Recalling Darwyn Cooke's 2010 appearance at the Smithsonian

by Mike Rhode

Darwyn Cooke has been one of my favorite comic book artists for about a decade and a half. He passed away over the weekend.

I had forgotten that I had written about a talk he gave at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. It doesn't seem to be online at their site anymore, so I'll reproduce it here. Also, you can hear my recording of the talk here, newly online since sadly we won't be able to hear any new thoughts from him.

(I didn't write that lede by the way)

The Quotable Darwyn Cooke: Highlights from the Cartoonist's Talk at American Art

by Mike Rhode Washington City Paper blog Feb. 3, 2010

Sure, the crowd was thin due to the snow. But the air was thick with nuggets: Darwyn Cooke spoke for almost two hours to a rapt crowd of about 40 people at the Smithsonian's American Art Museum Saturday, concentrating on his recent adaptation of Richard Stark's novel Parker: The Hunter and offering a glimpse into the mind of a successful, critically adored cartoonist. Just don't, he said, call him a creator. Cooke would rather be known, simply, as someone who entertains, and that's exactly what he did at Saturday's event. Read some of his more memorable quotes:

"I was pretty sure the Smithsonian called the wrong number when they approached me about this program, but I jumped at the chance to come down to talk about Don Westlake [aka Richard Stark] and Parker—two of my favorite subjects."

"The [Parker] books are very lean and brutal and I think that's part of what I loved about them…."

"I have to plan everything. I have to write biographies of all my characters, I have to research every scene and situation, and then I have to outline it in great detail in order for me to feel secure enough to go ahead with the work…" in contrast to Westlake's lack of plotting, backstory or details about Parker's life.

"The Hunter was written in 1962, which was actually the year I was born, which I thought was kind of neat."

"When I was a kid, I used to love series novels, like The Executioner, and all these sort of terrible B-movie type paperbacks…. but as I got older I realized that the quality of the writing in them was terrible and I moved on to more literate fare."

"[Westlake] was able to keep [Parker] completely reprehensible, and yet completely magnetic. He's certainly not a person you'd want to have to deal with in your life, but he's a very interesting, very magnetic type of character."

"Parker as a character represents something that we've seen evaporate from the American landscape over the last century and it's probably the last period of time when a character like this could have existed—that's basically a free-market anarchist. A man who makes his own rules, lives by his own rules, his own judgments and society still has room for him to operate within."

"The only thing I can compare [the plot] to is, you know when you get a phone bill for $500 for one month, and it's a mistake and you phone the phone company to get it straightened out? That's what he goes through. That's what this book is—it's a man who got screwed and is trying to communicate through a large faceless corporation that he's been screwed and he's owed something and the frustration that comes out of that. When you consider the time that the book was written, I think it's a very sly sort of indictment of the world we were all looking into."

"What can I do to reach outside the comic book audience… How can I get outside this [direct] market? How can I reach other readers with my work? The only real viable option at the time was the idea of original graphic novels. I very quickly set my sights there. … It's still a very risky creative venture. To put out an original graphic novel and hope it finds an audience is a very risky venture. We've seen some incredible books in the last few years, whether it's Persepolis, or Asterios Polyp or Diary of Wimpy Kid or American Born Chinese. These are all graphic novels that have nothing to do with superheroes…but they all have audiences that responded to the stories within the books. That really gave me the juice and the excitement to move forward…"

"DC had contacted me about doing Will Eisner's The Spirit. As much I was ready to move on, they found the one project that would keep me there. I hope this doesn't sound the wrong way, but half the reason I wanted to do this project was to make sure it didn't get screwed up by somebody else. It was purely a defensive position I was taking around the character… That was a hard year trying to live up to Will's work and deal with that character and everything it meant, so I was really thrilled when it was over…"

"At the time I started to correspond with Westlake, he was 72 years old, but his enthusiasm for this was unbelievable…"

"As for as he was concerned, if I screwed up [the adaptation], it didn't matter. Because the book's still there."

On having difficulties with character design and not receiving guidance from Westlake: "Finally I forced him into laying it out. '[Parker] is Jack Palance. It's Jack Palance from a movie called Panic in the Streets. That's what I saw in my head when I wrote it.' So from that point on I was able to fashion a character and an approach that Donald was really thrilled by."

