Arie will be at numerous events at next weekend's New York Comic Con at the Jacob Javitz Center in NYC, Feb 6-8, 2009. (www.nycomiccon.com)

JPS will be exhibiting all weekend at booth #2443. Other than Arie, JPS authors JT Waldman (Megillat Esther), and Josh Lambert (American Jewish Fiction: A JPS Guide) will be featured panelists at events being held at Comic Con, and will be signing copies of their books. We'll post the signing schedule as it's confirmed.

In addition, Arie will be on two panels.

WWII and Comics
Friday, February 6, 2009 from 2:00-3:00 pm in room 1A18

World War II started 70 years ago, in 1939. From the beginning, comics were intimately involved with subjects and themes relating to that momentous conflict -- or with escapist fare designed to distract readers from the intensity of the war. The first boom in comics was fueled in large part by GIs interest in them, and many of the earliest creators went on to serve in the war effort, including in the messages contained in their stories. Arie Kaplan (From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books) moderates a panel of comics veterans including Jerry Robinson (Batman), Al Jaffee (Mad magazine), and Irwin Hasen (All-Star Comics), as they discuss the War and the medium so closely identified with it. And comics critic N.C. Christopher Couch (The Will Eisner Companion) offers a historical perspective.

Jews and Comics: A Cottage Industry
Sunday, February 8, 2009 from 12:15-1:15 pm in room 1A18

In the past few years, there have been multiple books dealing with Jews and their role in the creation of the comics industry. Could this be because, as we lose more and more of the Greatest (Comics) Generation, there is a collective need to understand the roots, ethnic and otherwise, of the medium? Authors Arie Kaplan (From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comics), Danny Fingeroth (Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero), and Simcha Weinstein (Up, Up, and Oy Vey!: How Jewish History, Culture, and Values Shaped The Comicbook Superhero) and comics creators AL Al Jaffee (Mad magazine) and Jerry Robinson (Batman) discuss the rise of interest in the Jewish side of comics. Moderated by David Hajdu (The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How it Changed America).