Kim, Derek Kirk - Same Difference and Other Stories
Thu, Dec. 11th, 2008 07:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterThis is a collection of shorts that Kim previously published online; although I think some have recurring characters, others feel very random. Also, I read it over a week ago and already returned it to the library, so my memory of this is very sketchy. (Oh hey, it's available online! Check out the right column in Lowbright to find links to the other shorts in the book.)
I felt like this volume has much of the American indie comic sensibility—crowded art, neurotic characters, big focus on failed love lives—which is sad, as there's a reason why I don't read many American indie comics (I know, I stereotype). I didn't feel for either of the characters in the main story, particularly with the way one talks about a blind character ("Her eyes were so giant and sparkling and gorgeous, like she could see things we couldn't!"). I do like that the blind girl shows up later and acts like a normal person, but when the other two characters were talking to each other, all I could think was that I so didn't feel for them feeling awkward about saying things like "As you can see" or whatnot.
I also hated the plotline revolving around Nancy sending a letter back to someone who seemed to be stalking his girlfriend. There's acknowledgement that what Nancy does is mean-spirited, but not enough for me, and the ending portraying the letter-sending guy as sad also annoyed me, given that he was the one sending creepy, stalker-y letters.
I don't know. Much of the humor (much of it scatalogical) didn't amuse me, and the general neuroticness annoyed me. It was good to see bits of Korean-American-ness in there as background, but not the center, but all the same, it wasn't enough to get me over my dislike of the characters. I'd personally skip this and go for Kim's Good as Lily instead.
I felt like this volume has much of the American indie comic sensibility—crowded art, neurotic characters, big focus on failed love lives—which is sad, as there's a reason why I don't read many American indie comics (I know, I stereotype). I didn't feel for either of the characters in the main story, particularly with the way one talks about a blind character ("Her eyes were so giant and sparkling and gorgeous, like she could see things we couldn't!"). I do like that the blind girl shows up later and acts like a normal person, but when the other two characters were talking to each other, all I could think was that I so didn't feel for them feeling awkward about saying things like "As you can see" or whatnot.
I also hated the plotline revolving around Nancy sending a letter back to someone who seemed to be stalking his girlfriend. There's acknowledgement that what Nancy does is mean-spirited, but not enough for me, and the ending portraying the letter-sending guy as sad also annoyed me, given that he was the one sending creepy, stalker-y letters.
I don't know. Much of the humor (much of it scatalogical) didn't amuse me, and the general neuroticness annoyed me. It was good to see bits of Korean-American-ness in there as background, but not the center, but all the same, it wasn't enough to get me over my dislike of the characters. I'd personally skip this and go for Kim's Good as Lily instead.
Tags:
(no subject)
Fri, Dec. 12th, 2008 01:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Sun, Dec. 14th, 2008 12:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
Sun, Dec. 14th, 2008 02:48 pm (UTC)