There's a lot of comics packed into this volume, all of the indie-autobio-underground school. This is right up my street, obviously. Not really a sampler of the style, but a good precis for those already interested in it to read further from.

I would like to congratulate Dave Eggers for letting Chris Ware ruin what could have been one of the most memorable issues of McSweeney’s ever. Ware hates humanity and likes to force the reader to hate it too by making his texts completely inaccessible both emotionally and (sometimes) visually. The essays interspersed between the comics might be insightful, poignant, or (typical of Ware) absurdly humorous but printing them in four point font sort of spoils the entire deal. I get the joke but the...

The best and worst of comics -- mostly incredibly storytelling with a mix of whiny alternative cartoonists. PS -- Chris Ware must love the fine print at the bottom of contracts.

Man this collection was cool as hell.

I’ve been wanting to read this issue for quite awhile and it was definitely worth the wait. Interestingly, I found quite a few pieces that I’d encountered before. I enjoyed everything about this issue!

It was good to read a lot of shorter comics by a bunch of different comics artists, but geez if this isn’t a white dude centric collection. And some of the individual comics were so tired. There’s a lot of good throughout, mixed with a lot of bad.

One of the best comics collections ever, a must for serious comics scholars and fans. Eloquently edited and put together, a treat in every way. I've owned it since it came out in 2004 from Egger's outfit, but I thought if anyone is reading about comics that I know, they should know about this, and it is typically immaculate for that press, but even better because The Champ Ware puts it together. Included are essays by Ira Glass, Chris Ware, John Updike, and others. You get a sense of history bec...

A lot of these didn't jump out at me in any positive way, and some I found I could barely physically read the print (though I am overdue for the eye doctor, so maybe that's all on me), but the pieces that I enjoyed were truly great.

I recently wrote a short thing about Dave Eggers and then realized that I hadn't rated or reviewed the many issues of McSweeney's I've read. The early issues were especially influential and inspiring to me. This comics one is aces.

An anthology that starts out great and finishes lukewarm. I think I may lack context regarding when this was published, but surely there were more than three talented female cartoonists that could be included here. I also believe that Lynda Berry was the only cartoonist of color included. No anthology will be perfect in this regard, but I am happy that the explosion of comics creators in the years since this was published will change the demographics of future anthologies meant to invite new rea...

They can’t all be winners.

The book presents a diverse array of cleverly designed pieces. The font-size is so small that the physical labor of reading created, for me, a serious impediment to completing the book. I did finish it, though.

Edited by Chris Ware, McSweeney's 13 is a beautifully produced hardback with a design your own wraparound cover by Chris Ware and 2 bonus mini-comics. Inside are comics essays by Ira Glass, Chris Ware, John Updike, Glen David Gold, Malachi B. Cohen, and Chip Kidd. There are also appreciations of the work of Rodolphe Topffer (a 19th century cartoonist and arguably America's first comics artist), George Herriman, and Charles Schulz. And onto the comics themselves! Most of the samples are of larger...

If you're snobbish about the comic book medium, then this might just change your mind; it's certainly given me an invaluable primer. Even if it does curiously ignore the superhero genre, the exquisite design and layout and the sheer quality of the work contained within should immunise it against most criticism.

Very glad to have found this! Wonderfully published book (as only Chris Ware can, you can just feel his love for books). The dust jacket is a fold-out Chris Ware comic, and it's got some small comic books with it. Interesting collection of American comics creators and artists inside along with passionately written articles on comics history and artists. To read and enjoy again and again...

Notable stories: A Precursor of the Cinema by Steven MillhauserCouting Underwater by Kiara BrinkmanAsusncion by Roy Kesey (although deeply disturbing)Sales by Judy BudnitzOrphans by Benjamin RosenbaumSeven Stories by Gyrdir EliassonMy Room by Bragi OlafsonNerve City by Birna Anna Bjornsdottir, Oddny Sturludottir, and Silja HauksdorritInterference by Andri Snoer Magnason.Most of the rest I couldn't get through.

I feel like this was a really brilliant idea that got tarnished by worries about 'attitude', but still came out rather decently.Some of the stories grabbed my interest, others were (perhaps purposefully) bland. The articles were much the same way. Unfortunately, I developed an insidious hatred for the dust jacket. I acknowledge that the design is clever and still plan to read Chris Ware's graphic novel "Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth," but it was a bad start. I did like his excerpt in...

This is, perhaps, the book that I wanted Arie Kaplan's recently-read Masters of the Comic Book Universe Revealed! to be... a chunky anthology of graphic art pieces and essays about graphic arts, put together by Chris Ware for McSweeney's and full to bursting with examples both historical and contemporary... with nary a superhero in tights to be seen.Some of my own favorites are here, such as Ben Katchor, Robert Crumb and Chris Ware himself, as well as some surprising entries—who knew that John U...

A lot about this book bugs me, despite its merits. First off, Ware's whingeing about comics not being taken seriously enough as art is old, even if this book did come out nearly twenty years ago. Second, as is always the case with Ware books, there are readability issues, either because all the type in the book is tiny, or because some of the strips are printed smaller than their intended size so the lettering is reduced, or, in the case of Ware's own contributions, because he has a fetish for t...

Heartbreak consolation through books. McSweeney’s marathon makes it all better. Just the right dose of humour as band-aid!