Rutu Modan
Issue #37
The Israeli comic book artist breaks down the blood, sweat, and tears that went into Jamitli and Other Stories
By Ling Ma
Published: September 1st, 2008 | 9:11am
Rutu Modan is slightly tipsy, which is totally understandable — it’s 11 p.m. on a Tuesday night. I’m not sure if it’s the wine that’s making her such a Chatty Cathy, but something tells me she’s usually like this. Her fiercely bold comics attest to an artist with a real point of view.
Born and raised in Tel Aviv, Modan’s first graphic novel, Exit Wounds, showed American audiences a glimpse of modern life in Israel. Drawn in a clean, realistic style, it follows a taxi driver’s quest to find out whether his estranged father was killed by a suicide bomber.
Modan started drawing comics way before there was a comics “scene” in Israel. In 1995, she helped form Actus Tragicus, a collective of fellow Israeli comic book artists.
Jamilti and Other Stories is a new selection of Modan’s comic shorts, many published in Actus Tragicus anthologies, and most created before Exit Wounds. “For me, it was the best I did in 10 years,” she says of the selected works.
Here, Modan lays out the influences, happenings, and inspirations that went into the book.
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ON REAL-LIFE EVENTS
“When I was young, I wanted my work to be unique, so I made it surreal and grotesque. But when I grew up, I found out that life is more grotesque and strange than anything I can invent. Now I find myself mostly doing the opposite: I make things more subtle than what really happened. My style of drawing is more realistic, more clean. I’m really not interested in exaggerating life anymore.”
ON EDWARD GOREY
“When I was 25 years old, Edward Gorey was my favorite, and I really copied him. I can trace his influence in King Of the Lillies, especially in the fashion. The story is set in a nowhere place. I say it’s Sweden, but not because I’m interested in Sweden; I was interested in doing it in a place that is not Israel or rooted in reality. Yeah, you can still see him there.”
ON TRYING TO BE FUNNY
“My comics are from my point of view about life. I think it’s really scary and funny. I see all these terrible things, but I think at the same time, everything is so funny. Humor is the best way I know to deal with fear and the world. It invites the possibility not to be 100% involved. You are involved, but at the same time, you are looking from the side and seeing the whole picture. I think that’s what an artist does.”
ON HER STORY “HOMECOMING”
“My mother died a few years before I wrote the story. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I really identified with this old man in the story who believes his son will come back. I hope you didn’t have this experience in your life, but when you lose someone you really love, it’s unbelievable. In some way it seems that if they come back, it won’t be so strange. What’s strange is if they don’t come back.”
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