If you spend most of your life fixated on your failures rather than your successes, and if you hold grudges deeper and longer than your most lasting loves, then do yourself a favor and pick up Adrian Tomine's new comic, The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist. If you're not into comics, you've probably seen Tomine's work on the cover of the New Yorker and laughed a quiet little laugh to yourself. If you are familiar with comics, you might be shocked to learn that Tomine's latest mumblecore masterpiece is a straightforwardly autobiographical book about "the gaffes, humiliations, slights, and insults he's experienced (or caused)" within the genre he's conquered with his clean lines, pastel colors, and subtle humor. This one is so personal, it's designed to resemble a journal. RICH SMITH