Zbeng! (זבנג!) is probably the most notable Israeli comic, by cartoonist Uri Fink. Per wikipedia: "The plot of the series focuses on the everyday life of an average Israeli adolescent, Gal Tichon, and his classmates at a fictional Israeli high school located in Gush Dan. The plot usually focuses in a humorous way on adolescent experiences as well as lampooning Israeli culture, society, and many aspects of the human condition. The characters' exaggerated personality traits are all based on common stereotypes (the geek, the bully, the queen bee, the evil teacher, etc)".
Zbeng! provides examples of:
- Acquainted with Emergency Services: The personal background book for Asher and Yosepha has a document from a hospital about Asher being a model patient in the stomach pumping section - Yosepha is a Lethal Chef, and the guy loves her too much to say "no" when offered her cooking.
- All Just a Dream: Of Jinji, apparently, or at least flashbacks. It turns out that as of 2015, he and his classmates are already adults with children of their own.
- All Men Are Perverts: Well, not everyone. Asher was afraid of sex in one story, Nir is a narcissist interested only in himself and Tzachi only cares about eating. But that's often the general feel of the comic.
- All Women Are Prudes: When this was pointed out to Uri, he created Sivan, a Good Bad Girl. Also averted by Yosepha, who is more interested in sex than her boyfriend Asher, and Maya (although she probably uses sex as manipulation).
- Alpha Bitch: Maya is the Class Queen. Although she is far more popular with the the boys then with the girls.
- Amusing Injuries: and "Zbeng!" is a very common sound effect.
- Animal Talk: in thought bubbles, Garfield-style.
- Art Evolution: A lot of it over the years. Zbeng 1 (that actually came out in '93) even has the character look over earlier drawings of themselves in disgust. And the art changed a lot since then as well.
- Artistic License – Animal Care: Yes, give your boyfriend's dog chocolate, great idea. Quite puzzling since Uri Fink IS a dog owner and based all the dogs in Zbeng! on his dogs.
- Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: The character designs are all very exaggerated and often grotesque, and usually because they are meant to indicate the characters' personalities. Gal's hair is styled like a wave to indicate his love of surfing and his name (Gal means 'wave' in Hebrew). Nir is a snob with a large upturned nose. Mrs. Zaafani is the large, domineering and monstrous-looking Sadist Teacher...
- Attractive Bent-Gender: In a very early story, Gal disguises himself as a girl and ends up in a pin-up magazine.
- Author Avatar: Fink is himself an occasional character in the comic. Other than that, he said Yaron is the character that most closely resembles himself.
- Author Tract: A lot of stories were made as a way for Uri Fink to complain about annoying stuff in his life.
- Barely-There Swimwear: One strip had Maya looking for something on the floor and shouting at Gal "not to step on it". When Gal remarks he didn't know she wore contact lenses, she states she's looking for her new swimsuit.
- Battleaxe Nurse: The school nurse, Florence Nightinburp, is pretty damn cruel.
- Be a Whore to Get Your Man: Seemingly Played Straight, but then subverted in "God Zbeng! the Queen". The withdrawn and nerdy Aya has a crush on Asher, who has a crush on the Lovable Alpha Bitch Yosefa. And Aya has a massive makeover in an attempt to draw his attention, becoming the very vampy Maya. However, Maya quickly loses interest in Asher after she becomes the Alpha Bitch and gets a taste of her newfound popularity, confidence and power over men, and Asher remains interested only in Yosefa.
- Berserk Button: Mess with Yosepha — or look like she's attracted to you — and Asher will kick your ass.
- Big Eater: Tzachi, a fat exemple. His love of eating and his fatness are pretty much his defining character traits.
- Bizarre and Improbable Golf Game: It was mostly bizarre because Gal kept putting the balls in horrible places to annoy his dad's boss.
- Blatant Burglar: In an early story, complete with a Domino Mask.
- Blind Without 'Em: Yaron. Which usually leads to troubles when Gal wants to pull a Twin Switch.
- Book Dumb: Almost every teen character but Yaron (and sometimes Sigal).
