Koren Shadmi is Israel’s answer to Charles Burns. His graphic stories in the collection IN THE FLESH link sex with death to an absolutely hypnotic effect, like Burns’ masterpiece BLACK HOLE. Although FLESH comes adorned with a cover that makes it look like a GRUDGE-style exercise in terror, it doesn’t belong in the horror genre. It is, however, wonderfully disturbing.
In 10 tales, Shadmi plumbs the depths of love and lust with dark humor and a unique, slanted vision. For instance, are you apt to read another story this — or any — year quite like “The Fun Land,” in which a sexy woman invites a dumpy, kid’s show actor to her bed … but only if he brings his dog costume?
“Antoinette” details a date between one nervous man and one easily inebriated woman, who keeps her head to her side at all times. It’s metaphorical, just like the following “The Date,” in which a first-time couple dines, drinks and does the deed with paper bags over their heads, as if hiding their true selves from one another. (Similarly, “Grandpa Minolta” features a creepy old man with a camera for a head.)
Sexual politics is explored further in “What Is Wrong with Me?” It depicts the day after a night of sex between two people who don’t know each other that well. Through side-by-side panels, we see how the previous evening affects them both: The guy becomes increasingly obsessed and paranoid; the woman is oblivious, clicking through stupid TV shows, zombie-like.
Set in a high school, “Radioactive Girlfriend” refers to the young woman who’s socially shunned after being the only one who wasn’t below ground when a bomb hit her town. That intrigues one of her fellow classmates, who ignores everyone’s warnings about potential health risks by courting her.
After getting hit by a car, a female college student finds orgasmic passion in baked goods, in “Pastry Paradise,” much to a platonic friend’s chagrin. The carnal pull of food also figures into “Satisfaction Ave.,” in which a woman who bit the head off a rat as a child undergoes sexual therapy to shake that memory.
Two pieces late in the book aren’t as satisfying as those before them, because they don’t so much tell stories as they do experiment with form and function. “Cruelty” and “A Lavish Affair” are both surreal and touch on nerves, but leave the reader just a little underwhelmed. That’s only because they’re alongside works of comparative excellence.
Shadmi gets the power of illustrated fiction, simultaneous shocking you with words, pictures and ideas. This is storytelling far beyond “comics.” Shadmi is not only one to watch, but one to actively watch out for. —Rod Lott
