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Chris Ware: The Smartest Kid on Earth

This article considers the impact of the graphic novel through the prism of selected work made by contemporary artist Chris Ware. The paper was proposed in response to developing publishing and consumer trends identified by the authors, which suggested that the contemporary graphic novel was to become an important literary vehicle to explore ideas and visions through text and image. The research question asked: Can contemporary graphic novels be developed using experimental structural processes that engage readerships in innovative ways? The graphic novels created by Chris Ware were the primary focus for this study, including 'Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid on Earth' and 'Quimby the Mouse'.

¶ Primary research conducted through interview with the artist (2008), his editor and publisher identified that Ware's work encapsulates powerful emotions and statements, which the paper explains against the context of Ware’s desire for comics to be "read" rather than "seen" in a semiotic context. The paper explores synergies and conflicts presented to the reader through his explorative use of the medium, whilst cross-referencing the historical paradigms established by Winsor McCay and Frank King in the field of comic studies. It articulates the view that authors and artists working in the cross-disciplinary world of the graphic novel can successfully express "unwritten" subtexts, such as emotion, intrigue and desire. Previous studies of Ware (Raeburn 2004) have tended to focus on the history of narrative structure. This paper focuses analysis on Ware’s use of multi-functioning frames, which, by offering alternative directions of reading, acknowledges the contemporary condition that interacts with technology and has changed the way material is read.

¶ This paper was presented at the 'International Conference of the Book' in Madrid and published in the conference proceedings.