- Boyish Short Hair: Most of Sigal's hairstyles. Her first hairstyle was basically the same as Tintin, her third hairstyle was close-cropped hair which gradually grew into a bob over the years, and her fourth and current one, which combines her short hair with two long horn-like bangs that change color according to her mood. The only exception is her second hairstyle, where she was bald. Since Sigal is an opinionated feminist and probably the closest thing to a Tomboy in the 'classic' Zbeng! cast, this is very appropriate for her.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: Gal and Yaron's older sister, Osnat.
- Broken Pedestal: Gal and Yaron meet a Sylvester Stallone expy, in a story from the late 80's, and discover he's a total crybaby.
- The Bully: While Asher is referred to as "the bully", he’s actually pretty nice and friendly if you don't press his Berserk Button (the term used is translated more accurately in his case to The Brute). Hertzel, on the other hand...
- Bumbling Dad: Gal's dad in early stories, but not so much now.
- Butt-Monkey: Mostly averted — while everyone is a Cosmic Plaything to some extent, any character can come up on top when opposed to the others.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: An opinion expressed many times throughout the strip. Yosefa is the former Lovable Alpha Bitch of the class because she is the most busty girl in school. The current Alpha Bitch, Maya, isn't quite as... gifted in that area and although she has usurped Yosefa's throne and then some, she still expresses jealousy of Yosefa's buxom figure.
- Does Not Know His Own Strength: Asher, at times.
- Canon Character All Along: Zbeng! 1, the Prequel book, has a few examples of seemingly-new character being revealed as the past-selves of established characters; such as Aya actually being Maya and Woodstock actually being Moti.
- The Casanova: Golan is pretty much a male version of Maya.
Word of God itself says as much. - Characterization Marches On: On his first appearance, Asher actually CHEATED on Yosepha. And she herself was almost unrecognisable.
- Nir used to be just a generic JerkAss, and Jingji wasn't so horrible at first.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Noga, Yaron's Distaff Counterpart and Sigal's good friend, has barely appeared at all in recent strips.
- Comic-Book Time: A necessary trope to keep a teen comic running for over 20 years.
- Finally Averted in 2015-01-22: Za‘afani points out that no-one even knows when school began, or what she’s even teaching, and they’re all stuck with her in an endless loop, before Jinji wakes up just in time to chaperon his descendant’s school field trip with the new generation of Zbeng-ites.
- Finally Averted in 2015-01-22
- Coming-Out Story: Ziv has one in Zbeng 1. Jinji reacts very negatively. The rest are friendly to neutral.
- Con Man: When Jinji's selfish personality isn't expressed with him being The Peeping Tom or encouraging Gal to cheat on his girlfriend, then he's probably running some sort of scheme to make some money or humiliate his friends.
- Compressed Vice: Osnat being superstitious, Gal being allergic to cats, Sivan being a cellphone addict.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Asher's Berserk Button usually involve someone hurting his girlfriend Yosefa, or hitting at Yosefa, or looking at Yosefa, or breathing near Yosefa... Usually Played for Laughs, and Yosefa herself is usually portrayed as being okay with it.
- Covert Pervert: According to the official website, Yaron is actually higher than his brother Gal on the horniness scale, it's just that "He doesn't do anything with it."
- Death Seeker: Stav. Very depressed, very lucky.
- Disco Dan: Ido is modeled after the 70's Punk scene, and espacially The Ramones.
- The Zbeng 1 Story "The Zbeng! Must Go On" reveal that *Moti*, of all characters, used to have a similar thing wotth the 60's and Hippies.
- Diet Episode: Both Osnat and her father are on a diet, and they're not very good at it.
- Disguised in Drag: In Asher's first appearance, Gal tried to disguise himself as a girl to get away from him.
- Distracted by the Sexy: An early story shows Gal giving away his money to pretty girls coming to gather donations for various causes until he runs out of money himself.
- The Dividual: Asher and Yosepha are almost always together. To the point that their Personal Zbeng book was together.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Yaron.
- Dogs Are Dumb: Nezek averted this, played straight with Zoe and Schwarze.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Avishai is the coach version.
- Dumb Blonde: Maya averts this trope and resents it. Although she's not a natural blonde, she's actually a Brainy Brunette.
- Yosefa sometimes plays it straight, since she's supposed to be only slightly smarter then her total Dumb Muscle boyfriend - but she often catches the Smart Ball.