Cooke planned on submitting the book to Westlake for Christmas, but Westlake went on vacation and died before Cooke sent it to him. "He never got to see any of it and it took about six weeks to get back to work. It really stopped me in my tracks and I realized that I'd been doing it for an audience of one person and that audience was gone. I didn't even know why I was doing the book for a little while after that."

At this point, Cooke read from the actual novel while showing the first chapter of his adaption on the screen.

"Those of you familiar with my earlier work should know I'm pretty plugged into the 'heroic ideal' and I love the notion of optimism and hope and I'd like to think that most of my work carries those messages right up front and this was a case I had to put all my instincts aside and sort of go more with Donald's."

"Nothing was better back then [in 1962] except the way things looked…"

"Anything I could do visually to immerse us in—to make us feel that we were back in that time period—was gonna help people get into the book. Everything in here was done with the tools available in 1962. There's no computer lettering, there's no digital tinting. It's drawn on the art board, the black ink is laid down, the lettering is laid down, and then I take a blue watercolor and lay it right onto the board. Nobody does this anymore…I even had the printers lay a pale yellow ink on top of every page before the artwork went down so that the book even had the appearance of being yellowed with age…"

"I'm hard at work on the second book now, about halfway through. It's called The Outfit and that's going to be out in October…I'm doing four [adaptations]."

"I've never been comfortable with the terms 'artist' or 'creator.' I think they're bullshit terms that are thrown around to make the guys who do the work feel better about themselves. For example, Jack Kirby was a creator. Jack Kirby created entire universes. Ethan Van Sciver pencils a comic book—there's a big difference there. I've always been very uncomfortable when people referred to me as a creator…I've always preferred entertainer, or storyteller. Those I'm much prouder of, or more comfortable with those designations. I'm not that deep. I'm just not."

"I love stories about people who've found ways to live without having to suck up to The Man."

"Heroes aren't heroes anymore; they're just people with power. And I think that it's a shame."

Comic strip and books received in early November

New collections and books on comics have been rolling in from publishers for pre-Christmas / Hannukah / Kwanza publicity. I still can't keep up on reading all of the books coming out, so here's the blurb of each of them from Amazon. I would recommend any of these for a fan though, especially Doonesbury and Roy Thomas' new DC World War II collections.

Four books relating to comic strips have come in already this month:

The Weed Whisperer: A Doonesbury Book 

by G. B. Trudeau
Andrews McMeel, $20

Welcome to the age of pivots. Two centuries after the Founding Fathers signed off on happiness, Zonker Harris and nephew Zipper pull up stakes and head west in hot pursuit. The dream? Setting up a major grow facility outside Boulder, Colorado, and becoming bajillionaire producers of “artisanal” marijuana. For Zonk, it’s the crowning reset of a career that’s ranged from babysitting to waiting tables. For Walden-grad Zip, it’s a way to confront $600,000 in student loans.

Elsewhere in Free Agent America, newlyweds Alex and Toggle are struggling. Twins Eli and Danny show up during their mother’s MIT graduation, but a bad economy dries up lab grants, compelling the newly minted PhD to seek employment as a barista. Meanwhile, eternally blocked writer Jeff Redfern struggles to keep the Red Rascal legend-in-his-own-mind franchise alive, while aging music icon Jimmy T. endures by adapting to his industry’s new normal: “I can make music on my schedule and release it directly to the fans.”

He’s living in his car.


 

Optimism Sounds Exhausting 

by Scott Adams
Andrews McMeel, $20

Does Scott Adams really have a hidden camera in your cubicle?

Dilbert, the cubicle-dwelling drone, is at his satirical best with this new collection of cartoons. Dilbert has managed to keep up with technology like iPads and Twitter over the years, as well as advanced systems like the Disaster Preparedness Plan that has its followers eating the crumbs from their keyboards. It doesn’t get any more sophisticated than that.

It’s an office code violation to be this good after so many years, but Dilbert keeps doing what he does best: passive-aggressively out-witting his superiors and exercising conflict avoidance. And he is so good. No wonder office drones and workforce automatons alike can’t resist the cold embrace of Dilbert’s workplace.


