A review by ponycanyon
The Acme Novelty Library, Number 20 by Chris Ware

5.0

BLUGH. It's almost painful to read Ware right now - he's the greatest living cartoonist doing his best work, and it's just BRAIN and SOUL-melting. Taking time out from his ongoing "Rusty Brown" epic (which, when finally finished and compiled, will split the entire universe in half and render all human narrative obsolete - it's THAT ridiculously good in toto, the greatest work of art that will have ever been rendered by mankind's craven hand) to tell the entire life story from birth to death of a minor character (Jordan Lint, who bullies Rusty Brown in one panel). Jordan is just a classical every-shitheel, from bullying child to stoner teen to college frat burnout to corporate raider/philandering family man adult - and yet, in spite of his complete lack of redeeming qualities or justifications, Ware treats and renders Lint with as much humanity, compassion, and pathos as Rusty or Jimmy Corrigan before him. Ware's layouts have gotten even more bonkers - he's almost in his FRACTAL phase, spraying boxes large and small all over the page with nary a "so...," arrow, or "and then..." to guide the reader as in previous installments.