A one-mouse theater of the absurd.

Quimby the Mouse is the second book from Chris Ware; his first book, Jimmy Corrigan (Pantheon, 2000), has been widely acclaimed as one of the medium's finest graphic novels in history and is currently in a fourth hardcover printing.

Cleverly appropriated old-fashioned animation imagery and advertising styles of the 1920s and 1930s are put to use in Quimby at the service of modern vignettes of angst and existentialism. As this cartoon silhouette of a mouse ignominiously suffers at every turn, the spaces between the panels create despair and a Beckett-like rhythm of hope deceived and deferred (but never quite extinguished), buoying Quimby from page to page.

Like Ware's first book, Quimby is saturated with Ware's genius, including consistently amazing graphics, insanely perfectionist production values, cut-out-and-assemble paper projects, and the formal complexity of his narratives that have earned him the reputation as one of the most prodigious artists of his generation.

Quimby collects all the material from the out-of-print Acme Novelty Library #2 and #4, as well as a selection of previously uncollected strips and some new material.

"[Quimby] proves [Ware] was a master of meticulous cartooning even before [Jimmy Corrigan]....Ware's book can be enjoyed by comic-strip novices but others will find a trove of sly allusions..." Ken Tucker, Entertainment Weekly

"Ware is the most versatile and innovative artist the medium has ever known." Dave Eggers, author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

"Too beautiful to take anywhere." Nick Hornby, author of High Fidelity and About a Boy

Collects comic strips from the early 1990s organized around Quimby the mouse.

A one-mouse theater of the absurd, this graphic novel by the author of "Jimmy Corrigan" employs cleverly appropriate old-fashioned imagery and advertising styles of the 1920s and 1930s. Illustrations, some in color.

Chris Ware is the creator of the ongoing comic book series The Acme Novelty Library. He is the only cartoonist in history to garner all four major cartooning awards (the Harvey, Eisner, Ignatz and Reuben), and Jimmy Corrigan, his previous book, won The Guardian newspaper's 2001 First Book Prize. Ware lives in Chicago with his wife, Marnie.