouring in from

heavenly windows no doubt a reference to arubot ha-

shamayim from Genesis 983095983089983089On the 1048678983145rst page of the graphic novel the authors

draw themselves waist-deep in yellow primordial ooze

(the tohu and vohu of Genesis 983089983090 perhaps) within aTorah scroll Rosenzweig holds the female and green-skinned YHWH (identi1048678983145ed by her name tagged on hergreen dress) in her palm YHWH who has clearly justbeen createddrawn by the authors demands ldquoHey

Irsquom God Why am I a womanrdquo To which Freemanechoing various Kabbalistic accounts replied ldquoThelsquodivine presencersquo is widely recognized as femininerdquoldquoGuess Irsquom widely recognized as green too huhrdquocomes YHWHrsquos snarky reply Rosenzweig o852070fers the

enigmatic explanation ldquoIt was an artistic choice Whydid you make the sky bluerdquo The response is coymdashand not unlike Godrsquos ldquoexplanationrdquo to Job which lays

a biblical precedent for Jews responding to questions with further inquiriesmdashbut that does not minimize theimpact of the artistic decision which recalls Indian-born Jewish painter Siona Benjaminrsquos decision to paintherself as a blue-skinned woman to symbolize her ownldquoOthernessrdquo as a Bene Israel Jew as well as a Jew of

color But Freeman and Rosenzweigrsquos green-skinnedgoddess is further complicated by their decision to

10486251048627 Kubert it should be noted is also author and illustrator ofYossel April 983089983097 983089983097983092983091 (New York DC Comics 983090983088983088983091) a graphic novel which tells the tale of the (invented) Holocaust victim Yossel who

manages for a time to save his life by amusing Nazi o8520701048678983145cers withhis drawings



176 9831549831419831581048681983141983159983155

add other gods and goddesses to the mix Zeus identi-1048678983145ed as a fellow god of YHWHrsquos with whom she seeks

counsel has gold skin as does a Shiva-like character An Egyptian god that YHWH spanks with a Torah scroll

in a section on Exodus 983089983088983089 to 983089983091983089983094 has even darkergreen skin than YHWHrsquos It is clear that the authors

did not want YHWHrsquos skin (which is the kind of color James Joyce might have called ldquosnot greenrdquo) to be toounlike that of her fellow gods and goddesses but itrsquos anelement they wanted to draw attention to The notionof showing an origin myth so to speak for YHWH

within the context of the graphic novel is very innova-tive however R Crumb talks about being respectfulin his introduction to Genesis but the looming realitythroughout his book is that he has drawn God Freemanand Rosenzweig address that potentially-blasphemous

(and perhaps Second-Commandment-violating) notionof drawing God by depicting themselves in conversa-tion with YHWH and by invoking the artistic licenseof coloring YHWHrsquos skin green

In other respects Freeman and Rosenzweig aretruer to Midrashic texts such as those that cast Rebeccaas a very young girl The Rebecca of Comic Torah is achild but so is Isaac who although thirty-seven yearsold wears only a diaper (1048678983145g 983089) And so it goes Jacob

struggles with a sumo wrestler of an angel JosephrsquosEgyptian analyst tells him to invest long on cattle andgrain and when Godmdashappearing from the burningbushmdashshows Moses the sign of spontaneous leprosy

on his hand God jokes to the (black) Moses ldquoHahaTheyrsquoll think yoursquore turning into a white guyrdquo Butlater on in the narrative when God is telling Moses atMount Sinai about how the Jews will rebel the pun-ishment ldquoIrsquoll turn against you Your enemies will rule

over yourdquo shows a man who looks suspiciously likeHassan Nasrallah wearing a ke8520701048678983145yeh around his neckThe Nasrallah-1048678983145gure rides on Mosesrsquos back and waves abanner that states ldquoMission accomplishedrdquo This is notthe only modern reference in the book Joshua is cast as

