Sat, Oct 15th, 3PMCHRIS WARE will be in the store!The Acme Novelty Library book will be out!
Chris Ware Signing at Quimby?s
Utterly eschewing the general bonhomie surrounding the newly-minted contemporary regard for the comic strip medium as a language of complicated personal expression and artistic sophistication, professional colorist and award-winning letterer F. C. Ware (aka: Chris Ware) returns to the book trade with THE ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY: Annual Report to Shareholders and Rainy Day Saturday Afternoon Fun Book, a hardcover distillation of all his surviving one-page cartoon jokes which were sprinkled throughout his regular comic book periodical, of the same name, over the past decade.
Sometimes claimed to be his ?best work? (by those who really don?t know any better), this definitive congestion of stories of the future, the old west, and even of modern life, includes a luminescent map of the heavens, a chart of the general structure of the universe, assorted cut-out activities, and a complete history of The ACME Novelty Company itself, decorated with rare photographs, early business ventures, not to mention the smallest example of a comic strip ever before offered to the general public. Enclosed in a hard case with belly band, (but not just any belly band?the reverse is a comic strip in which six out of six have a different ending), THE ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY encompasses all of Ware?s extraordinary characters in both new and previously published material (including the complete seventh and fifteenth issues of The Acme Novelty Library, long out of print): Jimmy Corrigan, Tales of Tomorrow, Rocket Sam, Quimby the Mouse, the Super-man, Sparky the Cat, Big Tex; and introducing Rusty Brown?the world?s most pathetic, overgrown adolescent toy collector. As Ware says, ?it may prove a rather mild disappointment, but at least it catches the light in a nice way and may force a smile here and there before being shelved for the next generation?s ultimate disregard and/or disposal.? THE ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY is like nothing else in the world of comics. If it was, why bother?
About the Author:
Chris Ware is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and The Chicago Reader. His first book, Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth, won the 2001 Guardian First Book Award and was included in the 2002 Whitney Biennial of American Art, marking the first-ever inclusion of cartoon art. Ware recently put together the thirteenth issue of McSweeney?s Quarterly Concern?a comics anthology that is already regarded as one of the finest of its kind. He continues to work on two upcoming genuinely serious graphic novels. The 16th issue of his regular periodical, not uncoincidentally titled ?The ACME Novelty Library,? will be released this fall. He lives in Chicago, IL with his wife and daughter.
