Comix Friday: Back and better than ever (maybe)

I'm back, y'all! After taking a much-needed (but probably overly long) hiatus from Comix Friday, I am most definitely back, and I've got lots to share, including an interview I did back in August (!). But that will have to wait for a bit, because I'm still taking baby steps back into the j. blogging pool.

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It's a little ways off, but for you comix-loving locals, I just got word that the Hub at the JCCSF and the Contemporary Jewish Museum will be co-presenting a Graphic Novel Master Class with the famous Ariel Schrag, Berkeley native and author of "Potential," "Likewise" and other beloved comics about life at Berkeley High School. The class will be 6:30-8:30 p.m. Nov. 5 at the CJM in San Francisco, and will cost $50 for JCCSF or CJM members and $60 for reg'lar folk. More info here.

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When the books "A Family Secret" and "The Search" landed on my desk a few weeks ago, I could have sworn I was seeing the second coming of Tintin. The covers are incredibly reminiscent of those old Belgian comic books I used to read in the Rosenblooms' tree house after Shabbos lunch - right down to the typeface used on the spine and the red-haired, cherry-cheeked boy on the cover of "A Family Secret."

However, the insides of "A Family Secret" and "The Search," both published by the Anne Frank House in cooperation with the Resistance Museum of Friesland, bear little resemblance to Hergé's heroic (and a little bit racist?) Tintin and his pal Snowy.

In "A Family Secret," teenage Jeroen (side note: I loved this name for years until I discovered recently that it's pronounced "yeroon") discovers an old photograph in his grandmother's attic. Curious about the other girl in the photo, he shows his grandmother, Helena, who recounts the story of Esther, a Jewish childhood friend sheltered (and then betrayed) by Helena's family. The book runs the gamut of the war - from the concentration camps to the Resistance and even a brief jaunt to the Pacific theater.

While "A Family Secret" is told from non-Jewish Helena's perspective, "The Search" focuses more on the Jewish aspect of the war - specifically Esther's story of survival in hiding, as well as that of her neighbor, Bob, who endured the death camps. The cover is weirdly reminiscent of the end of the infamous farmhouse scene in "Inglourious Basterds."

The simple, colorful art in both books (done by Dutch graphic artist Eric Heuvel) is actually somewhat reminiscent of those old Tintin books, and manages to make even the bleakness of the cattle cars, Auschwitz and the death marches not overly scary for kids. The books are a little too elementary for older readers who are well versed in Holocaust history, but would be great teaching tools for younger readers - "A Family Secret" in particular has an interesting take on the chaos that non-Jewish, non-collaborating Europeans lived through during the war.

Both books were originally written in Dutch; they were translated to English by Lorraine T. Miller. "A Family Secret" was written by Heuvel, and "The Search" was written by Heuvel, Ruud van der Rol and Lies Schippers.

The books are published in the U.S. by Farrar, Straus and Giroux; you can pre-order them for $10 (paperback) or $19 (hardcover) a pop at the Macmillan website ("A Family Secret" here and "The Search" here).

"A Family Secret" and "The Search" are just two of the recent Holocaust-related graphic novels that have hit bookstores here and abroad. In the coming weeks I'll be looking at more "Holocaust comics" and dissecting some of their messages.

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Finally, it's not exactly a Jewish comic per se, but it is Nazi-related (and funny as heck): "The Final Option"

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Comix Friday is published in the Art Scene blog every Friday, and focuses on Jewish comic artists and Jewish-themed comix. If you know of anything I should be blogging about in Comix Friday, let me know!

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