For a while now, Dave Sim has been mentioning Secret Project #1, of which it was only known that 1) it would debut at the SPACE indie show, 2) Sim would not promote it, as he has Glamourpuss and 3) it made Neil Gaiman cry. Gradually word leaked that it was Holocaust-themed. Well the word is out, it’s Judenhass, which, we’re told, means more or less “Jew Hatred.” But it’s not what you think.
An examination of the historical roots of the Holocaust through quotes from historical personages drawn in a photorealism style from period photographs. Begun in response to the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz (2005) it will be released during the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of Israel.
Judenhass is a stand-alone one shot comic book, perfect bound and 56 pages long. It’s published by Aardvark Vanaheim Inc. for release in May 2008. It will be kept in print, and it’s hoped that the title will be kept in stock by retailers and supported by them as a perennial title.
Okay, show of hands: who saw this one coming?
Available in May.
[Via Panel & Pixel]
Technorati Tags: Dave Sim
The mentioned Preview, Sim send out to Busiek and Gaiman (or at least parts of it) can be found here:
http://forum.superpouvoir.com/showthread.php?p=213375
I’ll be covering SPACE (Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo) start to finish over at my website (comicrelated.com) this weekend. In coordination with event organizers, I’ll be featuring Dave Sim’s big unveil live from the event within my coverage.
Huh.
The link provided above (by Stefan P) provides a look at the first 8 or so pages. The page of young Jewish cartoonists (Kirby, Eisner, etc) that could have easily been Holocaust victims were it not for the geography of their birth is just chilling.
I’ll never forget the 2003 Gene Day Awards presenation (at S.P.A.C.E) when Dave got up to present. We were two years into Afghanistan and the Iraq war had just started, and Dave -his voice cracking with emotion- asked all present for a minute of silence, for “those who are giving their lives for freedom and democracy.” As the minute was ending, two punks hooted sarcastically from the back: “Freedom, yeah! Rock n’ roll!”
Dave raised his head a few seconds later as the minute of silence ended and said softly: “Thank you–and those were also two examples of freedom.”
I just found it on YouTube:
http://www.judenhass.com has the highest quality preview, much better resolution than the superpouvoir link given above.
Some very nice quotes on the front page from Gaiman and others.
Hoo boy. Thank goodness that nothing could possibly go wrong with this one, huh?
>> The mentioned Preview, Sim send out to Busiek and Gaiman (or at least parts of it) >>
Uh, not me. I didn’t see anything in advance — not that Dave has any reason to send it to me.
Maybe Miley Busiek, the sculptor?
kdb
@Jack Fear
As long as he sticks to the Jews and doesn’t start, er, editorializing about the homosexuals and Communists in the concentration camps, we should be okay. Also, as long as he doesn’t try to claim that the Nazis actually adhered to or believed in the “socialist” part of “National-Socialism”.
(for a guy who hates socialism so much, you’d think he’d just move south a few dozen miles to a country without socialized medicine)
Alexa,
If you’re going to attack someone, try attacking them for something they’ve actually said, rather than what you think they might say.
Alexa, I’m sure Dave is EVERY BIT as repulsed by the Nazis’ treatment of homosexuals as any other decent person is.
Jeez.
Marcus, I think it is best not to assume where Dave is concerned. For all his love of freedom and democracy he only believes in it for selected people.
I’m very happy to find out that he opposes the Holocaust. I was worried there for a while.
“For all his love of freedom and democracy he only believes in it for selected people.”
It’s disappointing to read such a statement presented as if it were fact.
I’ve been just as disappointed by many of Dave’s views and opinions over the last decade, but almost all of those views concern human nature and spirituality. I’ve NEVER gotten the impression that he felt any human being was less deserving of basic human rights and dignity than another.
Do you consider voting a basic right? Dave is on record as saying he considers giving women the vote a “mistake.”
Contraiwise, Mr. Lusk, he seems to believe there’s barely enough supremacy to go around. His campaigning re: the male light and the female void comes to mind, as do his regular insinuations that X political party is too liberal and therefore not going to serve the public good nearly as well as, say, a patent leather boot stomping on a human face forever.
