Portland Opera’s “Hansel and Gretel”

This Monday, me and 19 other Portland cartoonists attended a dress rehearsal of the Portland Opera’s production of “Hansel and Gretel.” We were fed and wined, given a backstage tour, and then allowed to sketch and doodle during a full dress rehearsal. I had a great time.

Anyway, here’s the drawing I made, based on my sketches that night:

I’m hoping I’ll have time to do another drawing, this time of the witch, but I’m not sure if I will.

A few other cartoonists have also posted drawings and sketches: Jenn Manley Lee, Indigo Kelleigh, Jonathan Case, Emi Lenox, and (even though he wasn’t there) Mike Russell. I’m sure more sketches will be appearing; on twitter, watch the #pdxoperacomics hashtag.

Even Brilliant Bar Mitzvah Invitations Think This Is A Brilliant Bar Mitzvah Invitation

Jewish Women in Pop Culture #3: Rhoda Morgenstern

I love Rhoda. Although I wonder how many Hereville readers will know who she is without having to click on the link?

Michael Burstein article in The Boston Pheonix: “One of the most charming graphic novels published this year”

Michael A. Burstein, a science fiction writer whose stories have been nominated for multiple Hugos and a Nebula, writes:

Hereville is not your typical graphic novel, even from the alternative-comics press. Hereville’s population consists almost entirely of an Orthodox Jewish community. You might think that Deutsch himself is religious, but that turns out not to be the case: he’s an atheist who had a typical American Jewish childhood. “Our family wasn’t very observant when I was a kid. I went to Hebrew school, and we observed Passover and the High Holy Days. I also attended a Jewish summer camp, Camp Modin in Maine. But that was about it.”

Despite his lack of religious observance, he professes an affinity for Jewish culture, and he wants to see more visible Jewish characters in pop culture. Fifteen years ago, he read Liz Harris’s book Holy Days, about Hasidic life in Brooklyn, and it stayed with him. “Setting the story in a fictional Orthodox community lets me research traditional Jewish life, which is enormously fulfilling and also gives Mirka even greater barriers to overcome.

Read the whole article on the Boston Pheonix’s website.

A Fourth Starred Review For Hereville: “A witty, enormously clever adventure…”

The publicist at Abrams tells me it’s unusual for one book to receive over two starred reviews from the professional book press; Hereville has now gotten four. Wow! (Whoops, make that five! See the update at the bottom of this post.)

This newest starred review comes from The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books. Previous starred reviews have come from Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and School Library Journal.

Raised in a closed Orthodox Jewish community, Mirka can’t even identify the strange animal she encounters as a pig; not only is it a pig, however, it’s a magical pig that belongs to a witchy woman who sees Mirka’s deepest wishes—to fight monsters and to be a hero—and offers her a quest to get a sword. Mirka must avoid shaming her family, getting into trouble, and, of course, being eaten by a troll, and, to her utter shock, she must actually use the knitting tricks and debate skills her stepmother has been patiently teaching her rather than any imagined sword-wielding prowess she has yet to test.

Deutsch carefully integrates Jewish traditions and customs as well as numerous Yiddish, Hebrew, and religious terms (made clear with definitions at the bottoms of pages) into this spirited graphic novel based on a webcomic. The result is an elegant, subtle examination into the gender roles, deep religious roots, and everyday cultural elements of an Orthodox Jewish society, while also being a witty, enormously clever adventure quest featuring a girl who will happily and firmly inform you that she is, indeed, hero material.

The story is primarily focused on the women in Mirka’s life, and their characters are well developed, from the perfectly balanced Fruma (who can be soothing, practical, or stern) to the mysterious and sardonic woman in the woods who helps Mirka fulfill her imagined destiny. The illustrations push their limits to enhance rather than simply reflect the text, with speech bubbles sometimes crowding the page and occasionally taking on shapes relevant to the words they contain; two colors—a creamy orange that represents day, and a smoky blue background once Mirka sneaks off in the night to face the troll—predominate.

Rare indeed is the book that successfully juggles adventure and religion, and the fact that this one perfectly handles a troll with a taste for both girls and knitting, the indelible ties of family, and traditional religious rituals in a way that informs outsiders makes it rarer still.

Wow! Thanks to the reviewer!

UPDATE: Make that five starred reviews! Thank you, Bank Street College of Education.

Interview, interview, interview!

There are three (!) new interviews with me available online:

* On the Blog of the Association of Jewish Libraries

* On Graphic Novel Reporter

* And on The Portland Examiner (part one of a three-part interview!)

Goodness! Thanks to all three interviewers for talking to me.

Video of me drawing Mirka

Here’s a video I made of me drawing Mirka. I’m not very happy with how the drawing came out, to tell the truth, but the video might still be fun to watch. The video is speeded up to ten times the actual speed I drew at.