 

Tales from the Deep: That Are Completely Fabricated: The Twentieth Sherman's Lagoon Collection

by Jim Toomey
Andrews McMeel, $15

Join Sherman, the lovable shark, and his aquatic cohorts in the comfy environs of Sherman's Lagoon.

Sherman’s Lagoon is an imaginary lagoon somewhere in the tropics, inhabited by a cast of sea creatures whose lives are curiously similar to our own.

Sherman, the main character, is a great white shark who is completely unaware of how intimidating his species can be. He gets pushed around by the other characters, namely: Hawthorne the hermit crab, Fillmore the sea turtle, and his wife, Megan, who is another great white shark, of course. 

 

The Art and Making of The Peanuts Movie 
by Jerry Schmitz
Titan, $35 

This in-depth book goes behind the scenes of the movie-making process and looks at how the movie continues the tradition and legacy of Peanuts. An unmissable experience.

For the first time ever, in November 2015, Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the rest of the gang we know and love from Charles Schulz's timeless "Peanuts" comic strip will be making their big-screen debut; like they've never been seen before in a CG-animated feature film in 3D.

Three books relating to comic books are all reprints of World War II stories from DC Comics, edited by Roy Thomas, a former writer for the company who specialized in retro stories. The stories can be corny now, but these are nice collections and well-priced.

 

Wonder Woman: The War Years 1941-1945 

by Roy Thomas
Titan, $25

Wonder Woman, warrior princess of the Amazons, is among the most famous heroes of all time. From her introduction in 1941, she has been a shining example of feminism and the strength of womankind. But what was her role during the wartime of her creation? Wonder Woman: The War Years 1941-1945 details how she used her super speed, strength, and Golden Lasso of Truth during World War II to bring peace and justice to a turbulent world.

 



  

Batman: The War Years 1939-1945

by Roy Thomas
Titan, $25 


For more than 75 years, through countless comics, television, and movies, Batman has been a symbol of strength and perseverance. He was created in 1939, on the brink of World War II -- a volatile time, when we needed a hero most. Who better to come to the rescue than the Caped Crusader? For the first time, Batman: The War Years 1939-1945 details The Dark Knight's involvement in the war and his fight against some very real villains. 

 







 Superman: The War Years 1938-1945 

by Roy Thomas
Titan, $25

 .

Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Superman!

The Man of Steel is one of the most recognized characters in pop culture. Though he may not be from this planet, his dedication to protecting its people is inspiring. Superman: The War Years 1938-1945 shows how his introduction at the start of World War II lifted the spirits of a weary country and brought people the hero they so desperately needed.

 

Batman's Dark Secret 

by Kelley Puckett (Author) and Jon J Muth (Illustrator)

Scholastic, $18

Batman's Dark Secret is an inspiring story of how a young child overcame his fear of the dark and became a crime-fighting superhero.

One day, a lonely orphan named Bruce Wayne finds himself in a dangerous situation. He defends himself against a monster bat--and he wins. From that time on, he is determined to fight evil. He becomes ... Batman!

In advance of the new Batman movie coming out in March 2016 comes a beautifully illustrated hardcover version of Batman's Dark Secret! The cover features a new illustration by Caldecott Honor winner Jon J Muth! 

Before Muth switched to children's books, he was a comic book artist for years. This is a very good-looking book.

With a Wink and a Nod: Cartoonists of the Gilded Age

Kamerer, Tracy L. and Janel D. Trull

Palm Beach, FL: Henry Morrison Flagler Museum,  2015

Not the actual cover)

With a Wink and a Nod: Cartoonists of the Gilded Age will examine the history of Puck and American humor through 72 original drawings created for the magazine from the collection of Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf, supplemented with published cartoons and more than 20 vintage issues of Puck. Organized by the Flagler Museum, With a Wink and a Nod runs from October 13, 2015, through January 3, 2016. An illustrated catalogue will accompany the exhibition.

Finally, I received a copy of this exhibit catalog book because I know Frederic Sharf, the man who loaned the artwork.  Presumably it will eventually be on sale at the museum's website. All the artwork in the book is reproduced from the originals. It's a nicely done, albeit minor, addition to the literature about cartoonists of the 19th century.

Beyond Comics - Villains Month Announcement!

