Everyone knows the central role that Jewish writers and artists have played in the history of comics, from Siegel and Shuster to Lee and Kirby to Eisner to Spiegelman to Bendis. But what of the female members of the tribe? That's the question at the heart of "Graphic Details: Confessional Comics by Jewish Women," a traveling art exhibit curated by Michael Kaminer and Sarah Lightman. Following a stint in San Francisco, the show re-opens this coming Thursday, February 17, at the Koffler Gallery Off-Site at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto. Focusing on the role that Jewish women have played in the development of the autobiographical comic -- arguably the genre responsible for the medium's new-found respectability over the past three decades -- it boasts contributions from Miss Lasko-Gross (that's her grabber of an image above) Vanessa Davis, Sarah Glidden, Miriam Katin, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Diane Noomin, Trina Robbins, Ariel Schrag, Lauren Weinstein, and many more. I know a person named "Sean T. Collins" is dubiously qualified to use Yiddish, but I could plotz over seeing original art from that line-up.
Click here to see the Koffler Centre's impressive suite of events revolving around the exhibit, and click here for the Graphic Details blog.