Arie Kaplan

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Arie Kaplan is a writer and comedian. He is the author of the book Masters of the Comic Book Universe Revealed!, and a writer for MAD Magazine. He lives in New York City.

[edit] Personal

Kaplan attended the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. After working for film producer Anthony Rhulen (Lucky Number Slevin, The Butterfly Effect), Kaplan embarked on a career as a freelance writer.

On May 30, 2004, Kaplan married playwright Nadine Graham.^[1] "I'm very goal-oriented. I pursue something until I've worn it down to a nub. That's what I did with Nadine."

[edit] Writer

Although he is also a comedian and a cartoonist, Arie Kaplan is best known as a writer. Kaplan has written for Teen Beat, Tiger Beat, Entertainment Weekly, Time Out New York, the Utne Reader, and other publications. He has also won acclaim for exploring the role Jews have played in the history of both comedy writing and the comic book industry. Several years ago, Kaplan wrote a three-part series called "Kings of Comics" [1] about Jews in comics for Reform Judaism Magazine. In that series, he interviewed such comics luminaries as Al Jaffee, Stan Lee, Will Eisner, Art Spiegelman, Jerry Robinson, Paul Kupperberg, Trina Robbins, Drew Friedman, Judd Winick, Chris Claremont, Jon Bogdanove, and Joe Kubert. In his role as an entertainment journalist, Kaplan has also interviewed recording artists, comedians, filmmakers, and cartoonists, including R. Kelly, N Sync, Carl Reiner, Susie Essman, Larry Gelbart, Sam Gross, Tom Leopold, Nora Ephron, and Lewis Black.

[edit] Comic Books

Kaplan is currently writing a Speed Racer comic book mini-series called Speed Racer: The Chronicle of the Racer for IDW Publishing.^[2] Issue 1 comes out in early 2008. He has also written two Ben 10 comic book scripts for the DC Comics title Cartoon Network Action Pack. He is the writer/creator of the children's comic strip "Dave Danger, Action Kid" which ran in Reform Judaism Magazine from 2005-2007.

[edit] MAD Magazine

"[S]ignificant if not monumental creators such as early Batman artist Jerry Robinson, Love and Rockets' Gilbert Hernandez, and iconoclastic cartoonist Kyle Baker offer insightful observations on comics as industry and art." Booklist

A writer for MAD Magazine since 2000, Kaplan has described it as a dream to work for pioneering satire publication. Some of his best-known MAD pieces are the "Gulf Wars Episode 2: Clone of the Attacks" [2] poster, "What if Chris Rock Performed At A Bar Mitzvah?" and "MAD's New 'Sesame Street' Characters That Better Reflect Today's World." [3] The Gulf Wars poster -- co-written by Kaplan and Scott Sonneborn and illustrated by Scott Bricher -- was shown on FOX News and was written about in the national press.

[edit] Book: Masters of the Comic Book Universe Revealed!

In Masters, Kaplan profiles the lives and careers of a diverse range of icons of the comic book genre, including Stan Lee (Spider-Man); Neil Gaiman (Sandman); Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis, Art Spiegelman (Maus); Dwayne McDuffie (Static Shock); and Will Eisner (The Spirit).^[3] At an event at MoCCA celebrating the release of the book Kaplan was asked what the comic artists he interviewed—such as Eisner, Spiegelman, and Gaiman—have in common. He said that they were "elevating the art" and showing comics to be "art with a capital A."^[4] On the panel to discuss Kaplan's work was Jerry Robinson, legendary creator of The Joker, Robert Sikoryak, who does comic adaptations of literature, and Danny Fingeroth, former Spider-Man editor at Marvel Comics and author of "Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society."

[edit] Current and future work

Kaplan's book, From Krakow to Krypton: The history of Jews in Comics, comes out in Sept 2008 from JPS, with a foreword by American Splendor creator Harvey Pekar.^[5]

[edit] Quotes

• "Jews built the comic book industry from the ground up, and the influence of Jewish writers, artists, and editors continues to be felt to this day."^[6]

[edit] References

1. ^ Anna Jane Grossman, Countdown to Bliss, New York Observer, March 22, 2004; Page 12.
2. ^ Newsarama Interview with IDW Publishing's Chris Ryall
3. ^ xx
4. ^ Gary Shapiro, In Comics, Villains Needed, The New York Sun, August 31, 2006; Page 13.
5. ^ xx
6. ^ A Brief History of Jews in Comic Books on MyJewishLearning.com.

[edit] External links

• Arie Kaplan's Website
• Masters of the Comic Book Universe Revealed! ISBN 1-55652-633-4
• 4 part Interview with Arie Kaplan at madmumblings.com
• Debra Rubin, Did you hear the one about the Jewish comedy writer? The Jewish State, 2/28/03
• Gary Shapiro, In Comics, Villains Needed The New York Sun, 8/31/06
• Elizabeth Applebaum, COVER: A Word With Arie Kaplan Detroit Jewish News Online, 10/18/06
• Indie Spinner Rack podcast interview