A Painted History: The First Orthodox Comic Newspaper Celebrates 100 Issues
Eliyahu Shalom publishes a newspaper that its readers have only one complaint about: it’s too short. An interview marking the 100th issue.
Not many publishers have ever received a phone call like the one Eliyahu Shalom received, the publisher of the Orthodox children's newspaper 'Comics', from a family living in a remote village. "Do us a favor," implored the voice on the other end. "I have a child with attention deficit disorder. He always waits for your newspaper. Lately, the newspaper often arrives late, and he goes insane! The whole house goes crazy until the newspaper finally arrives – only then does he calm down."
"Unfortunately, there wasn’t much I could do," Shalom recounts. "The newspaper is delivered to subscribers via mail, and I have no control over the post... but that phone call was an example of the strong connection children feel to the newspaper."
The 'Comics' newspaper started four years ago, initially monthly, but soon moved to a biweekly format. "I saw the great boom of comic books in the Orthodox community," Shalom explains. "Orthodox children love comics very much – it’s the most developed visual art available to them, as they don’t watch movies. I studied the subject in depth, found out who the most beloved writers and artists were, devised a plan, and we set off."
Shalom recruited well-known comic artists like Ben Sheva Heblin, Devorah Benedict, and Moti Heller. Chaim Walder writes stories for the paper: "We’ve already published three comic books of his. In general, more than twenty books that began as series in the newspaper have been published." Besides comics, the newspaper also includes a serialized story that is not a comic, a historical section, and a creative section.
The newspapers were initially sold in the 'Ohr Hachaim' store chain. When Shlomo saw the favorable reactions to 'Comics', he also began recruiting subscribers. "We constantly hear from parents that the children run to the mailbox again and again to see if the newspaper has arrived."
From the numerous feedback he receives from the official target audience, children ("officially, it's for ages 8-14, but we know there are many older readers who don’t miss an issue"), Shlomo says that the stories children particularly love are group and suspense stories – as well as those distinguished by humor.
From a sectoral perspective, who is your audience?
"It’s a newspaper loved by many audiences, from nationalist-Orthodox to the residents of Meah Shearim. We see the spread of our subscribers' locations and can safely say the newspaper reaches everywhere."
'Comics' is celebrating its hundredth issue these days. Shlomo is happy to raise a toast to the success but doesn’t rest on his laurels: "We have a plan to add a special story supplement for subscribers only, which will not include any comics. Comics are like the whipped cream of the dessert – very tasty, but you need a lot of chocolate underneath. If we add more stories to the paper itself, it will no longer be 'Comics', but we definitely want children to read more. The main problem of 'Comics', and the main complaint we receive, is that it’s too short... Each comic page costs a lot, and in practice, they finish reading it quickly. Children read it two or three times, but the newspaper still occupies them for too short a time."
Shalom is aware of the public criticism that the comic genre has led to the exclusion of regular books and that children refuse to read a book unless it’s a comic. "I don’t think comics cause children to read less," he says. "I have a few avid reader children of my own, and they love comics – but they also love to read regular books. I believe that those who love reading will read in all genres. Indeed, there might be a child who normally wouldn’t read at all, but in today's reality – at least they're reading comics."
