The Property by Rutu Modan

Writer & Artist: Rutu Modan
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
Release Date: May 14, 2013
To say The Property is an excellent book short-changes it a bit. Rutu Modan’s second big story for adults builds on the intelligence of her debut graphic novel, Exit Wounds, which won an Eisner for Best New Graphic Novel in 2008 as well as multiple best-of placements. If Exit Wounds was Modan’s Rushmore, than The Property is her Royal Tenenbaums: her earlier work an announcement of presence, her latest a wide-ranging and ambitious (and more comfortable) creation.
The Property presents the story of an elderly Polish emigré in Israel (Regina) who returns to Poland with her granddaughter (Mica), ostensibly to reclaim property confiscated during World War II. The narrative is straightforward and novelistic in many ways, but the way Modan unfolds her tale is rich and subtle, full of individualized detail. As an artist, she excels at rendering streetscapes, and there are many to be seen here, laid out with clear perspective and precise lines with bold color. Her character design is similarly simplified, flattened to a few details that manage to express a multitude of emotion.