At my local zoo there is a meerkat exhibit where you can either watch from the glass surrounding the habitat or walk around and step down under the habitat and then stand up in the middle of it. The ability to see the animals acting “naturally” from so many perspectives is enlightening and fun. In this story, Andy Go is the meerkat.
Tune
Volume 1: Vanishing Point
written by Derek Kirk Kim
art by Les McClaine
First Second
November 2012
Andy is an every-geek-man who attends a local art school and hangs with his best buddies and secretly longs for Yumi, a girl he believes is out of his league. After deciding to quit art school with just one more year remaining he is forced by his parents, with whom he lives, to find a job. Without experience or the college degree, Andy is stuck taking the only offer he can get, which takes us to the meerkat reference.
Kim’s story was compelling from start to finish but it left me unsatisfied when I finished it. Although
there are 160 pages here, this was only volume 1 and because most pages are only four frames, so little happened in it that I couldn’t help but be disappointed. The story starts with Andy in the zoo, and it ends with Andy getting to the zoo. What happens in between would normally have been completed in as little as half the pages if using the full page for the panels.
Tune was originally (and still is) a web comic, which explains the lack of panels and movement per page. This volume collects the first 10 chapters of the web comic. Some may wonder at the interest in reprinting web comics, but there are two distinct benefits to the printed version: 1) you aren’t stuck viewing in a browser, and 2) Kim’s reach is expanded exponentially with this release. Since I was not even aware of Tune prior to this graphic novel I have to say to point 2: mission accomplished! Because I’m hooked.
Tune is charming, well drawn (kudos McClaine!), fun and intriguing. Even my main complaint is really more of a compliment and testament to the fact that I want more. Highly recommended.