Barack Obama (his poster screams ldquoYes We Can-aanrdquo)and when the earth opens up and swallows Korah andcompany therersquos a Confederate 983142983148ag conspicuouslyattached to one of the evildoerrsquos tents Albert Einstein

becomes the angel who teaches Jacob how to swindleLaban out of his 983142983148ock by orchestrating a growingpopulation of striped lambs Even Goyarsquos Two Women

Eating (983089983096983090983089ndash983090983091 Museo del Prado Madrid) makes an

appearance in the context of the curses delivered inDeuteronomy 983090983094983089 to 983090983097983096

Although Rosenzweig and Freeman pick and choose

which biblical stories to depict Comic Torah generally

follows the chronology of the biblical narrative evenas it embeds contemporary references and perspec-tives It may not have been what the Talmudic termshakla ve-taryamdashthe ldquogive and takerdquo of traditional

ldquolearningrdquomdashimagined but the graphic novelrsquos wrestling with the text has more of biblical exegesis in it than itdoes Torah depiction or replication Like the genre ofcreative non-1048678983145ction biblical memoirsmdashpopularizedperhaps by Anita Diamantrsquos The Red Tent 10486251048628mdashbiblical

comics and graphic novels can revolutionize the wayreaders respond to the Bible10486251048629 But unlike literarybiblical memoirs comics and graphic novels can add

visual nuance to the Bible and make it even morecontemporary and relevant

It is clear from even a cursory glance at Comic Torah that Freeman and Rosenzweig are playfully toying withthe text but they embed just enough sobering andmature references to assure readers that their project

involves both biblical interpretation and humor Thatis very di852070ferent from R Crumbrsquos tone in The Book of

Genesis In his introduction Crumb assures readers thathe has to the best of his ability reproduced the original

text faithfully ldquoIn a few places I ventured to do a littleinterpretation of my own if I thought the words couldbe made clearer but I refrained from indulging toooften in such lsquocreativityrsquo and sometimes let it stand inits convoluted vagueness rather than monkey around

with such a venerable textrdquo10486251048630 he writes Where workslike Comic Torah certainly ldquomonkey aroundrdquo with theBible Crumb exhibits an unusual reverence for theBiblemdashat least in the graphic novel world ldquoEveryother comic book version of the Bible that Irsquove seen

contains passages of completely made-up narrative anddialoguerdquo he writes ldquoin an attempt to streamline andlsquomodernizersquo the old scriptures and still these various

comic book bibles all claim to adhere to the belief thatthe Bible is lsquothe word of Godrsquo I believe it is the wordsof menrdquo When some readers are inevitably o852070fendedby the book Crumb asks them to remember that hetreated the work like ldquoa straight illustration job withno intention to ridicule or make visual jokesrdquo

Crumbrsquos book which stars God as an old man witha 983142983148owing white beard does not shy away from the

10486251048628 Anita Diamant The Red Tent (New York Picador 983089983097983097983095)10486251048629 See for example Menachem Wecker ldquoBiblical Memoirs

Cutting Edge or Old Hatrdquo Jewish Daily Forward March 983092 983090983088983088983093

10486251048630 Crumbrsquos book does not have page numbers



9831549831419831581048681983141983159983155 177

Fig 983089 ldquoThe Really Big Askrdquo From Aaron Freeman and Sharon Rosenzweig The Comic Torah Reimagining the Very Good Book (TeaneckNew Jersey Ben Yehuda Press 983090983088983089983088) 983096 Courtesy of Ben Yehuda Press



178 9831549831419831581048681983141983159983155

X-rated parts of the Genesis narrative Voluptuousbare-breasted women (Eve Lotrsquos daughters Rebecca

with Isaac Leah and Rachel with Jacob Hamor andDina Tamar etc) make frequent appearances and

the gore (Cain killing Abel Jacobrsquos sons murderingthe inhabitants of Shechem Hadad ben Bedad who

killed Midian etc) is rendered in the open Crumbdespite his promise not to invent narratives doesnot seem to have been able to restrain himself in cer-tain instances as when Potiphar and Joseph reclinetogether on a couch drinking wine and watching an

