Writer/Artist: Adrian Tomine
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
Price: $19.95
Release Date: October
Shortcomings is a collection of Adrian Tomine’s strips that ran in Optic Nerve and concerns Ben Tanaka, a movie theatre manager of Japanese descent who lives in San Francisco. Ben is in a long-term relationship with Miko, his Asian girlfriend, and they are having problems. Over the course of the book, Tomine uses Ben and his social circle to have a look at racial and sexual conventions and at the way they interact to define how the characters live their lives. Ben is a emotionally stunted person who seems to hate change and people, but yet is essentially lonely and unable to evolve beyond acting like a teenager.
Miko is slightly suspicious of Ben when she finds he has some rather explicit DVDs of girls who are primarily white and blond (“That’s not true. Look…there’s a Latina girl in this one…” Ben counters). Ben refuses to admit that he does find white women attractive, and on top of that he still actively looks for girls other than Miko. This mistrust escalates into arguments that appear pointless at first, but develop into something more serious as matters of race muddy their emotional involvement. When Miko moves across the country to New York, the cracks in their relationship expand rapidly. Ben spends his time attempting to get into bed with white girls and chatting, or more accurately, venting to his lesbian Korean friend Alice. Alice has her own issues in life as well, trying to deal with the expectations of her Korean parents whilst simultaneously sleeping with as many girls as possible. She also allows the story to discuss expectations around sexual orientation and prejudices, particularly when Ben brings his unique views into conversation.
The artwork is lovely, Tomine has a wonderful, clean line and an excellent command of facial expressions coupled with a highly realistic background style. The artwork really grounds the story in the mundane realities of everyday life in a highly effective manner. Panel structures are kept to the basics in order to extend this sense of routine, and simple acts such as turning on a shower or talking on the phone are so natural, it is possible to forget the effort that has obviously gone into the art. With this in mind, he can also draw a mean nude performance art scene that depicts a topless lady with rather hirsute armpits.
Shortcomings is not an easy read. It is challenging, and its protagonists are all too human. This is the entire point though, as the title suggests, the real lesson here is that we are all imperfect, but it’s the living and learning that’s important. Ben mentions early on in the story that the reason Miko and himself are having arguments is because she’s changed, not that he has. There is no moment of clarity for Ben, he can’t see that he needs to change, to develop. That wisdom is left for the readers to ponder. Highly recommended.
James Dodsworth - Born and raised in Yorkshire, residing in London since 2000, James has a Law Degree and works for the Anti-Financial Crime Office of a International Asset Management Company. He is a writer and editor for FractalMatter.com.
But his main claim to fame is living next to the pub where Shaun of the Dead was conceived.