Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth (Pantheon Graphic Library)

If ever there was a title in the comics medium that could attract the attention of the literary world, "Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth" would be it. Indeed, this meticulously crafted tale of estranged fathers and sons spanning three generations has already won much acclaim from reviewers and readers alike who, until now, would typically have never even considered picking up a work of graphic literature. Originally running in serial form in the Chicago's weekly publication New City, "Jimmy Corrigan" took Ware seven years to create, though just by reading it you would never be able to tell. The artwork maintains a consistency throughout that suggests a vigorous discipline on Ware's part to create a cohesive and uniform story. Although it's true that Ware started the work as a free-form narrative experiment-never fully aware of where the story was headed from one "episode" to the next-eventually, as the tale began to take shape, he was able to rein in all the loose themes and motifs and successfully weave them together into a unified whole. The story opens depicting the title character, Jimmy Corrigan, as a young child living with his mother and already showing signs of an unhealthily introverted personality. His father is noticeably absent from the picture. A one-night-stand his mother brings home becomes a pivotal figure in the development of Corrigan's inner psyche. Moving forward to the present, Corrigan-now a middle-aged man living out a miserable existence still indelibly attached to his mother-is abruptly contacted one day by a man claiming to be his long-lost father. Soon he finds himself on a plane bound for an awkward reunion with his progenitor, and what subsequently follows is a series of events that can only be described as Chekhovian in terms of emotional depth and scope. Interwoven with this line of action is the tale of another member of the Corrigan clan, raised in an earlier era, with his own set of woeful circumstances also pertaining to his relationship with his father. Parallels both broad and intricate are drawn between the two storylines as Ware delicately shifts between past and the present, between the real and the imagined, between the melancholy and, well, the downright tragic. Shades of autobiography can be detected in the story's theme: Ware himself had never met his father until well into his adulthood, and when he did the results were less than joyous. Although the meeting did not occur until work on "Jimmy Corrigan" was well underway, the absence of a paternal figure throughout most of Ware's own life seems to inform the story in a deeply personal way. One cannot discuss "Jimmy Corrigan" without mentioning its exquisite visual artistry. The book is simply stunning to look at. The story is primarily told through illustration-dialogue is sparse and largely informed by the image rather than vice versa-and is a masterful example of storytelling by way of composition and juxtaposition. Its muted color scheme (heavy on the earth tones, light on the pastels) and minimalist line-drawing artwork serves to convey the bleak, desolate state-of-mind of the title character. It's a case of style becoming substance as the aesthetics of its design are as integral to the story as its fractured narrative. Ware borrows heavily from turn-of-the-century newsprint art styles, which he obviously regards with great veneration. There is much in "Jimmy Corrigan" that demonstrates his penchant for the nostalgic; not only in the artwork but also in its storyline (the 1892 Chicago World's Fair is prominently featured as a backdrop for one of the story arcs). He frequently contrasts the old with the new, suggesting that there is a certain splendor and majesty to be found in the pop-cultural artifacts of yesteryear that has been replaced in modern times by a drab tackiness that pervades our artistic, commercial and architectural landscape. The result of Ware's masterful combination of artwork, design and narrative is nothing short of astonishing. "Jimmy Corrigan" is a masterpiece of graphic literature; a quiet, absorbing tale that evokes the hopelessly sad, the desperately pathetic, and the heartbreakingly beautiful. It is a literary treasure that will hopefully find its way into the hands of those who have ever questioned the potential of the medium, and to those who want to be mesmerized by the talents of a wonderful storyteller.

