Theme: The reality of life in a western country given form and presented as a words and artwork. Optic Nerve consists of a string of short stories taken from life and presents a fairly accurate picture of the reality of the twenty-first century.
Some stories are disturbing, some are clever, some are heartwarming, some make you go "what the?", some are provocative, some are biographical and all make you think.
Artwork: Appealing black and white character drawings with differing lighting and lashings of shading. In fact, the artwork seems to be used to set the mood and adds to the feel of the work. To be honest, it compliments the writing so well, it is hard to imagine the work having the same impact as it does with an alternative artist.
Format: 36 pages standard comic size on high density, good quality paper including cover, letters pages and 32 pages of comic. Cover is in colour and the interior is black and white throughout.
Appeal: For anyone interested in a side order of reality on their comics plate, this work is compulsive reading. Furthermore, the work is very accessible and can be funny, so has appeal for a broader range of people than you might expect. Your average "Superperson" fanboy may not get much out of this but an adult reader with an intellect will appreciate this work a lot.
Availability: Everywhere. Amazon, bookstores, comic shops, you name it... Optic Nerve is very easy to get hold of.
Books: There are 3 books available right now.
"32 Stories" which consists of the earliest material and is quite interesting because it shows Adrian Tomine progress as a artist. The earliest drawings are rougher and more rudimentary than the more polished later works. The stories are all of a good quality, of course.
"Sleepwalk" is available in both soft and hard cover forms and reprints issues 1-4 of the comic.
"Summer Blonde" collects issues 5-8 of the comic and has just become available in softcover.
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