Blog Archives
Hanuka, Asaf & Tomer – Bipolar #4
It’s just great to see a series like this unfold. Every issue is stronger than the one before and it’s hard not to imagine great things for these two. The one complaint that I have, and I’ll get it out of the way before I start gushing: typos! I know it’s being translated from Hebrew and all, and I don’t pretend to understand what a complicated process that is. But having something look this smart and well put together coupled with typos and misplaced usage of “your” and “you’re”…. well. it’s unnecessary. Anyway, this one continues the fascinating Kamikaze story and I’m not going to ruin anything about it because it’s coming to a close in the next issue. If you’re not already reading it, it’s one of the best serialized stories going. The first half of the book is about a man stuck in a hospital in Morocco. He spends his time remembering his life and wondering what might have been, but the story isn’t anywhere near as cheesy as I made it out to be. Look, I’m sold on this series. If you don’t want to buy something that you’ve never heard of, get to a decent comics shop near you and read part of an issue in the store or something. Whatever it takes, I think you should give this book a shot…
Hanuka, Asaf & Tomer – Bipolar #3
Bipolar #3
I’m always up for getting into new worlds in comics. Sure, I like the autobio stuff just fine, when it’s done well, but there’s nothing like a fully realized universe that the creators are going to use for several issues. I’m not sure if that’s where this is headed, as this is the first one I’ve read, but I sure hope so. The book is broken up into two stories. The first, Kamikaze (written by Etgar Keret), is about an afterlife filled with people who have committed suicide. One man learns that his old girlfriend killed herself and he’s determined to find her. What makes this so fascinating is that everybody there killed themselves, so there’s a depressing story behind everybody just waiting to be told. I won’t ruin any more than that except to tell you that most of those stories are left to the imagination thus far. The second story, Telekinetic, is about a man who’s experiencing chronic stomach pain and the agony of losing all joy in the world. A quietly introspective tale, it makes a nice contrast to the first story in the book. Both of these are filled with more philosophical asides than most books have in their entire run. This is a wonderful find for me and I plan on getting whatever else they have in print to see if they’re as good as this one. I’ll let you know, OK? Click on the title for the link to order it and a few more samples.
Hanuka, Asaf & Tomer
Bipolar #1
This one is a lot more raw than the third issue I saw. You could tell that they were just getting a feel for what they were doing. Not necessarily a bad thing, as it was still a pretty good issue (and it’ll probably be even better when I can connect it with the other two when they get here). It starts the story of the afterlife where everybody there has killed themselves and has a couple of other random tales. One is about a superhero or a fantasy, and another is a random series of images strung together, unless you’re smarter than me and can make sense of the whole thing. The website is linked below, check out all the lovely samples…
