Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth

I have the same book in my native language, and I decided to buy it to introduce my partner to graphic novels. Well, we need a loop to read it!However, the novel itself is a work of art and a classic in its genre.

Absolutely fantastic graphic novel. Funny , sad and very moving.

This is a truly magnificent piece of work, a masterpiece of the medium to rank alongside Maus by Speigelman. Only the title is weak!A study of alienation and lives shut down in childhood and for good. The format that the story takes is brilliant, fascinating and meaningful too.This will be underrated by people who like to read comics that stay on the surface or those that only romanticise hard times or are by authors who don't have the perceptiveness to truly illuminate a comics` situations. Ware isn't exploitative though and doesn't delve into tough times in a cynical way. This comic will be marked down though far more than other inferior ones because it isn't superficial: great art pushes boundaries and by its very nature can rarely then be popular. Everyone who would rather stay where things are familiar and safe will be left behind and some of them write reviews on Amazon to justify themselves!Especially great are the parts of the book that focus on events of more than 100 years ago. The first 300 pages of the book are wonderful after the first 10 or 20 to settle into Chris Ware`s style and his character`s fantasy life excerpts, which are also completely justified in the circumstances of the character`s life unlike how they are used in many other books. The final hundred pages are very good too.

I wandered around confused for lthe first 50 pages or so. Didn't get the robot, didn't get the sudden flashes in time. Then came an explanatory double page and from there on this was one of the saddest and most beautiful stories I've read. Chris Ware isn't afraid of using a whole page just showing the dripping of a faucet just to make explicit the awkward silence of a moment. Both original, daring and very successful in my opinion. Buy the HC edition though. The spine of my paperback was already loose after one readthrough, and I take care of my books.

Excellent art work, intriguing story (if a bit complex to make sense of and get through first, but in the end it all a makes sense ... kind of), but the paperback format is a bit too small so that some of the writing (particularly the white handwriting on black background) is tiny and difficult to read.

bought it as a present

A tedious and depressing novel, with a thin story-line that the author spins out forever. No doubt the original cartoon strip kept its readers hooked, waiting for something interesting to happen, but it never did. Most of the text is too small or has little contrast with its background, so will strain your eyes severely.

I love it