- Dumb Muscle: Asher has the body of a gorilla and just one brain cell.
- Dystopia Justifies the Means: Stav isn't just depressed - she tries, on occasion, to spread it around.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The ultra-rare "numberless" Zbeng is very odd to those who are familiar with the later books. For once, it's not just "Zbeng," but a collection of different comics Uri Fink was making at the time.
- '80s Hair: Maya had that at first. It was explicitly modeled after Farrah Fawcett.
- Einstein Hair: Yaron doesn't bother combing his hair from one lab explosion to the next.
- Emo Teen: Stav, complete with dark cloths and depressing, pretentious poetry.
- Ensemble Cast: Gal is the closest thing Zbeng has to a main character. That's not saying much.
- Everyone Loves Blondes: The only two blondes in the cast are Yosefa, the former Lovable Alpha Bitch, and Maya the current Alpha Bitch. Maya deliberately invokes this trope cause she bleached her brown hair blonde during her Makeover to become the most beautiful girl in the school.
- Evil Redhead: Jinji ranges from being a simple Jerkass to being so wicked that the Celestial Bureaucracy has trouble keeping track of all his sins. In one issue Jinji has sold his soul to the Devil to become an ultra-successful, exploitative rock star. When the Devil came to reap Jinji's soul, it disgusted him so much he has cancelled the deal.
- Exact Words: Jinji made a bet with Nir that he will get off the railings before Jinji ask him twice, and now Nir needs to sit there and wait for hours until Jinji will ask him a second time.
- Expressive Hair: In her current hairstyle, Sigal's front bangs will change their colors in accordance to her mood - to much her outspoken and opinionated personality.
- Extreme Libido: Jinji is obsessed with sex at all times, and both his physical appearance and personality are far too disgusting for him to get some any time soon.
- Extreme Omnivore: Tzachi eats Happy Meal toys.
- Feminine Women Can Cook: Played With. Yosefa loves to cook and she's the most feminine girl in the cast, but she's actually a Lethal Chef who's dishes range from 'comically bad' to 'literally monstrous'. In contrast, Sigal is the most tomboyish girl in the cast, and is generally depicted as a decent cook.
- Foreign Culture Fetish: Nir, the resident snob, hates all other Israelis for being uncultured and vulgar in his eyes, and is obsessed with English culture and especially London. His Catchphrase is "In London this wouldn't have happened".
- Friendly Enemy: Jinji and Asher are constantly at odds. With Jinji constantly
sexually-harassing Asher's girlfriend and taking advantage of his limited intelligence - and Asher always beating him into a pulp whenever he does that. However, whenever Jinji isn't currently up to his usual tricks, he and Asher hang out as just regular friends. - The Friend Nobody Likes: Jinji.
- The Fundamentalist: Asher had a brief episode of religious extremism after Yosepha dumped him, desperately needing someone to do the thinking for him. He got better once they got back together, although he's still often characterized as one of the more religious-adjacent characters in the cast.
- Fun with Acronyms: A few jokes are like that (It'll be kind of hard to translate) even the comic's name was an acronym for a while.
- Gag Nose: Jinji’s, coupled with very acute sense of smell.
- Nir's nose is quite ridiculously large as well, and it's constantly upturned to show that he's a snob.
- The Generic Guy: Gal. Uri Fink even described the comic in Zbeng 1's Zbengensis as being about how "a comepletly normal guy has to a handle a world full of weirdos". Ziv was a secondary one, but kinda lost it after becoming the Token Gay.
- Given Name Reveal: 'Woodstock', from the Zbeng! 1 story "The Zbeng! Must Go On" (which is a prequel about he origins of the "My Limpy Sister" band) is a hippie-looking guy obsessed with the 60's who is only known by his nickname. However, near the end of the story, he reveals to Osnat that he's soon gonna have to abandon his hippie-like aesthetic as he's going to be enlisted to his mandatory millatry service; so soon 'Woodstock' is gonna be replaced with just... Moti. Revealing that this is also the backstory of how Osnat and Moti got together.
- The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: Gal and Yaron are a male example. Gal is popular but Book Dumb, while Yaron is a nerdy Teen Genius.
