Latest News: Posts Tagged ‘diasporaboy’

“Valley’s 2017 anthology – aptly named Disapora Boy: Comics On Crisis In America and Israel – is…a deep dive into the Jewish-American subconscious. The book is a collection of some of his best (and most brutal) work since around 2008.” — Azad Essa for Middle East Eye on ELI VALLEY, author of DIASPORA BOY

Tuesday, May 14th, 2019

Postcards from Dystopia: The Jewish-American Cartoonist Hitting Back at Zionism. Eli Valley on Israel, Trump, and white supremacy from Middle East Eye

I recognise Eli Valley as he walks into a cafe in the East Village. He is tall, sports rectangular specs and seems a little dishevelled, like all good artists should. He apologises for being tardy. “I am sorry. I haven’t slept much. I was up all night working on a new comic about Trump.”

“Hope you don’t mind if I grab a bite while we chat?” he says as he removes his jacket.

I don’t mind. I’ve just arrived myself. I am also giddy at the prospect of checking out a new comic featuring Trump. Since I began following this notorious Jewish-American cartoonist’s work, every new iteration of Trump seems only more vicious than the last.

His latest doesn’t disappoint.

Trump, resembling something between a fattened gargoyle and a fermented lamprey, hovers over a group of sycophants, serenading him with anti-Semitic hate while donning Trump-branded kippahs. The analogy is brutal.

Read the full interview here.

“You know, there are reasons to be angry. You know, if you’re not angry, you’re not, you’re not awake right now.” —ELI VALLEY, author of DIASPORA BOY to Bob Garfield for On the Media

Wednesday, May 8th, 2019

Bob Garfield and Eli Valley, author of DIASPORA BOY, discuss antisemitism in media and modern society during an interview for On the Media

BOB GARFIELD: And the other thing about you is that you’re really, really an angry dude.

ELI VALLEY: I’m increasingly angry because, well, I mean just look outside. You know, there are reasons to be angry. You know, if you’re not angry, you’re not, you’re not awake right now.

GARFIELD: So as this anti-Semitism flame war has unfolded since the Pittsburgh shooting last year, you’ve been drawing cartoons caricaturing various political commentators–maybe chief among them Meghan McCain of “The View”. And haha, can you describe your first depiction of Meghan McCain because it’s equally horrifying and hilarious.

VALLEY: Thank you. It’s just Meghan McCain. It’s a satire of her appropriation of Jewish kitsch and Jewish trauma when she said on “The View” and then repeated elsewhere.

Read or listen to the full interview here.

“When you’re in such a warped mindset, it’s natural you’re going to call a piece of Jewish art antisemitic” —ELI VALLEY, author of DIASPORA BOY in conversation with Shuja Haider for Popula

Friday, March 15th, 2019

Eli Valley, author of Diaspora Boy on recent controversy with Meghan McCain for Popula

HAIDER: Right. I mean, a drawing of someone who is not Jewish, by the son of a rabbi, she called the most antisemitic thing she’d ever seen. How does that work?

VALLEY: I think she identified so much as a victimized Jewish person under the onslaught of the supposed terrorist Ilhan Omar that any criticism of her is a criticism of the Jewish people. So when you’re in such a warped mindset, it’s natural you’re going to call a piece of Jewish art antisemitic.

HAIDER: What did you think of Ilhan Omar’s statements themselves?

VALLEY: Honestly, I think there is room for nuance here in the discussion. Let’s establish this first: she didn’t make antisemitic remarks, she criticized monolithic support for Israel. In America, that’s led by mostly rapture-thirsty Evangelical Zionist antisemites, and to equate Israel with Jews is itself antisemitic—à la Trump’s insistence that Israel is “our” country, and American Jews aren’t exactly American. Having said that, and knowing the discourse will be tainted from the start by bad-faith assholes, it’s worth the trouble to be sensitive about the language. Don’t give them an open! Some people, especially among older generations, will be triggered by certain phrases even if you’re not talking about Jews.

So with that in mind, ideally she could have phrased things to avoid any unintentional or momentary overlap with the historic vernacular of antisemitism. But what she said doesn’t make her an antisemite. People are making it a big deal because they’re pretending Israel equals Jews, and antisemitism is now defined as criticism of AIPAC and Likud. When talking about fealty to Israel, by, let’s be honest, mostly fucking Evangelicals, okay, the language can unfortunately overlap, or be confused with, this mythology. And if we were operating in good faith—and I’m thinking especially of Democrats here—we could have her back and help her understand these nuances instead of appeasing right-wing creeps with show trials.

Read the full article here.

