The ACME Novelty Library #16

Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Library is probably one of the most inventive comic book series ever. His art, inspired by ragtime-era Chicago, is painstakingly flawless, and his stories, inspired by an absent father, hover over the border between black humor and utter hopelessness.

Volume #16 is an astonishingly gorgeous hardcover book that tells the story of the hapless Rusty Brown, a shy, bullied schoolkid who lives in a fantasy world populated by superheroes. His father, who looks like a 43-year old version of his son, is a teacher at the school, and he too, lives mainly in a what-if world of his own creation.

This book hammers home my belief that Ware will be remembered as one of the literary giants of the 21st century. Link