And part two:

Hereville reviewed on “Attempts”

I’m a fan of Stephen Frug’s blog “Attempts,” so I was delighted that he wrote an in-depth review of Hereville (and relieved that he liked it!). Here’s a sample:

In both his page layouts and lettering, the largest influence on Deutsch’s work appears to be Dave Sim’s Cerebus. I checked, and he admits as much in his post on the completion of Cerebus, but honestly I think I would have seen it anyway: the lettering and page-layout in Hereville is simply and unmistakably very Simmesque. But since Sim is a quite extraordinary cartoonist, one of the best to work in the medium (if also possibly the craziest and most misogynistic), this is by no means a bad thing: indeed, a fair amount of Hereville‘s stylishness and formal inventiveness can be traced to a thoughtful absorption of Sim’s lessons. (Plus, y’know, it’s shorter, and feminist rather than misogynistic.) Deutsch learned from Sim, but the work is his own, and is very well done.

Another influence, I think, is manga: he uses a lot of manga-esque motion lines and the like to convey action. — And actually, I’m guessing here — or perhaps only showing my own limited cultural frame — but I suspect that another influence was Scott McCloud: Deutsch’s use of motion lines, of what McCloud would call aspect-to-aspect transitions, and the like, strike me as ones that betray the influence not only of the sort of comics McCloud talks about but McCloud’s own specific analysis as well.

Stephen is right about the Dave Sim influence on my cartooning — I think I might now be the third most Sim-influenced cartoonist in print, after Troy Little and Alex Robinson. (I’m not counting Martin Wagner since he seems to have retired from comics, at least temporarily.) He’s also right about Scott McCloud’s influence on my work. Although I’ve read and liked some manga, I think the manga influence mainly comes through McCloud’s work (as Stephen suggests).

The other major influence on my cartooning (that I’m conscious of, anyhow) is Will Eisner’s work, especially his graphic novels in the 80s and 90s.

There’s much more, so go read the whole thing.

Starred Review in School Library Journal: “Hereville Is Pure Enchantment”

Barbara M. Moon reviews Hereville in the November issue of School Library Journal:

To the delight of his online followers, Deutsch’s popular web comic featuring “Yet another troll-fighting 11-year-old Orthodox Jewish girl” is now available in print. Mirka is the heroine that girlhood dreams are made of: questioning and smart and willing to take on the world. She constantly battles wits with her stepmother, Fruma, whose argumentative nature and sharp nose conceal a warm and caring nature. Readers view the image of Mirka’s deceased mother, who continues to play an influential role in her life. The child, stuck at home with knitting needles, longs to wield a sword and do battle with dragons. Instead she finds herself caught in a battle of wills with a talking pig. That’s right: scenes of an Orthodox Jew with a pig add to the humor.

The story is a captivating mixture of fantasy and a realistic look at a culture. The girl encounters both a mind-reading witch and a multilingual troll in her quest for a sword with which to fight dragons. Yiddish language and Jewish customs are an essential part of the story and provide excellent bedrock to the tale without overwhelming it. Mirka outwits the troll and obtains the sword, bringing the story to a satisfying conclusion. However, there is more to tell and it is obvious that further adventures await this young heroine. The illustrations are done in a monochromatic palette, with a color change from a warm earthy orange/cream for daytime scenes to a cool lavender/blue for the night scene.

With engaging characters and delightful art, Hereville is pure enchantment.

What a wonderful review! Thanks, Barbara!

Horn Book reviews Hereville: “Unique, laugh-out-loud funny, and thoroughly engrossing.”

From Horn Book Magazine:

Eleven-year-old Mirka Herschberg is not your average dragon-slaying heroine. For starters, she’s a Hasidic Jew. Then there are the crazy quarrels with her stepmother, Fruma, who defends one side of an argument, then, in a heartbeat, switches to the other. Case in point: “You want to slaughter innocent dragons? How could you?” quickly morphs into “Mirka! You mean you’d let a dragon devour me and the whole town? How could you?” With her ankle-length skirt and long-sleeved shirt, Mirka certainly doesn’t look like she’s ready to take on a fire-breathing monster.

And that’s a large part of this graphic novel’s charm: the very traditional versus the super fantastical. It’s a contrast that Deutsch plays with in both his story line and his illustrations. His Shabbat-observing protagonist (who first appeared in a shorter webcomic) soon finds herself up against a talking pig who vows: “I will rip the chupa at your wedding! I will take your firstborn child! I will knock over the casket at your funeral!” The source of all this porcine fury? Mirka stole a single grape from the pig’s garden. After besting this very non-Jewish foe, she’s in for another adventure. What’s involved? A troll, a knitting contest, and a sword fit for a dragonslayer.

Deutsch’s graphic novel is unique, laugh-out-loud funny, and thoroughly engrossing. Sequel, please!

—Tanya Auger, Horn Book Magazine

Information about purchasing Hereville can be found here.