It looks like Ware's next extended story will be about Rusty Brown and Chalky White when they first meet in elementary school in 1970's Nebraska. Its currently being published in one page installments in the Chicago free weekly paper NewCity, just as Jimmy Corrigan was.
Its full of all the pain of childhood you'd expect from Ware. Rusty is bullied, his ineffectual Dad is a teacher at the school, Chalky and his older sister have just transferred there. Rusty's dad has inappropriate thoughts about her. And Ware has even inserted a version of himself as a teacher.
I saw him on a comics panel at the Chicago Humanities Festival this weekend and someone asked him why he put this version of himself into the story and all he would say is that he needed a reprehensible character and thought it only appropriate to use himself.
His extreme discomfort with crowds and speaking about his work was readily apparent. Every time he spoke, he buried his head in his hands and was barely audible, even through the mic. When he walked in, he was hunched over with his arms frozen stiff at his sides.
By the way, Michael Chabon moderated the panel, which also included Neil Gaiman, Will Eisner, Ben Katchor, and Scott McCloud. A good weekend for comics in Chicago. Each of the above had their own individual reading or discussion, as did Art Speigelman and Jules Feiffer. |
