"I had not thought ahead to that moment, somehow. Standing there alone, I wanted to be invisible, to evaporate."
— "Translated, from the Japanese"
Killing and Dying is an Anthology Comic written and drawn by cartoonist Adrian Tomine. It was first published in 2015 by Drawn & Quarterly.
The six stories included in the anthology are standalone, but share themes of liminality and the pains of contemporary life, as well as an emphasis on personal relationships. They are:
- "A Brief History of the Art Form Known as Hortisculpture": A gardener named Harold decides to dedicate his life to a new art form called 'hortisculpture', despite the stress this puts on his wife.
- "Amber Sweet": A young woman's resemblance to famous porn star Amber Sweet ruins her personal life.
- "Go Owls": A woman meets an older man named Dennis at a 12-step meeting and the two begin a codependent relationship.
- "Translated, from the Japanese": An unnamed narrator, flying to California from Japan with their child, writes down their feelings as they prepare to see their estranged husband.
- "Killing and Dying": A married couple take opposing stances to their daughter Jesse's desire to become a stand-up comedian.
- "Intruders": A man gets a set of keys to his old apartment and starts regularly breaking and entering.
"Amber Sweet" and "Killing and Dying", along with "Hawaiian Getaway" from Tomine's earlier work Summer Blonde, inspired the 2021 film Paris, 13th District.
Tropes:
- The Aggressive Drug Dealer: Dennis is a drug dealer who regularly pops up around a young man named Bobby and keeps trying to get him to buy.
- Baldness Means Sickness: It becomes apparent that Jesse's mother is ill when she shows up to the recital with a cloth cap over her bald head. It immediately recontextualizes her support of Jesse. By the next part of the story, she's dead.
- Black Gal on White Guy Drama: Harold comments to his black wife that he feels that her parents only dislike him because he's white.Harold's wife: Oh, stop it. I'm sure they have other reasons too.
- Domestic Abuse: Dennis eventually begins hitting the protagonist, yet another sign that their relationship is bad for her.
- Don't Explain the Joke: Ronald's joke ("A baby goat walks into a bar. And the bartender goes...he-he, we don't serve kids.") doesn't land. He feels as if he has to explain that "kid" refers to both babies and baby goats before his teacher tells him not to run the joke into the ground.
- Exiled to the Couch: Harold is kicked to the couch after making a comment about his wife's support that greatly upsets her.
- The Faceless: No characters in "Translated, from the Japanese" are shown. Instead the reader is shown things that they see, such as an airplane bathroom or a skyline.
- Flirty Stepsiblings: Invoked in passing; the two leads of "Go Owls" once roleplayed as stepsiblings during sex.
- Identical Stranger: The narrator of "Amber Sweet" looks a lot like a famous porn star and is frequently mistaken for her, to her detriment.
- It's All About Me: Harold is utterly convinced that his hortisculpture will be the next big art thing and acts very selfishly to everybody around him in pursuit of the dream. He finally drops it once he realizes he's pushed his wife too far.
- Mistaken for Romance: The narrator of "Translated from the Japanese" strikes up a friendship with the professor seated next to them on the plane. The flight attendant assumes they are married. When this story is narrated to the narrator's estranged husband it upsets him.
- N-Word Privileges: Old white republicans who are upset at black people but can't articulate why are the subject of a black aspiring comedian's joke. He says they probably say the n-word in private just to let it out.
- Racial Face Blindness: On improv night Jesse gets up on stage after a black man who made a successful joke about angry white men wanting to say the n-word. After she tries to launch a joke off another black man she accuses his set of being low-hanging fruit before it's pointed out to her that it's a totally different guy. She has to uncomfortably disclaim that she doesn't think all black men look alike.
- Speech Impediment: Jesse has a stutter. Her mother is supportive of the stand-up comedy class in part because she thinks it'll be good for her daughter to gain confidence.
- Younger Than They Look: The narrator of "Go Owls" comments that Dennis looks way older than the thirty-six he claims to be. He clarifies he's forty-two.
