Author in Review: Adrian Tomine - Part 1

The first book I ever read by Adrian Tomine was Scenes from an Impending Marriage.  It's a short book, only 56 pages; a wedding favour. Recently married, I was impressed by this, I didn't have the time or the creative energy to create something so wonderful for my own wedding (I gave out little bags of Swedish Fish and Reeses Pieces in tiny bags tied with twine)

I'm going to put Adrian under the microscope (not a very powerful microscope). If he ever reads this, maybe he'll be a little confused by three people coming together to make a blog about him and his work.  The fact is, we are taking a Life Writing course and want to do a good job. Adrian Tomine's "Scenes" looked appealing to us, when choosing a graphic memoir for our project. However, when I suggested to the group to write about him, I didn't actually find him in the approved list of authors our professor gave us.  I found him on Good Reads, upon searching for memoirs; "Scenes" came up with 4 stars, which was my minimum criteria for a graphic memoir.  

The next items on my list when trying to find a good graphic memoir were:

A. Something I could connect with
B. Something with appealing artwork

I asked myself, where did this man come from?  I found out, he was born in California and has now settled in New York City.  After reading numerous interviews, I wanted to see more and more of Adrian Tomine's work, and find out more about the man behind these charming and detailed images; unfortunately I was let down. I found out that he has no Facebook or Twitter account, nor a mailing address, so the only way to find more information on him is through his writings such as: Optic Nerve, Shortcomings, and "Scenes" (which I found was one of his less popular works).

I also discovered, that some people found Adrian Tomine's story content contained controversial racial undertones.  Getting married and writing about it could cause some controversy, as most of the successful memoirists and cartoonists I've followed are usually single, which only made Adrian's work seem more compelling to myself.

Adrian has a knack for cultural details, capturing them in everyday scenes, usually set in New York. His own depictions of himself downplay his own Japanese heritage to a degree. However when reading this material, race does play a role in his writing and art, as his characters try to figure out themselves and each other.

Not afraid to make fun of himself , and really dig into some of the raw, real world situations, Adrian tends to write dialogue that seems particularly normal, with very few embellishments and exaggerations.

Although, having said that, I still don't understand where this picture really came from:  Super Hero Girls (Weezer).

When reading Adrian Tomine's work from "Scenes", there are plenty of laughs that come from his material, which wade through logistics, negotiations and compromises, as the couple plan their wedding. He also exemplifies moments where one tends to say something bad to a family member, and then attempts to repair the damage after such things are said.

Excerpt form "Scenes"

The little windows into Adrian's final days before his wedding, reveal plenty of personal details about him that really helped me as a reader, get an idea of who he was, and also helped me begin thinking about how he views himself.  While I'm no expert on the life of this artist, I hope the reflections in this post, and following blog posts will help give you an idea of who Adrian Tomine is, and give you a sample of the quality of his work.

I love the classic yet modern cartoon graphic art style in "Scenes", it reminds me Herge's Tintin, or some of my favorite Spider-Man covers.  I also get the sense of a little Frank Cho in there, minus the exaggeration.  

In the next post I will be writing a full review of Scenes from an Impending Marriage. In the meantime, here is a question for you to think about:  What Artists does Adrian Tomine remind you of?