Adrian!!!

By chicago_chris in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 17, 2004 7:30PM

A number of the most important figures in the world graphic novels (a more artsy and less-juvenile way of saying “comic books”) are hometown boys. Dan Clowes – author of the Eightball series and the Ghost World comic and screenplay – and Chris Ware – who has a weekly strip in the Reader and just edited McSweeney’s comics-only issue (oh, Dave Eggers, you so crazy!) – are two of the most prominent examples. And while their contemporary Adrian Tomine doesn’t hail from the shores of Lake Michigan – he foolishly spends his time on the coasts instead – at least he’ll be in town tonight promoting his latest collection, the odds-and-ends anthology Scrapbook.

Tomine, who just turned 30, is one of those prodigious talents that inspires intense jealousy in us starving artists at Chicagoist: he’s been making a living off his comics since his late teens. In collections like Sleepwalk and Summer Blonde, he creates spare, visually stunning stories that often draw comparisons (no pun intended) to the work of Raymond Carver. His work also includes frequent pictures in The New Yorker and posters for bands like Weezer and movies like Bob Odenkirk’s Melvin Goes To Dinner. He’ll appear at the Lakeview Borders for a talk and signing. NewCity and Movie City News writer Ray Pride – along with the Reader’s Jonathan Rosenbaum and the Onion’s Scott Tobias, one of our city’s great unheralded film critics – will lead the discussion. Read a preview here.