Book Review: Shortcomings

I’m one of those weird people that actually like school. When I found myself having to enroll again after all these years… yes, there was some anxiety, trepidation and apprehension… but I also looked forward to the opportunity of refocusing my knowledge. I’m older now, slower, duller… but being older also means you see more. I consider myself to be a problem solver and the philosopher in me likes making connections. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not any smarter than I was. I’ve always been a “B” student and that aspect of me hasn’t changed. But, if what Marshall McLuhan says is true, that we are all in a media vortex, I see education as the means to telegraph our message into the future.

Short Comings

One of the classes I took during first semester was a course on Graphic Novels. I thought I’d share with you a couple of my book reviews. Since we aren’t privy to Dennis’ wonderful digital comics anymore… first up is a comic book review in comic book form. One of my favourite indie creators is Adrian Tomine, and here, I review his book Short Comings. I’m not an artist but it was fun pretending to be. Each panel was drawn by hand, scanned, coloured and lettered in Illustrator.

Comic Review 01 Comic Review 02 Comic Review 03

Adrian Tomine’s work is poignant, funny and at times disturbing. He satirizes our insecurities and there is a sense that he is trying to communicate much more than what can be read or seen. At the very least, it’s a fun read and a nice change from spandex. My mark on this assignment was 78%.

Charlie Kim
Charlie Kim

Charlie Kim is a designer who is currently transitioning into teaching. While working for various companies, he helped develop many international brands such as the Hong Kong Airport identity, Lenovo’s sponsorship program for the Beijing Olympics and Lavasa, a new city being developed in India. Locally, he's also worked on the 1998 campaign for the Canadian Opera Company, the Canadian Innovations stamp for Canada Post and the terrible Grand & Toy re-brand (hey, they can't all be winners). Charlie’s love affair with art and design all began with comics.

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