A Jewish comic strip heroine gets her due at last

Christopher Aruffo rescues Levy’s Law, a trailblazing strip featuring a Jewish female police officer, from near total obscurity

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When pro boxer Anthony Joshua regained the IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight titles from Andy Ruiz Jr. on Dec. 7, 2019, he memorably said, “The first time was so nice, I had to do it twice.”

Joshua wasn’t the first person to say something along these lines, but his turn of phrase remains the most succinct. It can be applied to different scenarios. A sequel to a great movie. A spin-off of a popular TV show. A new book featuring a beloved main character.

It can even happen to columnists. Case in point, a second examination of a recent subject with a similar backstory but a significant twist.

I wrote a piece for the Washington Examiner last October about Christopher Aruffo and his one-man crusade to publish most of the entire run of the comic strip Alley Oop. Aruffo, a dialect coach and acting teacher with a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology, had no previous experience in the comics industry. The roots of his motivation to properly archive this popular comic strip, which began in 1932 and had never been fully collected, can be found in childhood memories.

“I’ve been an Alley Oop fan since I was eleven years old,” he wrote for a three-part series last February for comics historian Allan Holtz’s blog, The Stripper’s Guide. “I vividly remember encountering the strip in my local paper on Oct. 22, 1983; there, among the banal levity of Priscilla’s Pop, Winthrop, and Short Ribs I found this panel of a fisherman …discovering a dead body?!” This was part of one of Alley Oop’s many time-travel episodes. Aruffo was immediately hooked, and a lifelong passion began.

Aruffo’s archival project has been multi-faceted. He purchased proof sheets on eBay, made connections with libraries, universities and comics historians, taught himself how to restore pen-and-ink daily strips and revitalize the colour scheme in Sunday strips, and started his own publishing house, Acoustic Learning. The finished products are among the most professional that I’ve ever come across, rivalling that of established comics publishers like Fantagraphics, Sunday Press Books and Library of American Comics.

When I first contacted Aruffo to get the books, he also offered me review copies (sight unseen) of the only non-Alley Oop project he ever intends to do. That is, James Schumeister’s long-forgotten strip, Levy’s Law.

This gag-a-day strip focused on the life and career of a Jewish female police officer, Annie Levy. She worked in a multicultural and multi-racial police division in a suburban area in Minnesota, where the cartoonist was actually based. The early years of the strip centred on Annie’s police duties, her colleagues and the interesting and unusual people and situations she faced. In one unique storyline, she went undercover as a nun to help in a case and ultimately became quite friendly with the Sisters!

There was also some focus on her dating life and suitors, who were also Jewish, which was (and still is) a rarity in a daily comic strip. She would end up dating and marrying Alan Gold, a Jewish attorney working at his parents’ law firm. As time went by, the strip adopted more Jewish themes. Her brother, Rob, a rabbi who was half-Korean, was gradually introduced and played a fairly integral role.

Levy’s Law ran from 1979 to 1985. The last few strips included Annie’s marriage to Alan in a traditional Jewish wedding and a quick peek into what happened to the main characters in the future. Schumeister, who is Jewish and had previously launched another strip, The Great Atomic Aftermath & Fresh Fruit Festival, decided to pack it in after Levy’s Law concluded and became a lawyer. His work would have faded into obscurity if it hadn’t been for Aruffo, who enjoyed reading this strip as a child.

Aruffo worked hand-in-hand with Schumeister and the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum on this project. The result is a superb two-volume hardcover set of 1,001 pages of wit, humour and charm. Much like the Alley Oop series, this two-volume set is professionally done and of the highest quality. There are also some short essays containing Schumeister’s analysis and insight.

Book One examines the period between 1979 and 1982 for Levy’s Law, including some early ads and publicity for the new strip. It also contains the entire run of The Great Atomic Aftermath & Fresh Fruit Festival, an outlandish and somewhat puckish strip which often has the look and feel of Brant Parker and Johnny Hart’s The Wizard of Id. Book Two looks at the period between 1982 and 1985 for Levy’s Law, showing the storyline and character development that defined the strip in its latter years. Several of Schumeister’s attempts at different strips were also included: The Wleft Brothers, The Grormph (which had the misfortune of being conceived just before ALF was released on TV) and Bob Rage.

Aruffo, similar to his Alley Oop archival project, wanted to create a permanent record of its entire run. Schumeister’s strip was fairly groundbreaking in terms of its use of a Jewish female lead character and the occasional allusions to her faith and values. Alas, very few people were ever aware of this. Levy’s Law wasn’t carried by a significant number of newspapers and never achieved the level of popularity that Schumeister had hoped for. There was apparently some discussion of a TV pilot for an animated series in 1983, but it never materialized.

Now, at long last, Levy’s Law can finally be discovered and appreciated by a whole new audience. Aruffo has performed an important service (yet again) by preserving and protecting Schumeister’s Annie Levy and his other comic strips. A permanent record of his short time in the industry has been established, too.

That’s rather nice, and it doesn’t have to be done twice.

Michael Taube is a political commentator, Troy Media syndicated columnist and former speechwriter for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He holds a master’s degree in comparative politics from the London School of Economics, lending academic rigour to his political insights.