The Realist

by Asaf Hanuka

Overview

Acclaimed Israeli cartoonist Asaf Hanuka’s weekly strips collected into one volume and translated into English for the first time.

In 2010, Israeli newspaper The Calcalist asked Hanuka, already well known in Israel as a commercial illustrator and as a contributor to the animated film Waltz With Bashir, for a weekly comic strip. The first of the autobiographical strips chronicled Hanuka discovering that he and his wife and their young son need to find a new place to live, immediately and in a “crazy” Tel Aviv real estate market, because the apartment they’ve been renting has been sold. As an artist, husband, father or a regular Israeli citizen, Asaf Hanuka chronicles everyday life in his country, with humor that is offbeat and sometimes surreal. Shot for shot, Hanuka's home is depicted as a vibrant metropolis and provides a brilliant depiction of modern Tel Aviv. Archaia's edition of The Realist translates and collects both volumes of the work previously titled KO À Tel Aviv into a single book for the first time.

“. . . rich to view . . . Each page is its own reward. YA as well as adult readers will enjoy this clever collection of everyday life observations.” — Library Journal (starred review)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608866885
Publisher:	Archaia
Publication date:	04/28/2015
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 10.40(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	15 Years

About the Author

Asaf Hanuka is an Israeli illustrator and comic book artist, notable for his autobiographical comic The Realist, originally serialized in the Israeli newspaper Calcalist. During his mandatory army service he began collaborating with Israeli writer Etgar Keret. In 1997 a collection of Keret’s stories, illustrated by Asaf, was published under the title Streets of Rage. Their second collaboration Pizzeria Kamikaze was nominated for an Eisner Award in 2007 and translated to English, French and Spanish. Asaf has also contributed art for the Oscar nominated documentary film Waltz with Bashir. His autobiographical comic The Realist began in January 2010, and has won the Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators in 2010 and Award of Excellence from Communication Arts Annual, and a Silver Medal from 3X3. Together with his twin brother Tomer, he co-created Bipolar, an experimental comic book series which was nominated for an Ignatz Award. Asaf’s latest graphic novel collaboration with Tomer, The Divine (with writer Boaz Levine) will be released in July 2015 by First Second Books. Asaf has also practiced commercial illustration since 1995, and his clients include Nike, Rolling Stone, Fortune, The New York Times, Time, and The Wall Street Journal.

Editorial Reviews

★ 07/06/2015
This collection of autobiographical comics, originally published in the Israeli newspaper Calcalist, showcases illustrator Hanuka's marvelous range and depth while delving into deeply personal feelings of alienation and loss. Hanuka (The Divine, Pizzeria Kamikaze) crafts single-page strips that explore his often fragile existence: a rocky home life with his wife and son, from whom he feels cut off; an artistic job that once brought him pleasure, but now consumes him with stress; chronic medical and financial issues; and the pressures of daily life in Tel Aviv, where paranoia and civil unrest hold sway. Though he has plenty of external excuses for his occasional misanthropy, Hanuka is harder on himself than anyone in these strips, using simple but stunning visual metaphors to describe how the creator isolates himself even from those he loves, yet still remains addicted to outside validation via social media. The collection's title, it quickly becomes clear, is painfully accurate. Often obtuse but always heartbreaking, Hanuka's work is a diverse and fascinating portrait of what life truly makes us. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly