quimby the mouse

quimby the mouse, by chris ware

as you can see, the library had more than just one chris ware book - i found this one on a different floor to the graphic novels in amongst the books on illustration (i found 'in the shadow of no towers' by Spiegelman up there once too), so i got it as well.

so now, if you have already read the review of 'the acme novelty library' i just did, then you'll be asking yourself, "hang on, i thought he found ware a little bit too depressing." and you'd have a point, but i am so attracted by his artwork and book design that i can't help it, and i'm happy to annouce that quimby the mouse didn't leave me feeling quite so depressed. but it still has sadness in shovel-loads and my earlier comments still stand.

nonetheless, to reinforce my main opinion on ware - overall this is an astonishing piece of work. not least of all if you are just wanting to check out brilliant artwork - ware has an amazing ability to use both minimalism and pain-staking detail to striking effect.

this volume is a kind of survey of his early work (early 90s). the book looks back on two levels - 1. because it is a retrospective, and 2. because so much of ware's work seems to be dealing with his own childhood and past. but despite being a retrospective, it doesn't seem 'juvenile' at all, which shows that ware's been brilliant for ages.

on the stereo: 'don't look back' (wow, that's ironic) by telepopmusik, from the album 'angel milk'. www.telepopmusik.fr