- Gold Digger: Maya is the most beautiful girl in the school and a manipulative Vamp. She is only interested in getting something out of the boys she dates, and that's usually money. Other characters are shocked if they ever see her on a date with someone who's not rich. In Zbeng Fast Forward, she married the nerdy Yaron after he made it big in high-tech.
- Gonk: Jinji, Gili and Mrs. Zaafani are all quite ugly to look at. Uri Fink has even said that Zaafani is his favorite character to draw because of it, since he can go wild and draw her as monstrous and wonky as possible (in contrast to characters like Maya, where he needs to be careful to keep her pretty at all times).
- Good Angel, Bad Angel: Every character has them, called "Conscience" and "Evil Inclination". They look more muscular / wimpy the more / less moral a character is.
- Gratuitous Foreign Language / Yiddish as a Second Language: Gal's second dog, a black poodle, was called "Schwarze."
- Harmless Electrocution: In several stories.
- Henpecked Husband: Mr. Gershon Zaafani, who is small and timid compared to his domineering Sadist Teacher of a Wife.
- Asher and Yosefa are a non-marrried, teenaged version of this trope. Although physically Asher is much stronger than Yosefa (or anyone else), Asher is usually a good natured Gentle Giant who is only interested in doing anything his girlfriend tells him to do, protecting her and making her happy - and he's terrified of her when she's angry with him. It's even joked that "Yes, Yosefa" should count as Asher's Catchphrase.
- House Husband: In the 'Zbeng Fast-Forward' timeline. Sigal and Jinji got married, with Sigal being the main breadwinner of the house, and Jinji being a stay-at-home dad.
- Identical Twin ID Tag: Yaron wears glasses, has messier hair and is less tanned then Gal.
- I Was Young and Needed the Money: In one episode of the live-action adaptation, Zaafani is revealed to have been a risqué model in her youth.
- Jerk Jock: Golan has most of the personality and physical fitness, although he’s not an actual jock (those are rare in Israeli high schools). His role as a Spear Counterpart for Maya sometimes lends him closer to a (straight) Alpha Bastard.
- Kaleidoscope Hair: Sigal's current hairstyle has bangs dyed with a special hair-dye created by Yaron that changes colors according to Sigal's mood. It's red when she's feeling anger, orange when she's feeling hatred, yellow when she's feeling excited or surprised, green when she's thinking about important causes, blue when she's in love and\or horny, purple when she's happy, pink when she's REALLY happy, brown when she's feeling bitter, gray when she's sad and white when she's scared. It can even have multiple colors as a gradient when she's feeling two emotions at once!
- Lecherous Licking: Jinji's kink involves chocolate syrup, so it probably includes this trope as well.
- Lethal Chef: Yosepha's cooking is probably Asher's greatest fear, as he doesn't have the heart to tell her it can actually put him in the hospital. One Imagine Spot addressed a popular Fridge Logic, showing what would happen if he took the advice to let her try her own food: she would get a Heroic BSoD at the horror of having put him through that. Outside of the imagine spot, Asher says he doesn’t do it because he loves her.
- Let's Just Be Friends: Said to Yaron by every woman he ever tried to date.
- Said by Yaron in moment of uncontrolled spite when, after being rejected by a girl once again, her sister unexpectedly tried to date him.
- Lets Wait Awhile: Much of the arguing in Gal and Sigal's relationship comes from the fact she feels that she's not ready to have sex.
- Limited Wardrobe: The majority of the cast averts this, but there are a few who play it straight.
- Asher is always (excluding his first appearance seen with a khaki-green shirt and dark green pants. In fact, according to the Zbeng! Haggadah, those are the clothes he wore the first time he met his girlfriend Yosefa and he wears them every day in an attempt to never forget their anniversary.
- Mrs. Zaafani originally wore dresses in a variety of colors (In fact, it was a plot-point in a story where the characters mistook the pattern of her dress as a magic-eye picture) but since around 1995 it has settled on it's iconic 'Kryptonite-Green' color and has stayed the same ever since.
- Stav originally had a Limited Wardrobe of wearing all-black baggy shirt and pants, after Zbeng! to the Novice Sorcerer redesigned her as a [[Goth]] - she started wearing her long dark-purple dress everywhere instead.
