Will Nazi-Hunter Simon Wiesenthal Become Comic Book Superhero?

For those who want a real life superhero, “Simon Says: Nazi Hunter” may be your comic book answer. The comic book draws from real life Holocaust survivor turned Nazi hunter, Simon Wiesenthal.
If you are already hooked, don’t hold your breath: The creators have only finished 10-pages out of the expected 32-page graphic novel.
Andre Frattino, the comic’s writer, and Jesse Lee, the illustrator, started a Kickstarter page to raise $5,000 in order to finish the project. Currently, the creative duo has raised a little over $3,000 with 20 more days to go.
“Comic books, there needs to be more history to it,” Frattino said in the Kickstarter page’s promotional video. He continued, “Whether you are Jewish or not, this is a guy who literally spent the rest of his life hunting down Nazis.”
Wiesenthal, the comic book’s hero, was an Austrian architect who survived the gas chambers by painting swastikas on train cars for the Nazis. After the war, the survivor, who lost countless family members in the Holocaust, decided to avenge those murdered by hunting down the war criminals. Wiesenthal, who died in 2005, contributed to the capture of many Nazis, including Adolf Eichmann, one of the leaders behind the Final Solution, and Franz Murer, also known as “The Butcher of Wilno.”
“[Wiesenthal] is the quintessential hero who brought a lot of the atrocities to light,” said the author who has worked on comics for the past five years.
The Kickstarter page stated that the black-and-white comic brings in other stories from post-Holocaust life: “While Simon Says: Nazi Hunter #1 is inspired by Simon Wiesenthal, it is not merely a dramatization of his experiences alone. The story takes from many aspects of various Nazi Hunter stories following the war.”
Frattino explained that the money they raise is directed towards art supplies, compensation for Lee’s artwork, and to ultimately publish and distribute the comic.
Contact Andrea Cantor at [email protected]
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 2
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 3
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
- 4
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward What the election of Mark Carney would mean for Canadian Jews and Israel
-
Fast Forward Over 500 rabbis sign letter rejecting Trump’s antisemitism agenda
-
Film & TV In ‘The Rehearsal,’ Nathan Fielder fights the removal of his Holocaust fashion episode
-
Fast Forward AJC, USC Shoah Foundation announce partnership to document antisemitism since World War II
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.