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Optic Nerve #10
Review posted: 21 Dec 2005
Writer: Adrian Tomine
Artist: Adrian Tomine
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
3.00 out of 5 Stars
Reviewed by Adam White
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I’ve always heard positive things about Adrian Tomine’s Optic Nerve series, but had never come across one in the new releases before #10, so I picked it up to see what the buzz was about. I hate starting books in the middle of a story arc, which this issue is a part two of three, but I didn’t know that at the time and would have gotten it anyway since it apparently comes out only sporadically. Having just freshly finished reading it, I honestly have to say I’m still not sure what all the buzz is about, but hopefully I can be as fair and balanced as always in my review.
Tomine obviously puts a lot of thought and work into his pages, and the flow and pacing always works just right for the story.
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Truth be told, I was bored with the story. Optic Nerve suffers from a similar malady as
Long Hot Summer — it features young adults in search of relationships and the obstacles they incur while being wrapped up in their own neuroses. Optic Nerve is not nearly as superficial as LHS, though; Tomine’s characters feel more genuine, if self-absorbed, and never maliciously so (unless intentional). Tomine’s protagonist, Ben Tanaka, searches for an inter-racial relationship after losing his long-term girlfriend and encounters the more obstacles that come along with that (due to racial hang-ups so many people seem to have for whatever reason). Tanaka experiences two false starts, and becomes even more insecure than he was at the beginning of the book. So Tomine does utilize his characters well and fairly accurately examines the pitfalls of dating in the early twenty-first century — I just don’t really care for that type of thing.
Tomine’s art, however, captures real-world sensibilities while maintaining his own personal style. I enjoyed his characters, and every one looked distinct, which is not frequently the case in indy relationship comics. Tomine had a real feel for emotion and facial expressions — you can feel Tanaka’s sense of frustration and bewilderment just from the images on the page. Tomine obviously puts a lot of thought and work into his pages, and the flow and pacing always works just right for the story.
So while I may not care for the series, it’s really more a matter of personal taste than lack of quality. If you like relationship/reality stories, then you would likely enjoy this series and be hard-pressed to find a better one out there; if you are like me and find them boring to the point of drooling, then you can safely avoid Optic Nerve and try out something else new this month. There are actually a few more better-quality books out than usual this month, so if you don’t try this then at least give something other than Infinite Crisis a shot before the new year chimes in.
—CCdC—
Cover image used without explicit permission in accordance with the "Fair Use" provision of US copyright law.
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