Arlen’s Events Blog
*Click on each Event to enlarge!*
CHRIST in COMICS webinar via NY Adventure Club 12/18
MONDAY, DECEMBER 18 @ 5:30pm EST:
“CHRIST IN COMICS” webinar via NY Adventure Club!
Ever since superheroes first burst upon the American scene in the late 1930s, they have always used their mighty super powers defending the causes of “truth, justice and the American way,” to quote the famous motto of the first superhero, Superman.
But there is something more, something embedded in the superhero mythos that goes deeper than their surface feats of derring-do. Because for all of their mighty displays of super-strength, speed, flight, heightened senses or occult, supernatural powers, the greatest superpower of them all is the power of love: the love every superhero has for the people they’re protecting from harm or rescuing from the forces of evil.
So come join comic book-style illustrator and historian Arlen Schumer (author/designer, The Silver Age of Comic Book Art) as he explores how superheroes in American comic book history have always reflected Christological aspects of heroism and self-sacrifice, whether overtly, subconsciously or unconsciously; you’ll see some of your favorite superheroes and comic book art in ways that will make “all seem new again”!
JEWS & COMICS webinar via NY Adventure Club 12/7
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7 @ 7:00pm EST:
“JEWS & COMICS: a Past & Present History” webinar via NY Adventure Club!
One day in 1933, printing salesman Max Gaines (nee Ginzburg) came up with a novel idea for newspaper promotion: he took pages of some tabloid-sized Sunday newspaper comics, folded them over twice, and stapled them on the side—creating the comic book as we know it!
That same year, two 18-year-old aspiring newspaper cartoonists from Cleveland, writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, created a character whom they hoped to sell to the very newspaper syndicates who worked with Gaines: Superman! Thus began the history of comic books and superheroes, largely created by American Jews like Gaines, Siegel and Shuster, and so many others that followed!
So join comic book and pop culture historian Arlen Schumer (author/designer, The Silver Age of Comic Book Art) as he explores the specific Jewish creation of the American superhero and its antecedents in older, ancient myths—from the Golem to Ben Grimm, as it were—and how they sparked a 20th Century American pop culture explosion that has only gained in prominence and popularity here in the 21st Century!
ROBERT CRUMB webinar via NY Adventure Club 11/20
Monday, November 20 @ 5:30pm EST:
American cartoonist Robert Crumb is not only The Father of Underground Comics in the 1960s, but his ongoing body of work, at once artistic, autobiographical, and journalistic, has documented the birth, life, and aging of America’s Baby Boom Generation, its exterior worlds of politics, social mores, and sexuality, and its interior, experiential explorations, both psychological and psychedelic.
In many ways, Crumb is The Bob Dylan of Comics, in that he opened up the field of comics for individual self-expression, just like Dylan did for rock music.
Join New York Adventure Club and pop culture historian Arlen Schumer (author/designer, The Silver Age of Comic Book Art), as we explore a “greatest hits” of Crumb’s vast catalog of comic artworks, from his earliest comics as a teenager coming of age in the late-‘50s, to his Underground Comix explosion in the ‘60s, and his decade-defining works of the ‘70s and succeeding decades, up to and including his still-subversive and eye-opening artworks of the 21st Century. And more!
•••CAN’T make it LIVE? Register and get access to the full replay for ONE WEEK!
GREEN HORNET TV SERIES free webinar 11/1
Wednesday, November 1 @ 6:00pm EST:
“THE GREEN HORNET TV SERIES” free webinar!
In the fall of 1966, a new television series debuted that was obviously inspired by the pop culture tsunami that began earlier that year in January, the BATMAN TV series, but THE GREEN HORNET was also different; where the Batman show was treated as “camp,” the Hornet played it “straight.”
And though it only lasted one season, THE GREEN HORNET has proven to be memorable decades later, mostly for the inspired casting of a young American-Chinese martial arts master as The Hornet’s loyal sidekick, KATO: future worldwide superstar, BRUCE LEE!
1966: GREATEST POP CULTURE YEAR webinar 10/18 via NY Adventure Club
Wednesday, October 18 @ 8:00pm EST:
While practically every year of the tumultuous decade of the 1960s was chockful of spectacular pop culture creations that have become timeless touchstones of the era, perhaps no other year had more of them, spanning all genres and mediums, of more lasting impact here in the 21st Century, than 1966!
From the camp classic Batman television series that kicked off a year of “Batmania,” to the burst of fabulous fall fantasy TV series: Star Trek, Time Tunnel, Mission: Impossible, and The Green Hornet (co-starring then-unknown Bruce Lee!); from the incredible rock & roll landmark albums of The Beach Boys (Pet Sounds), Bob Dylan (Blonde on Blonde), and The Beatles (Revolver), to the debut of “The American Beatles,” The Monkees! And more!
•••CAN’T make it LIVE? Register and get access to the full replay for ONE WEEK!
SWAMP THING-BATMAN free webinar 8/30
Wednesday, August 30 @ 6:00pm EST:
August 2023 marks the 50th Anniversary of the newsstand release of the much-anticipated first meeting between DC Comics’ relatively new character, SWAMP THING, and their longtime star, BATMAN!
“Much-anticipated” because everyone, both fans and pros alike, was looking forward to how superstar artist BERNI WRIGHTSON would illustrate the Dark Knight! And he did NOT disappoint; the issue is considered the high-water mark of Wrightson’s run of ten issues!
MANHUNTER-Walt Simonson webinar by Arlen Schumer
Thursday, August 3 @ 6:00pm EST:
THE SHADOW of KALUTA pt2 free webinar 7/19
This Wednesday, July 19 @ 6:00pm EST:
“THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE SHADOW BY KALUTA Part 2″ free webinar!
THE SHADOW of KALUTA free webinar 7/12
JOKER-BATMAN free webinar 5/10
“THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE GREATEST JOKER-BATMAN STORY” free webinar!