Sample Sources
The sources below are those contained in our three curated collections—covering themes of Passover, Gender Roles, and Holocaust Resistance. They represent a fraction of the thousands of sources that will be available when the full site launches in 2024.
Sick, Sick, Sick
Sick, Sick, Sick was very different from other comic strips of the 1950s. It had the format of a comic strip but did not have conventional story lines or superheroes. Instead, it was more like an…
Leonard Bernstein
Al Hirschfeld was most famous for his caricatures of actors, musicians, and other figures from the arts and public life. He himself preferred to be known as a “characterist.” After the birth of his…
Astérix le Gaulois, no. 1, cover
Astérix le Gaulois is set in the first century BCE, during Rome’s conquest of Gaul (France), focusing on the inhabitants of a small village who, given superhuman strength by a magic potion prepared by…
The Egg That Disguised Itself
Poet and scholar Dan Pagis wrote and illustrated a children’s book about an egg, which, searching for an alternate identity, tries unsuccessfully to disguise itself as a flower, a mushroom, a clock…
Masterpiece
The title of Masterpiece offers an ironic commentary on the career of its rising star artist, Roy Lichtenstein. It features a blonde woman and “Brad,” a recurring character in Lichtenstein’s comic…
“Chickensouperman” from L’il Abner
L’il Abner, set in the fictional town of Dogpatch in Kentucky, presented a stereotyped view of the U.S. South. But its trenchant satire targeted political and social issues, and popular culture. Here…
“Le people juif . . . sur de lui-même et dominateur . . .” (“The Jews, a People Sure of Itself and Domineering, . . .” Charles de Gaulle)
Louis Mitelberg drew this cartoon in ironic response to a 1967 comment made by French president Charles De Gaulle in the wake of the Six Day War, in which he described the Jewish people (now that they…
Zoo Eretz Zoo
God creates the universe in seven days. Soon after the job’s done, he throws Adam and Eve out of their place for disobeying orders. The couple…
Peacock Thanksgiving
An imaginary Thanksgiving dinner attended by the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, Abraham Lincoln, the Statue of Liberty, George Washington, a Halloween witch, and a strutting peacock. A version of this…
Cookalein
“Cookalein” is a story from Will Eisner’s graphic novel, A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories. The “cookalein” (or kuchalein, “cook for yourself”) was a popular and affordable type of…
American Splendor
“Standing Behind Old Jewish Ladies in Supermarket Lines” is a comic from Harvey Pekar’s autobiographical comic series American Splendor, which focused on everyday life in Cleveland, Ohio. Not an…
