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komiks

61 artists 31 comics

Israel.

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Comics

קומיקס

Israel

1931

קומיקסkomiks

In short

Hebrew comics began in the 1930s in children's weeklies of the British Mandate, where Arie Navon drew Uri Muri with the poet Leah Goldberg in Davar's children's paper.

After decades of strips that taught Zionist values, cartoonists such as Dudu Geva and Ido Amin turned to satire in the 1970s, Uri Fink's Zbeng! won teenage readers from 1987, and the Actus Tragicus collective founded by Rutu Modan and Yirmi Pinkus in 1995 carried Israeli alternative comics abroad. Political cartooning, from Dosh's Srulik to Yaakov Kirschen's Dry Bones, ran alongside, and since 2007 the Israeli Cartoon Museum in Holon has exhibited the history of the field.

Israel in numbers

01 • 04

Israel in numbers · 01 • 04

1931

2000s

Artists

Artists from Israel in the archive.

Comics from Israel in the archive.

Davar LeYeladim, the earliest comic from Israel in the archive.

The decade when the most new comics from Israel began.

Artists from Israel in the archive.

Comics from Israel in the archive.

Davar LeYeladim, the earliest comic from Israel in the archive.

The decade when the most new comics from Israel began.

קומיקס

komiks · Comics from Israel

History

Israel in 5 chapters

A short history you can leaf through. Click a page, use the arrow keys, or press Turn the page to read on.

World Comics Heritage

Israel.

קומיקס

5 chapters

Turn the page

Chapter 1

1934

to 1949

Children's weeklies and the first Hebrew strips

The first strips appeared in children's papers such as Davar LeYeladim and Mishmar LeYeladim. Arie Navon, the cartoonist of Davar, began Uri Muri in its children's supplement in 1934 and from 1937 worked on it with Leah Goldberg, pairing rhymed text with pictures. Panels and speech balloons came in later booklets such as The Scarecrow (1940).

1934 to 1949

Chapter 2

1950

to 1969

Dosh, Boki and American influence

Dosh drew Ruti, a strip about a strong young woman, for HaOlam HaZeh from 1950 to 1952, and his Srulik became a symbol of Israel in Maariv cartoons. American comics shaped later work: Asher Dickstein edited the comic magazine Boki from 1967, and Mordechai Alon's Derech Burma (1967) used American comics language while still teaching Zionist values.

1950 to 1969

Chapter 3

1970

to 1985

From Hebrew to Israeli comics

Giora Rothman's Yoska Mayor (1972 to 1974) became the longest serial in an Israeli paper, while Ido Amin's booklet Friki (1973) attacked militarism and Dudu Geva's weekly strips mocked Israeli life through anti-heroes. In 1973 Yaakov Kirschen began Dry Bones in The Jerusalem Post, the first political comic strip in Israel.

1970 to 1985

Chapter 4

1986

to 2006

Zbeng!, Actus Tragicus and the first graphic novels

Zbeng!

Uri Fink's full-colour school comedy Zbeng! began in Maariv LaNoar in 1987, while the patriotic superhero Uri-On failed to find readers. Rutu Modan and Yirmi Pinkus founded Actus Tragicus in 1995 and published English-language anthologies yearly from 1996, and original graphic novels followed, among them Ha-Golem (2003), Ilana Zeffren's Pink Story (2005) and Modan's Exit Wounds.

1986 to 2006

Chapter 5

2007

to today

Museum, newspapers and new audiences

The Israeli Cartoon Museum opened in Holon on 19 December 2007. Haaretz carried weekly comics such as Daniella London Dekel's Hamudi and Tamar Blumenfeld's Kishkushei Rehov, Haredi comics grew into weeklies and more than 2,000 books, and Maya and Yehuda Devir's webcomic One of Those Days built a large international following from 2016.

2007 to today

Keep reading

The comics to know Comics from Israel

World Comics Heritage

Cover

1934
to 1949
Chapter 01
Children's weeklies and the first Hebrew strips
The first strips appeared in children's papers such as Davar LeYeladim and Mishmar LeYeladim. Arie Navon, the cartoonist of Davar, began Uri Muri in its children's supplement in 1934 and from 1937 worked on it with Leah Goldberg, pairing rhymed text with pictures. Panels and speech balloons came in later booklets such as The Scarecrow (1940).
1950
to 1969
Chapter 02
Dosh, Boki and American influence
Dosh drew Ruti, a strip about a strong young woman, for HaOlam HaZeh from 1950 to 1952, and his Srulik became a symbol of Israel in Maariv cartoons. American comics shaped later work: Asher Dickstein edited the comic magazine Boki from 1967, and Mordechai Alon's Derech Burma (1967) used American comics language while still teaching Zionist values.
1970
to 1985
Chapter 03
From Hebrew to Israeli comics
Giora Rothman's Yoska Mayor (1972 to 1974) became the longest serial in an Israeli paper, while Ido Amin's booklet Friki (1973) attacked militarism and Dudu Geva's weekly strips mocked Israeli life through anti-heroes. In 1973 Yaakov Kirschen began Dry Bones in The Jerusalem Post, the first political comic strip in Israel.
1986
to 2006
Chapter 04
Zbeng!, Actus Tragicus and the first graphic novels
Uri Fink's full-colour school comedy Zbeng! began in Maariv LaNoar in 1987, while the patriotic superhero Uri-On failed to find readers. Rutu Modan and Yirmi Pinkus founded Actus Tragicus in 1995 and published English-language anthologies yearly from 1996, and original graphic novels followed, among them Ha-Golem (2003), Ilana Zeffren's Pink Story (2005) and Modan's Exit Wounds.
2007
to today
Chapter 05
Museum, newspapers and new audiences
The Israeli Cartoon Museum opened in Holon on 19 December 2007. Haaretz carried weekly comics such as Daniella London Dekel's Hamudi and Tamar Blumenfeld's Kishkushei Rehov, Haredi comics grew into weeklies and more than 2,000 books, and Maya and Yehuda Devir's webcomic One of Those Days built a large international following from 2016.