Comic Book Sample

THE sECRET POWER OF GRATITUDE

Wellspring Warrior Wellspring Warrior

About: Wellspring Warrior

I once heard a story about the Baal Shem Tov’s vision, where he entered the chamber of Moshiach and asked, “When will the Master [Moshiach] come?”

Moshiach responded, “When your wellsprings will spread to the outside.” The Wellspring Warrior is a comic book that shares these “wellsprings” of ideas and teachings with the “outside” world. But, of course, we will soon realize there is no place outside G-d’s reality, and if the Wellspring Warrior does his job, the concept of inside and outside will soon be a thing of the past.

Welcome to Wellspring Warrior Volume 1!

I never pulled a crying girl out of a burning skyscraper, and I never pulled back a derailed train off the edge of a cliff, but I did pull my lazy body out of bed this morning. And to me, that’s heroic.

Sure, it’s impressive if you can jump out of a plane or swim through sharks to save someone in despair, but my point is that for some of us, there is greatness in just getting out of bed, getting on the bus, and sitting through the class. I call this the everyday hero.

In Wellspring Warrior, you’ll meet our character Danny (based on real-life comedian Danny Lobell), one of my favorite everyday heroes. For example, he would never jump out of a plane and hates getting wet. But that’s the point; no one needs him to skydive or deep sea dive.

Instead, the world needs him to be the best Danny possible. That means getting up early to make his wife her daily coffee and getting little Sophie to kindergarten on time. And for Danny, getting out of bed is much harder than fighting a scary dragon or an army of angry birds.

In other words, because of our unique struggles, sometimes the ordinary is heroic, and it’s a mistake to think of yourself as anything less than incredible. Your situation is tailor-made for you, and only you can be that hero of your story.

Like Danny’s struggle with staying in bed is real, and it’s tailor-made for him, we all have our “fires” and “cliffs” in our daily life that require us to become Wellsping Warriors, heroes that can infuse greatness into the ordinary.

In the Secret Power of Gratitude, you’ll discover one of my favorite ways to infuse greatness into everyday life. And honestly, that’s the most authentic superpower of them all.

Happy Reading, Wally the Wellspring Warrior

In this story, you’ll meet:

Writer: Danny Lobell

Daniel Lobell is a Los Angeles-based American stand-up comedian, podcaster, and comic-book writer best known for his podcast Modern Day Philosophers. He has released two comedy albums on Dan Schlissel’s Stand Up! Records. He also writes the autobiographical comic book Fair Enough, published by Stand Up!

Artist: Eli Ziv

Growing up as the child of Russian immigrants in Israel, Eli loved watching cartoons and decided to become an artist. He studied art and animation at the Academy of Entertainment Technology in Los Angeles and has become a professional illustrator and graphic designer. His work is featured in children’s books and projects with Caffeine and Ink Publishing, Stand Up!, and even NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Rabbi Mendel

Although he grew up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Mendel and his wife Miriam moved to Southern California to teach Jewish public school students about the Torah. In 2018, Mendel and Miriam hosted a Jewish comedy night, where they met Danny Lobell. Rabbi Mendel asked Danny to write a comic book for his students, and Wellspring Warrior was born.

Rabbi Israel Baal

Shem Tov

In 1698, the Jews of Eastern Europe were depressed from extreme poverty and dangerous anti-semitism. We desperately needed a leader to revolutionize Jewish thought and breathe new life into a fainting nation. That year, Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (“master of the good name”) was born, and his ideas would energize and uplift a broken nation. As a Torah scholar and mystic, he founded the Chasidic movement and told the hard-working Jews that we are more than just a mind with a body; we have a Divine soul that isn’t broken at all. Still today, the effects of his teachings and philosophy profoundly impact the entire Jewish world.