- Line-of-Sight Name: the story "The Zbeng! Must Go On" is focused on Ido, Gal, Jinji and Ziv setting up a band together to perform at their end-of-the-school-year party. It's only when they get on stage to introduce themselves that they realize that they have no name. Then Gal notices his older sister Osnat (who got hit on the leg earlier that day) sneaking off the stage after having sex there with her new boyfriend. And thus, "My Limpy Sister" was born.
- Long Runner: The comic has been in publication continuously since 1987.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: Jinji in his better days.
- Made of Explodium: Yaron's experiements almost always fail as a spectacular blast.
- Mad Scientist: Yaron started as one, frequently causing explosions or creating concoctions with strange effects. Lessened over the years with his focus shifting from chemistry to computers.
- He has started to return to the lab in resent years, as interest in computers, internet and geek-culture has become so mainstream that just them on their own wouldn't make Yaron enough of a nerd.
- Manchild: The school's Principal is much more interested in cartoons and toys then teaching.
- Makeover Montage: Aya has one in "God Zbeng! the Queen", showing her transformation into Maya.
- Meaningful Name: Most surnames are relevant to the character's behavior.
- Gal is Hebrew for "wave", referring both to his love of surfing and to his Anime Hair. His surname was a Riddle for the Ages for a long time, but eventually revealed to be "Tichon", which means "middle" (referring to him being average) but can also refer to the Mediterranean sea (once again related to his surfing) or high school (referring to his age).
- Yaron comes from "Yoram" an outdated term for a nerd.
- Asher's surname is Killer, due to his violent temper and strength.
- Maya's surname is Shalit, meaning "ruler", since she's the Alpha Bitch.
- Nir sounds like Narcissist, while his surname "Lacoste" can refer both to stuff costing a lot of money and to designer brands, as befitting a snob.
- Moti the soldier's surname is Galil - which is the name of the northern region of Israel, as well as a gun designed for the IDF.
- Tzahi's surname is Hamburger, since he's a Big Eater.
- Golan's surname is Pines, but is pronounced like "Penis", refering to him being The Cassanova.
- Ido's surname, Ramon, is a Shout-Out to The Ramones.
- Ziv's surname, Ochovski, is a Shout-Out to Gal Ochovski, a well-known Israeli gay journalist.
- Sivan's surname is Bar Ratzon, Ratzon can mean "desire" or "want" in Hebrew, referring to her subversion of All Women Are Prudes.
- Stav Te'ani is supposed to be a play on "Aviv Gefen", an Israeli musician who was known for his depressing songs when Stav was first created: Stav means "autumn" while Aviv means "spring", and "Te'ani" means "fig" while "Gefen" means "grapevine" (which are two of the "Seven Species" from the Hebrew bible). Even without the reference, Stav/Autumn is associated sadness, gloominess and death.
- Asaf Netanyahu shares his surname with Benjamin Netanyahu, a right-winged politician and the current prime minister of Israel, a subtle Take That! from Uri Fink, implying that Netanyahu's politics are going to make a lot of people homeless like Asaf.
- Ms. Zaafani's name comes from "Zaaf" which means anger or rage.
- Ms. Zaamon's name comes from another Hebrew word for anger or rage.
- Hot Teacher Ms. Tshukati's surname literally means "my desire".
- Meaningful Rename: Aya was an unattractive nerdy girl who's Only Friend was the even nerdier Yaron. After giving herself a life-changing Makeover and becoming the new Alpha Bitch of the school, she renamed herself 'Maya'.
- Mirror Character: ‘Atsanya bat-Simkhon, a recurring character who is basically Sigal, only a far-right-winger instead of a far-left-winger. When Moti tried to introduce them, they were both Comically Missing the Point, seeing the other as a Card-Carrying Villain they share nothing with.
- Mood Whiplash: One story from the early 2000's involved the cartoonist trying to shoehorn himself into the cast. First as "one of the guys" (much to the dismay of the teenage protagonists), then as one of the characters' uncle (with even less success), and finally as a teacher at their school, before the characters finally intimidated him away. Gal then ponders what made him want so much to live in their fictional world. We then cut to Uri Fink's studio, where he stares, eyes full of dread, at a live-TV image of the burning World Trade Center.
