Craig Thompson, “Good-bye, Chunky Rice”

His first book, before the epic “Blankets,” put this guy on the map as a talented writer and artist. Chunky Rice, a little wide-eyed turtle, is leaving town and leaving his best friend behind. The reflections on moving on and finding your place in the world and missing friends are so thoughtful and touching.

THE LOWDOWN
Published: 1999 (reprint 2004), 128 pp.
Obtained via: Library
Date started: 2.26.07
Date finished: 2.27.07
What I liked: The circular storyline and especially the ending.
What I didn’t like: The dark panels and use of white space is a little hard on my eyes.
What I learned: I now have a parting gift idea for my friends when I eventually move on.
Unresolved question: WHY DOES CRAIG THOMPSON ALWAYS WANT TO MAKE ME CRY?

Chris Ware, “Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth”

I’ve been told “Jimmy Corrigan” is the crown jewel of indie comics, and with good reason. It’s the sad tale of a sad man, and the generations of men before him, with the same name and same sad lives. That’s really simplifying it, of course. Chris Ware easily jumps between the lives of the younger Jimmy’s life and his grandfather’s very similar life. There are so many parallels and levels to this that I’m going to have to read it again just to feel like I get it.

THE LOWDOWN
Published: 2004 (reprint of 2000 hardback), 384 pp
Obtained via: Library
Date started: 2.18.07
Date finished: 2.21.07
What I liked: The realness of the strained conversation, lonliness and heartbreak. The incredibly intricate scenes and storylines.
What I didn’t like: The dang ending! (No spoilers, but Jimmy needs to grow a backbone.)
What I learned: In the epilogue Ware explains the origins of the story and how he drew on his own lack of a relationship with his father while creating the Jimmy Corrigan story as a comic strip in a weekly newspaper.
Unresolved question: Why is his mother’s face unobscured only once? Does Jimmy ever get it together?

Marjorie Hart, “Summer at Tiffany”

I got this advance copy (the book’s not actually out until April) at work, so it wasn’t the final version, and some of the mistakes still in it were annoying. (Like two versions of the same paragraph left in.) But aside from that, it’s a cute book and a very fast read. The author travels in 1945 to New York City with her best friend from college in Iowa to try and get summer jobs. By flexing some connections, they manage to become the first female pages at Tiffany and spend their summer surrounded by blue boxes. It’s not the most masterful writing, but it’s neat to experience NYC from the point of view of a 21-year-old in the last months of World War II.

THE LOWDOWN
Published: 2007, 258pp
Obtained via: Freebie table at work
Date started: 2.15.07
Date finished: 2.18.07
What I liked: The get-up-and-go attitude of a young woman during wartime, the details on 5 cent lunches at the automat and going to parades. Also, the epilogue that tells you what happened to all the characters in the book. (I’m so glad the writer’s best friend is still alive! I would have cried if it had said she was dead.)
What I didn’t like: It reads a bit like a diary, and is interspersed with letters home that often don’t add anything to what the book just told you about. Also, within the first few pages the writer says “an historic…” I know that’s old-school grammar, but it trips me up so badly.
What I learned: Prices for things in 1945; WWII dating customs (aka going to the docks to wait for sailors to get on shore leave).
Unresolved question: Marjorie, the writer, gets an incredible offer to finish her degree at an Ivy League school — but the book completely skips from her meeting a professor from the school who says she should apply for a fellowship to the point where she’s debating what to tell her folks. Did I miss something?

Daniel Clowes, “Ice Haven”

A miserable little boy goes missing in the small town of Ice Haven. Daniel Clowes, who wrote “Ghost World,” is another artist (like Seth and Chris Ware) who make their drawings ambiguous enough that the story could be taking place any time from the 1950s to the 1970s.

THE LOWDOWN
Published: 2005, 88pp
Obtained via: Read at Borders
Date started: 2.10.07
Date finished: 2.10.07
What I liked: The strong, simultaneous storylines and the masterful drawing.
What I didn’t like: Too short!
What I learned: Breaking up a story into comic strip-length pieces doesn’t really hurt the narrative.
Unresolved question: Has the female private detective slept with the whole town?

