It may be the only exclusive comic Ware draws for an iPad. more ›

Ever since spotting his first book, Clumsy, at Quimby's, we've been under the spell of Jeffrey Brown. Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Brown moved to Chicago to pursue an MFA at the School of the Art Institute. Clumsy was his thesis project. Since then he's created dozens of mini-comics, "graphic memoirs," and other books. He even directed an animated video of the Death Cab for Cutie song "Your Heart is an Empty Room." more ›

Rob covered School of the Art Institute alum Apichatpong Weerasethakul‘s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives when it was awarded the Palme d'Or for his new film at Cannes last year, and he reviewed it when it finally came to town as part of the Chicago International Film Festival. Now that the film is finally getting a wider release fellow Chicagoan Chris Ware has been drafted to create a movie poster for the film and it's just as intricate and stunningly detailed as you would expect it to be. Remember when posters in movie lobbies were also pieces of actual art? Obviously Chris Ware does. more ›

In the opening scene of Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead, architect protagonist Howard Roark sits on a stony crag and ponders the power and poetry of the wood, stone, water, and nature around him. He summons that power to create architectural masterpieces. Walking through Louis Sullivan’s Idea, the new Cultural Center exhibition, it was hard not to think of Roark. Just as Roark’s unbounded brilliance goes unappreciated as he fades into obscurity, this exhibition traces Sullivan’s career as one of a tragic genius that was misunderstood in his own era and misinterpreted in ours. more ›

There's a whole lot of lit events going on this week. We highlight several worth checking out. more ›

Chicago-based comic-book artist Chris Ware (who we are big fans of) was commissioned by Fortune magazine to create a cover for their May issue. The end result, though, was rejected. It seems a few of the images on the cover - including Guantanamo Bay prisoners, Mexican factory workers, and a few potshots at business execs and money-grubbing politicians - were too much for the kids at Fortune. And yet we agree with Fishbowl NY's take that the cover is "hilarious, beautiful, meticulous." We've reached out to Fortune for any comment on the cover but haven't received any response yet. more ›

Chicagoist loves us some comics. So we were particularly pleased to see one of Chicago’s most famous practitioners of the art form, Chris Ware, receive a $50,000 grant for his work along with local artist Nick Cave (not that one) and 11 other visual artists. more ›

Motorola is the corporate brand rated most valuable in Chicago. Boeing came in 2nd, McDonalds 3rd, Walgreens 4th and Caterpiller came in 5th. The IL Assn. of Realtors reports that home prices in the area kept climbing during the 1st quarter even though sales of houses and condos were down. Sun-Times has an interesting look at how the neighborhoods of Portage Park, Uptown, Lakeview, Near South Side, and West Lawn are changing. Salvador "Tony"... more ›

Within fifteen minutes of talking to any Oak Parker, you're guaranteed to hear the phrase, "Oak Park isn't like most places." But one month from today, Oak Park will take a shaky step towards the mainstream by opening its first establishment to serve primarily alcoholic drinks, The Abbey at 728 Lake St. Until now, only restaurants that served food could serve alcohol. more ›

Remember when the readworthiness of a book was judged by the number and quality of pictures it contained? Up until first grade: the more illustrations, the more colorful, the better. In second and third grade, chapter books with colorful covers and line art inside were the coolest. By fourth grade, anything with pictures was FOR BABIES, though we still enjoyed the occasional Where the Wild Things Are, or, when the season was right, The Polar... more ›

Hey, remember those elementary school book fairs, when you got to skip math for the day and go to the library to stock up on the Berenstain Bears and, later, Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume? Chicagoist does, which is why we’re so excited for this weekend’s Printer’s Row Book Fair. Billed as the “largest free literary event in the Midwest,” the Printer’s Row Book Fair is the ultimate book fair for grown-ups and kids... more ›

We admit it—we're trendy bitches. We waited until Father Dave, king of all literati, heralded comics as the new hip literary genre with issue 13 of his "McSweeney's Quarterly Concern" (edited by Chicago's own Chris Ware) before we allowed ourselves to peruse the comics section at our local bookstore. Well, at least peruse without shame. We always thought comics were just exaggerated muscles, fantasy tits and the defeat of evil. Anyway, we was ignant and the issue introduced us to a slew of artists putting out some kick-ass comics that explored (among other things) the quotidian, the historic, the psychological and the political. And even better, these stories were presented beautifully in a form we'd previously dismissed. more ›

Sunday cools things off a bit, but you can still catch a live taping of . Music events will continue throughout the day. Feeling ambitious? See all the weekend's events here. The weather is supposed to be nice, so slap on some sunscreen and head downtown. more ›

A number of the most important figures in the world graphic novels (a more artsy and less-juvenile way of saying �comic books�) are hometown boys. Dan Clowes � author of the Eightball series and the Ghost World comic and screenplay � and Chris Ware � who has a weekly strip in the Reader and just edited McSweeney�s comics-only issue (oh, Dave Eggers, you so crazy!) � are two of the most prominent examples. And while their contemporary Adrian Tomine doesn�t hail from the shores of Lake Michigan � he foolishly spends his time on the coasts instead � at least he�ll be in town tonight promoting his latest collection, the odds-and-ends anthology Scrapbook. more ›