This is a pretty good interview; they sat down with him sometime after he got the Nomination for the National book award.  He talks about what got him into comics in the first place, and what he used to read (Marvel no less). I, Personally, like to know which side of the DC v Marvel  debate published comic authors are on, should they choose a side.  He also talks about whether he uses this as a catharsis for some own personal issues he may have had with his ethnicity.  He also pays homage to works like Maus and Love & Rockets for opening up readers’ and critics’ minds for works of this nature.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=9121

http://www.humblecomics.com/comicsedu/index.html

This is Yang’s proposal for a final project for his Masters of Education degree, and it’s important because… obviously! Well, obvsiouly it doesn’t get as deep in to the… accoutrements, as we do, but it does echo some of the stuff we’ve been talking about. Though, the general thesis of his ‘strengths’ seems to be about ease of access, whereas we’ve been dealing with some pretty difficult works. Give it a glance, maybe you’ll learn something.

Also, this is the actual project that came of this proposal – but it’s teaching algebra, so not as related.

http://www.humblecomics.com/factoring/index.html

http://www.humblecomics.com/monkey/

[As another searcher noted, Yang’s website is Humble Comics, and the site is truly humble in itself. Still, it is a great little resource into the mind and works of Gene Yang. There’s a list of his comics, showing the cover art, with a little blurb about why he wrote it and what he was trying to accomplish for each one.]

In the “Sites” section, there’s a link to his “Monkey Kingdom” page which is pretty interesting. We already have figured out that Yang’s mother’s stories about the Monkey King were very influential to him. Here he dedicates an entire webpage to the Monkey King, where you can learn more about said monkey. Sections include: “Who is the Monkey King?” (insightful commentary from the author about the Monkey tale ((pun intended)) and his relationship with the fable), “Monkey in the Media, (other instances of the Monkey King story in Western culture)” and “Monkey Goodies” (two little flash projects Yang did during college).

This page gives us a deeper look into one of the major characters (or since they’re all the same guy…THE main character) in American Born Chinese.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18328964

Scroll down a bit for the actual interview. Highlights include Yang discusses the place of Kinko’s in the comic book industry and his roots as a “minicomic artist”, as well as cartoonists like Scott Adams (Dilbert) and Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis) who aren’t supertalented artists but are effective cartoonists. He also discusses some of the influences that went into the character of Chin Kee (including, apparently a cartoon by Pat Oliphant). Check out the Audio Slideshow too.

So I pretty much hate Jimmy Corrigan. Let me clarify that statement. I have respect for and understand the book. In fact it is starting to grow on me slowly. What I hate is the character Jimmy Corrigan.

Jimmy is such a spineless twit. He irks my nerves through multiple levels of hell ala Dante’s Inferno. It is his attitude of “I guess so” and uncomfortable “ha ha”. But most of all, and this is shallow I know, it is his look.

His face is picturesque dopey and without a clue. Strangely enough I can forgive that because no one gets to choose their face, (mind you the author could but not the character). The thing that gets me the most is probably his clothes. I mean Jimmy is like 35 or so there he is in old man pants and some old timey shirt/vest combo. Mostly I think it’s the old man pants.

So I decided to devote my searching into the mystery of old man pants.

Here is link to a blog that attempts to answer the question, “Why in God’s green earth would anyone wear old man pants?”

http://fizzleandpop.blogspot.com/2009/08/old-man-pants.html

Indiana Jones and Old Man Pants. Frankly they aren’t that bad, but it still makes me sad to see Indy in them.

http://io9.com/327044/indiana-jones-and-the-old-man-pants

Some random girl who was looking for old man pants. I mean really? I’m too lazy to figure it out but she shows off her find in a few pics and talks about it in her blog.

http://thatraraavis.blogspot.com/2008/10/old-man-pants.html

Recycling is the answer! Below is a link showing a skirt made out of an pair of old man pants.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=277719

Ok, I’m fine now. It is out of my system.

http://edition.cnn.com/2000/books/news/10/03/chris.ware/index.html

I found this review/interview/ode to Chris Ware on CNN. While the article is informative with regards to Ware’s childhood and the process of making Jimmy Corrigan, what struck me about it was the author’s need to legitimize the book even though it’s a comic. A few choice quotes:

• It is unlike any comic book you have ever seen.

