Bipolar

Israeli expatriate brothers put out this disaffected comic book of urban squalor, random cruelty, and momentary encounters with accidental beauty. A couple beat up a maid and rob a hotel. A man seeks escape from his marriage in a book of love letters. The stories flow into each other, and seem less planned then divined. The illustrations are all thin lines, details, constant motion. The final story is separate from the rest, it’s the second part of a tale based on the work of Israeli short story writer Etgar Keret, whose aphoristic casual evocations of an oddly familiar afterlife work perfectly here. The story basically consists of two buddies who wander through a limbo where suicides go after they’ve done the deed. One is looking for his girlfriend. The other isn’t looking for anything. This is a great comic, well worth checking out. (Hal Niedzviecki)

comic, #2, Tomer and Assaf Hanuka, $5, 449 Grand St., #2L, Brooklyn, NY, 11211 USA

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