Chris Ware

Franklin Christenson Ware (born December 28, 1967) is an American comic book artist and cartoonist, best-known for a series of comics called the Acme Novelty Library, and a graphic novel, Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, he currently resides in Oak Park, Illinois. Ware's art is extremely eclectic in its influence, largely reflecting his love of early-20th century American aesthetics in both cartooning and graphic design. He can go from one artistic style to another with little conspicuous effort. While a handful of critics have accused Ware's work of being cold and overly obsessed with technique, the majority have come away impressed with his command of the medium and seemingly limitless willingness to experiment. The more canny observer can see the strong influence of early cartoonists like Winsor McCay and Frank King (creator of Gasoline Alley) in Ware's work, especially in terms of layout and visual and storyline flow. Outside the comics genre, Ware has found inspiration and a kindred soul in Joseph Cornell, both men sharing a need to capture items of nostaliga, grace, and beauty within "boxes." He has been called "the Emily Dickinson of comics." http://www.randomhouse.com/pantheon/graphicnovels/warekiddprint.html

Career

Ware's earliest published strips appeared in the late 1980s on the comics page of The Daily Texan, the student newspaper of the University of Texas at Austin. In addition to numerous daily strips under different titles, Ware also had a weekly satirical science fiction serial in the paper titled Floyd Farland: Citizen of the Future. This was eventually published in 1988 as a prestige-format comic book from Eclipse Publishing, and its publication even led to a brief correspondence between Ware and Timothy Leary. Now embarrassed by the book, which he considers amateurish and naive, Ware is reportedly purchasing and destroying all remaining copies.

Related Topics:
1980s - The Daily Texan - University of Texas - Science fiction - 1988 - Timothy Leary

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While still a sophomore at UT, Ware attracted the attention of famed Manhattan cartoonist, publisher and designer Art Spiegelman, who invited Ware to contribute to his influential anthology magazine, RAW. This led to greater acclaim, and Ware's eventual relationship with Fantagraphics Books. His Fantagraphics series Acme Novelty Library defied comics publishing conventions with every issue. The series featured a combination of new material as well as reprints of work Ware had done for the Texan (such as Quimby the Mouse) and the Chicago weekly paper New City. Ware's work appeared originally in New City before he moved on to his current "home", the Chicago Reader. Beginning with the 16th issue of the Acme Novelty Library, Ware is self-publishing his work, while maintaining a relationship with Fantagraphics for distribution and storage. This is an interesting return to Ware's early career, when he self-published such books as Lonely Comics and Stories as well as miniature digests of stories based on Quimby the Mouse and an unnamed potato-like creature.

Related Topics:
Manhattan - Art Spiegelman - RAW - Fantagraphics Books - Self-publishing - Quimby the Mouse

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In recent years he has also been involved in editing (and designing) several books and book series, including the new reprint series of Gasoline Alley from Drawn and Quarterly Walt and Skeezix, the on-going reprint of Krazy Kat by Fantagraphics, and the thirteenth volume of McSweeney's Quarterly Concern which is devoted to comics.

Related Topics:
Gasoline Alley - Drawn and Quarterly - Krazy Kat - McSweeney's Quarterly Concern

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