Tune : Vanishing Point by Derek Kirk Kim and Les McLaine, 160 pp, RL TEEN

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Derek Kirk Kim, two-time Eisner winning author of the fantastic Same Difference, brings us this first in a new series, TUNE : Book 1 : Vanishing Point. Kim has a way with characters on the cusp of adult life and a great sense of humor and both of these in abundance in TUNE : Book 1 : Vanishing Point. 

Chapter One begins with a bit of a mystery. After a strange and profoundly deep sleep, Andy Go wakes up and stumbles into a very strange situation. Chapter Two finds Andy and his art school buddies in a bar full of college students talking trash. We meet Yumi, fellow student and secret, longtime crush of Andy's. The chapter ends with Andy telling his friends that he's dropping out of art school a year shy of getting his degree.


Chapter Three we see Andy at home, causing his Korean mother to wail hysterically (which we learn is called aigoo, in Korean, a cry of lamentation) and his father to issue an ultimatum from behind his news paper. Andy starts his job search to some pretty hilarious results and a pretty good jab at mainstream comics when Andy endures a lecture on the importance of learning realistic anatomy from an editor while the walls behind him are covered with posters of super hero women smuggling watermelons under their spandex. Just when things are at their lowest (Andy loses a job at McDonald's to a homeless guy) he runs into Yumi in the park. A hopeful chat on a park bench ends with her rushing off for a meeting and leaving behind her sketchbook/diary. Of course Andy readers it. And, just when he learns Yumi's true feelings for him, his life and the story takes a big left turn. I don't want to give too much away, but Andy applying for a job that turns out to be an audition to be a human exhibit in an alien zoo on another planet...

Coming November 2013 : TUNE: Book 2 : Still Life


Source: Review Copy





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