Boaz Lavie ( he, בועז לביא) is an Israeli writer, filmmaker and
game design
Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...
er, notable for writing the New York Times best-selling graphic novel and
Hugo Award nominee ''
The Divine
Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.[divine< ...](_blank)
'', a collaboration with the illustrators
Asaf Hanuka and
Tomer Hanuka
Tomer Hanuka ( he, תומר חנוכה; born 1974) is an illustrator and cartoonist.
Biography
At age twenty-two, Hanuka moved to New York City. Following his graduation from the School of Visual Arts in 2000, he quickly became a regular cont ...
. Lavie and the Hanuka brothers are the gold-medal winners of the 9th International Manga Award.
Biography
Born in New York, Lavie moved with his Israeli parents back to Israel when he was three years old. During his mandatory army service he was a correspondent for the IDF weekly magazine,
Bamahane
''Bamahane'' (also ''BaMahane'', he, במחנה, ''lit.'' in the base camp) was a Hebrew-language weekly magazine published by the Israel Defense Forces. It was first published in December 1934 by the Haganah and was published as a weekly until D ...
, and editor in chief of its satirical section. Lavie took part in establishing the first commercial TV broadcaster in Israel,
Keshet, working also as a screenplay writer for its local adaptation of ''
Wheel of Fortune'', the most viewed TV show in Israel during the 90's. Lavie was film critic and film section editor for
Ynet
Ynet (stylized as ynet) is one of the major Israeli news and general-content websites, and is the online outlet for the '' Yedioth Ahronot'' newspaper. However, most of Ynet's content is original work, published exclusively on the website and wri ...
, a major Israeli news website, and worked as a copywriter for
yes, the Israeli satellite television provider. Since 2007 Lavie has been working mainly on his own creative projects, writing and directing the critically acclaimed short film ''The Lake'', developing the virtual online board game ''Shobo'', writing the graphic novel ''The Divine'' and publishing short fiction.
Film
''The Lake'' (''Ha'agam'' in Hebrew) is a short film written and directed by Lavie in 2009. It is a dark and comic fantasy, exploring the complex relationship between two unemployed brothers (portrayed by Boaz Lavie himself and his young brother, Oren Lavie), out on a hunt for a mythical sea monster. ''The Lake'' was featured at dozens of film festivals, including at the
San Francisco International Film Festival
The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by the San Francisco Film Society, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in i ...
,
Slamdance Film Festival
The Slamdance Film Festival is an annual film festival focused on emerging artists. The annual week-long festival takes place in Park City, Utah, in late January and is the main event organized by the year-round Slamdance organization, which als ...
,
Palm Springs International Film Festival
Palm Springs International Film Festival (sometimes stylized shortly as PSIFF) is a film festival held in Palm Springs, California. Originally promoted by Mayor Sonny Bono and then sponsored by Nortel,here for Table of Contents it started in 1989 ...
, and elsewhere. It was chosen by film critic Brian Darr as the "best film no one has heard of" for 2009, and was acquired for distribution by the Hamburg Short Film Agency (KFA Hamburg). ''The Lake'' was produced by Ron Propper.
Game design
''Shobo'' is a virtual multiplayer board game, invented by Lavie in 2007 and originally developed by Roshumbo Games. In the game, two players place their five pentagonal pieces (called Daggers) on a hexagonal board, then try to eliminate their opponent's Daggers through a series of simultaneous moves. ''Shobo'' was launched on Facebook in 2010, was played by hundreds of thousands of users, and won the ''GameIS Award'' for best social game of the year. In 2015, ''Shobo'' was relaunched as a mobile game for
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
and
Android, by ''Leotech Ltd.'', a Singaporean developer.
Comics
Published in 2015, ''The Divine'' is a graphic novel written by Lavie and illustrated by the celebrated twin illustrators
Asaf Hanuka and
Tomer Hanuka
Tomer Hanuka ( he, תומר חנוכה; born 1974) is an illustrator and cartoonist.
Biography
At age twenty-two, Hanuka moved to New York City. Following his graduation from the School of Visual Arts in 2000, he quickly became a regular cont ...
. It was produced by Ron Propper. ''The Divine'' is the story of Mark, an explosives expert who, despite his better judgment, signs onto a freelance job with his old army friend, Jason. In Quanlom, a fictional Southeast Asian country, the pair are assisting the military when Mark is lured in by a group of child-soldiers, led by 9-year-old twins nicknamed "The Divine", who intent on forcing a showdown between ancient magic and modern technology. ''The Divine'' is very loosely inspired by the real story of twins
Johnny and Luther Htoo, who jointly led the
God's Army guerrilla group – a splinter group of
Karen National Union
The Karen National Union ( my, ကရင် အမျိုးသား အစည်းအရုံး; abbreviated KNU) is a political organisation with an armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), that claims to represent the Ka ...
– in Myanmar (Burma) during the late 1990s, and according to legends had magical powers.
''The Divine'' was released in French by
Dargaud
Société Dargaud, doing business as Les Éditions Dargaud, is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics series, headquartered in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. It was founded in 1936 by Georges Dargaud (), publishing its first comics in 1943.
