Killing and Dying (Drawn & Quarterly)
Kiling and Dying is a stunning showcase of the possibilities of the graphic novel medium and a wry exploration of loss, creative ambition, identity, and family dynamics. With this work, Adrian Tomine reaffirms his place not only as one of the most significant creators of contemporary comics, but as one of the great voices of modern American literature. His gift for capturing emotion and intellect resonates here: the weight of love and its absence, the pride and disappointment of family, the anxiety and hopefulness of being alive in the twenty-first century.
“Amber Sweet” shows the disastrous impact of mistaken identity in a hyper-connected world; “A Brief History of the Art Form Known as Hortisculpture” details the invention and destruction of a vital new art form in short comic strips; “Translated, from the Japanese,” is a lush, full-color display of storytelling through still images; the title story, "Killing and Dying", centers on parenthood, mortality, and stand-up comedy. In six interconnected, darkly funny stories, Tomine forms a quietly moving portrait of contemporary life.
Adrian Tomine is a master of the small gesture, equally deft at signaling emotion via a subtle change of expression or writ large across landscapes illustrated in full color. Killing and Dying is a fraught, realist masterpiece.
Praise for Optic Nerve
“Adrian Tomine’s Optic Nerve [is] smart, understated and with a subtle yet pointed bite . . . Merging straight realism with an impressionistic sense of narrative, his stories are . . . highly structured and defined.” —Los Angeles Times
“[Optic Nerve] is a sumptuous showcase of Tomine’s precision draftsmanship.” —A.V. Club
Adrian Tomine was born in 1974 in Sacramento, California. He began self-publishing his comic book series Optic Nerve. His comics have been anthologized in publications such as McSweeney’s, Best American Comics, and Best American Non-required Reading, and his graphic novel Shortcomings was a New York Times Notable Book of 2007. Since 1999, Tomine has been a regular contributor to The New Yorker. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughters.
Tunde Adebimpe is a musician, actor, director, and visual artist best known as the lead singer of the critically acclaimed band Tv on the Radio. In addition to releasing the band's most recent record "Seeds", he recently collaborated with Brooklyn's Kayrock Screenprinting to release "Tour Sketch Journos 2003-2014" a patchwork collection of drawings and writing from sketchbooks and journals kept during his years on the road with TVOTR from its inception to present day.