DC Comics Villains Month Announcement! Allocations Will Occur on many titles! Dear Valued Customers, This week marks the beginning of DC Comics' Villains Month Event. Promising a lot of fun for readers, all of DC's titles are being taken over by the villains. As part of the event, all titles will ship with 3D lenticular covers, at a cost of one extra dollar. However, as many of you are aware through industry news sites, DC had problems with print numbers, and many of the titles are being allocated, with shops' orders being partially filled for the special covers. Some of these allocations are rather extreme, under 30% fulfillment on some titles, while others will be completely filled. To help make up for this, DC is shipping second print regular cover versions of all the Villains Month titles, the same days as the 3D covers, at regular cover price. Due to the large number of in-store subscribers, we simply cannot guarantee that any given customer will be able to get any given 3D cover. There is just no easy way to track purchasing as it goes, over the course of a month, in order to do something along the lines of first come, first served. As a result, all subscriptions will be filled randomly. On any given title, a subscriber may get the 3D cover or the 2D cover. There is no way to tell in advance, and there will be no preferential treatment where this is concerned. We apologize in advance for this, wishing there were a way to make all customers happy at once, but it is completely out of our hands. We hope that despite the issue with the covers, you still enjoy Villains Month, as well as its follow-up, Forever Evil. Thanks for your understanding. The Staff of Beyond Comics Gaithersburg - 18749 B. North Frederick Rd (301)216-0007 Frederick - 5632 Buckeystown Pike - (301) 668-8202

Beyond Comics | 18749 B N. Frederick Rd. Gaithersburg | 5632 Buckesytown Pike, Frederick | . | MD | 20878

Rethinking Rascally Roy (Lichtenstein, not Thomas)

Around the time Roy Lichtenstein starting painting his canvases influenced by comic book panels, editor Stan Lee was giving everyone at Marvel Comics a nickname to make the company appear more homey. Since Lichtenstein usually appropriated images from DC Comics, he probably wouldn't have qualified for one, but if he did, he probably should have gotten the 'Rascally' that eventually settled on writer Roy Thomas. Lichtenstein seems to have spent his entire career engaging with other art forms, appropriating them, making sport of them, but also in some odd way, respecting them.

The National Gallery of Art is mounting a large career-spanning retrospective that begins with one of Lichtenstein's first comic-derived images - the Gallery's Look Mickey (1961). At the press preview, curators kept noting that the original image is from Donald Duck Lost and Found, a Little Golden Book from 1960, and not a comic book, but honestly that's a difference that makes no difference. Lichtenstein had come up with a hook, and a look, and together these let him break into the big time. To our eyes, familiar with almost forty years of later works, Look Mickey looks crude. The dots that texture Mickey's head and Donald's eyes are handpainted, and not made by forcing paint through a metal screen with a toothbrush as he would later turn to. The underlying pencil can be seen - something almost inconceivable in his work of just a few years later. Lichtenstein worked by doing a freehand drawing, projecting that piece onto a larger canvas and drawing it there, and then painting that. Examine this painting closely so you're prepared to see his technique evolve and tighten up as he finds his groove.



The Gallery owns 375 pieces of Lichtenstein's art -- one of the largest collections -- and this exhibit has 100 paintings, drawings and sculptures in it. They've borrowed from other museums and the show will travel to England and France after being here in DC. For comics and cartoon fans, after Look Mickey you can skip the rest of the Early Pop Art gallery, and go view the black & white drawing Alka Seltzer (1966) in the next room. To this reviewer, Jack Kirby's influence appears obvious -- and doesn't appear in the rest of the Black and White series. Kirby's Marvel Comics work had settled into its mature phase with the heavy black lines and over the top action that would typify his work. Lichtenstein's drawing of this banal subject produces a glass of Alka Seltzer that would look at home in the hands of Dr. Doom, if he ever stopped trying to conquer the world for a few minutes and looked after himself.

Instead of Marvel Comics, Lichtenstein turned to DC Comics for works in his Romance and War series. 1962's Masterpiece is the first in his Romance series, and he works in a joke about his new status as a darling of the art world. Contrast this work with Ohhh... Alright..., from 1964, and you can see his quoting of the comics medium becoming surer and cleaner, especially after he begins using his technique of painting through metal screens. Unfortunately, looking at the images here produces one of the main problems with Lichtenstein's comic-influenced art. When they are reproduced in a book (or blog) they become the same size as the comic they're taken from and this gives the viewer a false impression. These pieces are big, and the scaling-up while removing extraneous detail, and repositioning graphic elements gives them a... grandeur that insists that you see them in person.

