Chris Ware

An obsessive and immensely talented cartoonist, Chris Ware is known for making images that masterfully combine early 20th century design aesthetics with ingenious storytelling techniques. Yet beneath Ware's meticulous attention to design and innovative use of color, live characters bewildered by life and anxious about death. Dwarfed at times by grandly indifferent architecture, or swallowed in humble hovels, they dawdle, daydream, and long for some deeper connection. Ware can seem cruel at times in his unwillingness to grant a reprieve for these poor souls but, ultimately, his depth of feeling for them and their unarticulated hopes and hurts elevates their stories from the ranks of the forgotten. Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth is, so far, the most fully realized expression of Ware's ambitions and an acknowledged landmark of the graphic novel genre. His current serialized work, Rusty Brown, gives an unsparing and intimate look into a group of characters' lonely lives and the circumstances that shape them, and shows Ware moving beyond some of his early nostalgic perspectives to incorporate different styles and techniques. Ware's passion for the cartoon medium also extends to historical projects; his involvement with the reissuing of both Krazy Kat and Walt and Skeezix has been hugely instrumental. With a series of animated shorts recently produced for This American Life, Ware continues to expand his range, chronicling distinctly American lives while shaping the future of cartooning.