Same Difference and Other Stories by Derek Kirk Kim

This is probably cruel and reductive, but Derek Kirk Kim strikes me as the Robin to Adrian Tomine's Batman. Kim's work -- slice-of-life stories about young Asian-Americans in Northern California -- is very similar to Tomine's, but Kim's outlook is a bit sunnier, his drawing a bit more rounded and cartoony, and his plots have more humor and tonal variation to them. Tomine isn't exactly dark and brooding, but his stories always have a bleak underpinning to them. Kim's stories tackle similar situations and characters, but aren't quite as gloomy.

I could go too far with that comparison, because Kim's work isn't all that happy. "Same Difference," which takes up more than half of this 144-page book, is about a young cartoonist who goes back to his hometown for an odd reason and reassesses his life, and several of the shorter stories are about break-ups or other personal conflicts. I still say that, compared with Tomine, he's somewhat sunnier...but that doesn't add up to sweetness and light all the time. Also, while most of Same Difference is presumably semi-autobiographical realistic stories, there are some more imaginative works as well, such as the stories about Oliver Pikk, who is an anthropomorphic bee. (And also has dating trouble -- that's the default plot for all of these twentysomething cartoonists, as far as I can tell.)

I picked up this book because I enjoyed Good As Lily, which Kim wrote for DC's new Minx line. And I'll be looking for more of Kim's work...though I do hope that he'll continue to move away from standard poor-me autobio comics and into more interesting areas.

(Oh, and the big covershot above is what the library copy I read looked like. The little Amazon box below shows what I think is the current cover. I have no idea why it was changed, but I doubt I would have picked up a book with that new cover.)