Lichtenstein probably would have been a competent, if uninspiring comic book artist (think Don Heck) -- the original sketch for Ohhh... Alright... is in the exhibit and shows he could have done that, but the path he chose was probably better for all concerned. Bart Beaty's Comics Versus Art (University of Toronto Press, 2012) has a good chapter about the angst that Lichtenstein's work inspires in comic book readers - an angst I share. Lichtenstein was working from then-current comic books like Girls' Romances and Secret Hearts, and titling his works with an attribution such as Whaam! (after Novick)  or Whaam! ( All American Men of War #89) rather than simply Whaam! would have been a gesture of respect to other artists who, although working as commercial illustrators in comic books, still considered what they were doing to be art.


His decision not to do this continues to lead to headlines such as 2011's Connecting the Dots Between the Record $43 Million Lichtenstein and the $431 Comic Strip It Was Copied From, and articles that start "Imagine you drew a comic book for a nominal fee and a world-famous artist recreated in paint a panel from that work and sold it for millions of dollars without you receiving any credit or royalties." Deconstructing Roy Lichtenstein is an entire website devoted to tracking the original comic panels that Lichtenstein repurposed / appropriated for his paintings.

His Brushstrokes series began with Brushstrokes (1965), which the exhibit explains came from "The Painting," Strange Suspense Stories #72 (Charlton Comics, October 1964) -- the NGA reproduces the panel, but neglects to mention that the original artwork is by Dick Giordano. This was among his last of this type of work. Instead he began painting large fake brushstrokes over his now trademark dots, or painting the explosions without any intervening war comic scene. The exhibit wall text for Whaam! suggests a reason, quoting him reflecting "If you go through [comic books], you'll find that there are very few frames that... would be useful to you. Most of them are in transition, they don't really sum anything up and it's the ones that sum up the idea that I like best."

Lichenstein then moved completely away from the comics-influenced paintings to do similar paintings with other fine art as the subject, such as a faux woodcut of a Washington by Gilbert Stuart. Picasso and Cezanne and the Laocoon were Lichtensteinized. He painted faux architectural elements and faux mirrors, and did sculptures and paintings quoting art deco. He made landscapes out of dots. All of these can be seen in the show.

But in the 1990s and towards the end of his career, Lichtenstein returned to comic book art and looked back at the romance comic books he had painted from 30 years earlier -- this time, he just left off the clothing for his Nudes series. Without their captions or word balloons, and with a more radical use of dots, these paintings seem further removed from their sources than his earlier works.


A lot has been written on Lichtenstein, and I'm obviously not an expert on his work, but I do think that his 1978 Self-Portrait, in which he depicts himself as a mirror hovering above an empty shirt -- while witty -- may very well also depict a deeper ambivalence about his career.

The exhibit Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective runs from October 14, 2012–January 13, 2013 at the National Gallery of Art. I can honestly recommend it to anyone interested in comic art who is willing to think about art, illustration, comics and where they all crash together. I would have preferred to see more of the original source material in the show -- only two comics panels are reproduced in the exhibit text  -- and buying a 1960s DC romance comic or two wouldn't bust anyone's budget. An excellent catalog by curators James Rondeau and Sheena Wagstaff is available, and the Gallery has several events planned including ones at local restaurants Busboys and Poets and Ben's Chili Bowl.

UPDATE: Here's some pages that Lichtenstein used from Charlton and DC Comics (thanks to Prof. Witek)-

STRANGE SUSPENSE STORIES #72 p. 25

Secret Hearts #83, Nov. 1962



All-American Men of War #90



All-American Men of War #89

PR: THE HISTORY OF INVULNERABILITY superhero play

THE MAN BEHIND SUPERMAN COMES TO LIFE IN DAVID BAR KATZ'S THE HISTORY OF INVULNERABILITY AT THEATER J

(Washington, DC) – The History of Invulnerability, David Bar Katz's provocative new drama, brings the origin story of the Superman comic to life, in all its political complexity. Behind every great superhero is a determined creator. In 1930s America, that creator was usually a young Jewish man with an active imagination. Batman, Spiderman, The Incredible Hulk and other iconic cartoon characters were all products of young American Jews.  Bar Katz's play illuminates the story of Jerry Siegel—the brains behind Superman's brawn—and the imagined struggle between the creative father and his uber-mensch son.

