Comic Notes: Optic Nerve #11

April 24th, 2007

Note: For this review to make more sense, please read my post on Optic Nerve #10, which was the second part of a three-issue Ben Tanaka story. This post is a review of Optic Nerve #11, the story’s conclusion.

Comics I’m happy to read a longer-form comic story from Adrian Tomine, one of my favorite contemporary comic book artists. Three issues of Optic Nerve (#11 is the last) have been devoted to Ben Tanaka, a pathetic, selfish twenty-something loser with some stereotypical Asian-American racial hang-ups. The character may appeal to those curious about life as a minority in America and the downside of interracial, romantic relationships.

While I don’t agree with Ben’s racist views, I can certainly relate to them. He’s bent on hooking up with a white woman, which he fails miserably at in Optic Nerve #10. So he journeys to New York to determine what’s up with Miko, his Japanese ex-girlfriend.

Much to his annoyance, he finds her dating a “white” guy. Ben confronts and pathetically argues with Miko, after which he sheepishly mumbles, “Don’t to this to me,” in his mind, the relationship is still all about how his ego is either stroked or bruised. Meanwhile, Ben’s Korean-American lesbian friend Alice is building a successful relationship with a “white” lady, Meredith.

I use quotes as Meredith is hapa, half Taiwanese and Caucasian, and Miko’s new boyfriend is actually American-Indian and Jewish. Ben isn’t able to wrap his head around this multiracial complexity, sticking to his ridiculous value judgement that a white guy and an Asian girl is pathetic, but an Asian guy and a white woman is something to celebrate. He tried to emulate the latter and failed. So he’s selfish, racist, and sexist, too.

Dejected, Ben Tanaka returns to California alone, suppressing the thought that the two women in his life have found happiness in new relationships. Unfortunately, Ben will likely blame his loneliness on a racist world and those people that seek to oppress him, failing to see that all his problems could be solved by some self-examination. And my desire to see Ben Tanaka to get kicked in the balls was more or less fulfilled by a “rice king” (Ben Tanaka’s words, not mine) and a cute hapa lesbian. I’ll take that.

Another strange aspect of Optic Nerve #11 is that because Tomine himself is Japanese-American, I’m more able to accept the Ben Tanaka character. If this same series was authored by someone of a different racial background, the exact same observations - true as they may be - might come across as offensive. I’m not exactly sure what to make of this thought.

I also find the mystique of interracial relationships rather juvenile. I’m Japanese-American (I grew up in Hawaii) in an interracial marriage. Racial mixing is common both in Hawaii and California, and when you see it everywhere, the exotic nature loses its edge. Still, it’s an issue that is worth highlighting because mainstream American culture is hopelessly behind the times in featuring minorities, let alone ones that cross the color lines.

In conclusion, I’m glad that Tomine is exploring more complex subject matter spread over several issues. There’s an important message, that minorities can be just as pathetically racist as anyone else, and a possible link between sociopath behavior and racism. However, I hope Tomine moves beyond this sort of adolescent, twenty-something angst subject matter, and picks up the pace a little. I’m fully expecting Optic Nerve #12 to show up two years from now.

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