Killing and Dying - Hardcover

Tomine, Adrian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1770462090 ISBN 13: 9781770462090

Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly, 2015

Synopsis

Included on Best of 2015 lists from Washington Post and Publishers Weekly! A New York Times bestseller!

"As a serious cartoonist, one secretly hopes to create “That Book”: a book that can be passed to a literary-minded person who doesn’t normally read comics; one that doesn’t require any explanation or apology in advance and is developed enough in its attitude, humanity and complexity that it speaks maturely for itself... Adrian Tomine’s Killing and Dying may finally be That Book, and I’m amazed and heartened by it."―Chris Ware, author of Building Stories

Killing and Dying is a stunning showcase of the possibilities of the graphic novel medium and a wry exploration of loss, creative ambition, identity, and family dynamics. With this work, Adrian Tomine (Shortcomings, Scenes from an Impending Marriage) reaffirms his place not only as one of the most significant creators of contemporary comics but as one of the great voices of modern American literature. His gift for capturing emotion and intellect resonates here: the weight of love and its absence, the pride and disappointment of family, the anxiety and hopefulness of being alive in the twenty-first century.
"Amber Sweet" shows the disastrous impact of mistaken identity in a hyper-connected world; "A Brief History of the Art Form Known as Hortisculpture" details the invention and destruction of a vital new art form in short comic strips; "Translated, from the Japanese" is a lush, full-color display of storytelling through still images; the title story, "Killing and Dying", centers on parenthood, mortality, and stand-up comedy. In six interconnected, darkly funny stories, Tomine forms a quietly moving portrait of contemporary life.
Tomine is a master of the small gesture, equally deft at signaling emotion via a subtle change of expression or writ large across landscapes illustrated in full color. Killing and Dying is a fraught, realist masterpiece.

About this title

About the Author:

Adrian Tomine was born in 1974 in Sacramento, California. He began self-publishing his comic book series Optic Nerve. His comics have been anthologized in publications such as McSweeney's, Best American Comics, and Best American Nonrequired Reading, and his graphic novel Shortcomings was a New York Times Notable Book of 2007. Since 1999, Tomine has been a regular contributor to The New Yorker. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter.

Review:

“[Adrian Tomine] is an emotional x-ray machine. All-seeing, all-knowing."―Rachel Cooke, The Guardian

“One of the nation’s greatest and most versatile cartoonists."―Scott Timberg, Salon

"Tomine may be my favorite comics artist ― deft and subtle, with a bittersweet understanding of the tension between aspiration and loss."―David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times

"Achingly human and divinely rendered."―Kirkus

"A deft, deadpan masterpiece filled with heartache interspersed with the shock of beauty."―Publishers Weekly Starred Review

About this edition

• Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1770462090
• ISBN 13: 9781770462090
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 128