Optic Nerve

Optic Nerve 1-14

Adrian Tomine chooses to write about the most loathsome, depressing, socially awkward, make-the-worst-life-decisions, always-chooses-the-worst-thing-to-say people in northern California.  Most of the time I want to reach through the page and strangle the protagonists of his stories.  

But in those moments of desperation and melancholy, he hits upon truths that are too compelling to resist, no matter how pathetic these people are.  And once in a while, he sprinkles in moments of hope.  Though they come so infrequently (I counted three or four  moments across the fourteen issues) that even those feel like fleeting flashes that will soon be drowned out by the futility of life that Tomine espouses.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good