The Acme Novelty Library 17

The Acme Novelty Library #17

by Chris Ware

Undaunted by lukewarm Internet and blogospheric opinion ("flat," "slow," and "always dreary") of his meretricious return last year to the tradition of the American comic book with the sixteenth issue of his ACME Novelty Library, cartoonist and professional sentimentalist Chris Ware returns with the seventeenth issue of this same title, and it is almost certain not to change general public opinion. Continuing with the second half of the introduction to his shamelessly meandering graphic novel Rusty Brown (which began last issue at a private school in the 1970s Midwest), the six-sided crystal suggested by the exegesis of the first installment is slowly turned and examined in midmorning winter sunlight sometime between the bell of first period and the conclusion of lunch for the first through the fourth grades. Also included are more thorough examinations of many of the main characters' cloudy motivations, personal habits, and favorite restaurants, to say nothing of the small dust mote around which they have coalesced and the complications in its life due to the acquisition of superpowers sometime the night before. Like the irritating distant family member you only have to see once a year, the ACME Novelty Library #17 will, as was its predecessor, be published by the author in a single, limited edition only, never to be reprinted until the entire library is collected as a single volume, though it may be promptly remaindered and/or discarded.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Comix, Graphic Novels Comics, Art, Sequential Art

64 pages, Hardcover

First published November 28, 2006

About the author

Chris Ware is an American cartoonist acclaimed for redefining the visual and narrative possibilities of the graphic novel, known especially for his long-running Acme Novelty Library series and major works including Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth, Building Stories, and Rusty Brown. His work is distinguished by its emotional depth, frequently exploring loneliness, memory, regret, and the quieter forms of pain that shape ordinary lives, rendered with extreme visual precision, intricate page designs, and a style that evokes early twentieth-century American illustration, advertising, and architecture. Raised in Omaha and later based in the Chicago area, Ware first attracted attention through his strips for The Daily Texan, where an invitation from Art Spiegelman to contribute to Raw helped encourage him toward an ambitious, self-publishing approach that would define his career. Acme Novelty Library disrupted conventions of comic book production in both format and tone, presenting characters such as Quimby the Mouse and later Rusty Brown in narratives that blend autobiography, satire, and psychological portraiture. Building Stories further expanded his formal experimentation, released as a boxed set of interconnected printed pieces that require the reader to assemble meaning from varied physical formats. Ware’s artistic influences range from early newspaper cartoonists like Winsor McCay and Frank King to the collage and narrative play of Joseph Cornell, and he has spoken about using typography-like logic in his drawing to mirror the fragmented, associative way memory works. His practice remains largely analog, relying on hand drawing and careful layout, though he uses computers for color preparation. Ware has also been active as an editor, designer, and curator, contributing to volumes reprinting historic comic strips, serving as editor of The Best American Comics 2007, and organizing exhibitions such as UnInked at the Phoenix Art Museum. His work has extended into multimedia collaborations, including illustrated documentary materials for This American Life and visual designs for film posters, book covers, and music projects. His later projects include The Last Saturday, serialized online for The Guardian, and Monograph, a retrospective volume combining autobiography with archival material. Widely recognized for his influence, Ware’s books have received numerous honors, including multiple Eisner and Harvey Awards, and Jimmy Corrigan became the first graphic novel to win the Guardian First Book Award. He has exhibited at major institutions including the Whitney Museum of American Art and Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and his contributions to the medium have led many peers and critics to regard him as one of the most significant cartoonists of his generation.

Reviews

[Rex Hurst · Rating 5 out of 5]

The continuation of the - as of 2025- unfinished Rusty Brown story. Like a lot of Ware's works, it is filled with angst, of the terrors of childhood, and the lethargy of adult life. Wonderfully illustrated, but depressing. It is followed up with a few of Ware's homages to the newspaper comic strips he must have loved reading as a child. These are filled with his customary post-modern takes on life and love, but they are still well done.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

A continuation of the storyline started in the previous book, Ware continues his downbeat saga (with additional extra stuff at the end that also ended up in another collected book).

