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32 Stories: The Complete Optic Nerve Mini-comics
 
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32 Stories: The Complete Optic Nerve Mini-comics [Illustrated] (Paperback)

by Adrian Tomine (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 96 pages
  • Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly; illustrated edition edition (8 Nov 2006)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1896597009
  • ISBN-13: 978-1896597003
  • Product Dimensions: 21.2 x 13.8 x 1 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 268,705 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Synopsis
Presents thirty-two stories that deal with a variety of characters, including a shy novelist who seeks out the girl he was obsessed with in high school, a lonely woman who loses her job, and high school outcasts.

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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Birth of a Talent, 2 May 2002
By A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
The 32 stories collected here reprint the self-published first seven issues of Tomine's "Optic Nerve" comic, spanning 1991-95. While his Tomine's work is always enjoyable on at least some level, reading his earliest work in chronological order allows us to witness him grow as a writer and artist—warts and all. The earliest stories tend to be short two-page pieces, while the last stories tend to be longer narratives.

The stories fall into a few rough categories: dreams (Adrian Tomine's 10, 533rd Dream, Haircut), the Amy quartet (Solitary Enjoyment, Rodney, Two In the Morning, Leather Jacket), autobiographical vignettes (Sean's Story, Disappointment and Despair, Back Break, This is A True Story, Adrian Quits Hi Job, Psycho Cook, An Everyday Triumph, My Appearance on the Jane Pratt Show, Allergic, The Sell-Out), and moodier stories that deal with loneliness, alienation, and relationships (Lifter, Smoke, Happy Anniversary, Stammer, Laundry, Dine and Dash, Grind). There are also some crude attempts at social commentary (Patriotism is Alive and Kicking), reportage (Heat Wave Death), biography (Kerouac's Life With Comics), and an amusing tirade against sleep (Sleep = Waste).

Over the course of the book, we can see Tomine's increasingly sophisticated take on alienation and relationships. His artistic progression progresses from crude to totally exacting and precise, a style that reinforces his themes and storytelling. This trend is continued in his subsequent collection, Sleepwalk and Other Stories, which is more bleak and stark. Tomine is often compared to Raymond Carver—since I've never read any Carver I won't do that, however, I will say he is brilliant and his work deserves a wide audience.

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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Important for fans and completists, 11 Aug 2004
By R. S. Brown "The Laird" (Shropshire, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Adrian Tomine is undoubtedly a great artist. I bought this after reading one of his stories in the McSweeney's compilation, and it's not exactly what I expected. His style, as it is now, is clean and realistic, and his stories are introspective and believable. But this book is simply a collection of his early self-published work from the first seven issues of the Optic Nerve mini-comics. His art for the first couple of years, when he was 17 and 18, is stratchy and vague, and the stories mostly miss the mark.

The later stories, however, are very good - "Grind" and "Leather Jacket" represent him coming of age artistically, and hold their own well amongst his recent work. This book is definitely important as a legend of Tomine's artistic development, but is not a fair representation of the artist he is today.

If you already know of Tomine's recent work, then this will be very interesting, as it will for those who may be considering self-publishing comics themselves. But for Tomine virgins, I suggest a more recent work, such as "Summer Blonde".

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing and hilariously funny, 10 Mar 2000
Tomine thinks like you do, with a sense of humour and resignation that we can all identify with. I've had this book for years, and enjoyed it again and again. It's from the heart, unsanitised and real, and that counts for a lot. I just want to get more of his stuff.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A good beginning
I did enjoy these 32 short vignettes of life, mainly in San Francisco, mainly with first-person narrative from Tomine himself or Amy, his fictional proxy character, published... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Nicholas Whyte

5.0 out of 5 stars The greatest comic book for the adolescent and adult reader
I bought this book a few years ago upon reading some outstanding reviews. The hype was all true. Adrian Tomine is amongst the best independent comic book writers and it shows in... Read more
Published on 29 April 1998

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