Diaspora Boy
“One of the most fascinating and darkly humorous books in living memory.”
— Los Angeles Review of Books“A gorgeous, enormous and important collection.”
—Haaretz“Explosively subversive.”
—Kirkus“His cartoons aren't only raucously funny. They constitute a searing indictment of the moral corruption of organized American Jewish life in our age.”
—Peter Beinart“The work is difficult, funny, powerful, mightily subversive, and a testament to the depth of his focus.”
—Hyperallergicabout the bookabout
Eli Valley’s comic strips are intricate fever dreams employing noir, horror, slapstick and science fiction to expose the outlandish hypocrisies at play in the American/Israeli relationship. Sometimes banned, often controversial and always hilarious, Valley’s work has helped to energize a generation exasperated by American complicity in an Israeli occupation now entering its fiftieth year.
This, the first full-scale anthology of Valley’s art, provides an essential retrospective of America and Israel at a turning point. With meticulously detailed line work and a richly satirical palette peppered with perseverating turtles, xenophobic Jedi knights, sputtering superheroes, mutating golems and zombie billionaires, Valley's comics unmask the hypocrisy and horror behind the headlines. This collection supplements the satires with historical background and contexts, insights into the creative process, selected reactions to the works, and behind-the-scenes tales of tensions over what was permissible for publication.
Brutally riotous and irreverent, the comics in this volume are a vital contribution to a centuries-old tradition of graphic protest and polemics.
“With great humor, Eli Valley’s comic-strips expertly debunk the benighted tribal propaganda that passes for mainstream Jewish thought. As he demonstrates in each of his strips, the struggle for Jewish emancipation is far from over.”
—Ben Katchor
“Anyone interested in ongoing debates in the Jewish community, and the political uses of humor, should check out his work, which is smart, talkative and heavily inked . . . Hilarious.”
—Kent Worcester, The Comics Journal
“Your work is disgusting. And also stupid.”
—Marty Peretz
“Bigoted, unfunny.”
—Abe Foxman
“Grotesque. ...Wretched.”
—Bret Stephens
“Ferociously repugnant.”
—Commentary
“One of the most antisemitic things I’ve ever seen.”
—Meghan McCain
About The Author / Editor
Preview
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Diaspora Boy
“One of the most fascinating and darkly humorous books in living memory.”
— Los Angeles Review of Books“A gorgeous, enormous and important collection.”
—Haaretz“Explosively subversive.”
—Kirkus“His cartoons aren't only raucously funny. They constitute a searing indictment of the moral corruption of organized American Jewish life in our age.”
—Peter Beinart“The work is difficult, funny, powerful, mightily subversive, and a testament to the depth of his focus.”
—Hyperallergicabout the bookabout
Eli Valley’s comic strips are intricate fever dreams employing noir, horror, slapstick and science fiction to expose the outlandish hypocrisies at play in the American/Israeli relationship. Sometimes banned, often controversial and always hilarious, Valley’s work has helped to energize a generation exasperated by American complicity in an Israeli occupation now entering its fiftieth year.
This, the first full-scale anthology of Valley’s art, provides an essential retrospective of America and Israel at a turning point. With meticulously detailed line work and a richly satirical palette peppered with perseverating turtles, xenophobic Jedi knights, sputtering superheroes, mutating golems and zombie billionaires, Valley's comics unmask the hypocrisy and horror behind the headlines. This collection supplements the satires with historical background and contexts, insights into the creative process, selected reactions to the works, and behind-the-scenes tales of tensions over what was permissible for publication.
Brutally riotous and irreverent, the comics in this volume are a vital contribution to a centuries-old tradition of graphic protest and polemics.
“With great humor, Eli Valley’s comic-strips expertly debunk the benighted tribal propaganda that passes for mainstream Jewish thought. As he demonstrates in each of his strips, the struggle for Jewish emancipation is far from over.”
—Ben Katchor
“Anyone interested in ongoing debates in the Jewish community, and the political uses of humor, should check out his work, which is smart, talkative and heavily inked . . . Hilarious.”
—Kent Worcester, The Comics Journal
“Your work is disgusting. And also stupid.”
—Marty Peretz
“Bigoted, unfunny.”
—Abe Foxman
“Grotesque. ...Wretched.”
—Bret Stephens
“Ferociously repugnant.”
—Commentary
“One of the most antisemitic things I’ve ever seen.”
—Meghan McCain
About The Author / Editor
Preview