Here are some written out thoughts I was going to include into the introductory paragraph of my final essay project. These are not completely connected yet and can transition from thought-to-thought rather abruptly.

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With over twenty-five years dedicated to his craft of comic books and illustrations, Adrian Tomine brings storytelling to a whole new level of empathy through his minimalistic drawings and subtlety details.

Tomine has a knack of using subtle hints and changes within the environment he draws to build context and his characters.

Adrian Tomine is most known for his published works, Optic Nerve, Shortcomings, and Killing and Dying, and his illustrations in the New York Times.

His voice in his storytelling hits a huge audience the same way the American writer and poet Raymond Carver resonates with people. Carver was known to reflect and write to a greater audience. Raymond Carver used dirty-realism to capture the heartbreaking reality that middle-class people faced in their everyday lives—something that Adrian Tomine utilizes very clearly.

In the book, there is a sense of universality by the way Tomine draws with his simplified, iconic drawings, but also through the voice and realistic themes that border on dark. He is able to capture the modern, everyday American very clearly, including all the thoughts, personal struggles, and joy.

Even in contemporary times, we as a society struggle with understanding the concept that comic books can be used as a medium to tell stories just as hard-hitting as any other novel—that comics are not just for kids.

Adrian Tomine is at the forefront of contemporary comic books, and Killing and Dying is the epitome of fiction to the new era.