NJW&C 20: And To All A Good Fight
Hey, Kids! It’s Nice Jewish Words & Comics!, the latest installment from Neil Kleid's bi-monthly newsletter with updates and info about his latest projects!
Welcome to December, fellow Hebros, Hebrettes and Hebrew-adjacent! Look at me, getting my end of year newsletter together so early in the month, rather than racing / rushing it out right at the end. Yup; this is the last Nice Jewish Words & Comics of 2024, so why don’t we take a second and look back, forward and maybe even side-to-side…and talk about some great comic books and graphic novels you might pick up for holiday gifts along the way!
Every year I get to this annual wrap up and the first thing that sticks in my mind is: holy crap, what the heck did I / we even do or accomplish this year?!
To make it easier on ourselves, let’s break it into the Professional and the Personal, shall we?
LOOKING BACK ON 2024, PROFESSIONALLY
So, this year has been an intriguing one to navigate, comics and writing career-wise. Rolling into 2024, I’ll admit to having felt very optimistic about the way the year was going to go. Nice Jewish Boys was humming along nicely—and I was optimistic about its chances during awards season—and Kings and Canvas was at the printer, having successfully funded the year before. I was working on some new projects, and had been invited to pitch for a few licensed titles (one of them a dream for Neil, something I’ve wanted to write for a long time.) Additionally, I was hoping to do more Marvel novels with Aconyte Books, after having so much fun with them doing The Phoenix Chase, and of course I had just won Jewish Writer of the Year at the inaugural JewCE Awards. My Writing Plan was on target, and I kept adding ideas to the list. Suffice to say…I was riding high.
And then…
…honestly, everything ground to a halt. The licensed projects? Delays and radio silence. Aconyte Books either lost or chose not to renew their Marvel license. Other pitches kept getting passed on for various reasons. Nice Jewish Boys got nominated for four JewCE Awards in 2024, but couldn’t eke out a win, but little else…perhaps due to the frustrations we’ve had about finding a publishing partner to bring the physical edition to life, Sure, things kept moving—I kept writing—but making any sort of headway (perhaps due to the market or publishing climate) was getting tougher and tougher to do.
Nice Jewish Boys…it’s tough to speak about this book, because it’s so personal for me. It’s very much rooted in my hopes and fears about the kind of father, friend, and Jew I’d like to be. It’s a story about ethics, loyalty, and repentance, and while it’s set in my hometown of Teaneck, it honestly could be a cautionary tale that takes place anywhere, for any desperate, struggling human being — Jew or not— forced to make choices between faith and survival. It’s an important book, and one that needs to be out there.
For those who have yet to read it, the book is only available to purchase digitally right now. I know a lot of folks want to own a copy—and I do, too. We’re still exploring print options, but I’ll be honest and say I wonder whether or not the book—because of the title, and its discussion of Israel in the narrative— has fallen into a black hole via a growing and upsetting trend of publishers steering clear of committing to Jewish fiction right now, and more specifically Jewish fiction that mentions Israel, for fear of upsetting consumers, or an even more threatening movement trying to blacklist or boycott authors who support the existence of a Jewish state. Personally—whether we’re talking about Nice Jewish Boys or some other book or comic—I believe that’s a dangerous trend to set, especially as this country is about to rubber-stamp an administration who will leap at the chance to ban and blacklist books and authors, especially in schools and libraries, that don’t fall in line with the tenor of new regime. My hope is that I’m wrong, and that we find this book a print home soon, and it has nothing to do with the content or title. But I did want to voice my concerns about supporting boycotts or blacklists of any Jewish or Israeli authors, especially when those voices and stories are needed now more than ever.
Anyway, so mid-year, I was a little down and focusing on writing projects that had no home—spec comics, a spec screenplay I dreamed up on a fun trip to London, and a spec novel. Thankfully, at some point the fine folks at Comixology Originals greenlit Project Mantle, and that is slated to release to you dear, supportive readers in late 2025 (more on my co-authors, concept, and release dates as we get further into the new year.) Additionally, as we near the end of the year, it looks like a dormant project may find life as either a short story or a full-blown novel (I’m waiting to hear, so cross dem fingers!) And finally, a conversation at JewCE may also breathe life into a brand new YA graphic novel with Judaic themes, with a graphic novel publisher who really took to the concept.
