Review Summaries

• Readers often praise the dense construction and the restrained emotional tone, which make the novel's loneliness feel especially vivid. Its intricate page design rewards slow reading, though some find the density demands real patience.

Reviews

• アメリカンコミックカルチャーの底力

  辞書を片手に何とか読みましたが、１ページごとに最高度のグラフィックアート を見ているかのような素晴らしすぎるビジュアルでした。テーマは決して明るい ものではありませんが、細かいユーモアもたくさん隠されていて、何度読んでも 新しい発見があります。こういった独創的なコンセプトやデザインを持った 作品は日本ではまず見当たらないのでは。

• A masterpiece of graphic literature.

  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.

• Ótimo estado, apesar de usado

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

• Comic als Hochkultur

  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.

• The greatest ever graphic novel?

  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.

• Un clásico instantáneo

  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.

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