Chris Ware

by Daniel Raeburn

A close-up look at the gifted graphic novelist the New York Times Book Review called "the most versatile and innovative artist the medium has ever known."

As one of today’s most renowned cartoonists, Chris Ware is widely considered an artist of genius. Combining innovative comic book art, hand lettering, and graphic design, Ware’s uniquely appealing work is characterized by ceaseless experimentation with narrative and graphic forms. The publication of his novel Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth in 2000 inspired a near avalanche of praise from critics and general readers alike. This book is the first to explore the life and work of Chris Ware.

Daniel Raeburn looks closely at Ware’s career, work methods, and artistic innovations. Born in Omaha in 1967, Ware introduced the character Jimmy Corrigan in a full-page strip he began writing for the Chicago tabloid New City. Combining six years’ worth of the strips, Ware created the best-selling novel named after Jimmy that spans an Irish-American family’s life in Chicago from the Civil War to the present. For its experiments in graphic form—including pull-out, three-dimensional inserts—and its non-chronological narrative, the novel earned numerous honors, among them the Guardian First Book Award, presented for the first time to a comic book.

For this volume Raeburn interviewed Chris Ware for many hours to make fascinating connections between Jimmy Corrigan’s fictional life and the life of his creator. Raeburn discusses the scope of Ware’s career, including his drawings for New City, the New Yorker, and his own comic book, The Acme Novelty Library . As Raeburn shows, Ware’s unique art form extends beyond the world of graphic novels into the broader worlds of literature, graphic art, and popular culture, and challenges traditional definitions of all three.

Genres: Comics, Nonfiction, Biography, Art, Graphic Novels, Criticism, Graphic Novels Comics

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Daniel Raeburn is a writer and critic known for Chris Ware and the memoir Vessels. His essays have appeared in The New Yorker and elsewhere. A recipient of multiple fellowships, he lives in Chicago and teaches nonfiction at the University of Chicago.

Reviews

[Earline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a good introduction to Chris Ware's work and includes great stories about his career. I especially love his attitude towards grad school. Chris Ware is my hero and inspires me to be a better artist... as well as a badass.

"By the time Ware arrived in Chicago for his graduate studies at the School of the Art Institute, he was artistically and emotionally independent enough to ignore his teachers, most of whom discouraged him from doing comics, and a few whom openly mocked him, at least until he dropped out."

[Mycala · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been seriously crushing on Chris Ware for well over a decade. That said, I find the inside of his head slightly uncomfortable and okay, sometimes scary. There is no denying he is a genius, though, and while I was hoping there would be more about the man himself, it is bits of him with lots of his art. All is forgiven because this book is pure eye candy.

[Dominick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reads more like an exhibition catalogue than a critical study. About the first quarter consists of a critical appreciation by Raeburn, which does indeed offer useful information and insights into Ware and his work. This section is lavishly illustrated. The remaining 75% or so of the book consists entirely of illustrations, most accompanied by notes from Raeburn, which are also typically insightful, especially when providing guides to how to read Ware's complex pages. It seems weird to me that I seem to be complaining about there being too much art, since in my opinion, almost all books on comics are insufficiently illustrated (don't get me started on that subject), and it is great to see some of the rarities and oddities (e.g. Ware's sculptures). Nevertheless, my own expectations have left me feeling somewhat disappointed. I was expecting more of a study of Ware's work, rather than, primarily, an art book. Nevertheless, if you want a quick read that offers some insight into Ware, this book is worth a look.

[Rick Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful exploration of Chris Ware's work. Great interview work, and lavish with illustrations discussing Ware's influences, choices and graphic savoir faire. If you want a deeper look into how Chris Ware does what he does, look no further.

[Powells.com · Rating 5 out of 5]

Similar in sentiment to artist Joseph Cornell's three-dimensional work, Chris Ware's drawings and sculpture remind me of enchanting collections of objects lost and found. In this new monograph, Daniel Raeburn closely examine's Ware's work methods and innovations and discusses the connections between Ware's most well-known character, Jimmy Corrigan, and that of his creator. Check out The Acme Novelty Datebook for more personal insight into his talent and history. Amy Antonio, Powells.com

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio...

[Jamie Felton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty fascinating look at Chris Ware and, more importantly, comic books and how they are more than just words and pictures. One idea that I really liked was that the more comic books become a language of their own, the more people will be able to relate to and access them because people will become more fluent. This book has a ton of early work by Ware.

[Joe Drogos · Rating 4 out of 5]

I probably don't have to make a case for how incredible Chris Ware is. Being able to see these comics for free in the Reader and New City for all of my teenage years through my return from college-- wot a countree, eh?

It probably makes sense to just buy the comics themselves, but some of the graphic design analysis in here is really insightful.

[Panoramaisland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Magnificently underlines Ware's massive theoretical/conceptual shortcomings - not, I think, what the author intended. Even so, an even more essentialist reading of his work than I think is actually merited. Lushly illustrated with many comics and photographs!

[Corbravo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The texts by this man are a bit R-tarded. But there's Ware's pictures on the other side of the page, so fortunately they're also unnoticeable.

[Marisa Fulper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview of Chris Ware's practices