Egyptian strip showIt is hard to pick out one particularly arresting

aspect of Crumbrsquos book which is packed with brilliantdrawings that 1048678983145t well with the text but one of his most

interesting decisions comes in his speech balloons

When the rebels construct the Tower of Babel Godpunishes them by confounding their languages sothey cannot understand each other Crumb illustratedthat confusion by placing hieroglyphs and nonsensi-

cal texts into the punished buildersrsquo speech bubbles

Not only are the evildoers punished with chaos buttheir words are also foreign to the reader Crumb uses asimilar strategy when Joseph (in disguise) addresses hisbrothers through a translator Josephrsquos speech bubbles

are 1048678983145lled with hieroglyphics while the translator speaksto the brothers (and readers) in English

In Crumbrsquos linguistic inventions and Freeman andRosenzweigrsquos comedic (and often self-deprecating)reinterpretation of the Torah readersmdashif they are

willing to grant that the medium is mature and use-ful rather than blasphemousmdashcan 1048678983145nd new waysto engage the text and its meaning Just as Freemanand Rosenzweigrsquos Jacob wrestles with a sumo 1048678983145ghterreaders can grapple with the text in innovative and ulti-

mately very contemporary ways It is hard to imagine abetter way to keep a sacred text holy than to tolerate its

occasional contact with the mundane and the profane without worrying that it will become impure

Menachem WeckerIndependent Scholar



174 9831549831419831581048681983141983159983155

like zombies anymorerdquo Rushko852070f writes ldquoThe Bible hasbeen intentionally framed as a dry and sanctimonious

tome just to keep thinking people from getting near itIn reality itrsquos powerfully dangerous stu852070f the ultimate

handbook for psychic revoltrdquo (983094)Many will disagree with Rushko852070f rsquos characteriza-

tion of the Bible as dry and zombie-inducing and thesuggestion that some of historyrsquos greatest religious com-mentators are anything other than ldquothinking peoplerdquois as unfair to Maimonides as it is to Augustine Inhis chapter ldquoCartoons and Comicsrdquo in Mark Roncace

and Patrick Grayrsquos Teaching the Bible through Popular

Culture and the Arts Dan W Clanton Jr describescomics as a ldquowonderful pedagogical toolrdquo to teach theBible1048628 ldquoComic art can assist in the teaching of biblicalcontent because in the process of rendering a biblical

text for the purposes of humor a cartoonist will ofteneither reinforce or subtly change the textrsquos contentrdquo1048629he writes Though he is referring more to newspaperfunnies than artsy graphic novels like Rushko852070f rsquos1048630

Clantonrsquos point can be applied to Rushko852070f rsquos mediumtoo which also reinforces and subtlymdashor in Rushko852070f rsquoscase not so subtlymdashchanges the content

Although biblical comicsmdashwhich are cataloguedin the Library of Congress under multiple headingsldquoBiblemdashcartoons and comicsrdquo ldquoBible NT Actsmdashcartoons and comicsrdquo ldquoBible storiesmdashcartoons and

comicsrdquo ldquoBible storiesmdashNTmdashcartoons and comicsrdquoand ldquoBible storiesmdashOTmdashcartoons and comicsrdquomdashare hardly new it is a particularly exciting time forthe medium1048631 In these new graphic novels and comicbooks there is nothing short of a ldquographic re-invention

of the novel as a radical re-statement of Jewish artisticidentityrdquo writes Ori Soltes in ldquoSports and the GraphicNovel from Diaspora to Diaspora James Strumrsquos The

Golemrsquos Mighty Swing and JT Waldmanrsquos Megillat

Esther in the Tree of Contextsrdquo1048632 But Soltesrsquos diagno-

sis aside it is worth noting that biblical comics andgraphic novels are totally absent from Paul Buhlersquos

Jews and American Comics An Illustrated History ofan American Art Form1048633 and from Matthew Baigellrsquos American Artists Jewish Images10486251048624 Baigellrsquos Jewish Art

in America An Introduction10486251048625 devotes three pages tographic novels but does not mention biblical themes within the medium and although Simcha WeinsteinrsquosUp Up And Oy Vey 10486251048626 views superheroes like Batman

