Sleepwalk and Other Stories -- Graphic Novel

Sleepwalk and Other Stories collects the first four issues of Adrian Tomine's comic series Optic Nerve with a total of 16 short stories.

I feel the same way about these as I did the other two collected stories I've read from him. Not much else to say.

Probably a word of warning is don't do what I'm doing and read everything of his all at once or you'll have too many feelings at the same time and then some of the feelings will go away and then you'll just be left feeling sad.

Summer Blonde -- Graphic Novel

Summer Blonde is consisted of 4 short stories written by Adrian Tomine for the Optic Nerve comics. While I still haven't read all of his work yet, I think these stories couldn't fit better together in a collection.

Hawaiian Getaway - A single mid twenties something Asian-American female gets fired from her job, loses her roommate and slowly starts to lose herself in this story. We see how she spends her days, avoiding her nagging mother's phone calls and how she attempts to make connections with others.

Alter Ego - A 26 year old straight-white-male writer starts becoming complacent with his life, his girlfriend and his career, and goes searching for the writer of a piece of fan mail he has received. He ends up meeting the fan's younger sister, a high school girl. The man starts to spend more and more time with this high school girl, creating an alternate life for himself with her. He ends up cheating on his girlfriend with her, she finds out and leaves him.

Summer Blonde - We meet a mid-twenties straight-white-single-male with a classic desk job and learn that he has been stalking a young blonde girl that works at a card shop downtown. We learn about the blonde girl's secret dual romance though the eyes of this main character and that he is creepy and blah blah blah.

Bomb Scare - This was the story that I thought was the most powerful. A young high school boy and his best friend are picked on at school because they are each other's only friend, everyone thinks they are gay. A popular girl at school becomes an outcast because of an experience at a drinking party. The two misfits become friends, la la la. 

None of these stories are exciting or dramatic, but captivating because they are all so believable. Each character is so relate-able, because they seem like real people, but because of that I don't find myself LIKING these characters, because Tomine makes them both charming and disgusting at the same time. You see reflections of yourself, or your ex or your neighbor or an uncomfortable stranger, and you know these people so well, that you can't possibly like them, but you also don't dislike them because you understand that they are flawed. It's wild how well this all happens in these short stories. I think another reason why they work so well is that there really isn't any development in the characters. It's as if we're just opening up a window and peeking in on them, starting right there and we learn about who they are from that small moment. He doesn't give us any more to go off than we would have if we really were eavesdropping in on their life. And sometimes the stories are over before we come to any sort of conclusion or balanced ending. Which is frustrating sometimes and disappointing, realistic and natural.

32 Stories: The Complete Optic Nerve Mini-Comics

I am currently on a quest to read every single thing that we have in the shop by Adrian Tomine. Had a bit of a Rhye/Beach House moment, where I identified Adrian as a woman and then was shocked to find out that the writer behind the stories (or the singer behind the songs) was actually male! Additionally though, I also really like the writing style, the gentle storytelling, the quiet illustrations so much that I want to read through everything we have because A. its really good B. the internet says that there is an overlap between the single issue comics Optic Nerve, and his short stories. Somostly if someone has already read Summer Blonde, or maybe some single issues of Optic Nerve, but they want more, which book do I suggest them because is everything actually connected or what.


Looking it up online...

(Taken from Wiki) Optic Nerve is the ongoing series of comics by Tomine that were originally self-published and are currently published by Drawn and Quarterly. Originally, the self-published comics were in "mini-comic" format, consisting of seven issues (most of them later republished in 32 Stories). After Drawn and Quarterly became the publisher, the comics were published at standard size, and the issue numbering was restarted, making the first Drawn & Quarterly published issue to be numbered #1. These comics range from a few pages per story to the 32-page standard in later issues. Issues 1-4 included several stories each and were collected in Sleepwalk and Other Stories, and issues 5-8 included one story each and were collected in Summer Blonde. Issues 9-11 were compiled into a graphic novel titled Shortcomings, released in September 2007

I have read a few single issues of Optic Nerve that we have in the shop, which would be the reissued numbered comics, but when reading through this collection, 32 stories: The Complete Optic Nerve Mini-Comics, didn't come across any duplicates that I'd already read before. SO THE QUEST CONTINUES.

These stories were all really awesome, and the drawing style is a lot more loose than the later stuff that I've read. Some of the stories are super short, but even though some are only a page long, just a few single panels, it still is a really fun way of getting to know certain characters. Its hard to believe that Adrian drew some of these while in high school, and never showed anyone. High school. Crazy to think about. Really beautiful work. 

Heads or Tails -- Graphic Novel

 


Heads or Tails is a collection of short stories by Lilli Carré. A super great collection of thoughtful and contemplative narration about every day life. There are little quirky dream-like notions in some of the stories that make them seem like bedtime stories, she's got a great way of making plain stories about mundane life a little more fantastic by gently exaggerating the relationship between the characters inner dialogue and their perception of reality.

There was one story in particular that I've added a few pages from, called "Rainbow Moment", a beautifully written short about 6 different stories woven together. A man is sitting at the bar with his friend, telling a story of how his wife was having a rough day, the colors shift and you're in that story, then during that story the wife explains while she is having an off day, so her story begins and the colors shift a third time. Throughout "Rainbow Moment", this happens a total of 5 times, so there are 6 different characters you're introducted to, with 6 different colors attached to them, each having a bit of a Rainbow Moment themselves.

This particular story, as well as Lilli Carré's others and illustration style in general, make me feel really nostalgic, and I found myself appreciating this story so much. I guess I didn't realize it but I was having a "Rainbow Moment" too.

She was sitting there with an odd expression on her face, like she wanted to laugh and cry at the same time.
- My parents used to call that a "rainbow moment". Like you're feeling both rain and sunshine at the same time and are caught somewhere between the two.

Henshin - Graphic Novel

Ken Niimura !!!!!!!!!!! Oh boy. I was first introduced to Ken Niimura when I saw the variant cover for Feathers #1 recently and then realized that he also does I Kill Giants which I put away new inventory of every week but still haven't read. I absolutely LOVE his illustrations, the use of line is so awesome. Loose sketches that have a lot of energy and emotion behind them.

On the back of the book it reads " 'Henshin' means transformation in Japanese, and in all 13 stories, choices and events-whether momentous or seemingly small-change the lives of people finding their way in Japan". I like the concept of this book as well, 13 short stories all revolving around the same theme of change. Some are super short and brief, others are a little longer that weave throughout the book, continuing every few stories where they left off.

There are moments when you turn the page and the next panel takes up an entire page, super dramatic and gives you a moment to really be there with the character in whatever is going on. It's beautiful and I loved reading it. I can't wait to read this again, and again.