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bryanzk's review
5.0
life is a bitch like the moment that you scrapped your car when you are parking the 100 times..
uosdwisrdewoh's review
4.0
When Chris Ware announced that his next long work after "Jimmy Corrigan" would be "Rusty Brown," it seemed odd. Rusty had previously appeared in gag strips making fun of the collector mentality. And Rusty--an obese middle-aged man who constantly conspires to rip off his only friend, Chalky White--appeared to be an unlikely candidate to be fleshed out in long form. But I shouldn't have doubted Ware.
This first chapter of what looks to be a very long work (six years later, he's only on the fourth chapter) takes us in awesome cinematic fashion back to Rusty's childhood, on the day he meets Chalky. The eccentricities that come up later in adulthood are still there in childhood. Rusty's friendless, painfully introverted, and obsessed with his toys. But while Rusty himself is still kind of a disagreeable kid, the characters around him, like his father and his teacher, come to life. Knowing now that these supporting characters will largely take over the narrative in later chapters, I really appreciate the quiet groundwork Ware set up with this opening chapter.
This first chapter of what looks to be a very long work (six years later, he's only on the fourth chapter) takes us in awesome cinematic fashion back to Rusty's childhood, on the day he meets Chalky. The eccentricities that come up later in adulthood are still there in childhood. Rusty's friendless, painfully introverted, and obsessed with his toys. But while Rusty himself is still kind of a disagreeable kid, the characters around him, like his father and his teacher, come to life. Knowing now that these supporting characters will largely take over the narrative in later chapters, I really appreciate the quiet groundwork Ware set up with this opening chapter.
jeffhall's review
4.0
Another astonishing title from Chris Ware, one of the handful of real geniuses working in the medium of graphic novels today. While thematically similar to Jimmy Corrigan, Ware's earlier and longer work in the same medium, The ACME Novelty Library #16 is perhaps even more melancholy. Ware's technique is familiar to anyone who has read Jimmy Corrigan, in that he weaves together the separate story lines of several characters who are all living diminished lives, full of regret and loss. Nonetheless, as with Jimmy Corrigan, there is a note of hopefulness here, a sense that these unhappy lives can be salvaged if these wounded characters can just learn to acknowledge and communicate with each other. This sort of emotionally charged narrative can be fraught with mushiness, silliness, and simple mindedness, but Ware is talented enough and sure enough in his aim to hit the target without bringing along the detritus so familiar from similar tales born of lessor creators. Taken altogether, The ACME Novelty Library #16 is another triumph for the hugely talented Ware.
levitybooks's review
5.0
For once it's hard to describe why I like this so much but I do. The way the narrative just splits and comes back together again, to such human scenarios, is just really enjoyable.
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