Jimmy Corrigan. The Smartest Kid on Earth

Coupes d'immeuble, histoires étage par étage, flashbacks et narrations parallèles, les récits se mêlent et se répondent pour conter les interactions sociales d'un voisinage de Chicago. Relations familiales, liaisons amoureuses, séduction, paternité, éducation, les thématiques se développent au gré des choix du lecteur et construisent un récit fin et sensible. Une oeuvre inclassable et indicible.

Un matin de 1921, Walt, célibataire endurci et mécano amateur, ouvre sa porte et découvre, abandonné sur son perron, un nouveau-né : Skeezix. Chef d'oeuvre de Frank King, le strip "Walt & Skeezix", démarre en réalité dès 1918, comme la chronique, titrée "Gasoline Alley", d'une middle-class américaine passionnée d'automobile. Mais l'apparition du bébé Skeezix bouleverse tout cet univers, y compris l'approche de Frank King qui décide, à partir de là, de faire vieillir les personnages au rythme de la parution des strips. Dès lors, les jours qui passent dictent la cadence d'un double apprentissage, de la paternité pour ce vieux garçon un poil empoté, de la vie pour Skeezix - ses premiers pas, son entrée à l'école puis, des années plus tard, son départ pour la guerre... Profondément touchante, cette série dresse ainsi, avec humour et tendresse, les contours de ce qui fait la vie ordinaire et le quotidien, offrant au lecteur un double, un reflet dans lequel reconnaître et apprécier son existence. Le présent livre propose une sélection des plus belles pages du dimanche de Frank King : superbes respirations au strip quotidien - de grand format et en couleurs - elles rendent grâce à ses talents de dessinateur. Promenades, baignades ou parties de campagne : ces pages mettent en avant les joies de l'enfance, les jours heureux des vacances, pendant lesquels la relation filiale se construit avec finesse. Publiées entre 1921 et 1934, ces quatre-vingts planches offrent un aperçu passionnant de cette oeuvre vertigineuse et composent une porte d'entrée idéale vers un univers riche et délicat, dont se réclament Chris Ware et les plus grand auteurs anglo-saxons actuels. Immense classique du strip américain, "Walt & Skeezix" traverse enfin l'Atlantique ; il était plus que temps.

Résumé : " Soft City ", du dessinateur norvégien Hariton Pushwagner est un joyau du graphic novel, une dystopie unique en noir et blanc qui retrace la journée ubuesque d'un cadre moyen dans une mégalopole anonyme, au beau milieu des années 1970. Le trait unique de Pushwagner, alors tout juste adulte, bien avant qu'il ne devienne un artiste contemporain reconnu, plonge dans la vie morne et aliénante de la société de consommation. Ce livre culte n'avait jamais été publié jusqu'alors : recommandé par WS Burroughs, un éditeur anglais avait voulu le publier en 1979 mais l'artiste avait perdu toutes ses planches dans le bateau l'amenant d'Oslo à Londres. Données pour perdues, elles refont surface trois décennies plus tard, et c'est la New York Review of Books qui se charge de la publier, fin 2016. Rappelant David Lynch et son Eraserhead, Une journée d'Ivan Denissovitch de Soljenitsyne ou encore les grands romans de Ballard, ce roman graphique unique est un chef-d'oeuvre sans nul autre pareil " ? Chris Ware, 2016

