bonus digital content
arts & culture
A New Pop Culture Convention
Will Celebrate Jewish Excellence
and Ideas in Comic Books
Jacob Henry | JTA.org
J JewCE co-creators Fabrice Sapolsky and Dr. Miriam Eve Mora pose in front of the poster of the event.

dubbed “The Jewcie Awards.”
Sapolsky was the founder of another
Jewish Comic Con that was held in
Brooklyn in 2016, with a follow-up
event in 2018. The November confer-
movies and TV shows based on them.

Last year’s Comic Con faced criti-
cism for its perceived lack of Jewish
representation. Mora said JewCE is not a response
to Comic Con’s lack of Jewish repre-
sentation. Rather, she said the confer-
ence will explore how “the comic
medium is becoming a place for Jews
in a very different way than it has been
in the past.”
“Right now there is all this content
coming out that shows Jewish charac-
Jewish comics experience,” Mora said. ters as primary characters, who are
JewCE will take place one month of varying degrees of Orthodoxy
after New York Comic Con, one of and practice, from different Jewish
the biggest pop culture events of the backgrounds and regions,” Mora said.

She added, “It’s really starting to
year, where fans come to celebrate
their love of comic books, graphic represent the diversity of the Jewish
novels and video games — and the world in a new way.” ■
October. “It will have both a museum
element with several micro exhibits
focusing on the many worlds of Jewish
comics, and then also an immersive
experiential learning laboratory of the
There will also be what the organizers
believe is the first-ever awards ceremony
held in celebration of Jewish comics and |
graphic novels, dubbed “The Jewcie Awards.”
ence — with appearances expected
from from underground cartoonist Trina
Robbins, Jewish Mexican-American
graphic novelist Yehudi Mercado and
others — will also coincide with a new
exhibit opening at CJH that will focus
on the Jewish comics experience in
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 27
Fabrice Sapolsky via JTA.org
ews and comic books — two
deeply entwined entities — will
be the subject of a new pop
culture convention coming to New
York this fall.

Billed as the “ultimate comics and
pop culture event,” the first-ever Jewish
Comics Experience, or “JewCE,” will
take place at the Center for Jewish
History on November 11-12. Created
by Fabrice Sapolsky, a comic book
creator and publisher, and Dr. Miriam
Eve Mora, the director of academic
and public programs at the Center
for Jewish History, the event aims to
be “an inclusive convention, celebrat-
ing an industry largely created by
Members of the Tribe, and promoting
diverse Jewish narratives in comics
and graphic novels,” according to the
JewCE website.

“It’s really looking at diverse Jewish
representation in comics and graphic
novels through Jewish characters,
narratives, themes and ideas,” Mora
said, describing how the event will
celebrate both Jewish comics content
and creators.

The history of Judaism and comics
is long and rich, with Jewish stories
arising in both popular comics and
more esoteric ones. For example,
Marvel briefly had a Jewish Black
Panther character, while a new comic
features an Asian-Jewish superhero.

Meanwhile, some traditional Jewish
texts have gotten the graphic novel
treatment. The convention, which is still being
planned, will include panel discus-
sions, meet-and-greets, exhibits and
vendors. There will also be what the
organizers believe is the first-ever
awards ceremony held in celebration
of Jewish comics and graphic novels,