I was not at all well versed in the "graphic novel" until recently when I read Batman the Dark Knight Returns. I enjoyed it enough to where I decided to seek out all different kinds of comics over the past six months or so. Which brings me up to Jimmy Corrigan... It's gotten plenty of positive press and it was even one of the books that Amazon recommended after I searched for graphic novels through the web site. Since I'm not exactly well to do, I obtained a battered copy from my local public library about two weeks ago. The first time I read it, I had gotten about half-way through and I was a little confused and underwhelmed. But something about the art-work and the characters kept me going until I found myself studying the family tree of Ware's fictional characters for at least half an hour! Next, I did something that I haven't done before. I immediately re-read the entire book; only this time much more S-L-O-W-L-Y. Now I am buying a copy from Amazon. Even though I just read it twice! ---------------------------------------------------------------- Update to review ---------------------------------------------------------------- I received my hardcover copy of Jimmy Corrigan from Amazon and I am extremely happy with it. I was planning on purchasing the paperback edition, which was what my library had, but I noticed that the binding of the paperback copy that I had borrowed was falling to pieces. So I reluctantly spent the extra ten dollars on the hardcover edition--which turned out to be a fortuitous decision. First of all, the hardcover edition appears to be slighty larger; and anyone who has read Chris Ware's stuff knows that he loves to use miniscule typeface.(Listen to me. I read Jimmy Corrigan a couple of times and I'm a Chris Ware expert now!) And, even better, the hardcover edition had a fold-out dust-jacket that is worth the extra ten dollars all by itself. Actually, I purchased McSweeny's Quarterly Concern 13 after learning that it is a compilation of Ware's favorite comics; and I was more amazed by the design of the dust jacket and the pretty gold-leafing than I was by the contents of the book!(What did I expect? It's just a "best-of" compilation.) I'm really not someone who believes that the book itself needs to be an objet d'art, but I still can't stop looking at the packaging of these Chris Ware books. The cover of that Mc Sweeny's book makes me wanna buy another copy just so that I can frame the cover. (By the way, the McSweeny's book also contains miniscule typeface.) Printed on rag paper, Jimmy Corrigan is a five-star work. But this is like having a favorite photograph matted and framed to an exact specification. Of course, it's printed in China--which explains the amazing price. (I love Cheap Chinese Labor! Hooray for the underpaid!) I normally would not waste a review talking about the quality of the packaging, but this is not a typical comics presentation. Besides, this is a book that is best explained by handing someone a copy to read. I seriously consider this book a literary milestone. Reading this was like reading Slaughterhouse Five or Of Mice And Men for the first time. (Go ahead and scoff.)

Chris Ware may not be for everybody because his writing is so bleak and full of despair, but this is a great work in the graphic novel medium. Ware is a master of balancing panels ranging from tiny to full-page, balancing humor and pathos, and creating a deep atmosphere for the characters. The story shifts between two time periods, and also has brief glimpses into fantasies and intermediate periods in the characters' lives. Mainly it's about a middle aged man who has never known his father going to see him for the Thanksgiving weekend (about 2/3 of the book), and his grandfather's experience as a young boy living with his father during the 1893 Columbian World's Fair (the other 1/3). I'm not sure if the printing Amazon is selling is the same as the one I read from the library, but in the one I read, even the front and back covers and title pages had text and comics full of dark humor and self-deprecation. Reading the book can get a bit overwhelming, but every time I was getting confused or felt it was going too far, something stunning popped up to push me forward. I don't want to give too much away, but for anyone who is not prejudiced against graphic novels or character-driven books, this is a must-read.

I'm not sure I enjoyed reading Jimmy Corrigan. But I definitely admire it. This is the excruciating story of Jimmy Corrigan, a quiet, emotionally traumatized, and haunted young man who receives an unexpected invitation to meet his father for the very first time. The story flickers between past and present as we're intimately introduced to Jimmy's memories, lineage, and misfortune. This is a hard look into the unfortunate circumstances that some of us are thrown into and exist in an imperfect world. Life is lonely and cruel to Jimmy; the reader won't find much pleasure or laughter here. The themes of powerlessness and anxiety are always close at hand. Yet although the skin may often be crawling on your furrowed brow, you will continually be impressed by the scope and complexity of Chris Ware's brilliant graphic novel. The illustrations are clean, confident and like the story itself, contain a treasure trove of detail. Ware offers masterfully illustrated designs and lines, but I equally appreciated the humanity of each drawing. When Jimmy is nervous, its always clearly etched in his facial expressions. Your eyes will be asked to do some heavy lifting as almost all pages are jam-packed with visual information. In the paperback version, some squinting is probably required. And some real chances are taken with the unorthodox panel scheme. As a comic book geek, I've had a lot of experience with various panel layouts, but even still I had to re-read pages often to make sure I'd connected the dots properly. If you're newer to the medium, you may find some panels difficult to follow. Mostly, however, this approach added to the charm and success of the novel. I'll be honest, the book never "grabbed" me per se, but I kept reading because it feels fresh, smart, and important. In the end, I felt battered but certain that this book stands tall as a layered marvel of creative achievement. Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid On Earth is an award-winning graphic novel by Chris Ware.

