- Hardcover: 382 pages
- Publisher: Fantagraphics; First Edition edition (10 Feb 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0375404538
- ISBN-13: 978-0375404535
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 3.7 x 17 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,289,902 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Time Out
‘...a dazzlingly handsome book with every detail lovingly attended..demanding, disturbing, funny and exciting. Oh yes, and essential.’
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Art Spiegelman, author of Maus
‘This new book seems to be another milestone in the demonstration of what comics can be.’
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
JIMMY, COME ON! Read the first page
Front Cover | Excerpt | Back Cover
JIMMY, COME ON! Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I should probably have bought this book, but borrowed it from the library instead. I'd picked it up a few times in bookshops but always put it back. Something about it was just off putting. Now I have read it, I realise I need to buy a copy to read again next year. And the year after and the year after.
The story is nothing much, really. Jimmy Corrigan, a middle aged, desperately unhappy man, travels to meet the father he never knew, and meets the sister he never knew he had. His mother remains behind, with her unceasing demands upon him. At the same time, his ancestor is growing up at the end of the nineteenth century, as they are building the Worlds Fair.
The drawings are fine, the story is fine. Three stars, no problem.
But something about it grabs hold and doesn't let go. It's the loneliness, the desperation and the search for something meaningful to cling onto that makes this stand out from the crowd. The visual style is sparse and minimal, which just fits the subject matter.
It's not something that is incredibly enjoyable as such, but it is powerful, strangely affecting and lingers long in the mind.
Well, well worth a look.
The story is nothing much, really. Jimmy Corrigan, a middle aged, desperately unhappy man, travels to meet the father he never knew, and meets the sister he never knew he had. His mother remains behind, with her unceasing demands upon him. At the same time, his ancestor is growing up at the end of the nineteenth century, as they are building the Worlds Fair.
The drawings are fine, the story is fine. Three stars, no problem.
But something about it grabs hold and doesn't let go. It's the loneliness, the desperation and the search for something meaningful to cling onto that makes this stand out from the crowd. The visual style is sparse and minimal, which just fits the subject matter.
It's not something that is incredibly enjoyable as such, but it is powerful, strangely affecting and lingers long in the mind.
Well, well worth a look.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Jimmy Corrigan is an above-average comic but please, for god's sake, do not buy the paperback edition! As I'm reading it the first time, the book is falling apart. This is not cool, since the comic itself it great. I wish I'd thrown in those extra bucks and bought the hardcover.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought this on a whim the other day and I was rather pleased with the work. A very detailed piece of literature - both in the art and the storytelling - it revolves around several generations of men named James Corrigan. The author started drawing the character for a weekly newspaper with no intention of turning it into a volume - and it shows. (The characters look a bit different from beginning to end, and the plot takes a good 50 pages to kick in.) The best moments are those from the eyes of the child versions of Corrigan - as his character is so socially impaired as an adult it becomes excruciating to sympathize with him. (I still don't fully understand why he's called 'The Smartest Kid on Earth.') But a bittersweet ending and lucious drawings on every page, its a unique experience worth checking out. Grab a soda and read it at the bookstore, but don't shell out the cash unless you've a bit accustomed to the graphic novel format, as the style of this book will surely test you!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A weird but creative graphic novel
I read a few glowing reviews of Jimmy Corgan: The Smartest Kid on Earth before I bought it, but now having read it, I think it's fair warning to say this won't be everyone's cup of... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Maciej K. Wasilewicz
Very, very good indeed
Almost perfect. Almost. In my opinion, it gets a bit too clean and ordinary towards the end and loses the denseness that makes three quarters of the book an absolute... Read more
Published on 22 Aug 2008 by Bogdan Tiganov
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Who would have thought that I'd be moved to tears by a series of artfully arranged lines on a piece of paper? Read more
Published on 4 Sep 2006 by Salman Beadle
Style over substance.
This book to me, and Chris Ware on the whole, sometimes feels a bit like he's more interested in re-inventing the form of comics than telling a story. Read more
Published on 9 Feb 2005 by A. Robertson
Haunting. And very funny.
Don't listen to those people who have badmouthed Jimmy Corrigan. Their criticisms are, to be honest, infantile at best. Read more
Published on 14 Sep 2004
If you never read another graphic novel...
The term “graphic novel” is one that is thrown around much too frequently. I would argue that most are just lengthy comics. Read more
Published on 12 Feb 2004 by TJ Ripp
Boring
At the first glance I liked the drawings en graphic design. When I started reading I got very bored by the tale and sometimes by the hardly understandable links to story and... Read more
Published on 28 Aug 2003 by Laurens Reitsma
An Excellent Graphic Novel
A bizarre, unique and incredibly good graphic novel. I read it on a random book-buying spree, and think it is one of the best things I've read for many a year. Read more
Published on 14 July 2003
Don't believe the hype...
For some reason this book won the Guardian's first novel award. I can only think the person bestowing this award has never read a well written comic in their life and somehow... Read more
Published on 4 July 2003 by Nessy76
The most innovative and moving comic book I've ever read
Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth is the story of a lonely man living in Chicago who is contacted out of the blue by his long lost father. Read more
Published on 5 Oct 2000
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