Reading Comics

nudawn:

Graphic novel! NICE!  I like that you took my post literally but you still came with quality.  I’ll thumb through this one and i’ll let you know if i decide to purchase it.  I have the American Splendor anthologies but not sure if graphic novels are my bag.

The story explores themes of discontent and alienation, especially within families. Elements of the novel seem autobiographical, particularly in passages about Jimmy’s estranged relationship with his father (Ware only met his father once in adulthood, during the period he was working on this book, and has remarked that his father’s attempts at humor and casualness were not unlike those he’d already created for Jimmy’s father in the book). However, it should not be read as a direct account of Ware’s personal life. There are also manyflashback scenes, including a substantial narrative set in the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. The 1893 sections follow Jimmy’s grandfather as a lonely little boy and his difficult relationship with an abusive father (Jimmy’s great grandfather). As several elements from the past and the present eventually intersect, albeit subtly, it can be said that the book is also a Corrigan family chronicle.

Ware’s novel, like his other work, is heavy with symbolism and visual storytelling, exploring and demonstrating the potential of the comics medium. Many pages are devoid of text, and some contain complex iconic diagrams. Notable leitmotifs in Jimmy Corrigan include the robot, the bird, the peach, the miniature horse, and the flawed Super-Man figure (seen also as a father figure and as God).