CARGO: Comic Journalism Israel–Germany

(Avant-Verlag, 2005)
™ and © avant-verlag

Six artists—three from Israel and three from Germany—went on a sort of exchange program. The Israelis visited Germany; the Germans visited Israel; and both groups detailed the impressions they received from their trips.

For some reason, the Germans’ impressions of Israel are more engaging. Is Israel inherently more interesting than Germany? Are the German artists more talented storytellers than the Israelis? Is it just dumb luck? Whatever the reason, Tim Dinter, Jan Feindt, and Jens Harder tell us quite a bit about Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, The Church of The Holy Sepulcher, and life in a Bedouin village. The contributions of Yirmi Pinkus, Rutu Modan, and Guy Morad, while still enjoyable and exhibiting talent, tell little of Berlin; rather, they resemble “what I did on my summer vacation” reports.

Even though the stories may tell readers less about Deutschland, they still say much about the artists. Morad’s “Memories,” for example, is presumably autobiographical. It’s as well constructed as any tale of pure fiction could hope to be, even though its Kreuzberg setting is not indispensable.

— Jack Abramowitz

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