- Nerd Glasses: Yaron and Noga are the two nerds of the cast, and they both wear glasses.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Gili, a Splatter Horror aficionado with a love for all things disgusting. Apart from that, he’s a perfectly nice guy.
- Non-Indicative Name: Zaafani’s first name, Anuga, literally means ‘delicate and exquisite’.
- No Periods, Period: Averted. Several stories deal with the concept of periods, or usually, the guys' reactions to them.
- Not Allowed to Grow Up: a necessary trope to keep a teen comic running for over 20 years.
- Official Couple:
- Gal and Sigal. Usually. They break up and get back together constantly.
- Yosepha and Asher.
- Gili and Aisha.
- Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Yaron. When he's doing science, he's usually seen working on his chemistry set. But he also demonstrated skills in various kinds of electrical engineering, computer science, robotics, physics and biology.
- One-Word Vocabulary: Ido has three-word vocabulary (“sex, min note , Rock’n’Roll”). He uses more words when singing, but only when he can rhyme them with his Catchphrase.
- This becomes a plot point when a genie offers him three wishes, and he obviously wishes for sex, min and rock 'n' roll; somebody else brings up the fact that sex and min are the same thing, and he therefore deserves another wish. In a rare Out of Character moment, he speaks normally and uses the third wish as a Reset Button.
- Later, 'Min' was changed to 'chamin' (the traditional Jewish dish also known as cholent).
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Nobody but his parents calls Jinji "Ronen".
- Perverted Drooling: A lot of it, usually from Jinji, but sometimes also from Gal and the other boys.
- Phenotype Stereotype: Russians are usually stereotyped as blond-haired and blue-eyed in Israeli media, and Zbeng! is no exception. Almost every Russian one-shot character is a blonde, and Yosefa, the one natural blonde in the cast, was eventually retconned to be of Russian decent as well.
- Plastic Bitch: Maya, the vampy, manipulative Alpha Bitch is only as beautiful as she is due to many, many plastic surgeries.
- Polar Opposite Twins: Gal is popular and Book Dumb, Yaron is a socially awkward Teen Genius.
- Potty Emergency: Starring Gal's dog Nezek, looking for someone to take her for a walk when all of her humans are busy with their own eccentricities.
- Precocious Crush: A young girl with hot older sister sent Gal letters using her sister's name to trick him into dating her.
- Prequel: Zbeng! 1 came out in 1993, and contains mostly Backstory for characters like Maya or the band "My Limpy Sister.
- The Quiet One: Ido, when he's not singing, anyway.
- Raging Stiffie: Jinji sits behind a very attractive female classmate at the beginning of the new school year, when a new regulation came into effect saying students have to stand up when the teacher comes in.note Jinji stares at the girl’s rump for a long while before noticing he has to get up too, at a rather compromising position. Fortunately, he notices the token gay classmate sitting behind him and his stiffie is scared away.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: often lampshaded, as there is No Fourth Wall.
- One notable example is Jinji's case Characterization Marches On. In early comics, he was meant as nothing more than a fictionalized version of one of Uri Fink's friends. He was kind of annoying sometimes and a bit of a schemer, but nowhere near the Jerkass he became later . Then one day the real-life Jinji tricked Uri into carrying his furniture when he moved into a new apartment. Uri Fink then wrote a Zbeng! story where the fictional Jinji pulled a similar trick over his friends, which then backfired on him and got him almost eaten by cannibals. This story is considered the 'real' first appearance of the character of Jinji and very since then, the fictional Jinji has been defined entirely by his scheming and dishonest nature.
- Relationship Revolving Door: Gal and Sigal constantly break up, get back together, and break up again. It's mostly due to Sigal's strong ideals clashing with Gal's average-teen-boy-vices (especially with Jinji's Toxic Friend Influence). Flashforward to their future generally show that they don't end up together after they get out of high-school.
- Rich Bitch: Nir is a male version. His defining character trait is being a jerky snob and lording his wealth and supposed superiority and style over everyone else.
- Rich Kid Turned Social Activist: Sigal is one of the more well-off characters in the cast (only Ron and maybe Nir are higher than her on the economical ladder), and she's also the resident Soapbox Sadie and a fierce fighter for social justice.
