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Neil Kleid and Nicholas Cinquegrani, The Big Kahn, 2009.

I love the double meaning of the title: Rabbi Kahn dies, and it turns out he’s not a rabbi at all; he’s not even Jewish. His life was a big con. This causes obvious problems for his very Jewish family, especially his oldest son, also a rabbi, who now must question everything, and proceeds to do so. The other two kids get their time to work things out as well. This story could have been pretty sappy and predictable, but in fact is done with a light and sensitive touch, on both the art and the writing. Enjoyable, and even thought-provoking.

Age: adult, maybe older teens. More for sophisticated themes than anything untoward.

What is this “Notable” thing all about? Matt and Jessica are the series editors for the Best American Comics, and are responsible for the Notable Comics list at the back of the book, which is comprised of virtually all the comics we sent to the guest editor that weren’t picked, as well as a number of others that we think are noteworthy for various reasons, but that we didn’t send to the guest editor.

We’ve always hoped readers will delve a bit into the list to find more great stories once they finish reading BAC. Realistically, though, we know that’s tough. What can you know about a story from a title and author? So this is one of a series of posts focusing on each of the Notables from the 2010 Best American Comics.

Have or know of a comic we should look at? Find submission info here.