ArchivesSpace at the University of Iowa

Scope and Contents The Sackners saw the story boards for this book on display at the Whitney Bienalle in 2002. The Sackner copy is the first edition of the book.From Booklist, Gordon Flagg wrote: "Ware's hero is a doughy, middle-aged loser who retreats into fantasies that he is "The Smartest Kid on Earth." The minimal plot involves Jimmy's tragicomic reunion with the father who abandoned him in childhood. In abruptly juxtaposed flashbacks, Ware depicts previous generations of Corrigan males, revealing how their similar histories of rejection and abandonment culminated in Jimmy's hapless state. What makes the slight story remarkable is Ware's command of the comics medium. His crisp, painstaking draftsmanship, which sets cartoonish figures in meticulously detailed architectural settings, is matched by his formal brilliance. Ware effectively uses tiny, repetitive panels to convey Jimmy's limited existence, then suddenly bursts a page open with expansive, breathtaking vistas. His complex, postmodern...

Scope and Contents

This is the first issue (although numbered 3) of a made-up library periodical newsletter that consists mostly of comic strips rendered by Ware. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Scope and Contents

This book consists of images, text and poems bordered by various size rectangles. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.