The Hanukkah Fire, 1992
It’s a pretty rare occurrence for a comic to also be shot on film, but that’s what you get with this one. Granted, that wasn’t the plan all along; the original film was from 1992, when the events in the title happened. No spoilers possible in this review! Rachel’s father had a new camera, and when the fire broke up he never bothered to put it down while dealing with the fire. So now, in 2018 (or whenever you’re reading this in the future, or the past I guess if you’re a really boring time traveler), you can check the video on her website after reading this comic. Still, there’s more to the comic than just putting out a fire decades ago. Rachel also talks about growing up Jewish, the early days of camcorders, how her parents ended up meeting each other and then quickly getting married and having kids, the best parts of Passover when she was a kid, the story of how her grandfather survived the concentration camps, learning how to drive, and how the number of Jewish activities she participated in declined as she grew up. So yeah, she’s packing quite a bit into this mini. That’s actually the only complaint I have about the comic, and it’s a minor one: it feels like parts of this might have better served with more room to breath. Still, if the worst thing I can say is “I wish there was more of this comic to read,” I’d call that a solid recommendation, wouldn’t you?
