Mendy and the Golem, originally written by Leibel Estrin and later by
Matt BrandsteinMatt Brandstein is an American writer and occasional Bollywood film actor. He is most known for his writing of the popular Jewish children's comic book series Mendy and the Golem...
, is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comic bookA comic book is a magazine made up of narrative artwork, often accompanied by dialog and often including brief descriptive prose...
series featuring Jewish characters.
The original series followed the exploits of Mendy Klein, who found a
GolemIn Jewish folklore, a golem is an animated being created entirely from inanimate matter. In modern Hebrew the word golem literally means "cocoon", but can also mean "fool", "silly", or even "stupid". The name appears to derive from the word gelem , which means "raw material"...
in their father's
synagogueA synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer....
. The Klein siblings and their Golem (named Sholem) get into all sorts of scrapes, and walk out of them with a moral based on Jewish texts. In the second, more modern type, the Kleins have created a modern-day
GolemIn Jewish folklore, a golem is an animated being created entirely from inanimate matter. In modern Hebrew the word golem literally means "cocoon", but can also mean "fool", "silly", or even "stupid". The name appears to derive from the word gelem , which means "raw material"...
with the assistance of the venerable Reb Zushe, an aging Rabbinical scholar.
The original was a
slapstickSlapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated physical violence or activities which exceed the boundaries of common sense and sometimes includes ironic situations, such as a character being hit in the face with a heavy frying pan or running into a brick wall, or going mad while searching for...
comedyComedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in Ancient Greece...
aimed primarily at children. The second series straddles a variety of genres, including swashbuckling adventures with elements of
fantasyFantasy is a genre that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting. Many works within the genre take place on fictional planes or planets where magic is common...
,
mysteryMystery fiction is a loosely-defined term that is often used as a synonym for detective fiction — in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime...
, and
science fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction. It differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically-established or scientifically-postulated laws of nature...
, while retaining slapstick humor offset by dashes of
satireSatire is often strictly defined as a literary genre or form; although in practice it is also found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods,...
and political and cultural commentary.
History
The later version of the characters originated as a series of comic strips,
Mendy's Fun Page that ran weekly in Jewish newspapers in
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
and
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
, beginning in 1997. Two series of comic books followed.
1981 series
Billed as "The World's Only Kosher Comic Book", Mendy Enterprises'
Mendy and the Golem first appeared in 1981. Written by Leibel Estrin and drawn by Dovid Sears, the comic book featured the offbeat misadventures of Mendy, an Orthodox Jewish boy, and his pet Golem. Other characters include Mendy's parents, Rabbi Yaakov and Sara Klein; Mendy's sister, Rivky; and a host of colorful supporting characters such as Moshe the Mayven; the Lone Stranger and his faithful friend Toronto; Captain Video; Dr. Hardheart and his evil robot Oy Vayder; and Professor Nemo.
The comic's humor has been likened to that of "Rocky and Bullwinkle", taking shots not only at pop culture, but even at the comic book and its creators. Nineteen issues were produced, and a 20th written but never published.
2003 series
A new
Mendy and the Golem series appeared in 2003, published by The Golem Factory. Under editor-in-chief Tani Pinson, it was written by
Matt BrandsteinMatt Brandstein is an American writer and occasional Bollywood film actor. He is most known for his writing of the popular Jewish children's comic book series Mendy and the Golem...
and featured art by
Stan GoldbergStan Goldberg is an American comic book artist best known for his work as a flagship artist of Archie Comics and as a Marvel Comics' 1960s colorist, who helped design the original color schemes of Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and other major characters.-Early life and career:Stan Goldberg was...
,
Ernie ColonErnie Colón is an American comics artist, born in 1931 in Puerto Rico.Comic book series on which he has worked include Monster in My Pocket, Richie Rich and Casper the Friendly Ghost for Harvey Comics, Grim Ghost for Atlas/Seaboard, the historical fantasy Arak, Son of Thunder and Amethyst: Princess...
and Joe Rubinstein.
Trivia
Around 1983, the American musician
Bob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet and painter who has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was, at first, an informal chronicler and then an apparently reluctant figurehead of social unrest...
(né Robert Zimmerman) was studying Jewish scripture at the main Lubavitcher
synagogueA synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer....
at
770 Eastern Parkway770 Eastern Parkway is the street address of the central headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement, located on Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York, in the United States of America.-History:...
in
BrooklynBrooklyn is one of the five boroughs of New York City, located southwest of Queens on the western tip of Long Island. An independent city until its consolidation with New York in 1898, Brooklyn is New York City's most populous borough, with 2.5 million residents, and second largest in area...
,
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. At that time, letters from "R.Z., Hibbing, Minn.," appeared in the issues of "Mendy and the Golem."