[Jamie Felton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished this the other night. It took me maybe a half an hour to read, but I really fell in love (again) with Chris Ware's artwork. His stories are incredibly sad, but they tap into some really intense feelings human beings can have. This particular work is a continuation (I think, as it is the only other thing I have read by him besides Jimmy Corrigan) of the story of Rusty, an incredibly awkward child in grade school. He is obviously disliked by everyone because he is "weird". He has a rampant imagination that spills into his real life and causes these really painfully embarrassing moments.
I think I am in love with Rusty, and I hope he kisses the sweet nectar of my lips someday.

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, so if I was to say I was just like Rusty as a kid, that would just sound shallow or something, I guess. But these graphic novels really made me feel like they were written for me and me alone. Maybe that's how everyone feels and that's why they're so good, but I used to retreat inside my imagination too. No, I never fantasized about Supergirl or drew awesome superhero pictures, but still- I won't tell you what my fantasies were, just believe that I can relate.

I can't relate to the other characters as much personally- I am like Rusty, but I was never like any of the others. Still, I just love them- especially the little asshole who bothers the new girl because he thinks she's hot. And the little extra comics at the end of the books are great too. The best bee in the world- I'll never squash another bee again.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really beautiful book, both in terms of Ware's beautiful drawings and in terms of the actual book itself - the front cover is an etched representation of images familiar from any American childhood in the late twentieth century. The book almost has the physical feel of a school library volume from that era, and the story lives up to that unusual starting point. As always, Ware is a master at weaving a tale that is simultaneously melancholy, beautiful, and astonishingly honest. It's hard to say enough good things about The ACME Novelty Library #17 - if graphic novels are one of the most rewarding segments of the art world in the early twenty-first century, then Chris Ware deserves a lot of the credit for that fact, and this volume amply demonstrates why.

[Earline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bees are cute, but they're no Quimby.

After reading the intro I'm afraid that Chris Ware might be reading this review late at night..

So if that is the case, I would just like to tell you Mr Ware, that you sir are a genius....at times a horribly disturbing genius, but a genius nonetheless, and for that I admire you shamelessly.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do enjoy that boxy layout that keeps me gently tethered to the mood and story, and only wish the story was something beyond school traumas and weird/mean teachers.
Favorite page: Mr. Ware posing for his art students and urging them to "get messy."
The bee thing: alas, too small, and too much an unclear dabble of fantasy and documentary.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't understand people who complain that Ware is too bleak and his stories are too slow. The glacial pace of this and the next in the series allows him to tenderly, gingerly build a tiny little everyday universe full of tragedy, slow-rolling humor, and tenuous hope.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A crack addict says, "I will suck d*ck for a rock," and I say I would do the same for the next edition of the Acme Novelty Library. Please, Mr. Ware, give me my next fix! I'm dying!!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another of Chris Ware's densely layered and beautifully designed and meticulously rendered works of despair, longing, and the nagging feeling that everyone hates you, even the ones who love you. Now I have to go find 1-16 and read them in order.

[Oliver Bateman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The characterizations are excellent, but without a dramatic event at its center this installment of the ongoing Rusty Brown storyline seems aimless and meandering. I'm sure things will fit together much better when the pieces of this magnum opus are finally collected in a single edition.

[Edmund Davis-Quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another brilliant, bizarre, unique and strange Chris Ware book.

Ware is definitely one of the unique voices in graphic novels. I would love to see him do a longer form book. #20 is the best of his I have read so far.

[Liam O'Leary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unstoppably good. Absorbingly good. Just, good, and I find it hard to say why. People say this is really bleak or depressing, but if you have an absurd sense of humour, I just find it honest and often laughable.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

See http://clubs.calvin.edu/chimes/articl...

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

i wanna get them all

[Mrlunch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chris Ware is a genius!

[Damon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. Same stuff again. I felt like I should go back and read the volumes I'd skipped, but so far I'm not impressed...

[Rob]

Thanks Sarah!

[Ruz El · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rusty Brown settles into its story in a pleasing way, but the real winner here is BRANFORD THE BEST BEE IN THE WORLD.

[Redcoal · Rating 5 out of 5]

good