Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth
Encyclopedia
Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth is a widely acclaimed graphic novel
by Chris Ware
, published in 2000. The story was previously serialized in the pages of Ware's comic book
Acme Novelty Library
, between 1995 and 2000 and previous to that, in the alternative Chicago weekly New City.
town over Thanksgiving
weekend. Jimmy is an awkward and cheerless character with an overbearing mother and a very limited social life. Jimmy attempts to escape his unhappiness via an active imagination that gets him into awkward situations. A parallel story set in the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition
of 1893 shows Jimmy's grandfather as a lonely little boy and his difficult relationship with an abusive father, Jimmy's great grandfather. Another storyline shows Jimmy as a lonesome child of divorce, suggesting that this was Jimmy's "real" childhood, while his "Smartest Kid on Earth" adventures are probably his fantasies.
, particularly Jimmy's relationship with his father. Ware met his father only once in adulthood—while 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, the author states it is not an account of his personal life.
s in Jimmy Corrigan include a robot, a bird, a peach, a miniature horse, and a flawed superhero figure.
s, sometimes as his imaginary child genius character, sometimes as an adult. Corrigan began as a child genius character in Ware's early work, but as Ware continued, the child genius strips appeared less frequently, and increasingly followed Corrigan's sad, adult existence.
cited it as "the first formal masterpiece of (the) medium." It has received numerous awards, including:
's Stewie Griffin
character from the animated series Family Guy
and Jimmy Corrigan. Ware has remarked, "[The similarities are] a little too coincidental to be simply, well, coincidental." He further stated, "I don't want a book of seven years' worth of my stuff to become available and then be accused of being a rip-off of Family Guy." 20th Century Fox
insists that Stewie is an entirely original character. In a 2003 interview, Seth MacFarlane said that he had never seen the comic strip before, described the similarities as "pretty shocking" and said that he could see how Ware would reach that conclusion."
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
by Chris Ware
Chris Ware
Franklin Christenson Ware , is an American comic book artist and cartoonist, widely known for his Acme Novelty Library series and the graphic novel Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, he resides in the Chicago area, Illinois...
, published in 2000. The story was previously serialized in the pages of Ware's comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
Acme Novelty Library
Acme Novelty Library
Acme Novelty Library is a comic book series created by Chicago cartoonist Chris Ware. Its first issue appeared in 1993. Published from 1994 by Fantagraphics Books and later self-published, it is considered a significant work in alternative comics, selling over 20,000 copies per issue.-Format, style...
, between 1995 and 2000 and previous to that, in the alternative Chicago weekly New City.
Plot summary
Jimmy Corrigan is a meek, lonely middle aged man who meets his father for the first time in a MichiganMichigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
town over Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
weekend. Jimmy is an awkward and cheerless character with an overbearing mother and a very limited social life. Jimmy attempts to escape his unhappiness via an active imagination that gets him into awkward situations. A parallel story set in the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...
of 1893 shows Jimmy's grandfather as a lonely little boy and his difficult relationship with an abusive father, Jimmy's great grandfather. Another storyline shows Jimmy as a lonesome child of divorce, suggesting that this was Jimmy's "real" childhood, while his "Smartest Kid on Earth" adventures are probably his fantasies.
Autobiographical content
Elements of the novel appear to be autobiographicalAutobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
, particularly Jimmy's relationship with his father. Ware met his father only once in adulthood—while 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, the author states it is not an account of his personal life.
Storytelling techniques
The novel uses numerous flashback scenes and parallel storylines. Many pages are devoid of text, and some contain complex iconic diagrams. Notable leitmotifLeitmotif
A leitmotif , sometimes written leit-motif, is a musical term , referring to a recurring theme, associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical idea of idée fixe...
s in Jimmy Corrigan include a robot, a bird, a peach, a miniature horse, and a flawed superhero figure.