1048628 Mark Roncace and Patrick Gray Teaching the Bible Through Popular Culture and the Arts (Atlanta Society of Biblical Literature983090983088983088983095) Robert Koops observes that comic book scriptures canhelp readers get beyond the printed text to the original authorrsquos vision in ldquoWhen Moses Meets Dilbert Similarity and Di852070ference inPrint Audio and Comic-strip Versions of the Biblerdquo in Similarity

and Di983142ference in Translation Proceedings of the International

Conference on Similarity and Translation ed Stefano Arduini andRobert Jr Hodgson (Bible House New York City May 983091983089ndashJune 983089983090983088983088983089) 983089983094983097ndash983090983088983088

1048629 Dan W Clanton Jr ldquoCartoons and Comicsrdquo in Roncace andGray Teaching the Bible 983091983091983088

1048630 It is not unusual to 1048678983145nd religion treated in a humorous wayDonald B Lindsey and John Heeren note in ldquoWhere the Sacred

Meets the Profane Religion in the Comic Pagesrdquo Revi ew of Religious Research 983091983092 no 983089 (September 983089983097983097983090) 983094983091ndash983095983095 But there isa ldquoseeming paradoxrdquo in those depictions the authors note becausereligion is generally a sobering rather than entertaining or come-dic enterprise Biblical cartoons however can present a ldquokind ofshorthand communication between author and audiencerdquo theynote ldquoIn this sense placing moderns in Biblical situations com-mentary on current events as well as on our distinctly modernconsciousnessrdquo (983095983093)

1048631 In May 983090983088983089983090 DC comics reprinted the 983089983097983095983093 comic The Bibleand in March 983090983088983089983090 Drawn amp Quarterly published Goliath The Bookof Genesis was published by W W Norton amp Company in October983090983088983088983097 and Ben Yehuda Press released The Comic Torah Reimagining

the Very Good Book in October 983090983088983089983088 Some comics and graphicnovelsmdashsuch as Rob Suggsrsquos The Comic Book Bible (Uhrichsville

Ohio Barbour Books 983089983097983097983095) and Earnest Graham and Shirley SmithGrahamrsquos The Unlikely Chosen A Graphic Novel Translation of

the Biblical Books of Jonah Esther and Amos (New York SeaburyBooks 983090983088983088983096)mdashare just north of the stylized cartoons of The Little Midrash Says (Brooklyn Benei Yakov Publications 983089983097983096983095) in termsof their professionalism But others dig far deeper than merekitsch In the latter category are M C Gainesrsquo Picture Stories from

the Bible The Old Testament in Full-Color Comic-Strip Form (New York Ktav 983089983097983092983091) Megillat Esther by J T Waldman (Philadelphia Jewish Publication Society 983090983088983088983094) and the 983089983097983096983095 Outrageous Tales

from the Old Testament (London Knockout Publications) whichcollects the works of Arthur Ranson Donald Rooum Dave Gibbons Alan Moore Hunt Emerson Neil Gaiman Mike Matthews JulieHollings Peter Rigg and Dave McKean Slightly less mature and

ambitious are The Action Bible (Colorado Springs David C Cook983090983088983089983088) edited by Doug Mauss and illustrated by Sergio Carielloand Sikursquos The Manga Bible From Genesis to Revelation (ColoradoSprings WaterBrook Press 983090983088983088983096)

1048632 Leonard J Greenspoon ed Jews in the Gym Judaism Sportsand Athletics (West Lafayette Purdue University Press 983090983088983089983090) 983090983093

1048633 Paul Buhle Jews and American Comics An Illustrated History

of an American Art Form (New York The New Press 983090983088983088983096)10486251048624 Matthew Baigell American Artists Jewish Images (Syracuse

Syracuse University Press 983090983088983088983094)10486251048625 Matthew Baigell Jewish Art in America An Introduct ion

(Lanham Rowman amp Little1048678983145eld Publishers Inc 983090983088983088983095)10486251048626 Simcha Weinstein Up Up And Oy Vey (Baltimore Leviathan

Press 983090983088983088983094)



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graphic and comic torahs are fruitful, multiply

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