Jimmy Corrigan is a brilliant piece of work. I am not (and never have been) much of an active connoisseur of graphic novels. Only in rare instances have I ever purchased and fully enjoyed such an item. I received "Smartest Kid" as a gift from a friend of mine, which she described as 'a decadent film experience' Indeed this book (which really could pass as a novel) is quite a decadent, nostalgic stroll on a downward spiral into a bottomless pit. The story takes place in Chicago, and Jimmy (our poor protagonist with no self confidence) is chucked into a situation where he is to 'reunite' with his estranged father. Jimmy daydreams, he has flashbacks, and is awkward in every possible situation... and we do too right along with him. Ware's unusual and somewhat confusing style of paneling lends itself to the current journey at hand, which makes for an intense and throught provoking read. This book is a real page turner. How will it end? WHEN will it end? Is there hope for Jimmy, or is he a lost soul? This is not reccomended for the younger crowd. There's a small amount of profanity and sexual subject matter. Many of the situations cater toward the understanding of an adult, and there is definitely a lot to read. But all that said, this is an intellegent book with a lot to offer. It might make a good item to buy for father's day. As my dad told me when I got it for him, "thanks for a thoughtful and rewarding gift."

In the lower right-hand corner of the cover, Chris Ware calls this book "A bold experiment in reader tolerance", and he ain't kidding.....This was one of the most hard-to-follow, dragged-out affairs I've ever read. The book follows three generations of men (All named Jimmy Corrigan)...They're Father, Son, and Grandson, but Ware draws them all exactly the same, so I had a hell of a time figuring out just who we were watching at any given time. I had to use the different lettering styles each characters story is told with to tell them apart. There were times where my tolerance was stretched to the breaking point, and I actually had to get up and walk away from the book, before I picked it up and tossed it out the window. Ware is also enamored of long stretches of tiny blocks of print that contribute nothing to the narrative. I'll never know just what that page of restaurant descriptions was supposed to be about, because I got so bored I skipped right past it. I'll admit that by the end, I was fully drawn in to the sad tale, but getting there was a real struggle. The book is beautifully designed, and is a nice package for the price. It just seemed like a long trip to nowhere, though......

This is a labor of love. Chris Ware has taken time and his considerable talent and crafted a tale that should be pondered and studied. It is not easy reading, parts are heavy, edgy, sometimes crass, but all of this speaks to and supports the narrative and is not included for shock value, but rather to make the reader THINK. Few people can boil down life, the injustices and the hurts and the monotonous solitude that all of us find ourselves victim to now and again to this polished effect. Chris Ware succeeds brilliantly. You will relate. Jimmy Corrigan is presented and treated in a way that never insults your intelligence, is never trite and is oft surprising. As if that weren't enough, Ware's delightful sense of design, his colors and line and sense of place, are all reproduced exquisitely. High-quality paper and highly-saturated inks. No, I do not know the guy. I don't work for the publisher. I am some random shmo. Rarely is something worth this level of praise. But when it is, credit is due. This is a piece of work that will be discussed many many years hence, on many many levels....

This is the best bang you can ever get for your comic book buck. It has a full 380 pages, the art is very detailed, and after reading this, you get the feeling that Chris Ware has put way more effort into this book than the benefit you could ever hope to receive from it. Warning: start this book from the beginning. I usually browse through the middle of comic books before I start, and I picked this book up multiple times before I really got into it. It also has one of the best beginnings to a comic book ever. Read the first 8 pages, and you'll be hooked. Also, read the apology at the end. It gives a lot of insight into why he wrote the book This was one of the hardest graphic novels to me read, but it was definitely worth my time. And, it also has the best writing of any graphic novel that I have read.

