Jimmy Corrigan review

Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth is possibly the saddest book I have ever read. Pretty much go off of the assumption that if anything good happens to Jimmy, it will eventually be reversed over the course of the book.

Chris Ware's comic follows sad sack, middle-aged, agonizingly normal Jimmy Corrigan as he goes through his day unappreciated, lonely, and bored. The piece begins with Jimmy receiving a letter from his biological father trying to get in contact with Jimmy for the first time in their lives. The story then follows Jimmy as he heads off to meet his father, grandfather, and half-sister. Along the way, we view the variety of dreams going on in Jimmy's far less ordinary imagination, including robots, superheroes, sexual encounters, etc. We learn that only in his dreams is Jimmy the "smartest kid on earth."

Alongside this continuous narrative, we get flashbacks to the youth of Jimmy's grandfather, whose story is equally if not even more depressing. Jimmy's grandad is a sad, lonely little boy who tries to make friends at school via acting like the cool kids. Essentially, this means ditching his Italian friend, following his crush, the red-headed girl, in her juvenile rambunctiousness, and trying like mad to attend the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. As he fails to succeed in making a single friend, Jimmy's grandad lives in increasing poverty with JImmy's great-grandfather, an abusive and angry man.

If that weren't enough sadness, there's also suicides, surprising other deaths, the oppressive nature of Jimmy's mother's clinging loneliness, racism, and rape. Also, a lot of snow, just in case we didn't get the fact that this book is one hell of a sad experience.

In addition to its melancholic storyline, there are some pretty solid square and rectangle-based panels to display the art of the book, which is highly reminiscent of 30's/40's Detective Comics serials. The colors vary greatly between Jimmy's daydreams with traditional primary colors of the superhero genre, the present gray-based life of Jimmy, and the brown hues of Jimmy's grandad's life. Throughout these, the font also changes, with a particularly difficult to read cursive for the flashbacks of Jimmy's grandfather.

Granted, the book is speaking a great deal to the imaginary nature of the superhero genre. Ordinary superheroes, such as the one pictured early in this comic, are more likely to comic suicide by jumping off of a building than to go sailing into the sky. The actual Clark Kent lived a life of quiet desperation, merely dreaming himself a Superman alter ego that never made it to the real world. Real people don't have a Fortress of Solitude or Batcave and infinite time and resources to go out saving people. Jimmy wants to help people, but he is too busy living his sad life.

Be prepared to feel punched in the soul when reading this comic. But read it nonetheless.

View all my reviews