Review of Adrian's Most Recognized Publications

In the last post I wrote, I talked about Adrian Tomine's success as a writer and producer of his own graphic memoirs and fictional autobiographies  Through his hard work and determination, his success was acknowledged by the community through different awards and nominations, as I mentioned last week. After researching some of Tomine's most known publications, my interest peeked. I wanted to find what the core of these works are about. In this blog I will be sharing my findings and what I think about them based on their description. 

I will be starting with Tomine's iconic series Optic Nerve. It is the comic book series that began Adrian Tomine's career; his first issue was published in 1995. His latest issue being #12, was published September 2011, which comes packaged with two tales: "A Brief History of the Art Form Known as Hortisculpture" & "Amber Sweet" ("Products by Adrian", n.d.). I also found that a new issue will be coming out this September making its debut in the Brooklyn Books Festival. Each issue has something different to share with different characters, and is packed in a short story format ("Drawn and Quarterly", n.d.). 

Excerpt from Optic Nerve - Issue #12

The first issues of Optic Nerve were only focused on Tomine's life story. However, as more issues were published, they began to evolve into a more fictional genre, but notably are still very personal to Tomine. 32 Stories, as I mentioned in the previous post, is a collection of stories from the the first few rare issues of Optic Nerve ("Products by Adrian", n.d.). Based on what I read, Optic Nerve is a series that I think I would enjoy, mostly because it is in a short story format (my personal preference), but most importantly gives something fresh in each issue.

Moving onto Sleepwalk and Other Stories, which is another composition of Optic Nerve (the first 4 issues), is a series that contains "sixteen concise, haunting tales of modern life" ("Products by Adrian", n.d.). Each story goes deep into the lives of Tomine's characters, that from far would appear to be well-adjusted. However when reading, their faults are revealed, which is their inability to make a connection with those close to them ("Products by Adrian", n.d.). Just like the Optic Nerve series, it would appear to keep a short story format, and I believe the humor level would be equal to Scenes from an Impending Marriage. Summer Blonde was next to follow, with four short stories about "beautiful and haunting tales that illustrate with great sympathy the loneliness and bleak humour of modern life" ("Adrian Tomine", n.d.c). Both writings appear to be a good read in my opinion. There are life experiences we would take seriously at a certain time, but then we like to take a look back and find a way to laugh about it; these works seem to accomplish that.

Excerpt from Shortcomings

Among other works from Adrian Tomine, there is Shortcomings. It is Tomine's longest writing to date, which focuses on the story of Ben and Miko and their relationship. Miko moves to New York while Ben is left behind, and in the meantime he meets a new employee, Autumn. He soon becomes confused as to whether he should join Miko in New York. This work represents present-day life and the common problems that occur in relationships ("Adrian Tomine", n.d.c). I have watched many films and heard many stories with the same theme Shortcomings talks about. Although this writing may be more lengthy from all of the other writings Tomine has produced, it appears to present typical problems that occur in relationship, in comical way (note the excerpt above); just like Scenes from an Impending Marriage, which made it that much more interesting for me to read. Not only that, it helps me see the importance of commitment in a relationship and gives me an idea of what to expect when I'm in a relationship.

Overall, Tomine's publications take a very unique format, the comics allow the reader's to put themselves in the character's place easier and adds to the humor when one reads them. This is a very effective way to mingle real-life experiences and fiction in one great package. That is something that allowed me to enjoy reading Adrian Tomine's work; I am not one who normally reads memoirs/fictional autobiographies or enjoys reading a lot in the first place, so this was nice for a change. 

Based on all these publications I looked at, I think I would chose Shortcomings as the next writing to read from Tomine's collection. Its set up, seems to be very similar to Scenes from an Impending Marriage, which I thoroughly enjoyed. 

If anyone really likes Tomine's art and drawings, Scrapbook takes a decade of Tomine's works and mashes all his comics and art together into one book ("Products by Adrian", n.d.). Further details about Tomine's recognized works can be found and purchased here.