- Rock Trio: My Limpy Sister is the 3 + 1 variation. Ido is on lead vocals, Gal is the guitarist, Jinji is the Bassist and Ziv is the drummer.
- Running Gag: In early stories, characters running away to join a Trappist Monastery.
- Sadist Teacher: Mrs. Zaafani. By her own admission, her only joy in life is screaming at people. This was emphasized in the short-lived live-action adaptation, in which she turned from being just very impatient with her students to overtly relishing in tormenting them, as seen in the pilot:Zaafani: You will call me ‘Mrs. Zaafani’... and I will tearnote you to shreds. (Evil Laugh)
- Mrs. Zaamon too, since she's just a slightly-toned-down version of Zaafani.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: One story had Jinji discovering, to his horror, that girls fart and burp too, but it turns out Zaafani has never farted or burped in her life, which explains why she’s so mean. When she’s encouraged to finally let it all go, she turns out to be quite beautiful and turns much nicer, but it turns out it was All Just a Dream.
- Averted with Maya, whose current looks are the result of extensive plastic surgery on top of a general makeover.
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: Asher and Yosepha can be obnoxiously affectionate.
- Sliding Scale of Fourth Wall Hardness: Semipermeable Fourth Wall. The strength and presence of the Fourth Wall shifts from story to story depending on what's funniest. Usually it doesn't even come up, while other story display the characters showing some level of Medium Awareness, and one story had Yaron become a Fourth-Wall Observer after taking a chemical concoction meant to increase his intelligence, while others operate with No Fourth Wall - with the characters regularly interacting with their creator and discussing the facts that they are fictional comic characters.
- Slobs Versus Snobs: The snobby, rich Nir versus... almost every other character, but especially Hertzel.
- Shout-Out: Uri Fink had to come up with a new 2- or 3-page story each week, so he often had one based on a movie or TV show that was popular in Israel at the time.
- One strip published while Australian soap Home and Away had a major cult following in Israel, has the students discover that Zaafani's mood was based on what happened on the show the previous night, so they take advantage by watching it themselves. They end up becoming addicted and imagining kangaroos all around them - "Our scheme backfired like a boomerang!"
- Another strip was entirely a parody of Twin Peaks.
- Fink is an avowed Trekkie, and at least three stories over the years were based on or involved Star Trek.
- Smart Ball: Although Asher is supposed to be so stupid that he only has one braincell in his brain, sometimes he demonstrate a surprising amount of cleverness when dealing with Jinji and his schemes.
- Soapbox Sadie: Sigal is more than a little devoted to her political ideals. She is sometimes noted to come from a very well-off family, and yet she is still an activist who cares a lot about the less fortunate and even took on a summer job just for the sake of it, even though she doesn't need it.
- Speaking Like Totally Teen: In one story, the adults started talking to the teenagers with then-current slang, to communicate with them better. The teens got sick of it and reacted by speaking in Antiquated Linguistics, making their parents mad at their ‘ungratefulness’ at their efforts to relate to them.
- Status Quo Is God: To the point where changes to a character's haircut are treated like a big deal.
- Straight Gay: Ziv after first coming out. The portrayal fluctuated a bit over the years, with him acquiring some campier traits to mirror the growing acceptance of the LGBT community and associated styles.
- Straw Feminist: Sigal at her worst.
- Straw Vegetarian: Sigal has been an avid vegetarian, and later vegan, for most of the comics run-time. while sometimes it's brought up as a neutral fact about her, other times she is shown as needlessly proselytizing and judgmental.
- Surfer Dude: Gal's favorite hobby is surfing. Jinji sometimes joins too, but it doesn't define his character like it does with Gal.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Asher is usually depicted as an invincible juggernaut who frequently dishes out violence and suffers little to no consequence for it, even with adults. In one story, however, two cops show up to ask him questions when they suspect him of drug-dealing (over a misunderstanding); his expression is one of pure terror. He outright tears up when it's all over.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Osnat dressed up as a solider to visit her boyfriend at the base he serves at.
- Symbol Swearing: Very common in the comic
- Teen Genius: Yaron can make teleporters, potions and robots and he's only 16!
- Terrible Interviewees Montage: Zbeng! 1 starts with all the characters getting interviewed by Uri Fink to be the main character in his new comic and getting rejected. In the end Uri realized that comic should be about ALL of them.
