…still waiting for a clever title…

Same Difference and Other Stories
By Derek Kirk Kim
Top Shelf Productions (www.topshelfcomix.com)

$12.95/144 pages

Back in the spring of 2002 a friend sent me a link to lowbright.com. There a serialized web comic titled Same Difference was being housed. The strip was funny, and the story was engaging, but I soon lost track of the link during my daily busy life. Fast forward to a last month when I came across a copy of Same Difference and Other Stories. Not only does it collect Kim’s Same Difference but his other comic strip work as well.

The main story, of which the book gets its’ title, deals with regret. Both main characters Simon and Nancy have regret over their actions.

While eating lunch at a Korean restaurant, Simon catches a glimpse of a girl he once knew in high school. Upon seeing her, he remembers how his teenage angst and feelings of inadequacy led him to lie to her. Though seven years removed from this event, Simon is still haunted by it and cannot help shake it.

Nancy, is also suffering from regret stemming from her answering a love letter addressed to the woman who once lived in her apartment. Though at first it seemed harmless and funny, she is now guilty and feels rotten for hurting perfect strangers feelings. It is regret that brings the two to Simon’s hometown of Pacifica, California. It is here where they come face to face with themselves.

Meeting the girl he lied to, Simon comes to terms with his regret and realizes that he was holding on to his past for no reason. Though Kim handles Simon’s revelations very well, he deals with Nancy’s story with both humor and poignancy. At first you see Nancy enjoying the fact that she is writing letters to a man she never knew, pretending to be his ex-girlfriend. It is her desire to travel to Pacifica to see the person she has been toying with, but the trip turns when she comes face to face with him. Meeting the object of her teasing, you see her realize her actions have caused harm. The ending is handled masterfully and you get a sense of closure to the events.

The strength of Kim’s story is his art. There are panels here that are breathtaking to behold. Though the art is very good, it is the storytelling of Kim that stands out. The story is simple, but there is a depth to it that Kim reveals little by little.

Besides Same Difference, the book includes all of Kim’s shorter works. With these, you see Kim’s art style change and mesh with the story he is telling. With stories like Pulling and Super Unleaded, Kim captures slices of life and expresses the emotion and feelings associated with them. Here, the art is more realistic, and he masterfully uses the pacing to bring the stories to an emotionally satisfying climax. These stories deal with the sense of loss, and love that no longer exists. They are powerful and masterfully pulled off.

The collected Oliver Pikk stories are funny, but pale to Kim’s hysterical autobiographical works, especially the one dealing with Kim’s problems with Korean toilet facilities.

Coming into the collection I did not know what to expect. Reading it, I was fully drawing into Kim’s slice of life story telling, and I want to see more of his work. If you are looking for a new artist to support, Kim should be it. Same Difference and Other Stories is a book worth tracking down. It is funny, moving, but never preachy. It is well worth it.