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Rutu Modan

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Rutu Modan
רוּתוּ מודן
Modan in 2008
BornRutu Modan
1966
Tel Aviv,Israel
NationalityIsraeli
Area(s)Illustratorand comic book artist.
Notable works
Exit Wounds

Rutu Modan(Hebrew:רותו מודן,born 1966) is an Israeli illustrator and comic book artist. She is co-founder of the Israeli comics groupActus Tragicusand published the graphic novelsExit Wounds(2007) andThe Property(2013).

Biography[edit]

Rutu Modan was born inTel HaShomer,Israel, in 1966, and lived in the doctors' residences inSheba Medical Center.[1][2]Her father was Prof.Baruch Modan,a cancer researcher who served as director general of theIsraeli Health Ministryin the 1980s. Her mother was Prof. Michaela Modan, an epidemiologist specializing in diabetes research. Her older sister is a doctor and her younger sister isDana Modan,an actress and writer.[1][2]The family moved toAfekain northTel Avivwhen she was ten.[1]

After graduating with distinction from theBezalel Academy of Art and Designin Jerusalem, she edited the Hebrew edition ofMADmagazinewithYirmi Pinkus.Together they founded theActus Tragicuscomics group in 1995.[1]Modan received the Young Artist of the Year award in 1997 and the Best Illustrated Children's Book award from the Youth Department of theIsrael Museumin 1998. In 2005, she was chosen as an outstanding artist of theIsrael Cultural Excellence Foundation.[3]

Modan lives inTel-Aviv[4]with her husband,Ofer Bergman,and their two children.[5]

Published works[edit]

Novels[edit]

Exit Wounds[edit]

Modan's first full-length graphic novel,Exit Woundstells the story of Koby Franco, a 20-something cab driver working inTel Aviv.Franco's mundane everyday life is interrupted when a female soldier approaches him, claiming his estranged father was killed by a suicide bomber at a train station. He and the young woman begin searching for clues to see if Franco's father, whom the soldier was romantically involved with, is dead or alive.

The book received praise from comic book artistJoe Sacco,author ofPalestine,who called it "a profound, richly textured, humane, and unsentimental look at societal malaise and human relationships and that uneasy place where they sometimes intersect."[6]

Douglas Wolk(The New York Times) compared her style to that ofHergé'sThe Adventures of Tintinbooks: "her characters’ body language and facial expressions, rendered in the gestural" clear line "style of Hergé’s Tintin books, are so precisely observed, they practically tell the story by themselves".[7]

Timemagazine'sLev Grossmannamed it one of the Top 10 Graphic Novels of 2007, ranking it at #8.[8]It also won the 2008Eisner Awardfor Best New Graphic Novel.[9]

Mixed Emotions[edit]

Between May and October 2007, several of Modan's graphic stories featured on theNew York Timeswebsite via "visual blog", translated by Ishai Mishory. The six stories are all memoirs involving Modan herself, and her family. Many of them portray her paternal grandmother, who grew up inWarsawand fled to Israel after the German occupation of Poland with Rutu’s father and uncle in tow.

  • "My First Time in New York City" (May 8) – Modan's trip to New York at the age of 21, accompanied by her father.[10]
  • "How I learned to Relax" (June 5) – Modan's first pregnancy.[11]
  • "The Most Popular Girl in Warsaw" (July 3) – Modan recounts her grandmother's rules for life and love.[12]
  • "A Family Bargain" (July 31) – Modan's family tries to help her buy a new car.[13]
  • "Queen of the Scottish Fairies" (September 4) – Modan's son insists on wearing dresses, much to his father's annoyance.[14]
  • "Chez Maurice" (October 3) – Modan accompanies her grandmother to a hairdresser.[15]

The Murder of the Terminal Patient[edit]

A graphic serial composed of 17 chapters, which was published on a weekly basis inThe New York Times Magazineand ran between June 29 and November 2, 2008. The story dealt with the death of a famous singer in a hospital under mysterious circumstances and the attempts of two men to figure out what happened.[16]

War Rabbit[edit]

In 2009, while Modan was living in England, she was commissioned by theDelcourtto contribute to an anthology of comics journalism. Having initially declined, she had eventually accepted the commission shortly after her return to Israel and the start of theGaza War.The 13 pages comics called-War Rabbit,had been created via collaboration with the Israeli journalist Igal Sarna and was published in the French anthology and online, in English byWords Without Borders.[2][5]

Maya Makes a Mess[edit]

The first children's book both written and drawn by Rutu Modan,Maya Makes a Messwas released in 2012 under theToon Booksimprint. It is a graphic novel for early readers. The story follows a young girl with terrible table manners who is unexpectedly invited to dine at the Royal palace, where her manners are put to the test. The story is inspired by both Rutu's recollections of what she liked as a child, and by her own daughter, Michal. When Rutu said to Michal one evening, "How badly you eat! What would you do if the Queen invited you to dine at the palace?" Michal answered very seriously: "Well! It just so happens that the Queen is a VERY good friend of mine, and she told me that I eat perfectly."[17]

The Property[edit]

A full-length graphic novel released in 2013 and based on Modan's own family experiences,[18]The Propertytells of an elderly Israeli lady, Regina Segal, taking her granddaughter Mica toWarsawafter the death of her son in the hope of reclaiming a family property lost during the Second World War. As they get to know modern Warsaw, meeting in civic landmarks such as thePowązki Cemeteryand theWarsaw Fotoplastikon,Regina is forced to recall difficult things about her past whereas Mica begins to wonder if maybe their reasons for coming aren't a little different from what her grandmother led her to believe.

