Exit Wounds

by Rutu Modan

This graphic novel received much acclaim when it was published in 2007, and it's not hard to see why. Modan tells the story of Koby, a youngish taxi driver in Tel Aviv, who meets a strange young woman named Numi, who has news that his father may have been the victim of a bombing.

Koby is estranged from his father, and is especially surprised to learn that his father and Numi had an unexpected connection. What follows is a quest shared between these two, as they try to piece together Gabriel's last days. Koby is a very conflicted person, and Modan does an amazing job of showing him in all his complexity.

The art in this book is very nice. While her figures are very simple, with their pin-point eyes, Modan puts a great amount of detail into backgrounds, especially whenever she draws an establishing shot of a new scene or landscape.

The book itself is a thing of beauty, with it's non-traditional cover, it's heavy paper, and the embossed letters on the spine. Just holding this thing in my hands makes me happy, before I even started to read it.