User:Telecart/קומיקאזה

Comikaza is the first brick and mortar comic book store in Israel. In 2016 it was nominated for the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award.

History
The first branch opened on September 15th 2003 in Ramat Aviv in Tel-Aviv by Yossi and Ofra Konijn, a married couple. Prior to the establishment of a brick and mortar store, they operated an online forum and retailer under the domain name comics-net.com. In 2005 the store relocated from Ramat Aviv to the Dizengoff Center mall in the center of Tel-Aviv. Shortly thereafter, an additional store was opened in the mall named "Otaku" specializing in the sale of Japanese Manga, Anime and related paraphernalia. In 2013 the store temporarily shut down and was acquired by Jackob Sareli and Ori Ayalon, former customers, who have operated the store ever since under the branding Comikaza 2.0.

In 2016 the store was nominated for the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award.

The store holds regular signing events by comics creators (such as Neil Gaiman in 2006 or Chip Zdarsky in 2016) and once a year on the first Friday of May celebrates Free Comic Book Day (FCBD). In 2016 the store was nominated for The Diamond Retailer Best Practices Awards for its work on FCBD.

On August 5th, 2004, the store announced the release of the official Marvel-sanctioned Hebrew translation of Ultimate Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley, translated by David Chanoch. Comikaza released a total of 7 issues in Hebrew, collecting the first story arc of the title.

In 2018 a Haifa branch was opened, run by comics artist Vladik Sandler. This branch shut down at the end of 2019.