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The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist
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87/99
Critics' Rating Index
72/99
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92/99
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70/99
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About This Book
A COMEDIC MEMOIR ABOUT FANDOM, FAME, AND OTHER EMBARRASSMENTS FROM THE LIFE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING CARTOONIST What happens when a childhood hobby turns into a lifelong career? The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist, Adrian Tomine's funniest and most revealing foray into autobiography, offers an array of unexpected answers. When a sudden medical incident lands Tomine in the emergency room, he begins to question if it was really all worthwhile: despite the accolades, awards, and opportunities of a seemingly charmed career, it's the gaffes, humiliations, slights, and insults he's experienced (or caused) within the industry that loom largest in his memory. But as those memories are delineated in excruciatingly hilarious detail, a different, parallel narrative plays out in the background. In between chaotic book tours, disastrous interviews, and difficult interactions with other artists, life happens: Tomine fumbles his way into marriage, parenthood, and an indisputably fulfilling existence. While mining his conflicted relationship with comics and comics culture, Tomine illustrates the amusing absurdities of life and how we choose to spend our time. Through these cringe-inducing moments, a deeper emotional story emerges, and we see Tomine's life develop into something much more robust than the blunders. In a bold departure in style from his award-winning Killing and Dying, Tomine distills his art to the loose, lively essentials of cartooning. His stripped-down lines communicate effortlessly, with each pen stroke economically imbued with human depth. Designed as a sketchbook complete with place-holder ribbon and an elastic band, The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist shows an acclaimed artist at the peak of his career.
Reviews
"The book focuses on the less glamorous aspects of cartooning, granting us a front-row seat for desolate signings in the basements of small-town bookstores, and industry events at which our author receives withering putdowns from his artistic heroes ..."
"...the key to Tomine's fiction is the rage and fragility beneath the pristine compositions ..."
"Tomine casts a cynical and unforgiving eye on his fragile ego, the dubious rewards of his successful career and the absurdity of the comic-book industry ..."
"an understated yet illuminating graphic memoir full of insights on the creative process and the struggles of defining 'success' in the world of comics and graphic novels ..."
"full of self-deprecating, self-aware humor ..."
"A hilarious, frequently cringe-inducing masterpiece from a fearless artist at the height of his powers."
"ruefully funny, often deliberately mortifying ..."
"Tomine makes this explicit throughout the book ..."
"Taken together, these links reveal the ways in which he has both drawn on himself and, quite literally, drawn himself into his work."
"In this exquisitely rendered, prodigiously articulated work, Tomine proves again why he's still that 'famous cartoonist.'"
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