Abstract
In the formal grammar of Chris Ware’s comics, time is conspicuous, and forms of temporal progression (or speed) are inscribed in its graphic representation. Ware also emphasizes controlled pace as, among other things, an obstacle to the frenetic temporality of contemporary consumer culture. This chapter examines his oeuvre in terms of its deliberate fascination with slowness. Invoking Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s concept of the rhizome, it argues that the slowness of Ware’s narration is a reflection of his strong resistance to contemporary consumer culture and revolves around the concepts of nostalgia, repetition, and non-hierarchical structures. The chapter highlights the intensive and extensive forms of temporality in Ware’s graphic novel Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth, focusing on the agonizing patience and misery of the protagonist’s embarrassment as an existential and profoundly temporal leitmotif.
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