personal favourite acme ad follows
BITTERNESS
Just when you thought that your days of suffering on the playground were over, that upon reaching adulthood all the torment and emotional pain of competition would finally dissolve away, that the cruel boys and girls who wouldn't let you sit with them at lunch might finally invite you to join them for a game of minature golf - you learn that these are the same people who are now the spiteful meanies vying with you for jobs, sexual partners, and social notoriety. Even those "emotional castaways" who shared similar blubbery sessions of solitude in the dust of their own playground exiles are now vicious little assholes too. In fact, these "artists" have such a highly-developed sense of injustice that they're some of the most dangerous ones out there. It's painful, but true. And the only way for you to get what you want and what you deserve out of life is to be a nastier fuck than everyone else is. Become more interested in the mechanisms of social interaction and how you can manipulate people rather than the simpering pastime of kindly "exchanging cordialities". Imbue every glance and every comment with hateful double meaning as you seek out your opponents and vow to crush them with merciless vengeance. There are so many different ways for you to exercise this integral facet of your adulthood, in fact, that you're definitely going to need a lifetime supply of some sort of fuel to get you through it, and nothing could be more useful in keeping your ire up than maintaining a rich store of bitterness, and so we offer it here, in bulk, for those who may be sensing mild regret, humility, or just plain spiritual flaccidity. In grinding your teeth away wishing shit up the nose of those who are just as desperate and miserable and disappointed in how things are shaping up as you are, you'll breathe easy in the morning knowing that your supply of bitterness is ready to go when you are. Take some on the road your next vacation, business convention, or family visit, and make sure you "get your due". Keeps fresh in regular picnic cooler for 48 hours, or store in icebox for longer vendettas. Thaws and refreezes indefinitely. Packages of four.
No. 4320. "COMPETITIVE SPIRIT"...........................................$1.00

apologies for the lack of any meaningful content upon first submission.

Ware is surprisingly versatile when it comes to artistic style, as evidenced by the contents of the Acme Novelty Library (and elsewhere, such as BLAB!, a comics anthology and the SPX expo collection):

  • 'quimby the mouse' - simple, wordless stick men/mice acting out mundane tragedies
  • panels linked by flowcharts and diagrams - enabling one to immediately grasp actions feelings and situations, over time, at a (deceptive) glance - pushing the envelope for the fields of both graphic design and comics
  • '1930's Jimmy style' - in the style of the early action comics, somewhat subverting the idea of the "super-man"
  • 'Potato Man' - a simple, scratchy style - seen used to illustrate himself as a child
  • 'sketchbook style' - similar in feel, but with far more details and pencil than the above
  • and let's not forget his city and country landscapes (for J Corrigan) - with their fixed rigid geometries, houses have never seemed less appealing.
add to this a great sense of color theory and its ambient effects.

many of his characters and stories regard childhood, obsession and the painful effects of growing up - note:
1) 'Rusty Brown & Chalky White' - 2 anal-obsessive middle-aged toy collectors neither of whom have yet had a meaningful relationship and instead distract themselves with the speculative (read: emotional) value of childhood gewgaws
2) The novelty catalog - horrible horrible points about real life cynically brought to you through the advertising of novelty 'fetus balloons' for kids, etc
3) Jimmy Corrigan himself - fatherless, rudderless and with a near-neurosis regarding other people. In the collected J.C.'s bio notes, Ware stated that although he had an absent, mostly anonymous father, the graphic novel is only as auto-bio as that. You can infer what you like about Ware's personality, but I believe he was at one point some kind of Jimmy.

i must note though, as a graphic designer Ware was more than happy to change the dimensions and look of every issue - making them near impossible to store unless you had the ($150!) display stand in which to keep them. which is why i waited for the graphic novel.

damn his eyes.