24 Aug / The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist by Adrian Tomine [in Booklist]
*STARRED REVIEW
As early as age 8, Adrian Tomine (Killing and Dying) publicly announced exactly what he wanted to be when he grew up: “A famous cartoonist,” he told his Fresno class in 1982. He confused his teacher, who thought perhaps he aspired to be Walt Disney, so he had to clarify: “like John Romita … the best Spiderman artist ever.” Classmates laughed, to which he responded “Stupid idiots!” earning him plenty of lasting bullying.
By 16, he was self-publishing. By 1995, he was indeed “famous,” dubbed “the best realist comic today.”
In the decades since, he’s continued to earn substantial accolades (Eisners, Ignatzes, Angoulême), but what Tomine highlights here, with self-deprecating vulnerability and humble humor on pages of graph paper, are, well, the many failures: crushing reviews, disastrous readings (when audiences even show up), humiliating interviews, public invisibility, and still more. In between, he’s also a groupie to fellow cartoonist legends, he gets stalked, he moves cross-country for love (his wife is clearly a superhero!), and he has two daughters.
He lands one night in the ER with chest pains and returns home in the wee hours, reevaluating the life he’s made in comics. While his family sleeps, he embarks on what will become – the graph-paper genesis gets revealed! – this book’s opening panel. In this exquisitely rendered, prodigiously articulated work, Tomine proves again why he’s still that “famous cartoonist.”
Review: “Graphic Novels,” Booklist, July 2020
Readers: Adult
Published: 2020