And, of course, Kings and Canvas finally arrives in comic book shops on December 18th—after nearly ten long years of its initial digital release—from the fine folks at CEX Publishing and Outland Entertainment, just in time for the holidays. It’s "Game of Thrones meets Rocky" with boxing dragons and polar bears. Tell your friends.
So, the halt I experienced partway through 2024 is beginning to become…”unground”? Hopefully, some of the other projects will pick up steam—whether they be licensed or creator-owned—and you’ll get a regularly scheduled output of books coming from this dude in 2025 and beyond. I have faith it will happen. Like I always say: some times you’re at the peak; some times you’re in the valley. I’m getting ready to start pushing that rock uphill again in 2025, and it starts with the handful of fun, interesting new writing projects on my plate.
As we discussed last year, I don’t do end-of-year page or word counts. For me, it’s about comparing the Writing Plan at the beginning of the year against the one I’m going to tackle in the year to come. So let’s dial back the clock, shall we?
We went into January 2024 with the following tentative Writing Plan:
Project Baker, a prose short story (Due in February, I believe)
Finish Projects Vigilant and Red (Book One)
Distill the Project Madness pitch into 2-3 pages
Comics pitches for Project Unwanted, Long Ago, and Burn (a MG graphic novel)
Maybe: start the second book of Project Red
So yeah, wow. A lot has pivoted since then. Project Baker was, of course, my Sherlock Holmes short story that got included into Multiverse of Mystery, an anthology that was successfully crowdfunded and should be arriving into backers’ homes quite soon. Project Red, a supernatural crime novel set in McCarthy-era Chicago, was back-burnered for a while, at least until I could complete a different novel— Project Vigilant —of which I have reached 38,000 words. I had to set that one aside, too, so I could focus on some day job stuff as well as writing work that picked up over the year. Project Madness was roundly rejected (yo, it happens; mourn it and move on to the next one!); I finished the pitch for Project Unwanted, which is on some editors’ desks, but moved Long Ago and Burn to 2025.
Halfway through 2024, we shifted around the Writing Plan a few times…and now, here’s what Neil should expect to complete as part of The (Tentative) 2025 Writing PlanTM:
Project Mantle (5 issue mini-series, Fall 2025); two issues are done as of today.
Here’s a quick tease:
Project Wonka (prose); this is the short story that may end up as a novel. Either way, it’s greenlit for either late 2025 (if short) or 2026 (if novel).
Project Sukkah (graphic novel); this was the Judaic project I referred to above. Just need to get the terms in place, and then I’ll be writing 128 pages of time-travel / murder mystery, and searching for a co-author.
Project Vigilant (spec novel, 38k out of 85k words); I’ll be starting work on this again starting in January.
Project Taylor (spec screenplay, 34 out of 110 pages); I’m writing two pages per day
Projects Orlando and Long Ago (comic book pitches)
Project Red, Book 1. This depends on whether or not I can complete Project Vigilant, and what else may come along. I really have to finish this thing, as it’s been dragging on for years.
Then I have the odd idea, like Project Burn (a MG graphic novel with my daughter) and a revised version of Project Loew, another YA concept I’d like to make my 2026 Jewish book. I also have the short film that I wrote, and the director and I are currently seeking funding for production…so that may come together sometime in the new year, as well.
The thing about writing plans is, they’re superfluid. I have a list of ideas, and I keep adding to that list. The market and my interest help shape it as I go. Hopefully, one day I’ll get to them them all…but the ideas won’t stop coming, and I’ll keep putting out books. Thanks for being here to read them, friends.
LOOKING BACK ON 2024, PERSONALLY
Overall, kind of a mixed bag. The war in the Middle East rages on, and many of the hostages are no closer to coming home. Antisemitism keeps rising in local streets, on college campuses, and overseas and I find myself distracted by doomscrolling and organizing to help ensure my family—and my people—are protected. The election? The less said about that the better, but again, we have to say something about it, and it’s going to be about organizing and fighting for the ones we love. 2024 was that in a nutshell; 2025 is only going to sharpen our teeth.
On a non-political level, I got to do some traveling this year—Disney World, yes, of course, but also my first trip overseas to London with my lovely wife, and out to Palo Alto, California, for a day job workshop. Our family has been rallying around my beloved Detroit Lions as our boys in Honolulu Blue make another run at a Super Bowl (yes, I know we’re 11-1 as of the time of this newsletter, but we keep losing defensemen, so stop jinxing it!) I visited Angry Orchard’s distillery, finally, and am making plans for visiting some other distilleries in 2025…more on that next year.
