Book cover for "Q&A", all white with 4 art utensils laid out in an even parallel row: a white mechanical pencil, half of a blue mechanical pencil, a wooden bodied fountain pen and a skinny paint brush.
Page excerpt of a 4 panel black and white comic about an artist checking his PO Box and receiving a demanding letter.
Page excerpt, featuring a Q&A format block of text, with a mid length question, a longer answer and a short footnote.
Page excerpt, featuring a black and white comic illustration of a man standing in a very messy room. Below, is a paragraph of text.
Book cover for "Q&A", all white with 4 art utensils laid out in an even parallel row: a white mechanical pencil, half of a blue mechanical pencil, a wooden bodied fountain pen and a skinny paint brush.
Page excerpt of a 4 panel black and white comic about an artist checking his PO Box and receiving a demanding letter.
Page excerpt, featuring a Q&A format block of text, with a mid length question, a longer answer and a short footnote.
Page excerpt, featuring a black and white comic illustration of a man standing in a very messy room. Below, is a paragraph of text.

Adrian Tomine - Q & A (Softcover)

$ 16.95

Softcover, 168 pages, Measures 5" x 7.1"

Everything you wanted to know about storytelling or Adrian Tomine but were too afraid to ask

“That would’ve been too easy and spontaneous for me, and I had to find a way to make everything more complicated.”

And yet for over thirty years, bestselling author, screenwriter, and New Yorker cover artist Adrian Tomine’s work has set the standard for contemporary storytelling. With Tomine, his readership has grown from the dedicated following of his comic-book series Optic Nerve to include a wider but still engaged, opinionated, and ever-inquiring public. And now, for the first time in print, Tomine responds to his readers directly, tackling their questions and comments with generosity, humor, and vulnerability.

Q&A is one part personal history, one part masterclass in crafting quality entertainment. With questions pulled from his time at the Substack Writers’ Residency, and with additional, new material, Q&A is an indispensable addition to the collections of eagle-eyed fans and aspiring artists, writers, and cartoonists alike.

Tomine answers questions about his preferred tools, his creative process, the ups and downs of adaptation, and perhaps most importantly—how to pronounce his last name. Illustrated with drafts, outtakes, and photos from the artist’s personal collection, this rare peek into the mind of a contemporary cartooning giant lays out the method to his meticulous brand of madness. The artist looks back on his career in response to queries from his—maybe adoring but mostly curious—public with his signature dry wit and unflinching, self-deprecating honesty.

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Adrian Tomine - Optic Nerve #02

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Softcover, 24 pages. Measures 6.8 x 10.3 inches.

Tomine offers four stories in this second issue: A lonely woman tries to find the man leaving cryptic messages for her in the Personals section of the newspaper in "The Connecting Thread" (4 pages); in "Summer Job" (15 pages), a teenager reluctantly applies for a job at a photocopy shop and then proceeds to waste the following two months; "Pink Frosting" (2 pages) provides a vivid and unsettling glimpse at the suggestion of violence murmuring beneath the surface during a traffic altercation; in "Layover" (4 pages), a missed flight forces a man to ponder his strained relationships with his lover and friends as he discreetly walks through his neighborhood waiting, afraid to announce to anyone that he has not left yet. 24 pages. First Printing: November 1995; Second Printing: February 1997. Third Printing: October 2001.

Cover for Issue #3 of "Optic Nerve" comic, featuring an illustration of 2 people standing at a gas station, talking. One holds a soda and the other has headphones in.

Adrian Tomine - Optic Nerve #03

$ 2.95
Paperback, 24 pages.

Drawn and Quarterly explains Adrian Tomine's 3rd Optic Nerve, "Dylan & Donovan" (11 pages), the first of four stories, recounts the difficult adolescence of two twin sisters and their life with an aging hippie father; in "Supermarket" (6 pages), a blind man attempts to befriend a young woman at the checkout counter; "Hostage Situation" (3 pages) is an account of a miserable bus ride with two unruly passengers; in "Unfaded" (3 pages), a young man ponders a life gone by after his grandfather is admitted to a senior's home. 24 pages. First Printing: August 1996. Second Printing: October 2001
Cover for issue #4 of "Optic Nerve" comic, featuring an illustration of a pair walking in the snow - a younger Asian woman dressed fashionably and a middle aged man behind her.

Adrian Tomine - Optic Nerve #04

$ 2.95

Paperback, 10" x 6.8", 24 pages.

The critically acclaimed graphic comic Optic Nerve from artist Adrian Tomine. Three stories are featured here: in “Six Day Cold” (11 pages), a man spends a tense, awkward evening with his ex-girlfriend after she comes over to his apartment to help nurse his sickness; “Fourth of July” (7 pages) recounts the story of a young boy who isolates himself as his parents are being separated; in “Hazel Eyes” (6 pages), a young woman tries to recreate her life after she realizes she has nothing in common with her friends.

Cover for Issue #5 of "Optic Nerve" comic featuring an illustration of a nerdy looking blonde boy standing in front of a book case.

Adrian Tomine - Optic Nerve #05

$ 2.95

Paperback, 10" x 6.8", 25 pages.

The critically acclaimed graphic comic Optic Nerve from artist Adrian Tomine. Adrian Tomine’s first full-length story is featured here. In “Alter Ago” (25 pages), a successful young writer becomes obsessed with finding the girl he had a crush on in high school; things become more complicated when he has to hide his strange obsession from his current girlfriend.

Cover for issue #6 of "Optic Nerve" comic featuring an illustration of a girl sitting at a desk with an old school computer, typing while wearing a headset. Above, is a small postcard of Hawaii.

Adrian Tomine - Optic Nerve #06

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The critically acclaimed graphic comic Optic Nerve from artist Adrian Tomine. With eight bonus pages, this extra-long issue features “Hawaiian Getaway”, a single story comprised of thirteen chapters. Inventive in structure, the story details the events in a woman’s life as circumstances turn her previously complacent existence upside-down, and her behavior grows more eccentric and erratic.

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