You can argue that these statements are purely invested in human nature and spirituality, and I suppose you’d be right– but you’d also be ignoring that Mr. Sim is prone to casual blanket generalizations about things that really aren’t his business. If you believe homosexuals are acting against the will of God, well, that’s all well and good; irrespective how I or anyone else who’s ever indulged in buggery feels, that’s your business. The point is that you don’t have to go proclaiming your bias from a mountaintop. Sim has used his comics & online presence as public organs in order to make his feelings on these subjects well-known, and has picked quite a few unwinnable fights in the process, only to whinge about how he’s been demonized by the liberal media– I mean, Comics Journal.
Despite what I feel are rather substantial contributions to comics art & literature, he has also behaved like a fearmongering politician, beating the drums of sexism & homophobia, all to reassure himself he’s not alone in being embittered & afraid– to make himself feel better. If Sim’s neuroses re: other people’s affairs of the heart constitute the backbone of his spiritual & philosophical concerns, I don’t think they’re particularly useful to anyone except as a case study in how not to make friends or influence people in anything remotely resembling a positive fashion.
(I admit these are my reads on Sim’s psychology and you’ll doubtless find them flawed, but I must point them out as being -just- as viable as Sim’s views if not moreso, because I am not disparaging Sim for being different, merely for being an uncharitable asshole.)
Heidi,
When you speak of “selected people,” are you referencing only his views of women’s rights or of other groups as well?
Heidi,
When you speak of “selected people,” are you referencing only his views of women’s rights or of other groups as well?
Navan said:
“[Sim’s] regular insinuations that X political party is too liberal and therefore not going to serve the public good nearly as well as, say, a patent leather boot stomping on a human face forever.”
Your “reads of Sim’s psychology,” Navan, would be more credible if you quoting something he actually said.
Here are Dave’s words on woman and the right to vote (and the link from the series of correspondence that this quote is pulled from, unless The Beat has a different quote and link?):
“That sounds far-fetched, but remember this all started with giving women the vote. I’m sure the vast majority of men thought at the time, “It’s a bit of a stretch, but once they have the vote, they’ll be satisfied.” In my view, all of these things follow one on the other and women and homosexuals are never going to be satisfied, no matter what you capitulate to. Same-sex marriage is the latest one. Most men delude themselves that if we capitulate on same-sex marriage, that will be the end of it. I have no idea what comes next, but the surest way to find out is to legalize same- sex marriage. The fundamental right to drool on people (if you are perceived by feminist psychiatry to be, by birth, a drooler) isn’t that big a leap from Gay Pride Parades.”
http://www.cerebusfangirl.com/artists/louisriel2.php
I advise everyone to save their bigs guns for tomorrow when I finally post my get it all off my chest rant.
And then, oddly, I will be satisfied.
Do I consider voting a basic human right? Well, no. (Of course I completely disagree with Dave’s opinion on women’s sufferage; I mean it’s indefensible in my view) but it’s a HUGE leap to suggest that he would even tacitly endorse genocide. Of ANY group.
(I know you were kidding about wondering if he was against the holocaust, but it seems many would lump his anti-feminist views right up there with wiping out the native Americans.)
Ironically, I just got through trying to explain to my mother why I want my children to have nothing to do with the Southern Baptist Church. (Since it was taken over by ultra-conservatives back in ’79; My primary objection is their degrading assignment of second-class status to women within the church.)
I guess from where I sit, most of Dave’s views on gender are, in essence, not all that different from those of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Marcus,
IN one post you laud Sim as a defender of freedom and democracy. I said that might be stretching it a little bit.
It’s a big leap to claiming he endorses genocide and I have never ever thought such a thing. I’m sure Judenhaas will make us all cry.