• “Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth” (Pantheon, 2000) is a newly published “graphic novel” by cartoonist Chris Ware.

• The color printing was adjusted repeatedly — Ware’s choice of colors is as precise as his lines. Most cartoonists use the colors of kindergarten crayons; Ware uses the shades in the Crayola Big Box — Aquamarine, Goldenrod, Burnt Umber.

• The compact imagery, the compacted plot and subplots, make “Jimmy Corrigan” more akin to a novel by Faulkner or Dickens than to “The Adventures of Spiderman.”

I found it problematic that the writer felt the need to put down other comic writers/artists in order to put ware on a pedestal. I don’t know what the hell the writer is talking about, but Marvel and DC colorists don’t just use “kindergarten crayons.” Yes, Ware’s colors are impressive on that oh-so-soft paper, but he’s not the first person to pay attention to color scheme. (That and the Crayola analogy seems to demean the comic medium as a whole.)

It was frustrating that this fan wank review compared Ware to Faulkner and Dickens because that implies that other comic books don’t deserve praise for literary prowess. The writer put graphic novel in quotation marks as if to suggest that Jimmy Corrigan doesn’t truly belong in that genre because it’s literature. Regardless of my feelings on Jimmy Corrigan, it is most definitely a graphic novel. No one should apologize for its form. I understand that mainstream American society doesn’t always have the most respect for comics, but presenting Ware’s work as an exception isn’t the way to remedy that.

A couple of interesting links…

I believe that someone tweeted about Jimmy Corrigan being an activity book for adults, and I find it funny that there’s a blog called “Toy-A-Day” where there is a paper Jimmy replica. It looks like it was cut out of the zoetrope instructions from the book.

Jimmy as a paper toy.

http://toy-a-day.blogspot.com/2008/06/day-33-jimmy-corrigan-acme-novelty.html

Also, there’s a line of Jimmy Corrigan action figures. They look a bit worried and dreary, but the likeness of Stewie is unmistakable. The “vinyl” dolls as they are called are no longer for sale on most retail websites, but is adorable and worrisome at the same time.

Finally, there’s an article speculating about the origins of the Jimmy Corrigan-esque Stewie. Ware’s quote is pretty funny, “”a little too coincidental to be simply, well, coincidental” but adds that he’ll try his best to shrug it off. ”If I let it get the better of me, I wouldn’t get any work done,” notes Ware. ”I’d just sit around and stew about it.” I imagine Ware sitting apathetically much like Jimmy, awkwardly laughing “haha.”

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,272303,00.html

http://acmenoveltyarchive.org/

While looking around for resources and information pertaining to Chris Ware, I stumbled on this website, which is remarkable to say the least.  It is essentially a _massive_ database searchable for anything and everything relating to Chris Ware and his work.  As an example of the kind of fun / interesting material available here,  follow this link to see assembled versions of the paper models included in Jimmy Corrigan and elsewhere by Ware:  http://acmenoveltyarchive.org/gallery/index.php?dir=./Paper%20Models

(Click inside the individual frames to get a magnified image; the thumbnails don’t show up on my computer and might not on yours.)

I noticed that Jimmy Corrigan won the Eisner Award in two categories – Best Publication Design and Best Graphic Album: Reprint.  Looking at some of the other titles that won in those categories, I found that all three of our previous authors (Miller, Moore, and Speigelman) won Best Graphic Album: Reprint, but only Ware won Best Publication Design (300 did win this award, but the credit was not Miller’s).  I also found that the edition of Uzumaki we’ll be reading was passed up for an Eisner (http://manga.about.com/od/recommendedreading/tp/2009EisnerMisses.03.htm).  There’s only one category it could be considered for (Best US Edition of International Material – Japan), which is why it only has one nomination.  It got me thinking on the nature of the comic awards, the criteria and so forth.  The Awards are run by Comic-Con, who funds the awards with donations from “distributors, retailers, media companies, and such industry suppliers as major printers of comics.” (http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisnersfaq.shtml#oscars).  I despise conspiracy theories, but the awards seem to be much closer to a commercial venture, a giant advertising ploy, then a pure exmination of artistic merit.  The awards are dominated by DC, especially in categories like Best Story or the two Best Series’.  There really isn’t any direct criteria- the judges receive the nominations, send out ballots to people in the comic industry, and tally the results.  It’s unsettling to think that while these comics may truly have artistic merit, their recognition is not quite art-based.

