from kickstand #3
Optic Nerve
Adrian Tomine is the nice young gentleman who writes Optic Nerve comic, which I like because not only are his drawings splendid, but he's also a writer. He self-published Optic Nerve from the ages of sixteen to nineteen, and now he's with Drawn & Quarterly. I became hip to Optic Nerve sometime in 1993, when I read about it in one of the free papers laying all over Seattle. I got #6, and kept meaning to order the other issues, but I was lazy and broke, and somehow never got around to it. Now I'm kicking my butt all over town, because the old Optic Nerve mini-comic is out of print. Luckily, Drawn & Quarterly is printing all of them as 32 Stories, the Complete Optic Nerve Mini-Comics. Whew! Check it out! |
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How long have you been doing comics? Did you ever have any other ideas about what you wanted to
be when you grew up? I've been drawing comics as far back as I can remember, but I didn't get
serious about drawing until high school. In fact, I knew I wanted to be a cartoonist almost all my life...
I just had to learn how to do it. No, I never was that interested in any other professions...Well, I did
have a typical rock star fantasy for awhile, but I outgrew it. What were you like in high school? I was a real loser/outcast/misfit/loner/etc. I was extremely shy and I felt a lot of disdain for many of my peers. I couldn't find any pals that shared my interests and I had absolutely no idea about how to talk to (gulp) girls. Lest this sound like a sob story, let me explain that my "artistic development" was directly connected to my fucked-up social life. That is, since I had nothing better to do with my time, I spent many hours working on my writing and drawing and eventually started self-publishing Optic Nerve. Are your stories completely fictional, or do you base them on people you know or things that have happened to you? None of my stories are "completely fictional." Almost all of them are somehow based on myself, though my main criteria is just to tell an interesting story. What do you do when you aren't drawing? I'm a full-time English major at University of California, Berkeley, so that takes up a lot of my time. Other than that, I like to loiter in books and record stores, hang out with other local cartoonists, and just wander around Berkeley, trying to come up with new story ideas. I really enjoy being alone a lot, so I guess I've picked a good obsession. How many people read Optic Nerve? Sales on Optic Nerve are between seven- and ten thousand, which is quite a jump from my first print run of 25! How come you aren't self-publishing anymore? I'm not self-publishing anymore because I no longer had the time or money to keep it up, and also because Drawn & Quarterly is a great publisher and they offered me a very nice deal. Some people have given me shit about "signing," but the fact is, all I really want to do is write and draw... I'd just as soon leave all the business stuff to someone who's both more knowledgeable and capable. Any last messages for Today's Youth? Check out the world of "alternative" comics. There's a lot of great stuff coming out right now, like Eightball, Love and Rockets, and Dirty Plotte. It's very difficult for us cartoonists to make a living doing this, so spend some of your disposable income on a great comic. Rock stars make enough money. |
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Order From: DRAWN & QUARTERLY PUBLICATIONS 5550 Jeanne Mance St. #16 Montreal, Quebec H2V 4K6 Canada |