Chris Ware Interview
March 22, 2011 11:09 AM   Subscribe

An interview with Chris Ware from May 2010 at the international Copenhagen comics festival. Ware is the creator of Acme Novelty Library and Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth. (via kottke) Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
posted by BitterOldPunk (9 comments total) 24 users marked this as a favorite
 
By far the best thing I've ever read on Chris Ware is The Imp #3, by Daniel Raeburn. It certainly helped me to appreciate him, if not exactly enjoy him.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 11:20 AM on March 22, 2011


Thank you for posting this. Chris Ware is beyond awesome.
posted by JLovebomb at 11:36 AM on March 22, 2011


In other recent Chris Ware news, I enjoyed this review of Tiny Tim's "Lost and Found" by Ware's 6-year-old daughter.

(If anyone's in Chicago this week, Chris Ware will be speaking on a panel at the Small Press and Comics Symposium this Thursday. Full disclosure: I know the organizers of the event. If this counts as a self link then by all means delete away)
posted by theodolite at 11:45 AM on March 22, 2011 [2 favorites]


Chris Ware is easily my favorite living artist (even if he fills me with despondency and existential dread.) Thanks for sharing!
posted by Homeskillet Freshy Fresh at 11:50 AM on March 22, 2011


It's striking how often Ware starts talking about some idea that's a little bit complex or ambitious, and then instantly dismisses it as "idiocy" or "art-school nonsense."
posted by twirlip at 12:23 PM on March 22, 2011 [1 favorite]


Perfect timing! I spent hours last night reading Jimmy Corrigan. Nothing like what I expected! I can't wait to pore through this.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 12:48 PM on March 22, 2011


The man is awesome, but i never really got behind his whole totall dismissal of formal art education.
posted by Blisterlips at 2:29 PM on March 22, 2011


This is really interesting, cheers.

CW: I’m just trying to get a sense of reality and the sort of rhythms that dominate or define human conversation. And when I construct a page, I read it over and over and over again to if there are any false moments in there. If it feels acted or forced I’ll change it, or sometimes I’ll add an extra panel just to get at something that feels akin to the way human conversation or human interaction feels to me, and the kind of awkward moments, and the blips and jerks, pauses, head scratches and that sort of stuff. It can get a little overwrought, but at the same time I was just trying to create a sense of that awkwardness, which happens especially when you are meeting people for the first time, and you’ve built it up in your mind.

I think awkward silences and broken conversations, that sort of fumbling staring emptiness that seems to fill up almost ever conversation I have with anyone else, are one of the things comics can do better than almost anything else.
posted by dng at 2:55 PM on March 22, 2011


Which is funny cause I've always found his stuff kinda uniquely false and forced and I thought that was the point.
posted by The Whelk at 3:30 PM on March 22, 2011


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