Like everything Chris Ware does, this books is meticulously illustrated and heart-breakingly plotted. Its a little too short to get to the level of depth of "Jimmy", but its a gem nonetheless.

So dang depressing! Everything this man writes makes me want to kill myself, but it's still so damn good!

After all the anticipation and effort that went into me (belatedly) getting this book, it could only have been a disappointment. But a disappointment from Chris Ware is still better than most comic creators' best efforts! (It says alot about both him & me that I just got the book yesterday and have already read it twice.)This volume covers the earliest tales of the previously-introduced ubergeeks Rusty Brown & Chalky White, and suggests how they first met. I love these characters (in a way that

I’ve always had an appreciation for Chris Ware’s artwork. He has an innate skill for toying with the framing conventions of graphic novels/comics and precise linework that I have yet to see rivalled, but it took Rusty Brown to really win me over. It is probably because this story (which is still ongoing as part of the Acme Novelty Library) is the first of Ware's I've read in which I felt the connection between his technical brilliance and the human truth of his characters and stories. When that

There's a lot that annoys me about Chris Ware. He's precious and fetishistic about his formats to an obnoxious degree (referring to issues of his comics as 'objets d'art,' refusing to have them reprinted), and his constant, defensive self-deprecation often reads like the smuggest sort of humble-bragging ("Oh, I'm suuuuch a dork for knowing soooo much about philosophy and art. Nobody will like my books because they're just toooo esoteric"). But. Goddamn, is he good at what he does. This issue con...

Mr. Chris Ware is a genius and should have won the Fiction Pulitzer in Fiction for Jimmy C TSBOE. Writes and draws emotively.

i came upon this book a number of times in the library. i didn't know what to think of it because there wasn't an obvious title on it with an author's name. i remember opening it for the first time in the library thinking, 'that jerk Jason Lint, Chalky White, and Rusty Brown wrote in this book (on the inside cover of the book, where it says 'This Book is The Property Of:' as if it's a classroom textbook), that's rude and they used the word sucks.' i didn't quite know what to think of this book,

I have a hard time knowing what to say about Chris Ware's work in general. His panel structure is very difficult for my brain to arrange easily which pulls me out of the narrative.On the other hand the narratives are so compelling that it's hard to get pulled out. But what makes them compelling? These aren't exciting or epic tales.The characters are what drive the stories. The characters are complex and utterly believable.Another aspect that keeps me glued to the pages is the sad, melancholy fee...

the simplicity of the drawings makes it more resonant somehow. i love the way he plays with layout, with stories running horizontally on the bottom, inverted directions on a page, zooming in and out, and the building stories at the back is excellent.

Classic Ware fare! The story focuses on an alienated, painfully introverted child (Rusty Brown) with an active fantasy life. Of particular interest here is how Ware illustrates two separate (but ultimately converging) story lines simultaneously. Rusty Brown's story line is the dominant one and the dynamic upper panels therefore dominate each page. Chalky White's story is shown in a single strip of smaller, subordinate panels at the bottom of each page. Characters from each story line frequently

I think Chris Ware is my favorite cartoonist. I think it may be the subject matter (lonely people who lead disappointing lives...) but also his drawing style. In this one, it truly feels like you are watching a movie rather than merely reading, and his attention to certain details makes it very compelling. I've read much of the last part with the Rusty Brown character out of order, but it didn't affect the impact of the story line. Although you think one might get tired of the same themes of lon...

I feel like I've read this one before and I know the end paper bits turned up in Stories but another fun depressing read of lives of quiet desperation, which is probably the Chris Ware life motto.

love for its hints at my beloved "building"

When Chris Ware announced that his next long work after "Jimmy Corrigan" would be "Rusty Brown," it seemed odd. Rusty had previously appeared in gag strips making fun of the collector mentality. And Rusty--an obese middle-aged man who constantly conspires to rip off his only friend, Chalky White--appeared to be an unlikely candidate to be fleshed out in long form. But I shouldn't have doubted Ware.This first chapter of what looks to be a very long work (six years later, he's only on the fourth c...

It was good. It's Chris Ware. But - as I don't own the rest of the Acme Novelty volumes, I didn't get the full story, and because the Acme Novelty books are really expensive, it's going to stay this way for now. A good reason for rating this 3 stars? Probably not, but I guess that's that.

Another astonishing title from Chris Ware, one of the handful of real geniuses working in the medium of graphic novels today. While thematically similar to Jimmy Corrigan, Ware's earlier and longer work in the same medium, The ACME Novelty Library #16 is perhaps even more melancholy. Ware's technique is familiar to anyone who has read Jimmy Corrigan, in that he weaves together the separate story lines of several characters who are all living diminished lives, full of regret and loss. Nonetheless...

Although the Rusty Brown story is still amazing and worth the read, the last few pages of the "Building Stories" story are so intricate as to be stunning and what really makes the book for me. I could look over this book for hours and still find new little details.

This book made me cry, his drawings are so beautiful and unique. I would love to see Chris write a novel.

Ware is crazy good at what he does. He's a master at the design elements of comics, dealing with complex page layouts as if they were playthings. It's great fun seeing him push the limits of comic design. It's easy to get a little lost in his pages, having to really focus to get just what he's trying to convey (and I'm not embarrassed to admit those last pages gave me a headache). Even though this is my first time reading a Ware book, I have a feeling even if I don't like the narrative, I'm stil...

I love this story and I wish I still owned it. There's little point in me reviewing it as it's long out of print, so if you don't own it, you probably won't. Much as I love Mr Ware's books I can only take them in small doses, I find it tough going.