The Acme Novelty Library 15

The Acme Novelty Library #15

by Chris Ware

"[Chris] Ware is the most versatile and innovative artist the medium has ever known," says Dave Eggers. We suspect that Ware won't be picking up cudgels to defend this title. For one thing, he's too busy creating brilliantly funny and insightfully quirky alternative comic books. In this 15th addition to his Acme Novelty Library, Ware flips out stories of favorites like "Jimmy Corrigan," "Rocket Sam," and, of course, "Quimby the Mouse." Well-twisted Ware fans will enjoy the pull-out bonuses, especially the cut-out three-dimensional motion picture viewer.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Sequential Art

32 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 2001

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

[Gijs Grob · Rating 5 out of 5]

This huge comic book could better be called 'Big book of terrible loneliness', because all comics deal with loneliness and tell about characters completely failing to connect with other people. All Chris Ware's usual suspects are present: Rocket Sam, Quimby the Mouse, Jimmy Corrigan, Rusty Brown and Big Tex. Of all these characters, Rusty Brown is easily the most appalling, and the comics devoted to him certainly don't invite to read more about this repulsive character. More entertaining are the comics devoted to a nameless future character in a series called 'Tales of Tomorrow'. Needless to say this world, one of endless advertising, is one of utter loneliness, too.

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, Chris Ware. I love your drawings, and some of your characters and stories are just so perfectly sad and real (Rusty Brown!). I hate your stupid tiny writing and the gigantic and awkward format of this particular comic collection. I mean, I understand what you are doing, I just find it kind of grating. I also don't like McSweeney's or The Toast, so a I recognize that the problem is not you, it's me. And yet, I still like reading your stuff, so keep doing your thing, and I'll keep reading it and half liking it. Love, Kristy.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

beyond the beauty of the book itself is the sadness of rusty brown. there is something about chris ware. even at his most nostalgic there is a lingering melancholy. like standing beneath a street light in winter with the footprints of the girl you loved trailing off in the snow.

[Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good god, this collection is hilarious...and moving, and the illustrations are nonpareil.

[Zenpvnk · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the funniest collections of things printed on paper, anywhere. A must have.