Jimmy Corrigan - the Smartest Kid on Earth

In the graphic narrative The Smartest Kid On Earth, Chris Ware uses dialogues with compact words and creative images to show a three generation story of protagonist Jimmy Corrigan. The images and words on the projection screen show Corrigan's personality of fantastic, immature and bashful from his actions and languages.

Ware's drawing is delicate and straightforward. People and objects are drawn in different formats: smooth lines with details; dark and bright; three dimensions. The images in the whole page are drawn in smooth lines with details in different shapes of speech bubbles. The image of naked Corrigan is drawn in simple black lines connect with each other. Inside the black lines, it fills with pink color which represents Corrigan's skin. In the opposite, superman is drawn in more detailed lines with yellow, red, pink colors combine with each other. The image of Corrigan's bedroom is drawn in dark and bright colors. The whole room fills with dark color except the light on Corrigan's body which is bright color from outside the room. All the objects are drawn in three dimensions, such as windows, stairs, cars, tables and desks. The three dimension image will give readers the direct views of different objects. Ware's delicate and straightforward drawings are contributing well to make a strong image effect in readers' mind.

Corrigan's personality can be defined as fantastic, immature and bashful from the images on projection screen. Firstly, Corrigan is wearing a mask in front of a mirror and he pretends to be a superman. From Corrigan's action of wearing a mask, we can see he is a fantastic man with heroism inside his mind. Corrigan shows his fantastic personality when he is surprising to see a show poster with superman's advertisement on it. Corrigan believes the existence of superman. Secondly, Corrigan is an immature man, because his mom complains that he doesn't listen to her all the time. Corrigan's mom wants Corrigan to do everything which she asks for immediately, and no "MAYBE" any more. Thirdly, Corrigan is a bashful man, because he feels shy and excited to meet superman who is Corrigan's hero. Corrigan feels bashful and unconfident because he never has a dinner with superman before. The images and conversations between Corrigan and other characters can show Corrigan's personality in varied ways.

Corrigan's personality is one of the most important themes in the whole story. Because of Corrigan's fantastic, immature, and bashful personalities, it is irony to say Corrigan is the smartest kid on earth. Corrigan is a pathetic and unlucky character created by Ware. Ware uses processed drawings and conversions create the character of Corrigan with irony and compassion.