Rabbi Harvey Comes To Comics
The Adventures of Rabbi Harvey
Written and Drawn by Steve Sheinkin
At Book Expo this year, I was surprised by the number of publishers producing graphic novels. Your classic comics publishers were there, your Marvel and your DC, your Fantagraphics, Drawn & Quarterliy your IDW, Dark Horse, Viz, TokyoPop and so on. There were publishers such as Simon and Shuster, Harry Abrams, Houghton Miflin and other literary publishers with an eye on a growing market.
But Jews?
Now, I know that Jews pretty much invented the comics business in general and super-hero comics in particular. I knew this even before I read Gerard Jones’ great Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book. And I’ve always felt this makes sense, that the Jewish people, with their history of hiding from exposure and keeping their identities secret, were the models for the genre.
Still, I never thought I’d see a Jewish publisher create original comics to tell religious stories. We’re the Chosen People. We don’t preach, nor do we attempt to convert. We are not Jack Chick. So I was surprised to see that Jewish Lights Publishing had a graphic novel in their line. What will the goyim think?
I need not have worried. The book, The Adventures of Rabbi Harvey, is adorable. The story of a Rabbi in the fictional Elk Springs, Colorado, during cowboy times, follows the rebbe in question as he dispenses his wisdom to his flock with "the best advice west of the Mississippi." Everyone (with one brief exception) is Jewish, including the outlaws, who have names like "Big Milt" Wasserman, Danny "The Lion" Levy and Moses "Matzah Man" Goldwater.
There’s no gunslinging, no cattle rustling, no showdowns at any corral. Instead, Sheinkin uses a very simple style to retell some of his favorite folk-tales of rabbinic wisdom. I loved these stories when I was a kid, and it’s wonderful to have these versions to share with the kids in my life.
Jewish Lights also publishes Stan Mack’s The Story of the Jews: A 4,000 Year Adventure.
A couple of weeks ago I did a wrap-up of my opinions of some of the TV I watched this past season. I held back on two shows because they hadn’t yet ended their seasons or their runs and others were cut because the column was getting too blamed long. So I’m going to try to finish up and include some shows that finished their “seasons” a while back but are about to start new seasons this summer. Looking back is a way of looking forward. First, however, a quick look at two shows among my faves and that are linked.
Doctor Who. This is no-brainer for me. I’m a long time fan and the new series brought me right in again. Christopher Eccleston did a fabulous job in Season One and now David Tennant is just as good in a different way as the latest incarnation of our time/space traveling hero. It’s not that every episode is brilliant or that every concept is the best; that was never the attraction. But for all the fact that the Doctor is a Time Lord from an alien planet, the show remains one of the most human of S/F shows and consistently celebrates humanity. I love it.
And what’s Mr. Truman been up to lately, besides drawing for the Dead? Well, he’s been writing Dark Horse’s Conan series, and for the past couple months he’s been hard at work drawing the newest GrimJack graphic novel, The Manx Cat, written by fellow-GJ creator John Ostrander.
Hot on the heels of our Infinite Crisis 
For next June’s new Incredible Hulk movie, William Hurt (Lost in Space, Altered States) has been signed to play General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross.
I think many of us suspect that there’s something fundamentally wrong with the fact that just about everybody reading this knows of the recent exploits of Paris Hilton. If you’re at all attuned to media old and new, it’s nearly impossible to escape the breathless news about her latest adventures in crime and punishment, or at least the breathless reprimands the news media give themselves over the saturation coverage — although heaven forfend most of them stoop to using the first-person plural and actually assuming responsibility! Even otherwise sensible pundits like Keith Olbermann (whose hard-hitting "Special Reports" many consider the modern incarnation of vaunted newsman Edward R. Murrow) can’t seem to stay away from peeping in on, and drooling over, daily celebrity hijinks.
Okay, the Mars Bars trick isn’t working, so you can stop sending ’em. The CW is not going to renew Veronica Mars.