The History of Invulnerability runs June 6–July 8, 2012 at Theater J in the Washington DCJCC's Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater. Press night is Monday, June 11 at 7:30 pm. Performances on Saturday, June 9 at 8:00 pm and Sunday, June 10 at 3:00 pm are $30 previews. Performances on Wednesday, June  6 and Thursday, June 7 at 7:30 pm are pay-what-you-can previews. Performances on June 17 and 24 and July 1 and 8 at 7:30 pm are $35 Sunday night specials. On Thursday, June 21 at 7:30 pm the show will have open-captioning for the hearing impaired. There will be special matinee performances at noon on Friday, June 22.  Tickets are available starting at $30 at theaterj.org  or (800) 494-TIXS.

With a new Superman blockbuster film opening in 2013 and the re-release of the Superman comic as "The New 52" by DC Universal in September 2011, The Man of Steel remains an enduring American phenomenon.  As Bar Katz traces the iconic character back to his conception in the mid 1930s, the audience views the action from the inner landscape of creator Jerry Siegel (David Deblinger) who begins his journey in his mother's basement in Clevelend. Frustrated with feelings of powerlessness in the face of the mounting horrors of Nazi Germany, Siegel and illustrator Joe Shuster (David Raphaely) create a being capable of overpowering all enemies. After their Superman comic catches on, the duo's desire to depict Superman slaughtering Nazis is curbed by Harry Donenfeld (Conrad Feininger), the head of DC Comics who purchased the rights to Superman for a mere $130. As Jerry wrestles to retain control of his comic book sensation and his life, America is drawn into WWII.  Interspersed with scenes from Siegel's life is the story of inmates of Birkenau. Audacious Benjamin (David Raphaely) dreams of rebellion, elderly Saul (Conrad Feininger) struggles to keep faith in God, and young Joel (Noah Chiet) waits expectantly for the day when Superman will come to their rescue.  The History of Invulnerability was a finalist for the 2011 ACTA Steinberg New Play Award and the Acclaim Award for "Outstanding Play World Premiere" at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.  Theater J's production marks The History of Invulnerability's East Coast premiere and second production overall.

 

Artistic Director Ari Roth welcomes The History of Invulnerability to the Theater J stage, remarking "In the tradition of David Mamet, David Bar Katz is a writer of muscular Jews with a wild, robust writing style to match. He's got a number of interesting plays: Philip Roth in Khartoum, [staged at the Public Theatre in 2008] Burning Burning Burning [surrounding Shabbetai Tzvi, the false messiah] and The Atmosphere of Memory [Featuring Ellen Burstyn]. He's a great writer for a new generation, and we're glad to start an ongoing relationship with him."  Bar Katz is a company member of the prestigious LAByrinth Theatre in New York, which includes artists like Philip Seymour Hoffman, who directed the Emmy-nominated HBO presentation of Bar Katz's Oh The Power. Bar Katz also earned two Tony Award nominations for the Broadway production of his play Freak. In an article in CityBeat, Cincinnati, Bar Katz describes himself as a writer who understands the "desire to fight battles in the real world using your fiction."

Director Shirley Serotsky understands this impulse as well, commenting "The desire to will into existence a better place, a better solution, a better being, is a fascinating piece of the Jewish and of the human story." Initially coming from a musical theatre background, Serotsky was struck by the parallels between musical theater and comic books: "Both are uniquely American art forms…dominated by Jews, often first–generation Jews who needed an escape both from the tragedies going on in Europe, and from their own often harsh circumstances in America." As the Director of Literary and Public Programming, and frequent director at Theater J, Serotsky has an extensive background staging stories from the Jewish experience.  Ms. Serotsky's Theater J credits include The Rise and Fall of Annie Hall, The Moscows of Nantucket, Mikveh and next season's The Hampton Years.  Recently, she garnered praise with her production of Birds of a Feather at The Hub Theatre, Blood Wedding at Constellation Theatre Company, and Working at Keegan Theatre.