In the end, the process Ware recreates here is universal, which is what gives Building Stories its resonance. The woman's dream, after all, is everyone's: the dream of making sense of ourselves, of having things add up. That they don't, that they can never, is the paradox, and yet what else can we do but try? Here we have the essential question Ware wants us to consider, and his answer-brave, beautiful and brilliant-is the story we build out of this box." -David Ulin, The Los Angeles Times "This book is a masterpiece?.Building Stories is a masterpiece, above all, because it cares about human beings, many of them women. It cares enough to observe human beings closely, both when they are behaving themselves, and when they are engaging in their manifold selfishnesses. It cares enough about them to depict them when they are attractive and when they are singularly unattractive. The contemporary novel, it bears mentioning, does not care this much, because the contemporary novel is so preoccupied with affirmation that it will not risk what Ware is willing to risk. Perhaps Ware risks in this way because, as a person who began by illustrating, he is willing to see exactly what?s taking place around him, all of it. But by building up his stories from the fragments, from the discontinuous moments, episodes of glancing contact, and the disconnections as well as the connections, he has made something that, if possible, is more literary than most contemporary literature. The American novel, that is, has a lot to learn from this very convincing and masterful work." -Rick Moody, Los Angeles Review of Books "I can guarantee that you, too, will feel an overwhelming sense of wonderment and religious-grade awe as you open the Building Stories box. It?s as though you have unearthed god?s blueprints for humanity or a treasure trove of someone?s very orderly outsider art. This thing, whatever it is, is straight-up super beautiful, and the experience of reading it is like unwrapping birthday presents and choosing your own adventure all at once. It is the joy of reading incarnate, and I don?t think I?ve experienced it so intensely since I was a kid. Building Stories really is a landmark achievement. It mounts a compelling defense for survival of print-like Kidd said, great art can be great business. But more than that,Building Stories offers a greater truth about life: even when it?s dark and unpleasant, oh man, it is something to behold." -The Rumpus"Ware provides one of the year?s best arguments for the survival of print?the spectacular, breathtaking visual splendor make this one of the year?s standout graphic novels." -Publisher Weekly, starred review"Chris Ware's Building Stories is the rarest kind of brilliance; it is simultaneously heartbreaking, hilarious, shockingly intimate and deeply insightful. There isn't a graphic artist alive or dead who has used the form this wonderfully to convey the passage of time, loneliness, longing, frustration or bliss. It is the reader's choice where and how to begin this monumental work-the only regret you will have in starting it is knowing that it will end."-J. J. Abrams"Chris (Ware) really changed the playing field. After him, a lot of (cartoonists) really started to scramble and go holy (expletive),"I think I have to try harder.'"-Seth, author of It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken"Building Stories is the graphic novel of the season or perhaps the year, a story that must be experienced rather than read... Ware takes visual storytelling to a new level of both beauty and despair in a work people will be talking about for a long time."-Publishers Weekly, starred review "A treasure trove of graphic artworks-they?re too complex to be called comics-from Ware, master of angst, alienation, sci-fi and the crowded street... A dazzling document."-Kirkus, starred review  "There?s no writer alive whose work I love more than Chris Ware. The only problem is it takes him ten years to draw these things and then I read them in a day and have to wait another ten years for the next one."-Zadie Smith  "If there?s one release this year that people will be asking you about, odds are it?ll be this one?There?s no way to get ready for Ware beyond clearing one?s calendar, so yes: it?s time to start calling babysitters."-Flavorwire"Ware has been consistently pushing the boundaries for what the comics format can look like and accomplish as a storytelling medium?More than anything, though, this graphic novel mimics the kaleidoscopic nature of memory itself-fleeting, contradictory, anchored to a few significant moments, and a heavier burden by the day. In terms of pure artistic innovation, Ware is in a stratosphere all his own."-Booklist, starred review"Ware?s latest has the makings of a modern classic?At times Ware's ?great book? feels like it could be about anyone's life. Other times, it doesn't feel like a book at all. It's a keepsake box full of things you won't want to forget." -Entertainment Weekly, A+ grade "Building Stories is a momentous event in the world of comics-the unusual format of Ware?s book is bound to help redefine yet again what a "graphic novel" can be." -New Yorker blog  "Remarkable...all of it is drawn in Ware's meticulous style, inked in his bright, bold colors, and written in his decidedly literary voice. This is a publishing event; I can't believe it's retailing for only 50 bucks." -Chicago Reader "This is more than a book; it's a profusion of printed paper....told in Ware's instantly recognizable style, with panels so silent and perfectly composed, they're reminiscent of stained-glass windows."-TIME"Chris Ware is one of the true modern masters of the sequential art medium and an absolute artisan when it comes to showing the beauty of an ugly truth?It?s truly masterful storytelling that will be a unique experience for each reader and something that would be impossible in any other medium than print?Each of us in our own way is desperately searching for our own sense of meaning, accomplishment, and self-worth, but anyone who has ever felt their creativity suppressed-or really anyone who has ever clung onto the good in their bad relationship (or the bad in their good relationship)-will see a lot of truth nestled in these almost magical pages. " -New York Journal of Books   "Building Stories will only enhance the artist?s exalted status within the world of graphic literature?awe-inspiring." -St. Louis Post-Dispatch   "Quietly defies any pre-existing comic conventions. I couldn?t wait to write about how ardently I recommend this collection?The "graphic novel" misnomer masks the breadth of old and new creations compiled in this extremely innovative, fascinating anthology, a bold declaration for the wonders of pulp and ink in the digital age." -Jenna Marotta, CBS Smart Planet "Let?s get the obvious out of the way. Building Stories is the single greatest argument for the continuation of print comics that could possibly be conceived. Building Stories could not exist in any other format and retain its power and beauty. It is a wholly immersive experience which cannot be imitated nor duplicated in a digital format, not matter how powerful the processor or how many dpi your screen resolution?Building Stories is unlike anything else I have experienced. It is more than a book. It is more than a story. It is a glimpse into the lives of people. Building Stories should be in everyone?s collection, not just as a work of art, but as a notice of the potential that still exists in storytelling." -Stumptown Trade Review"It?s already being hailed as a classic and it was released only Tuesday?Building Stories gorgeously expands the graphic novel form." -Daily Beast  "Ware has single-handedly re-defined the possibilities of the graphic novel form. His work is complex, serious and stunningly beautiful?Building Stories is a rich, mature work that defies categorization and must be experienced to be fully understood." -WICN interview "This week marked the release of Chris Ware?s unbelievably wonderful graphic novel Building Stories, which we (and everyone else) have been awaiting with bated breath for many months. The graphic publishing event of the year, the book is truly a world you can get lost in? a total triumph, an immersive story that you can literally (well almost) immerse yourself in." -Flavorwire.com"Intelligent, carefully crafted and emphatically not for everyone." -Paste Magazine   "There simply will not be a more beautifully packaged book this year than Chris Ware?s Building Stories, the latest from the master graphic novelist." -Salon  "What sets this latest work apart is its format-and how fundamentally that format shapes the reader's experience&h..."