Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid on Earth Hardcover Collection
Graphic Novel by Chris Ware
isbn 9780375404535

380 color pages with amazing graphics

This first book from Chicago author Chris Ware is a pleasantly-decorated view at a lonely and emotionally-impaired "everyman" (Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth), who is provided, at age 36, the opportunity to meet his father for the first time. An improvisatory romance which gingerly deports itself between 1890's Chicago and 1980's small town Michigan, the reader is helped along by thousands of colored illustrations and diagrams, which, when read rapidly in sequence, provide a convincing illusion of life and movement. The bulk of the work is supported by fold-out instructions, an index, paper cut-outs, and a brief apology, all of which concrete to form a rich portrait of a man stunted by a paralyzing fear of being disliked.

The only real flaw with this book is that the price tag from the store is still attached to the back of the book.

This, quite possibly, is one of the best graphic novels, ever. A treasure.

"Ware may be the best cartoonist of his generation, and Jimmy Corrigan, seven years in the making, is his masterpiece." Men's Journal

"Graphically inventive, wonderfully realized. . . [Jimmy Corrigan] is wonderfully illustrated in full color, and Ware's spare, iconic drawing style can render vivid architectural complexity or movingly capture the stark despondency of an unloved child." Publishers Weekly

"This haunting and unshakable book will change the way you look at your world." Time