This may sound bizarre, but a lot of my thinking was guided by asking myself what Mirka herself would say if she could read my comic. I tried to depict her culture and community in a way that she’d find respectful. (Of course, she’d be very annoyed with how I depicted her personality — I do NOT have that bad a temper!, she’d yell at me! — but I can live with that.)

I heard from some Orthodox kids, and a bunch of Orthodox parents, that it’s really special for them to find a fun comic that reflects their own life in some ways. That was one of my goals for Hereville, so I’m always thrilled to hear it.

@Barry I’m so glad you enjoyed reading the discussion (hopefully as much as we enjoyed having it in the first place.)

@Simon I agree that is is incredibly important to have representations of all kinds of people in media, and comics does (as a whole) frequently lag behind other media. Hereville has meant a lot to my community here near Boston, and I’m very glad to be able to point out a title the reflects so many members of our town and does so honestly and humorously.

I am disappointed that we won’t learn more about the witch and Fruma. But I can be patient.

As for whether or not someone outside a culture/religion can depict the spirituality they never themselves experienced… I’ve never tried it. But I’m willing to ‘argue’ again when you try in volume 3

@Simon, I love Mirka and I love the story! So I hope it doesn’t come across like I don’t. I absolutely agree that we need more characters like Mirka in both comics and prose literature.
No one I gave the book to, including myself, ever felt this did anything but simply portray some of the bits and pieces of living an Orthodox Jewish life. Actually, perhaps in my discussion with Robin, I didn’t give Barry Deutsch enough credit for actually showing no bias or judgment.

Esther, please get in touch with me; I’ll gladly donate a signed copy of Hereville to your school library.

I’m afraid the first sequel may disappoint you both; although both Fruma and the Witch appear, we don’t learn anything new about the relationship between them in the second book. In my mind, the Hereville series extends over many books, and there are important things Mirka won’t learn about her stepmother until she’s older.

I think you two accurately put your fingers on something Hereville doesn’t do, which is attempt to depict what it’s like to really experience a faith. To do that would have been a lot more ambitious than what I intended with Hereville, and might have made it a better graphic novel; but then again, it might have made it something more than I could accomplish!

I can tell you that the Shabbos sequence in book 2 doesn’t really try to get at the spirituality of it, either. Perhaps in book 3? We’ll see.

I agree with Robin; I think it’s very possible for an artist to depict a spirituality they’ve never shared (Habibi was the same example that came to my mind!). Depicting the spirituality of Shabbot wasn’t what I’m going for in Hereville (as you understood), but I hope I’ll be making comics for decades to come, and that’s something I’d love to do someday.

Again, thank you so much for posting this smart discussion. It’s a real thrill, as a cartoonist, to read something like this about my work.