[2013-12-18] Jimmy Corrigan

This Wednesday we met to discuss Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid on Earth (2000), a graphic novel by Chris Ware. The proper discussion was preceded by two short interviews with the author in which he expatiates over the laborious and demanding process of comic creation. Then, we devoted some time to Ware’s exceptional style as well as to his sources of inspiration. If you are willing to plunge deeper into Ware’s literary output, we recommend that you read The Building Stories (2012), which is even more innovative in its form.

Chris Ware (1967 - )

Chris Ware was born in 1967 in Omaha, Nebraska. He published his first comics while attending the University of Texas in Austin. It was then that Ware began developing such characters as Quimby the Mouse and an early version of Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth. In 1987, Ware’s work caught the attention of Art Spiegelman, who invited him to contribute to the distinguished annual comics anthology RAW. 

CO-MIX. Art Spiegelman: A Retrospective of Comics, Graphics and Scraps

Museum Ludwig, Cologne

22.09.2012 – 06.01.2013

A major retrospective of Art Spiegelman’s entire oeuvre is on show at Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Germany. 

ALISON BECHDEL (1960 - )

An American cartoonist originally best known for the long-running comic strip "Dykes To Watch Out For", in 2006 she became a best-selling and critically acclaimed author with her graphic memoir "Fun Home".

ART SPIEGELMAN (1948 - )

Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and author Art Spiegelman is best noted for his two-volume graphic novel series "Maus," whilch Dale Luciano described in the Comics Journal as "among the remarkable achievements in comics." An epic parable of the Holocaust that substitutes mice and cats for human Jews and Nazis, the work stands in contrast to much of Spiegelman's works, which have ranged from designing chewinggum cards to editing comic-book anthologies. Prior to creating "Maus" he was most well known in underground comics circles as publisher of the comix anthology Raw, which he produced with his wife, Françoise Mouly, beginning in the early 1980s. However, he has been a significant presence in graphic art since his teen years, when he wrote, printed, and distributed his own comics magazine.