All these Novelty Libraries are collections of strips published in
the Daily Texan and New City. When collecting the strips, Ware
restructures, redraws and rewrites much of the work, and leaves some
strips out altogether.

The first issue of the Novelty Library focuses on Jimmy Corrigan,
the Smartest Kid On Earth. In the main 24 page color story we see
scenes from his life -- as a young boy, as a young man, as middle-aged
man, and as on old man. The time line skips back and forth, and it's
left up to the reader to piece together a history from these glimpses
into Jimmy's life.

Most of the scenes deals with Jimmy's relationships with his
mother, with his girlfriend Peggy, and with God/Super-man. We never
get to see the faces of anybody other than Jimmy and God/Super-man --
the faces are often outside the borders, or hidden by hands, beams or
furniture.

An eight page inlay printed on news-print in black and white and a
blue-grayish color has a six page nonsensical strip about Jimmy as a
(for once) smart child. He builds rocket ships, shrinks himself, has
an adventure and grows up. The ending of the strip is detailed on a
full page of typeset text.

Also included is a one page Big Tex strip, a one page funny story
about Jimmy fixing a new dad, one page of fake ads, and «A Splendid
Toy Model» of Jimmy in his robot man persona on the back cover.

A rather fine work, I think. The only negative thing I can
say about it is that the paper chosen for the main part of the story
feels icky and doesn't display the beautiful colors as well as it
should. The ickyness may seem like s very small thing indeed, but as
Ware's comics are very much objects and not just haphazardly produced
leaflets, this slight imperfection is worth mentioning.