And the big highlights of our year were:
The highly glam and action-packed dance party of a bat mitzvah that we threw for our former Princess Cupcake, now QUEEN Cupcake, Tuition Payment Number Three, the sassy twelve-year-old who inspired Savor as a graphic novel and is always my number one girl (sorry, lovely wife.)
And the graduation of Tuition Payment Number Two from middle school, and his start in high school where he is kicking some ass, education-wise.
Tuition Payment Number One, by the way, is about to start driving plus he has thrown himself into a committed gym routine, so he’s all aggression and protein now. So maybe stay off the roads in North New Jersey.
My Littlest Tuition Payment, by the way, is a very talented cartoonist in his own right, and we also spent this year indoctrinating him into the ways of the Force, by burning through all the Skywalker Saga movies together, and are now cherry picking what’s left (Kenobi, Solo, Clone Wars, Rebels, Mandolorian) And yes, Ewoks on speeder bikes are just as amusing to nine year olds as they were back when I first saw these films in the Eighties.
This year, I turn half a century years old. Apart from a big birthday trip I am planning, I do have some goals for that milestone. By the time I turn 50, I’d like to:
Sell a comic, graphic novel, or original concept to Hollywood, to be made into a TV show or film.
Lose some weight. It’s definitely time, and a big albatross around my waistline. I’m joining a gym this week (no, for serious) and putting myself on regular exercise. Figuring out the diet part of it is the challenging aspect, but I’m going to cut back on bread during the week and cut out soda again altogether, leaning in to fruits and vegetables for snacks. I really want to make this work, and putting it out into public is a way to keep me in check.
Complete and sell another prose novel. I may be on my way here already with Project Wonka…
Travel overseas to somewhere I’ve never been. I ticked London off in 2024. I’d love to visit Hawaii this year, or attend Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo, but I doubt either one will happen. But maybe Norway or Sweden…
Start writing (and sell) my first ongoing comic book. I have never written any series beyond 5-6 issues, and I would love to crack that count.
Write a Star Wars book, comic book, or graphic novel. #LetNeilWriteAStarWar. Let’s get that trending, cool?
Write another Marvel book, comic book, or graphic novel.
Finally put together a proper writer’s website for myself, so I can direct folks to my backlist and not to a handful of disparate links. This is something I can probably even get done before the end of 2024.
Reasonable, yes? Let’s make some of these happen, cap’n.
Here’s to 2024, may she burn to ashes. Fists up; here comes 2025.
LOOKING BACK ON THE ARROWVERSE
Did you know that tonight (I’m writing this on Monday, December 2nd, 2024) marks the absolute end of the grand experiment know as “The Arrowverse”? This evening, the CW airs the series finale of Superman & Lois, a TV show that I watched pretty regularly when it first aired, but dropped in the middle of Season Two. Superman & Lois—thought not technically set in the “Arrowverse”, as viewers know it, a collection of shows set in the same continuity and regularly crossing over its characters as DC does in its comic books, kicked off by its first show, Arrow—is the last real monument to what I always felt was some of the best live-action depictions of DC Comics superheroes on film or television, more complex and emotionally well-rounded than the eponymous, dark and brooding Snyderverse, and more fun, ambitious, and true to its roots than the shows airing/aired on HBO Max, including Doom Patrol, Peacemaker, and Penguin (all of which I love/d).
The “Arrowverse” gave us the very first (and only, so far) live-action depiction of Ragman, my favorite Jewish comic book superhero, and obscure references to third-tier heroes and villains like Wild Dog, Tokamak, Commander Steel, The Ray, Silver Banshee and more. Early on, the various shows of the “Arrowverse”—Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow—began crossing over with one another…first just a character at a time, and then more broadly to begin presenting four to five issue—er, episode–arcs based on classic DC Comics events and imprints such as Elseworlds, Crisis on Earth-X and of course, Crisis on Infinite Earths, the most ambitious and cameo-heavy crossover of them all. Eventually, the “Arrowverse” would swell to include two more shows—Batwoman and Black Lightning—and spinoff to Superman & Lois, a show with characters and actors from the “Arrowverse”, but off in their own continuity. Soon, the crossovers and even some of the series began reintroducing ties and connections to older DC Comics cinematic vehicles, including characters from the 1990s’ Flash series starring John Wesley Shipp (a recurring cast member on the CW Flash show, pulling double duty as both Henry Allen and then Jay Garrick, the Golden Age Flash) and cameos by Smallville’s Tom Welling and another double duty turn by former Superman Brandon Routh, playing both the Atom and a multiversal version of Superman inspired by the graphic novel, Kingdom Come.