Like I said I’ll lay it all out for you tomorrow.
gene:
Your humorless rebuttal would be more worthy if it didn’t consist of the same “You’re misquoting / misrepresenting Dave Sim” line one always encounters in these discussions. (Boy’s about as literal-minded as a french letter…)
I don’t want to spend the next seventy hours citing Sim’s words back at him because it accomplishes nothing. We’ve had this discussion a dozen times or more. I’d much rather judge Sim on the basis of his work, not his rather disagreeable tendency to make an endless succession of categorical statements borne out of solipsism; the fact that he has tethered a large part of his body of work to his personality and worldview makes that difficult if not outright impossible. Which is why we’re all here now, hein?
I look forward to Judenhass as a possible, hopeful departure from that tendency, because it means we can finally start talking about what he does as opposed to what he says. The discussions that result will doubtless be more profitable to all, to say nothing of funnier.
Sim’s supposed to be on Inkstuds this week. It’ll be interesting to hear what’s on his mind. I mean, when is that never provocative?
It may be very good, and I hope it is, and that the people who buy it enjoy it. But I won’t be reading or buying it, because I don’t want that guy getting any of my money.
Ugh, dave sim is so boring. even reading people talk about dave sim is boring. dave sim doing a holocaust comic-totally boring. those dream sequence portions of cerberus? boring. everything that’s been shown from glamourpuss–fat sack of boring. dave sim on every website talking about whatever nonsense quality medication would probably clear right up? king boring of boring town. even his physical appearance is a total snooze.
Navan: “I don’t want to spend the next seventy hours citing Sim’s words back at him because it accomplishes nothing.”
Even one quote would be better than none. Which is what you provided.
Also, why does it matter that my response was “humorless?” It’s not like a misplaced Orwell reference is a bundle of yoks.
Heidi:
“It’s a big leap to claiming he endorses genocide and I have never ever thought such a thing.”
Huh? Just two hours earlier you said this…
“I’m very happy to find out that he opposes the Holocaust. I was worried there for a while. “
I know that this was probably said tongue-firmly-planted-in-cheek, but you certainly seem to be implying that you didn’t think him being pro-Holocaust was out of the realm of possibility, and I literally cringed when I read it. I’m with Marcus that “it’s a HUGE leap to suggest that he would even tacitly endorse genocide. Of ANY group.” Dave Sim’s views are out there, I’ll grant you, but I’ve never seen him say anything about killing people.
It’s a sad comment on how crappy comics as a whole really are that SIm gets the attention he does.
HI GENE!
Some would say every fandom gets the medium/genre it deserves.
Having Dave Sim ask everyone in the room give a moment of silence reminds me of that Borat bit, where he asks everyone to commemorate some fake Kazakh anniversary with a “ten minute moment of silence for respect”.
I used to be the biggest Dave Sim fan until I found out more about his views on life. Dave’s just inflating his ego by making it look like he’s the greatest American patriot (even though he’s Canadian). He also thinks he’s the greatest comic writer/artist ever. He also thinks he’s the greatest follower of religion because he has it all figured out. He’s so pompous, so self-important, that he considers himself a follower of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Only for Dave Sim is this possible.
His views on women is disgusting. I admit, years ago when I was in high school and got totally burned by my first love, I liked how he said we shouldn’t put women on a pedestal. When it comes to your first love, you put too much hope in that person. Dave helped me see that I was wrong to invest too much of myself in one person. But I’d never say that women having the right to vote is wrong, or that all women are wicked, and that a man should only use a woman for one purpose (shocker that Dave is now celibate). The thing is, I got over my high school sweetheart, and Dave’s never healed from whoever it was that he got burned by. It’s time for him to grow up, only he’s just retreated more and more into his self-important role as savior to “real men”.
That’s not to say that the guy isn’t a genius when it comes to comic books. I think EVERY cartoonist needs to read Cerebus from High Society on. Especially when Gerhard came on board to do backgrounds. The layouts, the pacing, the typography (especially how impacted the scene in the panels, amazing)… he was writing the book on how to make a cool comic. Too bad Cerebus became unreadable near the end.
I’m so curious to read this Judenhass. I’m torn between a chance at seeing something brilliant versus supporting Sim and his ego.
