Book Review: The Comics of Asaf Hanuka: Telling Particular and Universal Stories

 reviewed by Cord A. Scott, UMGC Okinawa

Matt Reingold. The Comics of Asaf Hanuka:  Telling Particular and Universal Stories. Boston:  Academic Studies Press, 2023. 260 pp. US $40.00 (Paperback). ISBN:  979-8-8871-9213-0. https://www.academicstudiespress.com/9798887192147/

In the course of popular culture analysis, politics can often cloud the reception of works as they come out. These distortions may come from perceptions of the writers, generalizations of their background or political stance, and their attitudes towards historical events. In the case of Matt Reingold’s analysis of Asaf Hanuka’s career and body of work, the first look (and possible assumption) of Hanuka’s stands may be different that the reality of what others may deduce.

Hanuka is, as Reingold notes in his engaging biography, a niche artist whose background becomes the basis for his themes in art. Hanuka is not only an Israeli by birth and citizenship, but also Mizrahi (Jew of Arab ethnicity) not the presumed Ashkenazi (European Jew) that make up much of the Jewish population of Israel. When combined with Hanuka’s left leaning political stance, many generalizations are quickly challenged. This is the point of Hanuka’s work.

Reingold spends much of the introduction and first chapter on Hanuka’s upbringing, early work with the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) publication Bamahaneh, which he notes often took a political direction opposite what was the official line, mostly because it was not read. His formal education was in France at the Emile-Cohl School, while his twin brother, Tomer, studied art in New York. Following a few significant offers (teaching, as well as work on Ari Folman’s film “Waltz with Bashir,” work on the Holocaust themes in Carton Jaune!), Hanuka also worked on a graphic novel called Pizzeria Kamikaze. The premise of this graphic novel was about a vast necropolis network of souls who have killed themselves but have not gone to anywhere good or bad, just to the nothingness. The main character Mordy seeks to find an end to his pain but only ends up finding out that things were better in life.

Hanuka settled in and began a one-page comic on the back page of the financial newspaper Calcalist, entitled “the Realist.” This series started in 2010, and often featured Hanuka’s own life and experiences as fodder for the comic. Again, the cartoons used the general themes that Hanuka established early on:  Israeli citizenship, his Jewish religion, and his status as Mizrahi. Hanuka, by his own admission, wondered why the comic was picked up as he did not work in economic terms, and his comic was not overtly funny (p. 52). In this regard, Hanuka’s work is similar in tone to that of Paul Madonna’s recent work on All over Coffee.

Within the Realist, Hanuka often uses science fiction, fantasy and famous comic book characters to show his work. The themes in his work are often universal, stating issues that many have run across in some form, such as young children trying to wake their parents on an average morning (“Dad, Wake up,” p. 57). While working with either universal themes, or the three principal themes, Hanuka’s politics have also shown through. He often noted the comparisons between IDF forces to those of the U.S. police forces in regard to handling protests, especially from minorities (64-65). Even at the time of the writing, when Reingold was conducting interviews with Hanuka, the veiled swipes at Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu came through the cartoon “Take Care,” which told the story of immigrant workers having their children deported from Israel, tearing them from their family, while showing the perceived trauma of an Israeli child being forced to go to a relative’s house. The universal theme of unease and the unknown future is downplayed when context is known.

Hanuka also utilizes historical figures from time to time, such as Theodor Herzl, to tell of the different perspectives within Israeli politics. Other cartoons have used the mascot of Israel, Srulik, or the struggles between the Orthodox Jews who fastidiously observe holy days, versus many Jews who only have a passive relationship with holidays such as Passover. In one cartoon, Hanuka shows his family frantically preparing for Passover, which, in this case, means a trip to the beach (From Slavery to Freedom, p. 78).

The third chapter discusses the sabbatical that Hanuka took from Calcalist, to create the graphic novel The Divine. The storyline which involved U.S. contractors attempting to exploit natural resources from a mythical country, worked off the real story of the Burmese twins who ran “God’s Army” in the early 2000s in Myanmar, and was also heavily influenced by “ukiyo-e” prints, as well as the Japanese anime, “Akira.” The two main characters, Jason and Mark, often are at odds over what to do ethically while exploiting a mythical country for natural resources. Mark has a moral compass, but needs this work to accommodate a wife and child, while Jason sees the country as one for mere exploitation, as the people are simple. One important aspect of Israeli artists in general, noted by Reingold, is that because of the constant warfare in Israel’s history, there is not a lot of fantasy within comics. There are simply too many issues otherwise to tend to directly.

The fourth chapter is Hanuka’s return to an autobiographical aspect of comic story telling. The issues of being Arab in ethnicity and a Jew in religion was often one of tension, and this struggle played out in Hanuka’s history, when a great grandfather was killed by a ward he had taken in. As with any sort of family history, especially one that is controversial, the facts Hanuka uncovered and drew into the series, were far more complicated than was first relayed via family storytelling. In this more recent aspect of Hanuka’s work, the differences between the Ashkenazi and Mizrahi are more pronounced, and he takes issue with the creation myth of Israel, noting that many Mizrahi were not necessarily welcome in the new Israel, and that considerable Palestinians were displaced by the creation (p. 150). This gives Hanuka both an insider and outsider perspective on Israel (161).

Finally, there is a section on Hanuka’s new project alongside his brother. There has been a dive into non-fungible tokens (NFTs) based on the moods of people. Entitled “moodies,” the NFTs elicit a variety of art to express both engagement of the viewer, as well as express through symbols the emotions of people.

The book that Reingold has written is engaging and thought-provoking. As noted at the start, Hanuka has been able to challenge generalities through his work. His perspectives have allowed different groups to be heard, or at least be recognized. In the political climate of 2024 where voices are often lost because of perceptions, this book helped to widen the view. In any review, a complete anthology of work would have been appreciated, but the work that was included was well-utilized.