Adrian Tomine’s Optic Nerve to Return in August with Issue #12!

According to Previews World, in the June 2011 issue of Previews catalogue, Drawn & Quarterly will be soliciting the twelfth issue of Optic Nerve, with a September 2011 shipping date.

Optic Nerve is a comic book series by cartoonist Adrian Tomine. Originally self-published by Tomine in 1991 as a series of mini-comics (which have later been collected in a single volume, 32 Stories). The series has been published by Drawn and Quarterly since 1995, and the most recent issue, #11, was published in early 2007.

Issues #9 - #11 of the series featured a multi-issue storyline, but issue #12 will apparently see a return to the multiple short story format familiar from early issues of the series. The issue will be the first colour issue of the series, and will also be the longest, ringing in at 40-pages.

According to Previews, Optic Nerve #12 a great entry point for new readers, and will contain stories such as “A Brief History of the Art Form Known as Hortisculpture”, which  deftly manipulates traditional comics idioms to tell a story of horticulture, patents, and misunderstood art forms, while “Amber Sweet” is a disconcertingly modern tale about a case of mistaken identity.

Chris Oliveros of D&Q says that “Optic Nerve was one of the most important indy comic book series of the 1990s and 2000s, and D+Q is very proud to announce that Adrian Tomine will return to the iconic series with this new 12th issue. Aside from featuring all new stories from Tomine, this new issue is notable for being the first Optic Nerve issue in full color. As well, at 40 pages, it’s also Tomine’s longest to date.”

As well as Optic Nerve #12, D&Q will also be offering issue #1-#11 for order from the June issue of Previews, along with other Adrian Tomine books like Sleepwalk & Other Stories, Shortcomings, 32 Stories: Special Edition, Summer Blonde, and Scrapbook.

Make sure to pre-order a copy with your retailer, and check out the 5-page preview on Previews World.

Related posts:

1. Full-Page Adrian Tomine Strip Featured in this Week’s New Yorker
2. From the Desks of Adrian Tomine and Marc Johns!
3. Adrian Tomine at Strand Books, February 9th for Scenes from an Impending Marriage Launch
4. A Sneak Peek Look Inside the August 2010 Issue of Diamond’s ‘Previews Magazine’
5. Revising the Pull List - Looking at New Stuff in the August 2009 Issue of Previews (Issue #251 for titles in shops beginning October 2009)