“Some would say every fandom gets the medium/genre it deserves.”
And they would be wrong.
Brian Spence: “Having Dave Sim ask everyone in the room give a moment of silence reminds me of that Borat bit, where he asks everyone to commemorate some fake Kazakh anniversary with a “ten minute moment of silence for respect.'”
It reminds you of a Borat bit? How ridiculous.
Just shows again that -for some people- the man can truly do nothing right.
Spence: “He also thinks he’s the greatest comic writer/artist ever.”
REALLY. And he’s claimed this WHERE?
Spence: “He’s so pompous, so self-important, that he considers himself a follower of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Only for Dave Sim is this possible.”
Wait a minute…DAVE is pompous? I’d say declaring someone else’s faith invalid (no matter how non-traditional it may be) is quite beyond pompous.
To me, Dave’s reconciled “synthesis” of those three major religions is one of the few areas where I think the man is on to something. Anyone with the most rudimentary understanding of world history should be able to at least comprehend where he’s coming from there.
Spence:”But I’d never say that women having the right to vote is wrong, or that all women are wicked, and that a man should only use a woman for one purpose”
Other than the voting thing, where has Dave ever said ANY of that?
“All women are wicked” – WHERE? And don’t toss the whole “emotional void” stuff out there, that’s NOT the same thing.
“All women are wicked.” Jeez.
Dave’s said plenty of controversial and perplexing things over the past decade. There’s ample material there to choose from if folks want to criticize the guy. I’d just like to see people stick to the things he’s actually said and stop making stuff up. It’s like saying “George Bush thinks no Muslim deserves to live.” Lots of people revile Bush for many reasons, but you only see those kinds of caricaturizing statements coming from the lunatic fringe.
Snoid:
“And they would be wrong.”
Sez a member of that fandom.
“Sez a member of that fandom.”
I like movies as much as I do comics, does that mean I deserve Steven Seagal movies?
“As long as he sticks to the Jews and doesn’t start, er, editorializing about the homosexuals and Communists in the concentration camps, we should be okay.”
I don’t think he will. In the preview* he makes a point of focusing specifically on the anti-Jew aspect of the Holocaust. He doesn’t deny that “others” died as well, but he thinks that’s a side issue, because the Holocaust was fundamentally about the Jews. He attributes it to an “almost inevitable” vendetta against them in particular, rather than an opportunistic use of them as scapegoats to rally the German people in the face of national collapse. I happen to think there’s some truth to the latter explanation, and I think it carries a more general warning that we need to watch out for genocide of other kinds, but I can see where he’s coming from. And it’s not the popular image of Sim as the frothing misogynist homophobe.
*Here’s a thought people: instead of speculating, why not check?
Dave Sim has been a guest on Indie Spinner Rack and Comic Geek Speak before and there was never any issue about his beliefs. He was a nice guy and a great interview.
Marcus, were you a reader of Dave’s Blog and Mail? Hard not to find Dave’s unintentionally comical argument with the deceased Albert Einstein a bit pompous, no? Dave won, of course. HE’s smarter than Einstein, then. Cool.
Jason,
The Holocaust was fundamentally against Jews. Hitler made numerous comments about exterminating Jews who he believed had laughed at him before he came to power. The Nazis came up with the Final Solution in an effort to solve the “Jewish Question”. The murders of so many others were a bi-product of Hitler’s genocidal hatred against Jews. That is not to trivialize their deaths. Had people been more outraged by Hitler’s persecution of Jews, the murders of so many others would not have been possible.
I’m interested in reading Judenhass. Mr. Sim seems sincere and hopefully his work provokes thoughtful discussion on a topic that I care a lot about.
“The fundamental right to drool on people (if you are perceived by feminist psychiatry to be, by birth, a drooler) isn’t that big a leap from Gay Pride Parades.”
Ah, the old “give ’em an inch and they’ll take a mile” argument. My question in that diatribe: why does he need women and homosexuals to stop asking for things?
If that hate-mongering shitwad gave me a copy I wouldn’t read it.
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