Asaf Hanuka broke my heart

Sometimes comics really can break your heart, but in the best possible way.

I've always a had a soft spot for slight autobiographical comics, and was happy to check out one of Asaf Hanuka's collections of his diary comics from the local library. They're full of absolutely delightful art - delicately detailed, with just the merest hint of caricature around the edges, but perfectly composed. Short stories with a strong worldview on the absurdities of modern life.

My life is so far away from Tel Aviv, where Hanuka lives and works, but even though some things are so universally human, I still didn't expect to have my heart utterly shattered by one of his one-page wonders.

I can't say which one it was, because that's too much information even for an embarrassingly open forum like this blog, but it was so specific to an experience I've just been through, and articulated in a such an exact way that it just broke me in half. 

It came with a last panel that was so absolutely perfect that even thinking about it now brings me to tears, and it's made such an impression that I know I'm likely to be thinking about it and going over it in my head for the rest of my life.

It's not a bad thing, reacting like this to a dumb little comic. Sometimes it can be so hard to find a way to articulate how you feel about things, especially the big stuff, and sometimes the right emotions can  be found in something as ephemeral as a comic strip, or a song, or a scene in your favourite movie. Opening up feelings bottled inside.

The best comic strips ever created - the Peanuts and the Calvin and Hobbes of the world - hit upon all sorts of universal feelings, but you can still find greatness in the tiniest and most personal comics.