From Jimmy Corrigan and Building Stories to Rusty Brown, the interplay of time and memory has been central to Chris Ware’s oeuvre, and nowhere is the passing of the years more richly developed than in his Acme Novelty Datebook series, the third (and according to the author, final) volume of which arrives this fall after “over fifteen years deferral, delay and dawdling” (fret not, Ware aficionados, the author maintains his habitual Olympian levels of self-deprecation throughout this hefty book). Acme Novelty Datebook: Volume 3 is now available for preorder.
With over 200 dense pages, this volume is designed to be read (and reread) at a measured pace; slow down and take your time with this collection and you will be deeply rewarded. Culled from his notebooks and comics diaries, these sketches, strips, and doodles together form an intimate chronicle of Ware’s life over the first two decades of the 21st century: His daughter grows from infant to precocious child to a young woman leaving the family home (there are dozens of colorful “Clara” comics that recast her youthful turns of phrase and hijinks in the mold of classic newspaper strips), Ware reacts with a mix of delight and horror to self-isolating during Covid-19 (“The pandemic was so GREAT until Zoom ruined it…”), digs through his memories for moments of fleeting happiness (“Grocery shopping with Weesie, 1974”), sketches detailed plans for his books and other creative endeavors, and contemplates the twists and turns of history through his meticulous reproductions of photographs, comic strips, and other ephemera of yesteryear.
Nostalgia, regret, joy, guilt, and humor all crowd the pages, mixing together to paint a unique tableau of modern life as seen through the eyes of a peerless creator’s often haunted but always insightful vision.
Acme Novelty Datebook: Volume 3 is a revealing look into the life, thoughts, frustrations, and obsessions of a singular artistic mind; two decades of life in the timeless medium of ink and paper. This is Chris Ware at his most raw and revealing, and a beautiful book that’s not to be missed. In stores October 29.
