Syncopatin' with Chris

Chris Ware is the brilliant graphic novelist behind Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth and The Acme Novelty Library. He's an amazing, original talent, my favorite living artist, period -- and one who doesn't grant in-person interviews much and doesn't provide author photos.

When I wrote about him several years ago, he sent -- as an author portrait -- a drawing of one of his trademark robots (the one-eyed robot that manages to look retro-cool and sweetly, hopelessly dim -- a combination that is very Ware-y). But YouTube has a very brief clip of the author-artist, including the aforementioned robot. Ware plays some ragtime piano, naturally -- in addition to all of his cartoon work, Ware produces the journal, The Ragtime Ephemeralist.

It would be ragtime, though, wouldn't it? The same period that's evoked by his work, both modern and nostalgic, quaint but witty, drily precise and jazzy.