Minharot[edit]

Minharot(Tunnels), published in September 2020, is an adventure story about the daughter and grandson of a famous archaeologist who go on a hunt for theArk of the Covenantin the West Bank.[19]

Short stories[edit]

  • "King of the Lillies" (1998) - collected inJamilti and Other Stories(2008).
  • "The Romanian Circus" - originally appeared in the collectionJetlag(1999), based on a short story byEtgar Keret.
  • "The Panty Killer" - originally appeared in the collectionThe Actus Box: Five Graphic Novellas(2001); collected inJamilti and Other Stories(2008).
  • "Homecoming" - originally appeared in the collectionHappy End(2002), based on a true story. An Israeli pilot, Gadi, goes M.I.A. over Lebanon, leaving everyone at his Kibbutz unsure whether he's alive or dead. One morning Gadi's father thinks he spots his son’s plane over the kibbutz, and calls everyone out to welcome him. Collected inJamilti and Other Stories(2008).
  • "Fan" - originally appeared in the collectionHow to Love(2007) as "Your Number One Fan". A musician named Shabtai is invited to perform at a cultural center inSheffield,England, hoping it will be the big break he had been waiting for. Collected inJamilti and Other Stories(2008).
  • "Bygone" - originally appeared in the collectionFlipper vol. 2.Collected inJamilti and Other Stories(2008).
  • "Energy Blockage" - originally appeared in the collectionDead Herring Comics(2004). Collected inJamilti and Other Stories(2008).
  • "Jamilti" - originally appeared inDrawn & Quarterlyvolume 5 (2003). Collected inJamilti and Other Stories(2008).

Children's books[edit]

  • Where Is?,Written by Tamar Bergman,Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine Books 2002,ISBN978-0-618-09539-1
  • Dad Runs Away With The Circus,Written byEtgar Keret,Cambridge,MA,Candlewick Press,2004,ISBN0-7636-2247-8
  • Maya Makes a Mess,the first children's book Rutu Modan has written as well as drawn,Toon Books,2012,ISBN978-1-935179-17-7

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^abcdBen Simhon, Kobi (2008-08-28)."Funny girl".Haaretz.Retrieved2008-09-23.
  2. ^abcMarc Sobel (29 May 2013)."The Rutu Modan Interview".The Comics Journal.
  3. ^"Rutu Modan - Illustrator".IcExcellence – Israel Cultural Excellence Foundation.Archived fromthe originalon May 13, 2008.Retrieved2008-09-23.
  4. ^On the Strip- Slideshow by The New York Times Magazine
  5. ^abRutu Modan; Igal Sarna."War Rabbit".Words Without Borders.
  6. ^ Back cover of Rutu Modan'sExit Wounds,Drawn & Quarterly,2007
  7. ^Wolk, Douglas.Holiday Books - Comics,The New York Times, 2 December 2007.
  8. ^Grossman, Lev (December 9, 2007)."Top 10 Graphic Novels - 50 Top 10 Lists of 2007".Time.ISSN0040-781X.Archived fromthe originalon December 12, 2007.Retrieved2008-09-23.
  9. ^"Eisner Awards Celebrate the" Magic of Comics "".2008. Archived fromthe originalon January 2, 2011.
  10. ^Rutu Modan (8 May 2007)."My First Time in New York City".The New York Times.
  11. ^Rutu Modan (5 June 2007)."How I Learned to Relax".The New York Times.
  12. ^Rutu Modan (3 July 2007)."The Most Popular Girl in Warsaw".The New York Times.
  13. ^Rutu Modan (31 July 2007)."A Family Bargain".The New York Times.
  14. ^Rutu Modan (4 September 2007)."Queen of the Scottish Fairies".The New York Times.
  15. ^Rutu Modan (3 October 2007)."Chez Maurice".The New York Times.
  16. ^Modan, Rutu."The Murder of the Terminal Patient".The New York Times.Retrieved4 June2011.
  17. ^"Maya Makes a Mess by Rutu Modan".Toon Books. 2012.
  18. ^"Israeli Graphic Novelist Rutu Modan Draws On Her Family's Secret History,"The Jewish Daily Forward.
  19. ^Anderman, Nirit (21 September 2020)."New Graphic Novel Digs Deep Into the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict".Haaretz.

External links[edit]

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