Comic Notes: Optic Nerve #10

April 23rd, 2006

I just picked up a copy of Optic Nerve #10, by Adrian Tomine. It came out quite a while ago, but it’s not like I’m behind, since it seems like it’s only published once every two years, after which I read the whole issue in about twenty minutes. It’s still one of my favorite comics though, and slowness is the only thing I can fault Tomine for.

This issue picks up the Ben Tanaka story started in #9. The story covers a rather uncommon subject in comics as well as literature in general, as far as I’m aware: the plight of an Asian American male with an “Asian guy, white girl” fetish. Ben sabotages a relationship with a Japanese girl in pursuit of other women whose only appealing qualities are that they’re cute and Caucasian.

Ben, to put it simply, is both sexist and racist, but in that Crash kind of way, where although a minority himself, his behavior has a racial basis that isn’t overtly declared, but obvious through behavior. My opinion is that if the only thing that gets your kicks is of a certain color, on some level you’re racist. This is something that Chester Brown realizes in the course of The Playboy (which Tomine has probably read). Sexual desire may be a convenient and seemingly harmless excuse, but I’m certainly doubtful that racial sexual attraction is innate (something that you’re born with) vs. learned. Society is most likely what made Ben into what he is, and unfortunately that’s the crux of the minority dilemma: growing up Asian in America, it’s not a big surprise that he’s sexually attracted to the stereotypical American version of beauty.

I’m curious, as many readers probably are, as to how autobiographical this story line of Optic Nerve is. If so, I’m largely disgusted with Ben/Tomine’s behavior. I wish I could tell him that he’s troubled by his ethnic background, and that dating merely because of racial preference is disingenuous to both himself and the object of affection. It’s no different than the typical “white guy, Asian girl” fetish. Just because “white girl, Asian guy” is less common doesn’t make it any more progressive.

All that said, there’s a dejected sense of humor about things as Ben finds himself trapped in a web of his own making, unclear about why things collapse even though everything is due to his inept behavior. I congratulate Tomine for tackling a subject that’s complex and raises issues between the black and white lines of his careful artwork. I’m eagerly anticipating Optic Nerve #11, in which I hope to see a cute German girl kick Ben Tanaka in the balls, hard. Tomine, please don’t make me wait too long.

Update: Here’s my review of Optic Nerve #11.

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