Did I mention that Chris Ware is a genius?

Dense, detailed, heartbreaking on every damn page. This graphic novel/compilation takes a lot of patience, pretty good eyesight and a great propensity for teeny tiny boxes full of emotional plot development.

Ware is single-handedly pushing American comic book storytelling to some other plane of existence. Some strips have no characters, just narration. Other strips have no narration, just images. And everything is infused with the past - family memories, faulty recall, alter egos that may have never existed, and of course, those strange mail-away offers in the back of vintage comic books.

Everything from the past is still at play in the present.
Chris Ware blows my mind.

Terribly sad and intense.

too too weird. liked the gasoline alley-type comic though.

Pas aimé

quimby rules you.

that is all

If you want to complete your Chris Ware collection pick this up. But this is not the place to start for a good look at his work. This collects two early issues of the Acme Novelty Library, ones which focus on the titular Quimby the Mouse. There isn't much a story in either of these. it's best to just read it to admire the artistic talent, which does not disappoint.

Move over Mickey, Jerry, and Speedy.. Quimby has arrived. Another absolutely hilarious book by Ware ... does he do anything that's not?

I actually have an extra copy of this book, so if you're really nice (and beer bribes never hurt) I'll give you the extra. I'm just holding onto it to find a home I deem worthy, that would appreciate such a masterpiece. Oh, okay.. for a good beer I'd probably give it to anyone, but, still, it's a masterpiece.

I have read this in bits and pieces over the last few years, but now took the time to read through this hardcover collection of Ware's college daze comix, which bear the unmistakable precision, OCD, sweet and sad thoughtfulness, sadness, and whimsy of much of Ware's work. Often very hard to read because the words or pics are so tiny, but if you slow down, take your time, you will feel the nostalgia for the twenties and thirties comics and advertising he calls forth… and his love for his grandmother comes through in some early pieces… both grandparents, really. There's a lot of humor in this, some of it is amazingly silly and insightful and sweet, laced with sadness throughout. Great stuff! Essential Ware reading. Not as satisfying as the sustained stories of Jimmy Corrigan and Building Stories, but it's all cut from the same cloth, really. And some of the pieces collected here are attractive as shorter pieces, too.

Ware does it again. Simply put, I think he's the best graphic novelist out there, and one of the best creators on either side of the art & literature divide.

See my other reviews of his work for further gushing praise.

Quite possibly the darkest, depressing comic strip series ever. This collection is laid out superbly, and there little question as to Ware's talent, but the work teeters a line between madcap and morose. I don't know, like if a clown committed suicide maybe...

Ware è indubbiamente un maestro della graphic novel (e più in generale della forma narrativa). Il volume in questione - ottima edizione a cura di Oblomov - soffre un po' la frammentaria natura di raccolta, ma si riscatta pienamente nei contenuti, che come sempre sono in grado di riuscire a esprimere, non senza caustica ironia, la più profonda tristezza dell'essere umani. Chi non lo conosce sia dunque informato: questa non è certo una lettura leggera (e per di più Ware riesce a scrivere le strisce/ graphic novel che si leggono forse con più lentezza in assoluto). Quimby - ma anche Sparky e a volte perfino il già noto Jimmy Corrigan - animano queste pagine eterogenee e come sempre ricchissime di un immaginario americano anni '50 perfettamente reso sia nei temi che nelle illustrazioni e nei vari inserti di contorno di questo volume. Già un classico, a mio avviso.