La Solitude du marathonien de la bande dessinée

La Solitude du marathonien de la bande dessinée

As a hopeful young boy, Adrian Tomine made a promise to himself: he would one day become a great comic book writer, as talented as John Romita. But how do you turn a childhood dream into a long career as a cartoonist? With a lot of humour and self-mockery, Adrian Tomine looks back on his journey, a lonely marathon full of disappointments, blunders and humiliations. From a bad review to a botched signing, he unabashedly reveals the most embarrassing moments of his career, exploring his conflicting relationship with comics and the industry. Conceived as a sketchbook that takes the form of a diary, the book is divided into several chronological chapters where each page uses the same layout. Using a pure and colourless drawing, Adrian Tomine shakes up his own style by removing any embellishment to better underline the autobiographical honesty of his subject. Yet we laugh at the discomfort and awkwardness that emerges from each situation. Five years after the publication of his last book, The Intruders, Adrian Tomine proves his ability to reinvent himself with a first-person account of the difficulties and disappointments faced by comic book writers. By exposing his own vulnerability, he delivers a sincere and sometimes painful portrait of a profession in need of recognition.