Last November, I told you how much I loved Tune: Vanishing Point, the first volume in Derek Kirk Kim’s alien abduction romcom series of graphic novels. It ended on a hell of a cliff-hanger, and I’ve been eagerly anticipating book two, Tune: Still Life, which comes out this week.
I wasn’t disappointed. Kim (who teams up with illustrator Les McClaine for this volume) continues to spin out an absolutely charming story of a slacker art-student who inadvertently signs himself up to be a human exhibit in an advanced alien race’s zoo for lesser species. Andy Go, the hero of the series, spends volume two working out the awful truth of his predicament, bemoaning his terrible romantic luck, befriending a variety of aliens (including one who recruits him to be her art-teacher) and discovering that his alternate-dimension doppelgangers are total douchebags.
As with book one, Still Life strikes just the right balance between situation comedy, romance, and thoughtful insights about art, hubris and creativity. And as with book one, it ends on another damnable cliffhanger, and another long wait to find out what happens next.