I think Chris Ware might be single-handedly responsible for the comics trend of using words and phrases like “THUS” and “AND SO” to humorous affect. THEREFORE: Thank you, Chris Ware!

Speaking of Chris Ware, over winter break I was able to meet up with Scott Donaldson, a Carleton senior who also loves making comics (he co-founded the Carleton Comics Journal, which my dad happened to send me a copy of last fall), and is a huge Ware fan.  We were introduced over the internet by way of my friend Becca’s little brother Daniel, who also goes to Carleton, and worked at Hogan Brothers over the summer with Scott and my sister Phoebe (I used to work at Hogan Brothers too…it’s a very small town).  Scott was kind enough to loan me his copies of Acme Novelty Library #18 and #19.  They were incredible!

#18 provided me with more reasons to never travel to space, and also gave a wonderfully sly argument against anyone who might argue that literature is a higher art form than comics.

I’d seen selections from #19 in two different comics anthologies; it was great to finally read the whole thing from start to finish. I was really awed by Ware’s ability to write a character so far outside himself. “Jimmy Corrigan” is obviously a masterpiece, but it’s easy to see Jimmy as a Ware parody, with all his worst traits blown out of all proportion (Ware says as much himself in the back of the book: that he wrote the book as a kind of therapy to work out his own issues with having a long-estranged father). But the protagonist in #19 is not quite so close to home, and yet Ware writes her absolutely beautifully. This is a skill at which I wish I was better. Perhaps it’s just that I’m still young (and therefore really egocentric), but I just don’t seem to be interested in much outside of autobiography right now.

(I actually don’t think it’s just ego; I’ve mentioned before that I have a strong interest in nonfiction, reflexive documentary, creative journalism, etc.  I suspect my work will always reflect that.  But that’s no reason not to be totally bowled over by good fiction.)

Anyway. It was great to meet Scott, and great to borrow his comics! Just one more excellent interaction with the world of cartoonists.