Chris Ware
An American cartoonist who transforms the agonizing quiet of ordinary life into intricate, architecturally stunning comic art.
Born 1967 (age 59)·American artist·Birthday: December 28·Generation X
Biography
Chris Ware builds worlds in panels. Growing up in Nebraska, he was drawn to the formal clarity of old advertising and the emotional complexity of literature. His work, most famously the graphic novel 'Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth,' is instantly recognizable: a symphony of precise lines, dense diagrams, and a muted yet vivid palette that evokes a bygone America. Ware’s stories are less about plot and more about the crushing weight of loneliness, familial disappointment, and the small, aching moments that define a life. He constructs his books as physical objects, with fold-out maps and complex instructions, demanding a reader's full attention. More than a cartoonist, he is a designer of emotional experiences, using the comic page's space to map the interior geography of his characters with a heartbreaking specificity.
Generation X
1965–1980
The latchkey kids. Raised during divorce, recession, and the end of the Cold War. Skeptical, self-reliant, media-literate. They invented indie culture, grunge, and the early internet — then watched the Boomers take credit.
Chris was born in 1967, placing them squarely in the Generation X. The events that shaped this generation — economic uncertainty, the end of the Cold War, and the rise of personal computing — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Chris Was Born
The biggest hits of 1967
#1 Movie
The Jungle Book
Best Picture
In the Heat of the Night
#1 TV Show
The Andy Griffith Show
Chris's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1967Born
Summer of Love in San Francisco; first Super Bowl
Gas: $0.33/galHome: $14,250Min wage: $1.40/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"To Sir, with Love" — LuluBest Picture: In the Heat of the Night
1972Started school
Watergate break-in; last Apollo Moon mission
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $19,550Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" — Roberta FlackBest Picture: The Godfather
1980Became a teenager
John Lennon shot and killed in New York
Gas: $1.19/galHome: $47,200Min wage: $3.10/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Call Me" — BlondieBest Picture: Ordinary People
1983Could drive
Internet adopts TCP/IP, creating the modern internet
Gas: $1.16/galHome: $57,700Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Every Breath You Take" — The PoliceBest Picture: Terms of Endearment
1985Could vote
Live Aid concerts raise money for Ethiopian famine
Gas: $1.12/galHome: $62,900Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Careless Whisper" — Wham!Best Picture: Out of Africa
1988Turned 21
Pan Am Flight 103 bombed over Lockerbie
Gas: $0.90/galHome: $74,800Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Faith" — George MichaelBest Picture: Rain Man
1997Turned 30
Princess Diana dies in Paris car crash; Harry Potter published
Gas: $1.23/galHome: $104,100Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Candle in the Wind 1997" — Elton JohnBest Picture: Titanic
2007Turned 40
iPhone released; Great Recession begins
Gas: $2.80/galHome: $172,600Min wage: $5.85/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Irreplaceable" — BeyonceBest Picture: No Country for Old Men
2017Turned 50
#MeToo movement; solar eclipse crosses the US
Gas: $2.42/galHome: $195,000Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Donald Trump"Shape of You" — Ed SheeranBest Picture: The Shape of Water
2026Age 59 today
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Won the Guardian First Book Award in 2001 for 'Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth,' a first for a graphic novel.
- His serialized work 'Building Stories' was published as a box containing 14 distinct printed items, winning several awards for its innovative form.
- Has been a regular contributor to The New Yorker, designing many of its iconic covers.
- Received the Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album for both 'Jimmy Corrigan' and 'Building Stories.'
Did You Know?
He is an accomplished musician and has composed ragtime-style music for his animated segments.
Ware designed the cover for the Grammy-winning album 'This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About' by the band Modest Mouse.
He was a student of and teaching assistant for comics artist Art Spiegelman at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
“Comics are a way of thinking, and the form of the thought is just as important as the content.”
