"After self-publishing seven mini comics as a teenager, Optic Nerve became a regular comic book series when Adrian Tomine was only 20.

Tomine’s work developed steadily over the years, from the rough, sketchy drawings of his early mini-comics to the stark, crisp graphic approach of his D&Q series. Although his work is no longer strictly autobiographical, his contemporary stories are still deeply personal. Tomine creates a new cast of characters for each story, and he has become a master of penetrating their fragile exteriors.

• Sleepwalk, an account of a young man’s attempts to cling to an old, fading relationship;
• Echo Avenue, where voyeurism is the pastime of choice as a couple peers into their neighbor’s bedroom window;
• Long Distance, a brief, powerful story about a woman’s cold, distant conversations with her boyfriend;
• Drop, an account of an unfortunate incident by the author’s father;
• Lunch Break, where a solitary elderly woman thinks back to happier times in the 1950’s.