Sobrecapa um pouco avariada, embora isso seja razoável, num item de segunda mão. Bela edição.

Manche Freunde der frühmodernen Literatur mögen sich fragen, wo heute die Kreativität großer Erzähler geblieben ist und was nach Autoren wie Joyce, Woolf, Musil, Proust, Kafka blieb. Wo findet die Sprache noch neue Wege, schlägt sie Schneisen in Zonen halbbewußten Lebens? In der Literatur kaum, im Film auch weniger, als noch vor einigen Jahrzehnten. Eher dann in körperbetonten Formen wie dem Tanz. Wer aber im Buchmedium nach einer inspirierenden Quelle von tiefgehenden Erzählformen sucht, scheint mir mit Chris Wares "Jimmy Corrigan" bestens bedient. Dieses Werk ist an erzähltechnischer Kreativität kaum zu überschätzen. Es ist im Comic beheimatet, also einem populären Medium, schließt jedoch thematisch, formal und emotional anspruchsvollere Traditionen an. Es ist die Geschichte eines aufgrund einer nie gewesenen Kindheit ebenso zurückgebliebenen wie früh-alten Menschen, in dem frühe Kindheit und Greisenhaftigkeit ohne die Blüten des Lebens unmittelbar ineinander übergehen, Geschichte von einer sich durch die Generationen fortzeugenden Leblosigkeit, einem Verharren in unerfüllten Träumen bis zum Altern - das Thema ist traurig, die Verarbeitung wunderschön und liebevoll. Die Tristesse der Geschehnisse wird durch die liebevolle Verarbeitung in den Bildern mehr als ausgeglichen und entspricht einer Freude des Protagonisten an kleinen Dingen. Vieles geschieht über den Wechsel der Stimmungen in den Farben, Rhythmus und Tempo der Veränderungen zwischen den Bildern. Bei diesem Buch lohnt sich eine widerholte Beschäftigung. Es ist sicher ein ästhetischer Beitrag zur Anerkennung und Akzeptanz mancher Seiten des Lebens, die ebenso schwer zu akzeptieren sind wie zu verändern, und ein Werk, das einen empathischen Blick in unsere soziale Umwelt fördern kann. Um mich zuletzt einer bereits ausgesprochenen Kritik anzuschließen: Die Verarbeitung der Paperback-Version scheint auch mir dem Werk nicht angemessen und es lohnt sich auf jeden Fall der Kauf der gebundenen Ausgabe.

This is a truly magnificent piece of work, a masterpiece of the medium to rank alongside Maus by Speigelman. Only the title is weak! A study of alienation and lives shut down in childhood and for good. The format that the story takes is brilliant, fascinating and meaningful too. This will be underrated by people who like to read comics that stay on the surface or those that only romanticise hard times or are by authors who don't have the perceptiveness to truly illuminate a comics` situations. Ware isn't exploitative though and doesn't delve into tough times in a cynical way. This comic will be marked down though far more than other inferior ones because it isn't superficial: great art pushes boundaries and by its very nature can rarely then be popular. Everyone who would rather stay where things are familiar and safe will be left behind and some of them write reviews on Amazon to justify themselves! Especially great are the parts of the book that focus on events of more than 100 years ago. The first 300 pages of the book are wonderful after the first 10 or 20 to settle into Chris Ware`s style and his character`s fantasy life excerpts, which are also completely justified in the circumstances of the character`s life unlike how they are used in many other books. The final hundred pages are very good too.

Una novela gráfica apasionante, una lección de paternidad dolorosa y hermosa a partes iguales. Ware demuestra su maestría y entrega una novela gráfica que destaca por su estética y la construcción de la obra. Se necesita un gran dominio del inglés para entenderla, pues el autor tiene un vocabulario muy amplio. Aún así, vale la pena hacer el esfuerzo para leer una historia única. La edición es buena, pero las tapas son de cartulina y hay que tener cuidado para que no se doblen.

A beautiful feel good story