Appearances in other Ware works
In addition to the graphic novel, the character of Jimmy Corrigan has appeared in other Ware comic stripComic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
s, sometimes as his imaginary child genius character, sometimes as an adult. Corrigan began as a child genius character in Ware's early work, but as Ware continued, the child genius strips appeared less frequently, and increasingly followed Corrigan's sad, adult existence.
Recognition
Jimmy Corrigan has been lauded by critics. The New YorkerThe New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
cited it as "the first formal masterpiece of (the) medium." It has received numerous awards, including:
- The Firecracker Alternative Book Award for Graphic Novel
- The American Book AwardAmerican Book AwardThe American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...
, 2001 - The Guardian First Book AwardGuardian First Book AwardGuardian First Book Award, issued before 1999 as Guardian Fiction Prize or Guardian Fiction Award, is awarded to new writing in fiction and non-fiction.-History:...
, 2001, "the first time a graphic novel has won a major UK book award," according to the GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
. - The Harvey AwardHarvey AwardThe Harvey Awards, named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman and founded by Gary Groth, President of the publisher Fantagraphics, are given for achievement in comic books. The Harveys were created as part of a successor to the Kirby Awards which were discontinued after 1987.The Harvey Awards are...
s' Special Award for Excellence in Presentation and Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work, 2001 - The Eisner AwardEisner AwardThe Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, and sometimes referred to as the Oscar Awards of the Comics Industry, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books. The Eisner Awards were first conferred in 1988, created in response to the...
s' Best Publication Design and Best Graphic Album: Reprint, 2001 - The Angoulême FestivalAngoulême International Comics FestivalThe Angoulême International Comics Festival is the largest comics festival in Europe. It has occurred every year since 1974 in Angoulême, France, in the month of January.The four-day festival is notable for awarding several prestigious prizes in cartooning...
's Prize for Best Comic BookAngoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Best Comic BookThe Prize for Best Album , also known as the Golden Wildcat , is awarded to comics authors at the Angoulême International Comics Festival....
, 2003 - The ACBDAssociation des Critiques et des journalistes de Bande DessinéeThe Association des Critiques et des journalistes de Bande Dessinée is a French association of comics, critics and journalists, who gave the Prix Bloody Mary from 1984 to 2003 and the Prix de la critique from 2004 until the present day. Since 2007 it gives the Prix Asie-ACBD during the Japan Expo...
's Prix de la critiquePrix de la critiqueThe Prix de la critique is a prize awarded by the Association des Critiques et des journalistes de Bande Dessinée to the best comic album released for a year in France. Previously, from 1984 to 2003, it was called Prix Bloody Mary and awarded at the Angoulême International Comics Festival...
, 2003 - In 2005, Time chose it as one of the 10 best English language, graphic novels ever writtenTIME's List of the 100 Best NovelsTimes List of the 100 Best Novels, is an unranked list of the 100 best novels—and 10 best graphic novels—published in the English language between 1923 and 2005. The list was compiled by Time critics Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo....
.
Family Guy similarities
Several commentators, including Ware himself, have noted similarities between Seth MacFarlaneSeth MacFarlane
Seth Woodbury MacFarlane is an American animator, writer, comedian, producer, actor, singer, voice actor, and director best known for creating the animated sitcoms Family Guy, American Dad! and The Cleveland Show, for which he also voices many of the shows' various characters.A native of Kent,...
's Stewie Griffin
Stewie Griffin
Stewie Griffin is a fictional character from the animated television series Family Guy. Once obsessed with world domination and matricide, Stewie is the youngest child of Peter and Lois Griffin, and the brother of Chris and Meg....
character from the animated series Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
and Jimmy Corrigan. Ware has remarked, "[The similarities are] a little too coincidental to be simply, well, coincidental." He further stated, "I don't want a book of seven years' worth of my stuff to become available and then be accused of being a rip-off of Family Guy." 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
insists that Stewie is an entirely original character. In a 2003 interview, Seth MacFarlane said that he had never seen the comic strip before, described the similarities as "pretty shocking" and said that he could see how Ware would reach that conclusion."