“Valley’s been having a series of good mornings, by which I mean terrible mornings. His career’s going great, but that’s partly because everything else is going to hell in a handbasket.” – Abraham Riesman on ELI VALLEY, author of DIASPORA BOY for Vulture

Friday, February 22nd, 2019

ABRAHAM RIESMAN on the work of ELI VALLEY, author of DIASPORA BOY

Valley’s been having a series of good mornings, by which I mean terrible mornings. His career’s going great, but that’s partly because everything else is going to hell in a handbasket. As the weight of humanity’s chaos has become more and more unbearable, Valley’s lewdly honest cartooning, fueled by his personal rage at a world gone wrong, has become a staple in the angrier corners of the American left, especially among its Jewish partisans. For well over a decade, Valley has unsparingly attacked political and communal leaders in the United States and Israel for their venality and sadism. Now, with two books on the stands and a devoted online following showering him with likes and retweets, Valley is demonstrating that he’s one of the only political cartoonists willing to enter into a staring contest with the abyss.

Read the article here.

ELI VALLEY on the rift between diaspora Jews and Israel at i24 News

Monday, May 14th, 2018

‘I’m uncomfortable with Zionism because I don’t like to be told that Jewish values reached their culmination through the dispossession of an entire other people,’ Eli Valley, author of the acclaimed Diaspora Boy, tells i24NEWS’ David Shuster.

Watch the full interview here.

“Very funny and extremely challenging”: The Reporter reviews DIASPORA BOY

Monday, March 12th, 2018

Warning: If you have no sense of humor about Jewish continuity, the Diaspora versus Israel debate, Jewish American communal politics or the Israeli government, then you definitely won’t want to read Eli Valley’s “Diaspora Boy: Comics on Crisis in America and Israel”. Of course, you’ll miss some very funny and extremely challenging looks at the extended Jewish world. Valley’s style is satire a la Mad Magazine, meaning that his drawings are caricatures and his humor heavy-handed, but he also has a gift for duplicating the double talk offered by some Jewish communal and political leaders..

Read the full review here.

ELI VALLEY is interviewed in American Jewish World

Thursday, January 11th, 2018

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Red Pepper calls ELI VALLEY “one of the great masters of graphic satire.”

Wednesday, January 3rd, 2018

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“While many may not realize it or refuse to believe it, the Jewish community needs these nonconformist voices more than ever.” Jewish Book Council on DIASPORA BOY

Friday, November 17th, 2017

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“Redefining Jewish Authenticity.” ELI VALLEY is interviewed in Los Angeles Review of Books

Monday, November 13th, 2017

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ELI VALLEY appeared on New York Times Opinion‘s Facebook Live feed, drawing and discussing comics and politics

Thursday, October 26th, 2017

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ELI VALLEY is interviewed on the Treyf Podcast

Thursday, October 26th, 2017

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“It’s a hard truth that runs through this volume.” Paul Buhle at Comics Journal on DIASPORA BOY

Monday, October 23rd, 2017

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The Best American Comics series launched its latest collection at the Strand, with a panel featuring ELI VALLEY

Wednesday, October 18th, 2017

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Mondoweiss compares reporting on DIASPORA BOY in America and Israel

Wednesday, October 18th, 2017

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“This is a book that seethes.” The Sunday Herald recommends DIASPORA BOY

Wednesday, October 18th, 2017

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“The artist right-wing zionists love to hate.” ELI VALLEY is interviewed on the Katie Halper Show

Monday, October 16th, 2017

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KAREEM ESTEFAN and ELI VALLEY appear on The Katie Halper Show

Monday, October 16th, 2017

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ELI VALLEY on making art that pisses off the demagogues and bigots.” An interview at Electric Literature

Tuesday, September 26th, 2017

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“Virtually no person or subject is safe from cartoonist and satirist ELI VALLEY’s knifelike nib.” The Times of Israel on DIASPORA BOY

Friday, September 22nd, 2017

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ELI VALLEY draws the line on hypocrisy.” American Jewish World on Diaspora Boy.

Wednesday, September 20th, 2017

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ELI VALLEY appears on The Beat with Ari Melber on MSNBC, discussing satire in the Trump era

Wednesday, September 20th, 2017

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“In Praise of Giving Offense.” DIASPORA BOY is reviewed in The Forward

Tuesday, September 12th, 2017

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Los Angeles Review of Books calls DIASPORA BOY “one of the most fascinating and darkly humorous books in living memory.”

Monday, September 11th, 2017

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ELI VALLEY is interviewed on the Judaism Unbound podcast

Tuesday, September 5th, 2017

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“The work is difficult, funny, powerful, mightily subversive, and a testament to the depth of his focus.” Hyperallergic reviews DIASPORA BOY

Friday, September 1st, 2017

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“Satire as grotesque as the hypocrisy it skewers.” DIASPORA BOY is reviewed at Electronic Intifada

Thursday, August 24th, 2017

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“It’s a type of criticism that hasn’t existed since the advent of Yiddish political cartooning.” ELI VALLEY is profiled at Haaretz

Tuesday, August 15th, 2017

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“There is intellectual rigour behind Valley’s anarchic cartooning, which exposes and mercilessly ridicules the outlandish hypocrisies at play in the US-Israel relationship.” DIASPORA BOY is reviewed in The Morning Star

Monday, August 14th, 2017

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“It could be said of almost every one of Valley’s cartoons that it goes too far.” Haaretz on DIASPORA BOY, “a gorgeous, enormous and important collection” by ELI VALLEY

Tuesday, August 1st, 2017

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