...
in January 2015 under the title ''Le Divin'', and received critical praise. Frédéric Potet from
Le Monde
''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
had labeled it "A combination of
Bob Morane
''Bob Morane'' is a series of adventure books in French, featuring an eponymous protagonist, created by French-speaking Belgian novelist Henri Vernes, the pseudonym of Charles-Henri Dewisme. More than 200 novels have been written since his in ...
popular French adventure hero David Lynch, and
Katsuhiro Otomo (
Akira)". Eric Libiot from
L'express compared the coloring in the book (By
Tomer Hanuka
Tomer Hanuka ( he, תומר חנוכה; born 1974) is an illustrator and cartoonist.
Biography
At age twenty-two, Hanuka moved to New York City. Following his graduation from the School of Visual Arts in 2000, he quickly became a regular cont ...
) to that of
Hergé
Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé (; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian cartoonist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of Tintin'', ...
, creator of
Tintin
Tintin or Tin Tin may refer to:
''The Adventures of Tintin''
* ''The Adventures of Tintin'', a comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé
** Tintin (character), a fictional character in the series
** ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (film), 2011, ...
. Lysiane Ganousse from
L'Est Républicain
''L'Est Républicain'' is a daily regional French newspaper based in Nancy, France.
''L'Est Républicain'' was established in 1889 by Léon Goulette, a French Republican. The newspaper was founded on the grounds of ''anti- Boulangisme''. It wa ...
wrote: "The authors have turned a chilling true story into a stunning tale", and the popular comics critique website, ''9emeArt'', had given it a rating of 10 out 10, declaring that "Even though it's only January, we can already say it's going to be one of the best releases of the year".
''The Divine'' was published in the U.S. by
First Second Books
First Second Books is an American publisher of graphic novels. An imprint of Roaring Brook Press, part of Holtzbrinck Publishers, First Second publishes fiction, biographies, personal memoirs, history, visual essays, and comics journalism. It al ...
, featuring a blurb by author Yann Martel, best known for the international bestseller ''
Life of Pi
''Life of Pi'' is a Canadian philosophical novel by Yann Martel published in 2001. The protagonist is Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, India who explores issues of spirituality and metaphysics from an early age. He ...
''. It was released in July 2015 and has hit the New York Times Best Sellers list. It has since received highly positive reviews. ''
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
'' had chosen ''The Divine'' for "top ten graphic novel for spring 2015", describing it later on as: "Heady, hellacious, and phantasmagoric". Jesse Karp on his
Booklist
''Booklist'' is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. ''Booklist''s primary audience consists of libraries, educators, and booksellers. The magazine is av ...
review wrote: "Stunning artwork and creeping dread weave together in this satisfying and moving page-turner".
Douglas Wolk
Douglas Wolk (born 1970) is a Portland, Oregon-based author and critic. He has written about comics and popular music for publications including ''The New York Times'', ''Rolling Stone'', ''The Washington Post'', ''The Nation'', ''The New Republi ...
from
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
described it as "a too rare example of artists getting top billing", referring to the artwork by Asaf and Tomer Hanuka. Joshua Rivera from
GQ wrote: "The Divine's story is unflinching and raw, and its art is quite possibly the most beautiful of any comic this year". Michael Mechanic from
Mother Jones
Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...
called it "beautifully rendered", while
io9
''io9'' is part of Gizmodo media since 2015, and it began as blog launched in 2008 by Gawker Media. The site initially focused on the subjects of science fiction, fantasy, futurism, science, technology and related areas but over the years has ...
defined it as "Your next comics obsession". Rich Barrett from
Mental Floss
''Mental Floss'' (stylized as ''mental_floss'') is an online magazine and its related American digital, print, and e-commerce media company focused on millennials. It is owned by Minute Media and based in New York City, United States. mentalfloss ...
chose it for "The most interesting comics of the week" and praised it for being "stunning, cohesive combination
f elements. Terry Hong, from The
Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center blog, wrote: "can’t-turn-away riveting
..Unrelenting and uninterruptible", and the Eisner nominated comics blog
Comics & Cola dubbed it "superb" and chose it for its pick of the month.
The creators were featured in interviews on
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
,
Juxtapoz
''Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine'' (pronounced ''JUX-tah-pose'') is a magazine created in 1994 by a group of artists and art collectors including Robert Williams, Fausto Vitello, C.R. Stecyk III (a.k.a. Craig Stecyk), Greg Escalante, and Eric ...
,
Paste,
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
and elsewhere.
The Divine was chosen as one of the best graphic novels of 2015 by
GQ,
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
,
Barnes & Noble,
Comics & Cola and others.
It was published in Italy by BAO Publishing, and was scheduled to be published in Germany in 2016 by Cross Cult.
In February 2016, ''The Divine'' has received the gold-medal of the 9th International Manga Award, in a ceremony in Tokyo, Japan.
References
External links
Boaz Lavie's official website Boaz Lavie's bio on Macmillan's authors index''The Divine'' on Amazon.com''Le Divin'' on Amazon.fr''The Lake'': Official Website''Shobo'': Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavie, Boaz
1974 births
Living people
Israeli male short story writers
Israeli short story writers
Israeli comics writers
Israeli film directors
Israeli video game designers