My name is Arie Kaplan. Let's see...what is there to know about me? I'm a writer. I write for comics, film, TV, animation, magazines, and the web. Also, I write books. In whatever time is left over, I draw cartoons and lecture all over the country. Basically, I find sleep to be vastly overrated.
My book FROM KRAKOW TO KRYPTON: JEWS AND COMIC BOOKS (JPS) has been selected as a 2008 National Jewish Book Award Finalist, and it was nominated for a Sophie Brody Medal by the American Library Association.
Also, one of my comics stories, "Not A (Green, Slimy) Creature Was Stirring," was recently featured in the pages of THE SIMPSONS WINTER WINGDING #3, published by Bongo Comics. And I'm the author of the comics miniseries SPEED RACER: CHRONICLES OF THE RACER, which is currently available in trade paperback from IDW Publishing. It's chock full of Easter Eggs, literary references (no, really!), and cameos by various supporting characters from the 1960s SPEED RACER animated series. My zombie story "Jumping the Shark" is the cover story in TALES FROM THE CRYPT GRAPHIC NOVEL #4: CRYPT-KEEPING IT REAL, which is out now from Papercutz.
One of my Bugs Bunny stories, "License the Kill...Wabbits" (it's a James Bond spoof starring Bugs and Elmer Fudd) will be the cover story in LOONEY TUNES #172, which comes out March 4th from DC Comics. And later in March, one of my Archie Comics stories, "Home Insecurity", will see print as the cover story of ARCHIE #595. Other comic book writing credits include CARTOON NETWORK ACTION PACK (DC Comics) and SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS comics (NICKELODEON MAGAZINE). I'm also a longtime contributor to MAD MAGAZINE, and and an animation writer/screenwriter (MTV, Cartoon Network, PBS Kids).
My one-panel gag cartoons have appeared in publications like NICKELODEON MAGAZINE, THE DOOR, FORTEAN TIMES, and SNICKER.
When I'm not in NYC, I can usually be found zipping across the country, lecturing at schools, synagogues, and other institutions, and speaking on a variety of pop culture related topics.
Please feel free to visit me at www.ariekaplan.com or www.fromkrakowtokrypton.com.
Here's info on some current and upcoming projects:
Recently, I wrote a series of animated “Buzz & Delete†shorts for the PBS Kids series CYBERCHASE. The shorts are collectively called “The Misadventures of Buzz & Delete.†There are four of these “Misadventures†shorts: “Any Way You Slice It,†“Can’t Wait To Tessellate,†“Measuring Up,†and “Together Again.†They can all be seen online at:
http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/buzz_delete/index.html
My first book, MASTERS OF THE COMIC BOOK UNIVERSE REVEALED!, came out in 2006 from Chicago Review Press. It's a book of journalistic profiles of comics creators like Neil Gaiman, Stan Lee, Kyle Baker, and Marjane Satrapi.
Here's a link to JPS's FROM KRAKOW TO KRYPTON page, where you can see a sample chapter, cover art, back cover blurbs, a link to the online interview I recently did with WIZARD, etc:
http://www.jewishpub.org/product.php?isbn=9780827608436
To see a 5-PAGE B&W PREVIEW of the art for issue #1 of SPEED RACER: CHRONICLES OF THE RACER -- plus a cover gallery -- check out: www.idwpublishing.com/titles/speedracer-chronicles.shtml .
And to check out a PRESS RELEASE for SPEED RACER: CHRONICLES OF THE RACER, visit: www.idwpublishing.com/news/pressreleases/speed_racer_chronic les.shtml .
Here's a link to the GEEZERS online animated short I wrote for JibJab, which is titled "Leo Loves Hillary" (my friend and fellow cartoonist Karen Sneider does the voice of Hillary Clinton):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH3hEX5UZrI
Here's a HEEB MAGAZINE article on yours truly ("Arie Kaplan: The Heeb Interview"), where I talk about FROM KRAKOW TO KRYPTON, as well as the SIMPSONS WINTER WINGDING story that I wrote for Bongo Comics:
http://www.heebmagazine.com/blog/view/1283