**NOTE: Please excuse the French in this documentary. The actual commentaries from the authors are in English and unless you are a semi/fluent French speaker, the video should be started about 2:20 into it. Thanks!**

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xpjtg_comix-chris-ware_life

Upon surfing the web for a topic that I’m really just not into (Jimmy Corrigan), I decided that I would look for something regarding the author rather than just the work or characters themselves. I found a video done by in French by Comix on the story of Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth  and its author Chris Ware. After wading throughthe first two minutes of titless French cinematography, the real interview came with Chris Ware as well as Art Spiegalman’s take on this new promising author. Comparing notes from last weeks class, it is easy to see that we as a class were on the right path of feeling sorry (or not feeling sorry) for Jimmy in the book as well as noticing his similar characteristics to the classic Charlie Brown of the Peanuts comics. The documentary goes into the realtionship between Art and Chris as well as other influences he had in creating his comics.  He speaks on the meaning of comics in his life and the depths he goes to make his comics what he wants through real life experiences. He also speaks on the depressing aspects of being a comic artist. To me there seemed to be many similar characteristics between Chris and his character Jimmy.

First of all, I’d just like to point out that anything can be made into merchandise. How disturbing would it be to have a Jimmy doll standing on your shelf? And would you pay 45 Euro for it?

Things to buy from Ware

On to my main link, the Acme Novelty Archive. This will show you exerpts from most of Ware’s work, which seems to always feature lots of small boxes, cut-out models, and other interesting parallels to Jimmy Corrigan. It makes me wonder whether such things have any particular symbolism in the novel, or if they are just stylistic preferences for Ware. In the archive, you can search for anything that features Jimmy Corrigan, but, as the site itself tells you, it’s “not particularly useful if you’re trying to narrow your search.” I hadn’t realized this, but Jimmy appears in much of Ware’s artwork, often simply as an icon (I assume for depression or childhood fantasies or bleakness). In fact, the character was around before the novel. You can view an issue of the New Yorker that uses him to represent American fiction as it currently stands. It seems like a full understanding of Jimmy Corrigan requires viewing it in the context of all of Ware’s work.

Acme Novelty Archive

The following link focuses on one of the many subjects we’ve frequently discussed in class: Art’s relationship with his father. It’s an interesting piece were it discusses the role of the father in a son’s life, and how Vladek is a very poor father figure. I don’t wish to spoil the read for anyone, but the author Ms. Withers, makes an interesting point is saying that Vladek is a living Holocaust Memorial, and anyone who comes in contact with him will share his pain. This basically summarizes not only simply Vladek but even the relationship between Vladek and Art.Check it out when you get a chance, it almost makes you want to read the book again just to see the defined relationship between Art and Vladek and to learn how Spiegelman crafted such an interesting relationship.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1785466/essay_on_maus_i_and_maus_ii_graphic.html?cat=38

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/1997/09/getting-touch-my-inner-racist

In this article Art Spiegelman recalls a shameful incident from his past when he’s forced to discuss racism with his children.  It’s interesting to compare this story to Vladek’s reaction to the hitchhiker.  Spiegelman admits that he used a  racial slur to intentionally offend the orderly who denied him a much needed bathroom trip. It’s difficult to say which is worse; Vladek, a survivor of the most terrible result of prejudice and intolerance, who is repelled buy the idea of picking up a black hitchhiker or Art who admits to having a black friend in his youth and who grew up in a more progressive time calling someone a name he knows will wound them. Spiegelman doesn’t try to romanticize his father’s identity in Maus and in this article he doesn’t try to sugar-coat his own bad behavior.