Acme Novelty Library #19 (No. 19) (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The penultimate teen issue of the ACME Novelty Library appears this autumn with a new chapter from the electrifying experimental narrative “Rusty Brown,” which examines the life, work, and teaching techniques of one of its central real-life protagonists, W. K. Brown. A previously marginal figure in the world of speculative fiction, Brown’s widely anthologized first story, “The Seeing Eye Dogs of Mars,” garnered him instant acclaim and the coveted White Dwarf Award for Best New Writer when it first appeared in the pages of Nebulous in the late 1950s, but his star was quickly eclipsed by the rise of such talents as Anton Jones, J. Sterling Imbroglio, and others of the so-called psychovisionary movement. (Modern scholarship concedes, however, that they now owe a not inconsequential aesthetic debt to Brown.) New surprises and discoveries concerning the now legendarily reclusive and increasingly influential writer mark this nineteenth number of the ACME Novelty Library, itself a regular award-winning periodical, lauded for its clear lettering and agreeable coloring, which, as any cultured reader knows, are cornerstones of any genuinely serious literary effort. Full color, seventy-eight pages, with hardbound covers, full indicia, and glue, the ACME Novelty Library offers its readers a satisfying, if not thrilling, rocket ride into the world of unkempt imagination and pulse-pounding excitement.

About the Author

CHRIS WARE is the author of Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth and the annual progenitor of the amateur periodical the ACME Novelty Library. An irregular contributor to The New Yorker and The Virginia Quarterly Review,Ware was the first cartoonist chosen to regularly serialize an ongoing story in The New York Times Magazine, in 2005–2006. He edited the thirteenth issue of McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern in 2004 as well as Houghton Mifflin’s Best American Comics for 2007, and his work was the focus of an exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago in 2006.Ware lives in Oak Park, Illinois, with his wife, Marnie, a high-school science teacher, and their daughter, Clara.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 80 pages
• Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly (October 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1897299567
• ISBN-13: 978-1897299562
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #141,986 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Floating Round My Tin Can, October 31, 2008

By	S. Sullivan (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Chris Ware's recent output of work is no doubt his most impressive. Sadly this won't be recognized for a few years. It won't be until these chunks of story that comprise the last few Acme Novelty installments are collected and released in their full form that it will be clear what he is up to. The two books on the horizon are "Building Stories" (a piece of which makes up Acme Novelty Library #18) and "Rusty Brown" which has had now three releases, numbers 16, 17 and now 19.
Rusty Brown himself makes nary an appearance in this volume as the focus is placed instead on Rusty Brown's father, minor science fiction writer W.K. Brown. The work is segmented into two halves, the first being an illustration of one of Brown's science fiction stories, a gripping piece called "The Seeing Eye-Dogs of Mars". There is something very satisfying about seeing Ware tackle science fiction. His art style isn't the most obvious for the genre but the two compliment each other surprisingly well. The novel then progresses into more traditional territory for Ware (which is not to say it isn't emotionally effecting, well observed, and masterfully composed, because it is) and it has the advantage of reflecting back on the opening section. As usual with Ware the book itself is beautifully assembled. Chris Ware is growing leaps and bounds as an artist because he has not lost anything that made his early work special yet has increased his scope as a writer and continues to invent with the form. With each release Ware's status as the best living cartoonist becomes more and more certain while his relative obscurity (considering the emotional power and formal importance of his work) becomes more and more disconcerting. At the very least, this new volume raises the bar for what we can expect from the complete "Rusty Brown."

5.0 out of 5 stars Genius, April 18, 2009

By	pennyless writer (Maryland) - See all my reviews

I can't say how much I love Chris Ware. From the little notes on the outside of the book to the hidden treasures on every page, I can never get bored re-reading and re-reading his works. There's a part in this book where you think he's made a mistake with a woman's hair color at the beginning. And then you realize that it was perfectly deliberate. And that's just one of the subtleties that make Ware's books so delightful. Everything is so careful, and you know how painstaking and painful it is for him to do what he does. And it's so beautiful. I recommend Chris Ware for everyone, including those who don't usually read graphic novels - in fact, especially for those who don't. Because this is a literature that begs to be rediscovered by the masses. And Chris Ware is the perfect ambassador.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Heart Breaks, December 2, 2008

By	K. Dain Ruprecht (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

Another beautiful, strange, achingly sad work by Chris Ware. It is apparently a speculative story about a science fiction writer whose best-known story, "The Seeing Eye Dogs of Mars," is superbly illustrated at the beginning, seamlessly evolving into a reverie of the first very screwed-up "romance" of it's creator, the father of recurring Ware character Rusty Brown. W.F. "Woody" Brown was first seen as the depressed English teacher in #16 and #17, and the backwards chronology now explains his fascination with schoolgirl Alice White. As another reviewer noted, I believe that this Ware fellow is up to something really big and really amazing when all 52 or whatever volumes are completed.