The Eternal Smile: Three Stories

"The Eternal Smile: Three Stories"
Written and Illustrated by Gene Luen Yang & Derek Kirk Kim
(First Second Books, 2007)
----------------------------------------------------------------
This book is an intriguing collaboration between two up-and-coming graphic novel artists - Gene Luen Yang (whose remarkable memoir, "American Made Chinese" is a recent favorite) and Derek Kirk Kim, whose work I am less familiar with... This book showcases three short stories, each about a form of self-delusion, and regained control over reality. In "Duncan's Kingdom" we see a complete vision of a fairy-tale kingdom, seen through the eyes of a young knight who faces storybook challenges -- frog kings, ogres etc. -- armed with a magic sword and a brave heart. And yet, when a modern-day soda bottle shows up, cracks start to appear in the story's happy, heroic facade.

The second story, "Grandpa Greenbax And The Eternal Smile," is a tart satire of Disney's "Uncle Scrooge" stories -- parts of it are funny, but one suspects that the authors have based their parody on the iffy '80s "Duck Tales" TV series, rather than the craftsmanlike Carl Barks comicbook adventures. The story starts out with great potential, but seems to miss the mark in the end.

Finally, there's "Urgent Request," the most subtle and resonant of the three stories - in this glum, Adrian Tomine-esque novella, a frumpish, unappreciated office worker replies to one of those Nigerian get-rich-quick internet scams, sending everything she has to "Prince Henry," with unexpected results. The ending is not what you'd expect, both in terms of plot and tone, as well as its unresolved, ambiguous ending. I'm not sure what the impetus was for these two artists to work together, but this anthology book is a good indication that future collaborations would be a great idea. Definitely worth checking out! (Joe Sixpack, ReadThatAgain book reviews)

I really enjoyed American Born Chinese when I read it after it won the Printz award, so I was excited when I came across this one at my library. It combines Gene Leun Yang's storytelling with Derek Kirk Kim's artwork (who I know from his Minx comic, Good As Lily). The result is a great collection of short comics that are fun to read.
What I really like about Yang's writing is that there's always a little twist that I never see coming, but still totally fits with the story. It works in each one and I'm never disappointed. Kim's artwork stands out and he makes each story have a different feel-you can see samples of the panels on the Amazon page. I love the way everything blended together and each story flowed well with the art.
I enjoyed all three stories and how each one had a deeper story than what first appears on the surface, but my favorite had to be "Urgent Request," the last story in the collection. There was something about Janet that made her a sympathetic character and I really liked how Kim drew her and was able to get her emotions across the page. Her story was bittersweet and I really liked it.
If you need a way to convince someone that graphic novels and comics aren't all about superheroes and cute Japanese girls, give them The Eternal Smile. It's a graphic novel for non-graphic novel fans, and for those who have long enjoyed the format.

In "Duncan's Kingdom," young knight Duncan is the favorite of the princess, and avenging the king's death just might win him her hand and the throne. But there's something not quite right in Duncan's world, and he has a hard time leaving well enough alone until he figures out what. The next story is "Gran'pa Greenbax and the Eternal Smile," about a greedy frog's exploitive schemes to build for himself a pool of gold that he can swim in. Story 3 is "Urgent Request," where our heroine Janet spends her days weaving a story around the supposed Nigerian prince who has swindled away all her money. The Eternal Smile is the collection of these three stories. All three feature fantastic artwork in completely differing styles, all of which enhance the narratives and bring the characters to life. And all three stories were deeper than they appeared on the surface; Duncan's tale blurs the lines between reality and dreams, the frogs in the title story make you think about the morality of wealth, and Janet helps us to remember that sometimes we just need to let our imaginations loose to build our own confidence.

Reviewed by Holly Scudero

A good short story is hard to find. The writer doesn't have a lot of pages to make the reader care about the characters and in these same pages, a complete story also has to be told. There is nothing like finishing a good short story and just getting this great feeling of content. This book collects three short graphic stories that leave me feeling complete and really shows what a great storyteller both these creators are. Each story has a few twists and turns and they all have enough emotional impact to make you think after you finish each one.

Gene Yang's debut book, American Born Chinese, was such a great book. The interwoven stories in that book made it perfect, and I recommend that book to a lot of non-comic fans that want to give comics a try. I believe this book can also be recommended to anyone. The three short stories will appeal to anyone and I don't think it could be told as well in any other format except as a graphic novel.

It is a marvellous thing to see the graphic novel field attract so much attention. It is also amazing to see the number of artists and writers being `discovered' by main stream publishers.

Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim have collaborated on three unique stories that explore life in a different way. Storywise, we have "Duncan's Kingdom", "Gran'pa Greenbax and the Eternal Smile", and "Urgent Request." Each dwells on a theme, and takes readers through a philosophic journey. The first story, "Duncan's Kingdom", is good vs evil and yet, a dream within a dream. How many of us have had this same thought, yet not expressed it? It is, at its' heart, very Poeish. "The Eternal Smile" introduces us to a Uncle Scrooge like Gran'pa Greenbax leader who is forced to choose right, or wrong. Lastly, we see a Nigerian `help' request turn into a fantasy/friendship.

While the stories themselves are very good, a mix of fiction like this is only another "Epic" format that Marvel Comics published in the 1980's that introduced Weird World to comic books. Times are now different, and as far as fiction goes, this is good. "Out of Picture" is another example of why the format still works. At $16.95, it is pricey, but if we do not support the medium, it will suffer.

Smile, Eternally!

Tim Lasiuta