LITERATURE + LECTURES

The Center for Jewish Living and Learning at the Jewish Community Center of Houston presents An Evening with Marc Tyler Nobleman, author of It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's Siegel and Shuster! The Two Jewish Teens Who Created Superman. Sunday, October 24, at 7:30pm.

Over a feverishly hot 24 hours in 1934, geeky writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster dreamed up a character who was everything they were not - and who launched both the superhero genre and the comic book industry. Did Hitler personally ban Superman comics? Does Superman have a Hebrew name? Why couldn't Joe draw on Thursday nights? In this lively talk, Nobleman shares secrets and rare, unpublished photos about the creation of the world's first comic book superhero.

Marc Tyler Nobleman is the author of more 70 books for children and one for adults. His picture book Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman (Knopf; 8/08; a Junior Library Guild selection) is the first all-ages biography of writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster and the first picture book on the story behind a fictional character, let alone the world's first superhero.

He writes humor regularly for Nickelodeon magazine, among others. He is also a cartoonist whose work has appeared in more than 100 magazines, seven of which you’ve heard of including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Good Housekeeping.

The Jewish Community Center has founded the Center for Jewish Learning and Living, a collaborative process that brings together the arts and culture programming of the Center, such as the Book and Arts Fair, the Jewish Film Festival, and the Jewish Music Festival, and the education initiatives of the Center, such as the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School, and the Bunny and Leo Horvitz Scholar-in-Residence Program. In addition, this collaboration brings additional programs and staff to the Jewish initiatives of the JCC, with high hopes that more members of our community may be touched by meaningful Jewish experiences.