Chris Ware

Chris Ware, one of many artists whose work has appeared in Raw magazine, has drawn for many publications, including New City and the New York Times. He was inspired by Joost Swarte and other European "clear line" artists as well as the classical American newspaper comics. But Ware also has a lot of his own ideas. He is particularily famous for his 'Miniature Workings', do-it-yourself kits integrated in his comics, like his 'The Acme Novelty Library', in which the reader has to assemble a bookshelf and the books to put in it. Many fans are now addicted to these stylish kits. Chris Ware is a master of composition and color and held to be one of the bright hopes of the American comic.

Franklin Christenson Ware was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and published his first strips (including 'Floyd Farland: Citizen of the Future' and 'Quimby the Mouse') in the comics section of The Daily Texan, the student newspaper of the University of Texas, in the late 1980s. He self-published comic books like 'Lonely Comics and Stories' and digests of his 'Quimby the Mouse' stories. Ware's work was eventually noted by Art Spiegelman, who invited him to contribute to his RAW anthologies. Ware additionally published in the Chicago daily New City, as well as the Chicago Reader.

Ware's collaboration with Fantagraphics Books led to his innovative series 'Acme Novelty Library', which featured reprints of Ware's older stuff and new work. Older characters like 'Quimby the Mouse' reappeared, and new ones were introduced, such as 'Rusty Brown'. The artist's critically acclaimed graphic novel 'Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth' was also first serialized in this collection, before being published in a book by Fantagraphics in 2000.

Ware's series 'Building Stories' has appeared in magazines like Nest Magazine, The New Yorker, Kramer's Ergot and the Sunday New York Times Magazine. Ware has also been involved in the Drawn & Quarterly and Fantagraphics reprints of classic series like 'Gasoline Alley', 'Walt and Skeezix' and 'Krazy Kat'.

Chris Ware on CNN

CNN Book News did a review of 'Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth,' and linked to our Chris Ware virtual exhibition in Oct. 2000.