- The Pollyanna: Despite living in a cardboard box, Asaf is easily the happiest member of the cast.
- Top-Heavy Guy: Asher, the resident Dumb Muscle, has very bulky torso and arms and tiny legs.
- Totally Radical: An Israeli version of that is clear in ‘90s stories.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Gal is on average on his morality as he is on everything else, he's neither particularly evil or particularly good. But his best friend is the perverted, sexist Jerkass Jinji, who encourages all of Gal's worst vices. Meanwhile, Gal's girlfriend is the resident Soapbox Sadie Sigal, who is the one trying to push Gal into being a better person.
- This is used by Jinji in Zbeng: the Musical as a plan to help Gal to get together with Sigal after a break-up that lasted much longer than usual. He makes Gal act the same as him to make it look like his negative influence over Gal has gotten so much worse without Sigal to act as a counterbalance. To try and convince Sigal to take him back for his own good or because she likes a project.
- Turned Off By The Jerkass: In one episode of live-action adaptation, the class is taken hostage by a terrorist. Sigal is very much smitten with him, especially as he describes with tears what jerkasses surrounded him that he had to get rid of them. Then Gal, displeased at his girlfriend being intetested in another, manages to access the criminal's background and finds out that in addition to all the murders, he also has a background of puppy abuse. Of course for Sigal, nothing can ever justify that.
- Twice Shy: The very first Zbeng strip was about that. Gal saw a hot chick at the beach, and couldn't think of what to say to her, so he just kept coming to the beach and sitting near her day after day until he got sunburned - and then meeting her at the skin doctor's clinic and finding out she did the exact same thing. This story has been retold several times, mostly as the story of how Gal and Sigal first met.
- Noga and Yaron often have that relationship, with both of them liking each other and being good friends - but both being too much awkward dorks to admit their feelings.
- Twin Switch: Gal makes Yaron pull it off from time to time. It never works.
- Two Decades Behind: A reader once commented on the clothing the teens wear being somewhat outdated. Fink explained that it’s somewhat inevitable, saying that if he tried to go to schools and draw the students’ clothes and take notes he’d ‘spend the night in Abu Kabir◊’.
- The Unsmile: A short story had Maya and Stav both wear a device that forced their lips into a smile. While no-one even noticed Maya was wearing it, when people saw Stav that way they ran away screaming in terror.
- Unstoppable Rage: Asher is a Gentle Giant if you don't push his Berserk Button. But if you do, there's nothing you can do to stop him from beating you senseless.
- Unnecessary Makeover: In-Universe, almost everyone prefer Maya over her former self, Aya (including Maya herself). Everyone except Yaron that is, although he usually finds Maya as attractive as all the other boys do - he was in *love* wih Aya and he still prefer her over Maya. Some stories (including Maya's official backstory in "God Zbeng! the Queen") show that Maya's lack of interest in Yaron doesn't necessarily stem from her finding him unattractive, or from his lack of social status - but from bewilderment and disgust at the fact that he liked the old her better.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Even without counting numerous instances of All Just a Dream, the cast has encountered aliens, demons, angels, outright miracles from God, time travelers, and more. This doesn't really seem to shock them.
- The Vamp: Maya's entire character is based on her ability to wrap the boys around her finger.
- Vaudeville Hook: Used in the Terrible Interviewees Montage in Zbeng! 1 by Maya.
- Wealth's in a Name: The resident Rich Bastard snob of the cast is named Nir Le-*Cost*.
- When She Smiles: Stav, coupled with beautiful eyes under the eternal sunglasses.
- Women Are Wiser: Sigal is a lot more intelligent and better at school compared to her Book Dumb boyfriend. And while neither Asher or Yosefa are exactly geniuses, Yosefa has relatively more common sense and brains (literally so. Asher has just one brain-cell, Yosefa has three.)
- Worf Had the Flu: Almost literally. In one story Asher comes down with the flu, which inspires Golan to try and beat him in a fight (since otherwise he’ll stand no chance). He succeeds (with difficulty), but this turns out to be a Pyrrhic Victory.
- You're Cute When You're Angry: Yaron is usually overlooked by most girls in favor of his brother, but he becomes irresistibly attractive when he's angry.