Seth, “Wimbledon Green”

Seth is the comic artist currently running in the NYT Mag’s Funny Page section. Like Chris Ware, his plots are thorough and historic. You get a real sense of place from his drawings. “Wimbledon Green” is more of a traditional, straightforward style of drawing than the “George Sprott” series. “Wimbledon Green,” the story of a man by the same name, the “greatest comic book collector in the world,” is told in True Hollywood Story format, with soundbites from competitor collectors on where Wimbledon came from, how he got all his comics and whether he is who he says he is.

THE LOWDOWN
Published: 2006, 128 pp.
Obtained via: Library
Date started: 1.6.07
Date finished: 1.6.07
What I liked: The intensive backstory and stories of fake comic books.
What I didn’t like: Sometimes the secondary collectors are difficult to keep straight, as the narration skips between them very quickly sometimes.
What I learned: Some (fictional) folks will go to any lengths for what they love. (Reminds me a little of “110 per cent” there.)
Unresolved question: Who is Wimbledon Green?

Chris Ware, “Acme Novelty Library Vols. 16 and 17″

Chris Ware is the master. Part of his “Building Stories” series (which shows up in the back of Vol. 16) was in The New York Times Magazine’s Funny Pages from September 2005 to April 2006, and Ware edited the McSweeney’s all-comics 13th issue.
His schematic, cinematic style of drawing reveals so many details that you almost have to read each of his books twice or three times to really drink it all in. In these two volumes, the main focus is on Rusty Brown, an unloveable, awkward 8-year-old who dreams of his Supergirl action figure coming alive. His world changes one day (which is all the two volumes cover, exhaustively) by two newcomers arriving at his school. Alice White catches the eyes of teachers and stoners alike, while her little brother, Chalky, is even dorkier than Rusty and offers him the hope of not being the focus of the bullies’ attention all the time.

THE LOWDOWN
Published: 2006, 64 and 64 highly condensed pages
Obtained via: Curt
Date started: 1.4.07
Date finished: 1.6.07
What I liked: The simultaneous action in Vol. 16 and minute detail of these kids’ first day of school. You can feel the awkwardness, and the subplots with the teachers make you wonder what was really going on at your school.
What I didn’t like: How some of his funny notes are written in what looks like 2pt. type. Don’t make me get bifocals, man!
What I learned: School sucks for everybody.
Unresolved question: When do I get to read more Rusty Brown?

Tony Consiglio, “110 per¢”

I picked this up on a whim because i always judge books by their covers, and it turned out to be a fantastic choice. Cathy, Gerty and Sasha are middle-aged fans of boy band 110 per¢, and their obsession causes conflict with their acquaintances and loved ones.

THE LOWDOWN
Published: 2006, 136 pp.
Obtained via: Copacetic
Date started: 1.3.07
Date finished: 1.3.07
What I liked: How no punches are pulled. The music’s fluffy, but the situations aren’t. Consiglio’s not afraid to use dark humor. See: The only straight male fan of 110 per¢.
What I didn’t like: That it wasn’t longer. “110 per¢” is a really fast read.
What I learned: Don’t steal. Family first.
Unresolved question: What inspired this story?

Jeffrey Brown, “Every Girl is the End of the World For Me”

Like the other Jeffrey Brown’s “Unlikely,” “Every Girl…” is about him and his attempts at dating various girls, except by this time he’s amassed a bit of a history and includes a glossary at the beginning to keep them straight.

THE LOWDOWN
Published: 2005, 104 pp.
Obtained via: Copacetic
Date started: 1.2.07
Date finished: 1.2.07
What I liked: Like before, I like the candid conversation.
What I didn’t like: But Brown transcribes every cough, um, heh and haw. It doesn’t quite deliver on the super-emo title.
What I learned: Allisyn, the girl in “Clumsy,” read about herself, apparently!
Unresolved question: Do girls date him, knowing they’ll get drawn in his comics in a few months?