Ware, Chris

Chris at Fantagraphics

Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth

This won just about every award last year, and I don’t think anybody out there had a bad word to say about it. That being said, it wasn’t until I was most of the way through it that I saw what an amazing piece of work that it actually was, so I’m going to hold off on the full review until I read it again. Thanks to my roommate for being kind of enough to let me borrow it, though. Until then, I can say with all confidence that this is one of the best things ever done in comics, and if this doesn’t bring some much-needed respectability to the field, nothing will.

Quimby the Mouse (Acme Novelty Series)

The new book by Chris Ware. I’m guessing that this is going to reprint the Quimby the Mouse strips from Acme Novelty Library (call me a master detective, but the title should be some clue). While these didn’t impress me as much as the Jimmy Corrigan stories, I’ve also never read a whole bunch of them at once, and his attention to the minutest of details has to be seen to be believed. My copy was delayed, so I don’t know if this will be out soon or what the story is. As always, when I hear something you’ll be the first to know… Here’s a website with a bunch of ordering information for Acme Novelty Library, along with a lot of old stuff. Covers too!