Serotsky describes her cast as "a gutsy group of actors who are able to embrace both the stylistic world of a comic book and the deeply honest emotions and desires of the characters in this world." They are led by David Deblinger, who garnered rave reviews for his portrayal of Jerry Siegel in Cincinnati Playhouse's world premiere of The History of Invulnerability. Deblinger is one of the founding members of the LAByrinth Theater Company, where he has performed in over 15 productions. He recently appeared in the world premiere of The Killings Room at Teatro Circulo and Animals Out Of Paper at The San Francisco Playhouse. In addition to being a talented actor, Deblinger is also a prolific playwright and solo performer. On June 25, Deblinger will share his work-in-progress Abe's Lucky Penny, which deals with the themes of fathers and sons also raised in The History of Invulnerability.

Playing the brash Harry Donenfeld is Conrad Feininger. Mr. Feininger recently appeared at Theater J in Benedictus, Either/Or and String Fever. A frequent performer at The Shakespeare Theatre, he recently appeared in their productions of King Lear, Richard II, Henry V and All's Well That Ends Well. Other recent credits include Hysteria at Rep Stage and Charming Billy at RoundHouse Theatre. Playing the Man of Steel himself is Tim Getman, fresh from his appearance in After The Fall earlier in the Theater J season.  Getman has also appeared in the Theater J productions Photograph 51, Passing the Love of Women, The Last Seder and as Danny Saunders in Theater J's original production of The Chosen. He recently starred in Gruesome Playground Injuries at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, where he also appeared in The Unmentionables and The Distance from Here.

Also making a second appearance in the Theater J season is Brandon McCoy,  who just reprised his role as Simon in Theater J's encore presentation of New Jerusalem: The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza.  Playing both Joe Shuster, the illustrator of Superman, and Benjamin, the revolutionary concentration camp inmate is David Raphaely.  One of Philadelphia's most popular young actors, Mr. Raphaely has appeared in productions at The Wilma Theatre, The Arden Theatre Company, The Walnut Street Theatre, PlayPenn, and the Philadelphia Theatre Company.  In the summer of 2010, he was a guest artist in the Theater J/TheatreLab staged readings of Ari Roth's Born Guilty cycle. Jjana Valentiner, who recently gained acclaim playing barmaid Patsy in Sideman at 1^st Stage, will play Jerry's mother and other roles. Valentiner's other recent credits include Pride and Prejudice at Round House Theatre; Birds of a Feather at The Hub Theatre;  Fucking A at The Studio Theatre 2ndStage and Tartuffe at the Journeymen Theater Ensemble. She is joined by James Whalen, returning to Theater J after appearing in last season's Voices from a Changing Middle East festival. Mr. Whalen was recently seen in The Shakespeare Theatre Company's production of Cymbeline. He is also a frequent player at Everyman Theatre, where he has appeared in The Exonerated, Betrayal and The Cripple of Inishmaan. Alyssa  Wilmoth, a graduate of the Shakespeare Theatre Company Academy for Classical Acting who recently earned accolades  in No Rules Theatre Company's production of StopKiss will play Superman's paramour, Lois Lane.  Noah Chiet completes

the ensemble as the young boy imprisoned in a concentration camp, dreaming of Superman.  By the age of 12, Mr. Chiet has already gained rave reviews for his turn in Ganeymede Arts' Falsettos and in Liberty Smith at Ford's Theatre. He has participated in two readings at Theater J, and this is his first production.

An all-star design team of Theater J veterans reunite to create the vibrant world of comic books and the equally atmospheric concentration camps. In addition to designing the set for The Rise and Fall of Annie Hall and The Moscows of Nantucket, scenic designer Robbie Hayes has worked on Theater J's Sholom Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears. Lighting will be designed by Dan Covey, who also designed lights for Mikveh at Theater J. Debra Kim Sivigny, a veteran Theater J designer (Rise and Fall of Annie Hall, The Moscows of Nantucket and Mikveh) and company member of Rorschach Theatre, will be designing costumes. Returning to Theater J after several seasons is Dre Moore, as Properties Designer. Matthew Nielson (The Whipping Man, New Jerusalem) will create the sound design.

The History of Invulnerability is presented as the annual Arthur Tracy "The Street Singer" Endowment Production honoring the memory and musical legacy of Arthur Tracy, the renowned radio, stage and screen singer and entertainer whose talent delighted millions around the world. Additional funding has been provided by Ann and Don Brown and Judy and Leo Zickler.

