Acme Novelty Library #20 (Graphic Novel)

by Chris Ware

Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly (November 9, 2010).

Hardcover, 72 pages

Anyone who is even remotely interested in independent comics must be, at least peripherally aware of the Acme Novelty Library. It is the brainchild of Chris Ware, an artist without parallel. It can honestly be said that no one puts together comics like he does. The attention to detail and physical construction of the comic is immaculate. Each panel portrays a depth of feeling and loneliness. Each is poignant and sublime. Taken together it is an overall work of human suffering and loss. 

Like all of Ware’s stories, this is not a triumph of the human spirit. It is a story of the weariness of life, of one man continuing to trundle through the world despite loss after loss. The protagonist, Jordan (or Jason) Lint is not a likeable person, in fact he would usually be the heavy, the antagonist, of most normal stories. He is a bully, a cheat, a white collar criminal, but he is also human. He has genuine love beyond himself and his story is the struggle in his soul between good and evil- this is often personified when he calls himself Jason (evil) or Jordan (good), and when Lint is clad in either blue (good) or red (red). Unfortunately, evil seems to triumph mostly in Lint’s tale.

Despite an unpleasant main character, we see his entire life unfold and see the forces shaping Jordan Lint into the terrible person he was to become. He hate him, we sympathize with him, we are sorry to see him go. All in it all, it was a life. No more, no less.

            For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.