What I loved about “The Arrowverse” is that each of the shows really were about a specific tone, and the characters and narratives definitely reflected those tones. Arrow, for instance, was the darker, martial arts / espionage show. The Flash was the brighter, science-driven, superhero series. Supergirl was about family and centered around the world’s relationship with aliens, while Legends began as a straight time-travel show but turned into an offbeat series about a weird and unique found family that ventured into episodic experimentation (one episode had puppets; the other introduced Beebo, a crowd-pleasing children’s TV character that became the series’ de facto mascot.) Other shows tried the same—over on The Flash, we got a musical crossover with Supergirl starring none other than Glee’s Darren Criss as The Music Meister, character originally created for the animated series Batman: The Brave and the Bold, another example of the “Arrowverse” being unafraid to mine DC Comics’ rich history of both their comics universe and their filmed and televised mythologies.
Sadly, all good things come to an end, and so they did with “The Arrowverse” after its flagship series, Arrow, ended its eight-season run in 2019 by (spoiler!) killing off its title character in the aforementioned, long-teased crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths. Soon after, other shows either wrapped their runs—like The Flash and Supergirl—or were sadly canceled, like both Batwoman (perhaps due to behind the scenes conflict) and Legends, which unfortunately ended on a frustrating time-travel cliffhanger starring an upbeat and very welcome Donald Faison as a jaunty Booster Gold. With tonight’s final episode of Superman & Lois, a series about family and truth starring characters who got their start in “The Arrowverse” but quickly evolved into a world of their own, the CW finally wishes farewell to a grand experiment that grew to become beloved by many fans over the years, and one whose like we may never see again.
And as the final curtain is drawn on the “Arrowverse”, let me be join my voice to the choir and wish its producers, directors casts and crews the very best—thanking them for twelve years of solid entertainment, and engaging television I shared with my family, bringing us together around on our couch to either watch every week or binge at once—and finally say that as far as I’m concerned, not a single one of you failed this city…er, this fan.
RIP, “The Arrowverse.” 2012-2024
2024 KLEID (HOLIDAY GIFT) GUIDE!
So yeah, it’s the holiday season…and that means you may be searching for some last minute gifts—or may have received (will receive) a bunch of gift cards and you aren’t sure what to buy. Might I suggest…BOOKS?
Yes, books! The gift everyone loves to receive and no one like to give. But why can’t books be cool? Why can’t they be SEQUENTIAL books (okay comic books)?! Here I am, lil’ ol’ me, as I did last year, to suggest a few books I like that others (or you) may enjoy, too. Let’s begin with…
Superheroes!
So, many of you out there may have read Marvels, a ground-breaking painted comic book mini-series documenting the early days of the Marvel Universe through the camera lens of photographer Phil Sheldon, by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross. But have you read The Marvels, a universe-spanning story of that covers many different times and locations, touching various corners of Marvel history? The Marvels, by Busiek and Yildiray Cinar, tells stories that span the decades and range from cosmic adventure to intense human drama, from the street-level to the cosmic, starring literally anyone from Marvel’s very first heroes to the superstars of tomorrow. It introduces some great new characters—and a superhero tour I’d love to take. Fun, a breath of fresh air. Give it a try.
Thrillers!
Conversely, if you’re looking for fast and furious, something that cuts to the heart, chase down Drive Like Hell from Dark Horse Comics by Rich Douek and Alex Cormack, lettered by the very talented Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. Bobby Ray and Dahlia planned the perfect bank heist, and even stole the perfect getaway car. Theres just one little problem - it belongs to the devil himself, and he wants it back. Gripping and ghastly, this one really caught my eye, grabbed it, and held on tight. The collection just came out this month, just in time for the holidays. Come along for the ride.
Adventure!
