The Property and the Possibilities of Post-Holocaust Europe

This chapter discusses Modan's second graphic novel, The Property, which embeds a taboo love affair within a quest to identify Jewish property lost in Warsaw during the Holocaust. The chapter explores the unresolved narratives around the war that envelop both Poles and Jews, and shows how Modan's book distances itself from both Israeli literature about Poland and from other contemporary Holocaust graphc novels. The chapter reveals Modan's process for creating the book, which involved hiring actors to stage each panel of the book's script.

Exit Wounds

This chapter discusses Modan's Jamilti a story of a suicide bombing and a kiss between an Israeli and Palestinian that challenges many taboos of Israeli society. It shows how that story led to Modan's first graphic novel, Exit Wounds. The chapter explores Numi, the complex female protagonist of Exit Wounds, and her relationship with Koby, as they search together for Koby's father in the aftermath of a suicide bombing. It also shows how Modan adapts Hergé's famous clear line style to tell a morally complex and psychologically nuanced story.

The Tradition of no Tradition

This chapter explores the origins of Israeli comics, with a particular focus on three early women comics creators: Leah Goldberg, Friedel Stern, and Elisheva Nadal. It then explores the work of three influential artists from the 1970s-1980s: Dudu Geva, Uri Fink, and Michel Kichka. It then describes Modan's entry into comics, including her army service, her training at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, her first newspaper comics, and her short-lived editorship of Israeli Mad magazine.

Introduction

This chapter introduces the reader to Rutu Modan and her home city of Tel Aviv. It provides a quick overview of Modan's work and to Israeli comics, and argues that Israeli comics provide essential insight into contemporary Israeli culture and society. It shows how most comics about the Middle East are written from an American or European perspective, and argues for more scholarly attention to comics that originate from Middle Eastern countries themselves. It also shows that most of the focus on Jewish comics focuses on American creators, rather than Israelis.

The Return of Uri Cadduri and the Future of Israeli Comics

This chapter describes the establishment of Noah Books, a publishing imprint co-founded by Rutu Modan and Yirmi Pinkus to revivify classic Hebrew comics characters through new illustrations. It examines the imprint's first offering, Modan's new version of Uri Cadduri, one of the earliest Hebrew comics characters. It explores the history of Uri Cadduri, created by Arieh Navon and Leah Goldberg, and how Modan's version updates the character while preserving the 1930s Hebrew of the original.

After Exit Wounds

This chapter shows how, after Exit Wounds, Modan broadened her work to include comics journalism about an Israel-Gaza conflict, an autobiographical series for the New York Times, and her first solo children's book, which proved to be very popular in Israel. The chapter identifies how Modan's themes are reconfigured in these works, and how she continues to innovate the comics form in these projects. It also shows how her children's book subtly incorporates elements of Jewish and Israeli culture into a fantastic tale in which a little girl teaches the Queen of England how to enjoy a gluttonous meal.

Actus Tragicus and the Making of an Israeli Comics Scene

This chapter shows how Modan co-founded, with Yirmi Pinkus Actus Tragicus, the comics collective that introduced the world to Israeli comics. It explores how the Oslo Accord and the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin increased interest in Israeli culture and helped increase receptivity to Modan and other Israeli artists. It investigates Modan's early stories and her recurring theme of family secrets.