Shortcomings

- Shortcomings. Adrian Tomine. Ben Tanaka has problems with stuff. With a lot, A LOT of stuff, if you ask him. If you ask his friends, if you ask the women in his life, really it’s just one problem: Deeply internalized racism. Ben runs a small movie theater in Berkeley, spending the days with his politically active girlfriend, Miko, and his lesbian friend Alice. But when first Miko then Alice realize they crave so much more from life than just the post-college experience, Ben’s world begins to crumble. He’s about to learn just how ugly the inner self can be. 

A remarkable graphic novel examining Asian-American communities through the eyes of a deeply negative protagonist. To be sure, Ben is not a sympathetic character. Like his theater, there’s cracks everywhere, hinting at a fundamental problem that risks collapsing the whole thing. Yet it’s his critical eye that also allows him to lay bare the ennui that consumes much of our life. The little lies we all tell ourselves, too. 

There is no redemption for Ben… but there is for the people in his life, who after a fashion use Ben as a mirror to examine their own shortcomings. 

And yet this is not a cynical comic, nor one with delusions of being “real” —like Ben himself, it is a reflection of our lowest moments. 

Perhaps not for all tastes, and yet so much more recommended for that very reason. 

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