The Realist

by Asaf Hanuka, Asaf Hanuka (Artist)

Overview

Acclaimed Israeli cartoonist Asaf Hanuka's weekly strips unfold an emotional autobiography full of humor and melancholy, wild imagination, and quiet desperation. Collected for the first time in English and including never-before-collected strips, The Realist delivers both honesty and whimsy from a master of his craft. With echoes of R. Crumb and Daniel Clowes, Hanuka moves readers with his depictions of everyday life, commenting on everything from marriage to technology to social activism through intimate moments of triumph and failure.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781613983591
Publisher:	Archaia
Publication date:	04/22/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	112
File size:	82 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	12 - 18 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