Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not just for comic-book lovers, 29 Dec 2005
By A Customer
This stunning book is one that quite literally has to be read from cover to cover. The amount of imagination and attention to detail that Chris Ware puts into this work is staggering, and you can be lost for hours in the articles, phoney adverts and delicious comic strips that fill the pages. Indeed there's so much variation in the content of this book that you never know what's coming next when you turn the page. There's a section of cut-out-and make activities but there's no way you'd ever do that; this publication is too beautiful to take a knife to. Quimby Mouse makes an appearance, and some pages appear at first glance to be front pages of newspapers. The most stunning double page however has to be the author's re-interpretation of the constellations, which does actually glow in the dark to give you a guide to night sky viewing. This is no story book, but really is a joy to dip into or alternatively to devour in several hours of absorbed reading. It is humourous and evocative and will take a proud place on my bookshelf. Or if you're not a keen comic-book fan, I'm sure it will be equally treasured as the best book you've kept next to the toilet, ever.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hilarious, but with the occasional misfire, 3 May 2007
This is a collection of comic strips and fake advertisements/articles by Chris Ware (of Jimmy Corrigan fame). The comic strips are drawn in Ware's inimitably stylised fashion and the humour is dark, commonly based around the tragedies of everyday adult life or growing up.
I like the Quimby the Mouse strips (as I expected to, being a fan of Ware's larger collection of Quimby strips "Quimby the Mouse") but was pleasantly surprised by the Rusty Brown and Milky White strips, about a pair of boys who collect toys, getting increasingly obsessive about them as they grow up. By adulthood, Rusty Brown is still living with his parents obsessing about the toys, while Chalky White has started a family and decelerated his interest in toys, caring less about action figures and more about being happy with his wife. It's a brilliant series of strips, which I could really relate to as a collector of items myself and someone who knows many people who take such collections too seriously.
However, the text-dense pages of fake advertisements and articles are not only difficult to read but, I felt, not actually very amusing. They constitute maybe 10% of the book and certainly oughtn't to be skipped over completely (there are still a few comedy gems in there) but did let the book down as a whole. Part of the joke in these sections is the prolix use of language, emphasised by the tiny font allowing more space for all those extraneous words. Unfortunately this can feel like a one-shot gag as you read yet another 2 inch square text box absolutely rammed with words that really don't say anything that the previous one didn't.
This contrast between decadent, large comics and dense, witty prose is definitely a deliberate tonal choice though and the collection overall works magnificently as a dip into book of wet Sunday afternoon entertainment.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book is Genius!, 24 Sep 2005
Chris Ware is a Genius!!!! I absolutely love his work and this is a must for all Chris Ware fans, and perfect for those who are just beginning to learn the ways of the Ware.
Essentially, this book is a collection of the individual Acme Novelty books that have been published through the years. Individually, these are hard (and expensive) to come by, so having them all re-printed in one book is a great idea.The book includes many of his comic strips and sketches, his brilliant and hilarious fake adverts and the famous cut-out models. Sadly, the mechanical cat one seems to be missing, which otherwise would have made this book the ultimate Chris Ware book. Chris Ware's style is dark and pretty depressing, but very funny and incredibly well executed. I could spend all day looking at this book. For those that already own the award-winning Jimmy Corrigan and/or the Acme Novelty Note book, this book does offer something different so is well worth the purchase. More so considering its amazing price!!
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