Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me) - The Temptations

The Eternal Smile

Author: Gene Luen Yang
& Derek Kirk Kim
Genre: graphic novel, fantasy
Pages: 170

Brief Summary:
The Eternal Smile is a compilation of three different stories, all with their own plots and art styles. The first story, "Duncan's Kingdom" explores the imagination of a young man, who believes himself to be a hero in love with a princess. The second story, "Gran'pa Greenbax and The Eternal Smile" features the persistent grin from the title of this volume, along with a money-grubbing, anthropomorphic frog (who is somewhat reminiscent of Scrooge McDuck, especially in his love for money pits). The final story, "Urgent Request" focuses on an unhappy, passed over, put upon office worker who falls for an internet scam.

Review:
The first and last stories share a common theme of escapism into imagination, although the two characters respond differently to a confrontation with the fact that they are living in their fantasy worlds. I liked this first story the best, both the art and the plot line. The second story I found to be largely obnoxious, although the ending redeemed it somewhat. The last story just depressed me, as the character could hardly have been more pitiful than she was. The fact that each tale had clearly been illustrated by someone different also bothered me a bit when all sandwiched together this way, especially since I did not like some of the art (last story, I'm looking at you). This is definitely a quick read though, so, if you're interested, go ahead and give it a go.

"Just my imagination, once again
running away with me.
Tell you it was just my imagination
running away with me.
I never met her, but I can't forget her."