Shortcomings

Adrian Tomine’s Shortcomings, published by Drawn & Quarterly in 2007, is a single-issue graphic novel that stands as a landmark of indie comics. Tomine, both writer and artist, crafts a sharply observed, character-driven story about a cynical Japanese American film buff navigating relationships and identity in contemporary Berkeley and New York. Its unflinching look at race, romance, and self-deception within a specific cultural milieu remains a defining work of early 21st-century slice-of-life storytelling.