View source for Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth

{{Short description|Graphic novel}}
{{More citations needed|date=July 2009}}
{{Infobox graphic novel
| name           = ''Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth''
| title = Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth
| image          = Jimmy Corrigan Hardback cover.jpg
| image_caption  = Hardback cover
| creator        = [[Chris Ware]]
| single_creator = y
| publisher      = [[Pantheon Books]]
| date = 2000
| origpublication = ''[[Acme Novelty Library]]''
| origdate       = 1995–2000
| pages          = 380
| origisbn = 978-0375714542
| main_char_team = Jimmy Corrigan
}}

'''''Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth''''' is a [[graphic novel]] by American cartoonist [[Chris Ware]].  [[Pantheon Books]] released the book in 2000 following its serialization in the  newspaper ''[[Newcity]]'' and Ware's ''[[Acme Novelty Library]]'' series.

==Publication==
The story was serialized in the alternative Chicago weekly newspaper ''[[Newcity]]'' and in Ware's comic book ''[[Acme Novelty Library]]'' in issues {{No.}}5–6, 8–9, and 11–14) from 1995 to 2000.<ref>{{cite book |last= Varnum |first= Robin |title= The Language of Comics: Word and Image |year= 2007 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=j_S6QHAov1kC&q=jimmy+corrigan+serialized&pg=PA186 |page= 186 |publisher= Univ. Press of Mississippi |isbn= 9781604739039 |access-date= August 21, 2014}}</ref>

==Plot summary==

Jimmy Corrigan is a meek, lonely  thirty-six-year-old man who meets his father for the first time in the fictional town of Waukosha, Michigan, over [[Thanksgiving]] weekend. Jimmy is an awkward and cheerless character with an overbearing mother and a very limited social life. After an ill-timed phone call, Jimmy agrees to meet his father without telling his mother. The experience is stressful for him as he can barely communicate with anyone other than his mother, let alone his estranged father. The two do very little together and Jimmy's father, while well-intentioned, comes off to Jimmy as slightly racist and inconsiderate. A parallel story set in the Chicago [[World's Columbian Exposition]] of 1893 shows Jimmy's grandfather as a lonely little boy and his difficult relationship with an abusive father, Jimmy's great-grandfather.

==Autobiographical content==

Elements of the novel appear to be [[autobiography|autobiographical]], particularly Jimmy's relationship with his father. Ware met his father only once in adulthood – while he was working on this book – and has remarked that his father's attempts at humor and casualness were not unlike those he'd already created for Jimmy's father in the book. However, the author states it is not an account of his personal life.

==Storytelling techniques==

The novel uses numerous [[flashback (literary technique)|flashback]] scenes and parallel storylines. Many pages are devoid of text, and some contain complex iconic diagrams. Notable [[Motif (narrative)|motif]]s in ''Jimmy Corrigan'' include a robot, a bird, a peach, a miniature horse, and a flawed [[superhero]] figure.

==Appearances in other Ware works==

In addition to the graphic novel, the character of Jimmy Corrigan has appeared in other Ware [[comic strip]]s, sometimes as his imaginary child genius character, sometimes as an adult. Corrigan began as a child genius character in Ware's early work, but as Ware continued, the child genius strips appeared less frequently, and increasingly followed Corrigan's sad, adult existence.

==Recognition==
''Jimmy Corrigan'' has been lauded by critics.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/jul/21/biography.highereducation book review, The Guardian UK, 21 July 2001]</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://ew.com/article/2000/09/22/book-review-jimmy-corrigan-smartest-kid-earth/ |title=book review, Entertainment Weekly, Sept. 22, 2000 |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |access-date=2009-07-18 |archive-date=2012-10-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012121532/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,277593,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[The New Yorker]]'' cited it as "the first formal masterpiece of (the) medium."<ref>The New Yorker Magazine, Oct. 17, 2005</ref> It has received numerous awards, including:
* The [[Firecracker Alternative Book Award]] for Graphic Novel, 2001<ref name=Firecracker-LibraryThing>{{cite web | title = List of Firecracker Award winners | url = http://www.librarything.com/bookaward/Firecracker+Alternative+Book+Award | website = librarything.com | publisher = [[LibraryThing]] | access-date = December 15, 2014 }}</ref>
* The [[American Book Award]], 2001
* The [[Guardian First Book Award]], 2001, "the first time a graphic novel has won a major UK book award," according to ''[[the Guardian]]''.<ref name="g2001-12-06">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/dec/06/guardianfirstbookaward2001.gurardianfirstbookaward|title=Graphic novel wins First Book Award|date=2001-12-06|work=The Guardian|publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited|access-date=4 October 2010|location=London}}</ref> 
* The [[Harvey Award]]s' ''Special Award for Excellence in Presentation'' and ''Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work'', 2001
* The [[Eisner Award]]s' ''Best Publication Design'' and ''Best Graphic Album: Reprint'', 2001
* The [[Angoulême International Comics Festival|Angoulême Festival]]'s ''[[Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Best Comic Book|Prize for Best Comic Book]]'' and ''[[Prix de la critique]]'', 2003
* In 2005, ''Time'' chose it as one of the [[TIME's List of the 100 Best Novels|10 best English language, graphic novels ever written]].

==''Family Guy'' similarities==
Several commentators, including Ware himself, have noted similarities between [[Seth MacFarlane]]'s [[Stewie Griffin]] character from the animated series ''[[Family Guy]]'' (which debuted after the strip) and Jimmy Corrigan. Ware has remarked, "[The similarities are] a little too coincidental to be simply, well, coincidental."<ref name= "comic strip">{{cite news|url=https://ew.com/article/1999/07/09/family-guy-baby-may-look-familiar/|title="Family Guy" baby may look familiar|author=Ken Tucker|author-link=Ken Tucker|publisher=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|access-date=Jul 10, 2009|date=9 July 1999|archive-date=3 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203110839/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,272303,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He further stated, "I don't want a book of seven years' worth of my stuff to become available and then be accused of being a rip-off of ''Family Guy''."<ref name= "comic strip"/> [[20th Century Fox]] insists that Stewie is an entirely original character.<ref name= "comic strip"/> In a 2003 interview, Seth MacFarlane claimed that he had never seen the comic strip before, describing the similarities as being "pretty shocking" and added that he understood how Ware had reached that conclusion."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://movies.ign.com/articles/429/429628p10.html|title=Interview with Seth MacFarlane|work=[[IGN]] |access-date=December 17, 2009}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}
{{Chris Ware}}
{{Pantheon Comics}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Comics by Chris Ware]]
[[Category:2000 graphic novels]]
[[Category:Fiction set in 1893]]
[[Category:Graphic novels set in the 19th century]]
[[Category:Fantagraphics titles]]
[[Category:Pantheon Books comics titles]]
[[Category:Eisner Award winners]]
[[Category:Novels first published in serial form]]
[[Category:Works originally published in American newspapers]]
[[Category:Ignatz Award winners for Outstanding Story]]
[[Category:Pantheon Books books]]
[[Category:Fiction about the World's Columbian Exposition]]
[[Category:Graphic novels set in Chicago]]
[[Category:Graphic novels set in the United States]]