Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Adrian Tomine's cult comix series Optic Nerve is finally collected into one sharp-looking hardcover graphic novel. Described as the Raymond Carver of comix, Tomine constructs tales of emotional disconnection with an ear for painfully real dialogue. Combined with his deft black and white depictions of urbane lifestyles, Tomine's fans have often accused him of eavesdropping in on their most intimate moments and, with forensic skill, laying their lives bare. The conflicts between emotional gratification, narcissistic neediness and moral discernment mark the title story - "Summer Blonde" - in which a socially crippled man nurses an obsessive crush on a young woman. He watches close up, paralyzed by his guilt, as her beauty catches the eye of his neighbor: a hip, selfish young man with a short attention span. One of Optic Nerve 's most popular stories, `Hawaiian Getaway,` features Hilary, telephone service rep who is having the worst week of her life. She lost her job, her apartment, and her grandmother. Close to the edge, she is losing her grip. Reaching out to random strangers on the phone, Hilary is looking for someone to help her. In "Alter Ego" a successful young author has writer`s block. He can`t, or won`t, decide between another ghostwriting gig and finishing his second 'real' novel. He stalls on committing to his novel and his girlfriend when a chance postcard leads him to flirt with fantasies of changing the past. Finally, "Bomb Scare" documents the early unease of his generation by setting this coming-of-age story during the tense months of the Gulf War, the event that ushered in the 1990s.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Alter Ego (p. 9)
• Summer Blonde (p. 35)
• Hawaiian Getaway (p. 69)
• Bomb Scare (p. 101)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Booklist Review

Tomine is at the forefront of the younger generation of alternative-comics artists; now in his mid-twenties, he began publishing at age 16. Known for his clear, direct drawing and acute scrutiny of his contemporaries, Tomine has an understated approach, light on plot but rich with memorable characterization. The young protagonists of these four stories range from alienated to out-and-out misanthropic and include a successful but shy novelist who seeks out the girl he was obsessed with in high school; a lonely woman who loses her job and veers into erratic behavior; and a pair of high-school outcasts who improbably wind up together. Tomine shows them dealing with bad attitudes, bad choices, and bad sex. The narratives pick up at seemingly arbitrary points in the characters' lives and end just as abruptly. They are snapshots of lives just gathering steam. Tomine's figures look a bit stiff, and sometimes his panels are cramped, but that isn't inappropriate to depicting the constricted lives of his not particularly likable but always sympathetic characters. --Gordon Flagg