The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist (Adrian Tomine, 1 vol.)
Autobiography/drama/comedy
I like Adrian Tomine. I think I've read all the collections he's put out—from Optic Nerve to Scenes from an Impending Marriage, I've been there. Since it's addressed countless times in this book that nobody can pronounce his name, it's like
toe-mee-nay; it's not toe-meen, toe-mine, or toe-mih-nee. When I think of great, modern cartoonists, Tomine is one of the first who comes to mind. He's an "alt" cartoonist, but he doesn't have a weird, sketchy style that would put off most of the people that are just reading mainstream comics. He doesn't do gross-out humor, he's not making stoner references all the time, and he's generally not trying to blow your brain apart. He often tells stories that people can relate to, even though many of his characters are assholes. Luckily, the asshole is him this time (I'mkiddingIloveyouAdrian), so he's just a lot more relatable. I don't have social anxiety, so while I don't necessarily have many events in my life that compare to his awkward moments stumbling with what to say/do, that doesn't change the relatable, everyday feeling of his interactions. The book follows him from I think 12 years old in 1982 until he starts this book.
As a writer, I think Tomine is funny, clever, and thoughtful. In his fiction, he doesn't tend to show much emotion outside of aggression overtly. While there are many forlorn characters, they don't express their longing or hopelessness as explicitly. Sometimes, they feel very hollow. Tomine himself as the main character doesn't have the same issue, because the emotional spectrum he remembers in his earlier years as a cartoonist are on full display: embarrassment, sorrow, loneliness, love, and anger. He may not delve deep into the feeling of falling in love, the tone is appropriate for the book. Tomine doesn't depict himself as the most affable individual, so there are many moments that seem straight out of Curb Your Enthusiasm or Seinfeld. Holy shit, there are some awkward moments that had me putting my head in my hands while laughing. To evoke such powerful secondhand shame is pretty impressive. In a lot of ways, this book is more similar to his smallest collection, Scenes from an Impending Marriage, than his most recent collection, Killing and Dying. It's less about the "empty, played out Gen-X pseudo-profundity" consistent with the majority of his oeuvre and more about snips of his past, which often end with a laugh. They never feel shallow or undeserved, though. This is a very funny book, but only if you like that awkward comedy.
I love Tomine's art style so much. If I could draw like anyone, I think I might be happiest drawing like him. I don't need to be Pepe Larraz or Jorge Jimenez. If I could portray real life with such genuine humanity, I'd be more than satisfied. Tomine isn't the sort of artist that is going to try to wow you with sweeping landscapes on two-page spreads. Instead, his style is most conducive to... well... reading! The faces are empathetic and emotive, and their bodies express perfectly. It's easy to fly through the pages, because everything flows so damn well! Tomine remains an excellent cartoonist with decades of experience under his belt which only hold his stories up higher and higher.
It's funny to think back to earlier works, like Shortcomings, where the protagonist is feels like a reflection of Tomine's worst thoughts about himself. He's petty, pretentious, and self-loathing. In this book, we get to see his best (despite the awkward lows): he's diligent, caring, and really quite funny. To see him as a father and husband paints a more complete picture of his thoughts, and it was a joy to read, even when I was shaking my head and saying, "Adrian, noooooo!"
