The 3rd Comics Exhibition at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque

October 17, 2003

By Avi Green

I really wish I hadn’t done this late, but, here’s my little take on the third festival for comics I’ve been to at the TA Cinematheque.

I went once again to the great place, and it was bustling with activity again, most delightfully. I mean, considering how readership is less than it is in the US, it’s great to know that here, it’s thriving. There were the usual sales by local distributors, and I was so lucky to get…the first issue – no wait, make that the first two issues – of Wonder Woman’s second volume. Isn’t that wonderful indeed? If only I could’ve gotten the same of Flash’s second volume, and believe me, I would’ve…but if they had that premiere issue, it was sold out. Oh well, it was worth a try.

And then, at another vendor, I was lucky to get a whole bunch of following issues of WW’s second volume from the 1987-89 period, in which George Perez was the writer, and one of the best to date. And also, some older issues of the Teen Titans, and even a few more issues of the Avengers from the early 1990’s. Overall, it was a pretty good deal.

Trade paperbacks? I got only one this time, in two parts, of Birds of Prey, a flashback of Batgirl/Catwoman, detailing their days when Babs was still able to walk and jump from building to building, and her relations with Catwoman from then till nowadays.

So this time at the exhibition, I only got one TPB, but a lot of back issues.

Of local cartoonists, I got to see the humorist Uri Fink there signing book copies of cartoon compilations he’d put together. And, there were some interesting drawings to go around there as well. Overall, it was a pretty good 3-day experience I had there again, and I hope to have more of the sort in the future as well.

Comics festival in Ramat-Gan

The above wasn’t the only exhibition or festival I got to go to this year: even for this Succot holiday, there was a festival being held at the Ayalon shopping mall in Ramat-Gan near Tel Aviv. And there, I got to look over even more of the sort, and to get a few more things that I’d hoped to get the first time around, such as an old issue of Flash’s second volume titled “A Meeting of Rogues” which featured a lot of the Rogues’ Gallery, some reformed, others not, having a post-Crisis reunion party and even inviting Wally to join. What a great item that was! And I also got for myself a TPB of the first issues of Sojourn, now one of my favorite CrossGen titles as well.

And wouldn’t you know it, as I searched through the boxes of one vendor, a small TV camera crew turned up to ask questions, including from me, and I answered one for them!

I like that kind of experience. Though whether or not I appeared on TV to date is something that I just don’t know.

And that’s not all. This month, there was even…

The Tel Aviv Cinematheque Sci-Fi Convention

So every year, the Cinematheque in TA holds a convention for science fiction products. And that too was a great break to go to. And I get to see all those wonderful Star Trek related items, including the comics of course, and the costumes for sale, and even the toy phasers. And still much to my delight, I get for myself one more premiere issue, that being for the third volume of Green Lantern’s series from June 1990. Plus, a 4-part arc of the Lost Hearts story from Superman. Speaking of which, it’s really sad that not only did Supergirl and Superboy get their series cancelled some time ago, but even Superman: The Man of Steel ended its 11-year run earlier this year at issue 135. And the story arc I bought was where one of the last issues was part of.

I do hope that in time, it’ll be possible to revive some of the Superbooks that have been discontinued, but for now, they’re over.

Two more things I got at the sci-fi convention were two old issues of The New Teen Titans, which, by the way, had two volumes during the 1980’s, one of which became Tales of the Teen Titans, and the other being a newer book that continued on into the mid-1990’s, and even had its name changed to The New Titans during 1988. Overall, a great purchase that was too.

Boy, what a lot of great festivals I was able to attend this year, and with any luck, there’ll be more soon. That’s all for now.

Copyright 2003 Avi Green. All rights reserved.

Home FAQ Columns Reviews Links Favorite Characters Special Features Politics Blog Comics Blog Food Blog