Yo, Adrian

If you were a cool girl, you had a crush on a New Kid. If you were a nerd girl, you had a crush on a graphic artist. Phillyist fell (who are we kidding, falls) into the latter category with a decidedly loud thud. So it is with the drooling affect of an oversexed pre-adolescent that we greet the news that Adrian Tomine, our very first comics crush, will be reading tonight at the Free Library (Central Branch). We first read Optic Nerve in Pulse, that free magazine that used to be given away at Tower Records, and we would cut them out of every issue and put them up on the wall. The forlorn alienation of early adult life portrayed there—while not comforting insofar as it made us think, “Wait, you mean this shit doesn’t end?”—was comforting insofar as it assured us there were people out there who listened to Crabwalk and spent a lot of time smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee, and infusing their thoughts with philosophical posturing. It was an indie adolescent’s dream. As an adult reading his longer collections, such as Summer Blonde, there is still a taste of panic underlying the life-as-we-know-it stories—but sometimes panic itself can be comforting. He talks tonight about his new work, Shortcomings. We wouldn’t use that word in relation to his work otherwise.

Adrian Tomine
Free Library of Philadelphia, Central Branch
Tuesday, November 6, 7PM
FREE

Image Credit: Flickr user p373