Sometimes I feel I take Chris Ware for granted. Though I can't see myself ever giving a book of his less than 4 stars here, just on the merits of craftsmanship and storytelling evident in everything he does, it's not often I'm completely awed by the totality of a single one of his books. This time out is clearly different.From the start of book 19, it's clear we're in for something a little out of the ordinary of the more recent Acme books. We're launched straight into a space opera involving settlers on Mars, 'The Seeing-Eye Dogs of Mars.' On its own, this is a terrific story, full of the bleak outlook we've come to expect from Ware, but it's taken to another level with the continuation/explanation into Rusty Brown: Youth, and Middle Age. This is not exactly a chapter in the Rusty Brown story, but rather the story of his father 'Woody,' the authour of the Mars story.This part of the book focuses mainly on Woody's early days in Omaha, and what would prove the inspiration for his sole published output, framed as reminiscence by his older self (as father to Rusty and teacher at a high school). Needless to say, it's not a nice story, and at times more than a little puzzling, but that's what we've come to expect from Ware.The volume wraps up with the short prose 'Syzygy,' a 'lost' story from Brown, from a VERY small print-run magazine in the 70s. It's another brilliantly constructed science fiction, echoing the obsession that built the Mars story as well.This is a beautifully made story, in the usual stunning Ware 'package.' If it has a single flaw, it's the uncharacteristically overt political statement made in a parodic ad on the back cover; it's out of place here, but an interesting look at what else Ware does with his time. Just when you think you've left all those ugly, awkward adolescent moments behind you, something like this comes along and BANG! it all comes floating back up like a bloated corpse. The best Rusty Brown episode so far. The corniness of his science fiction is heart-breakingly honest and seems to act as a metaphor for Mr. Ware's struggle to "write a powerful, deeply engaging, richly detailed epic with a series of limericks", as he once described cartooning. And Ware's masterful account of Brown's first sexual experiences are a reminder of the emotional richness of superficial crushes.
What do You think about Acme Novelty Library #19 (2010)?
Rusty Brown is so much better than the amputee in the house. Yes.
—tnbeck
Loved this. Incredible art and manipulation of the genre.
—Phil
