Review: ‘The ACME Novelty Date Book, Vol. 2’ by Chris Ware

The ACME Novelty Date Book, Vol. 2: 1995-2002
By Chris Ware
Drawn & Quarterly, December 2007, $39.95

In typical Chris Ware fashion, this is an attractively (and extensively) packaged book – so much so, in fact, that what this book precisely is isn’t immediately clear. Is it some kind of notebook, journal, or calendar, perhaps? No, it’s Ware’s sketchbook, or perhaps selected pages from that sketchbook, from the years in the title.

Drawn & Quarterly published the first volume of the “[[[ACME Novelty Date Book]]]” in 2003, which included sketchbook pages from 1986 through 1995. That book covered most of Ware’s twenties, starting when he was in college in Austin, Texas and following him forward as he developed the early ACME characters and themes. That first book also had a wide variety of materials; Ware was young and trying out different art styles, but he’d mostly settled down into his current mode by 1995.

So Vol. 2, as Ware mentions himself partway through it, is mostly made up of three kinds of entries: drawings from life, journal entries, and some short comics strips (mostly autobiographical). There are also some sketches and ideas for [[[ACME Novelty Library]]], and the occasional joke or reference to older comics, but, mostly, it’s those big three.

Both the journal entries and the comics feature Ware primarily in self-lacerating mode, unhappy with himself and his life, and even the life drawings often have scribbled “draw better” or “this is horrible” notes on them. The overall atmosphere is deeply gloomy – even more so than Ware’s fiction, since he’s not shaping that gloominess into a story here, but just pouring it out onto the page as it comes.

The life drawings are the most “sketchbook-esque” part of ACME Novelty Date Book, and they do have a tendency to be over-rendered – as Ware complains to himself about, over and over, on the pages – but they’re still solid drawings, and in a style quite different from the hyper-controlled standard of Ware’s published work. (It would be interesting to see him try a sketchbook comic, or a 24-hour comic – loosening up could be good for him.)

The autobiographical comics are rare at the beginning, but become more and more common as the book goes on – early in Vol. 2, there are sketches and ideas for things that would show up later in ACME Novelty Library (or not), but later their place is taken by strips of Ware talking directly to an assumed audience. (Though, even then, the strips are very insular – Ware might be used to writing for an audience, but he’s still mostly just pouring out his own misery and unhappiness.) I’ll also point out that if you think Ware’s published comics can be difficult to read due to the tiny type, you haven’t seen anything yet – the comics here push the limits of legibility hard.

The journal entries are only slightly difficult to read – they’re reproduced from Ware’s handwriting, which is generally pretty clear, in straight lines with enough space between them. But, since they’re mostly a catalogue of misery and self-hatred, it can be difficult to want to read them after a while.

Add that all up, and ACME Novelty Date Book is full of tiny print that takes a long time to puzzle out and read, and which only makes you depressed as you read it. (Some of you will be depressed in general, and some only depressed for Ware, but it’s impossible to read this and maintain a sunny disposition.) If this is an honest depiction of how Ware really feels most of the time, I’m worried about him. (The other option is that this is the way he feels when he thinks about comics, which is non untypical of creators from his generation.)

It’s not as illuminating as the first volume, since Ware was already a mature artist in 1995, when this sketchbook starts. And he didn’t really change his style or method during these years, so ACME Novelty Date Book is really just a portrait of an unhappy artist, rehashing the same torments over and over again. So only pick it up if that’s what you’re looking for – if Jimmy Corrigan is too sunny and positive for you.

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