Complimenting The History of Invulnerability in the DCJCC Ann Loeb Bronfman Gallery will be the exhibit "Graphic Details: Confessional Comics by Jewish Women" opening on June 7. See washingtondcjcc.org/gallery for more information.

THE HISTORY OF INVULNERABILITY FACT SHEET

WRITTEN BY: David Bar Katz

DIRECTED BY: Shirley Serotsky

SCENIC DESIGNER: Robbie Hayes

LIGHTING DESIGNER:  Dan Covey

COSTUME DESIGNER: Debra Kim Sivigny

PROPERTIES DESIGNER: Dre Moore

SOUND DESIGNER: Matthew Nielson

DRAMATURG: Stephen Spotswood

PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER: Roy A. Gross

FEATURING: David Deblinger, Conrad Feininger, Tim Getman, Brandon McCoy, David Raphaely, Jjana Valentiner,
James Whalen, Alyssa Wilmoth and Noah Chiet

PRESS NIGHT:  Monday, June 11

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE: June 6-July 8, 2012

Regular Schedule:  Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 pm, Saturdays at 8:00 pm, Sundays at 3:00 and 7:30 pm

$30 Previews:  Saturday, June 9 at 8:00 pm and Sunday, June 10 at 3:00 pm

Pay-What-You-Can Previews: Wednesday, June 6  and Thursday, June 7 at 7:30 pm

Special Matinees: Friday, June 22 at 12:00 pm
Please note: Thursday, June 21 at 7:30 pm the show will have open captioning for the hearing impaired.

THEATER J INFORMATION:

LOCATION: The Washington DC Jewish Community Center's Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater at 1529 16^th Street NW in Washington, DC, 4 blocks east of Dupont Circle.

PARKING & METRO:  Limited parking in the Washington DCJCC lot; additional parking available at Colonial Parking, 1616 P Street NW; limited street parking. Dupont Circle Station RED line.

TICKETS:  Starting at $30. Box Office Tickets (800) 494-TIXS or boxofficetickets.com.

For discounts for groups of 10+ call (202) 777-3214 or email becky@theaterj.org

Theater J is handicapped accessible and offers assisted listening devices for interested patrons.   

High resolution digital images are available upon request. More information about this production is available at (202) 777-3230 or theaterj.org.

Theater J, a program of the Washington DCJCC, produces thought-provoking, publicly engaged, personal, passionate and entertaining plays and musicals that celebrate the distinctive urban voice and social vision that are part of the Jewish cultural legacy. Acclaimed as one of the nation's premiere playwrights theaters, Theater J presents cutting edge contemporary work alongside spirited revivals and is a nurturing home for the development and production of new work by major writers and emerging artists exploring many of the pressing moral and political issues of our time. Dedicated first to a pursuit of artistic excellence, Theater J takes its dialogues beyond the stage, offering an array of innovative public discussion forums and outreach programs which explore the theatrical, psychological and social elements of our art. We frequently partner with those of other faiths and communities, stressing the importance of interchange among a great variety of people wishing to take part in frank, humane conversations about conflict and culture.

Guest reporter post : Fox 5 News DC Just ran a promo for an upcoming story on comic books

Ray Bottorff Jr reports:

WTTC Fox 5 of Washington DC, ran a promo during the NFC Divisional Playoffs Saturday evening January 14 on an upcoming special report that appears to be a Wertham-style attack on comic books.

Scheduled to air on Wednesday January 18th, on their 11:00 pm newscast, the promo presents to the audience the suggestion that comics are full of sex and violence, using the quote "Playboy meets comics."

With what sensationalized call to arms, the ad purported to show in the news story how parents can "KO" these comics for their kids.

Certainly a 30-second plug for a late night news story will not cover everything that will be mentioned during the story when it airs. But the promo certainly gave the impression that it will malign the industry and deliver the usual stereotypes on how comics are only for kids (never mind that the comics shown are not for kids), and that smut is being peddled by comic book stores to children (which they are not).

What kind of vigilance should comic book fans do to this modern day Wertham-style attack? Swamp Fox 5 with phone calls? Protest at the Fox 5 studios? Something else?

Here's the post-broadcast update.