Rather than focus on a single adventure comic, might I recommend you check out the adventure slate being offered by the publishing powerhouse that is Mad Cave Studios? Aside from their fantastic slate of original comics—including the much-recommended Kosher Mafia by friend of the newsletter, David Hazan—Mad Cave has been reinventing the genre of adventure comics by returning to its roots, offering updated versions of comic strip mainstays Dick Tracy and Flash Gordon, and now Defenders of the Earth. Next year, Mad Cave is bringing back The Phantom and rebooting Speed Racer, so if you’re into any sort of classic adventure comics or cartoons, definitely wander over to their website and pick up some adventures for your holiday stocking stuffers!
Romance!
So, look, I love a good romance comic book. And it’s really hard to speak about romance comics without mentioning the epic galactic love story that is Saga by Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples via Image Comics. Two worlds at war; two soldiers in love, each hailing from a different side, coming together against all odds to start a family and doing anything they can to protect it. Romeo and Juliet meets Star Wars, this thing is about families both built and found, war and sacrifice, ethics, morals, corruption and politics. The more you read, the more it reveals. Saga is already on many of your friends and families’ bookshelves…but if you haven’t yet, give it a try. And if they haven’t, pass it along. Yes—it’s not for the kids. Saga is full of violence and sex, bad language and more sex. But it’s romantic as hell, and worth your time.
Crime!
Okay, a quick plug for one of my own—my first, in fact, graphic novel, that is. Back when I was making mini comics and trying to figure out the kind of comic book writer I wanted to be, I found myself picking up a book called Tough Jews by Rich Cohen for a weekend read. Now, I had always been fascinated by organized crime…but movies and TV, books I’d read had always focused on the Italian, Irish and Polish gangs littering New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Despite being from Detroit, I had never really learned about the Purple Gang (that would change), and I also knew little to nothing about the Jewish murderers and cutthroats who’d littered Brooklyn, The Bronx, and the Lower East Side throughout the Twenties and Thirties. I got to know the men of Murder, Incorporated—like Mendy Weiss, who wouldn’t kill on Shabbos—and the closer I got to their tales, the more I knew that I wanted to write a graphic novel about Jewish gangsters. Brownsville—named for the area in Brooklyn where Murder, Inc. hailed—is a semi-fictional graphic novel about two gangsters, Albert “Tick Tock Tannenbaum and Abe “Kid Twist” Reles, who both became members of Murder, Inc.—having gotten involved for different reasons—working for Louis Lepke Buchalter and Albert Anastasia, they rose through the ranks and ended up becoming a part of their downfall. Mostly told through narrative captions, with semi-fictional dialogue either lifted from actual, researched sources or crafted by yours truly to drive the narrative, Brownsville was co-authored by Jake Allen and is still available via NBM Publishing. Get a copy for Chanukah, and give it to your historically-minded parents or grandparents, especially in honor of Jewish Book Month!
Drama!
More of a thriller-mystery, I was pleasantly surprised by Friday, a clever, time-twisting take on Encyclopedia Brown and other junior detectives by Ed Brubaker and Marcos Martin, offered first via Panel Syndicate and then collected by Image Comics. As per the solicits, “Friday Fitzhugh spent her childhood solving crimes and digging up occult secrets with her best friend Lancelot Jones, the smartest boy in the world. But that was the past. Now she's in college, starting a new life on her own-or so she thought. When Friday comes home for the holidays, she's immediately pulled back into Lance's orbit and finds that something very strange and dangerous is happening in their little New England town…” Not only is this a fun, beautiful illustrated, cleverly told crime thriller, but it’s also about growing up, growing apart and deciding who you want to be when you’re forced to leave home—and then again, when you have to come back. I’m a big fan of Ed’s crime writing (read Criminal, friends), and Friday doesn’t disappoint.
And that’s it! Some wonderful books that you can gift to your loved ones, family and friends…or even that one co-worker you think might enjoy a fantastic read.
And with that, we close out 2024. The New Year will be here any moment now; don’t let up and never let go. There’s a lot of unknown coming in 2025, but we’ll meet it together with determination, sharp teeth, raised fists for those who need it, and a welcome hand for those who need that, too.
We’ll see you back here in one month for the first newsletter of the year. Don’t punch any reindeer or eat a rotten latke while we’re gone.
And as always, here’s my hope that you all have a healthy, happy, creative, successful, peaceful holiday season and a Happy New Year.
Yours in love and comics,
Neil
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