ACME NOVELTY paper toys... assembled!

My girlfriend once described a new issue of Chris Ware's ongoing comics series The Acme Novelty Library as a poison apple, because each issue is so stunningly beautiful that you can't resist picking it up... But then it's so utterly depressing that reading it can pretty much ruin your whole weekend.

Acme Novelty Library is a unique combination of crushing despair and flashy graphic design, with stories about friendless, middle-aged men presented alongside elaborate paper toys you can cut out and assemble to display on your desktop. (Warning: the paper toys are amazing, but they are also utterly depressing.) I've never actually assembled any of Ware's toys - partly because I don't want to cut up my comics, but also because I'm not sure I could make it through the process without using the scissors to slit my wrists.

Fortunately an artist called Niem is made of sterner stuff than I. He has risked terminal melancholy to assemble Ware's clever cardstock gizmos, and he's posted a gallery of them here. There are paper theaters of cruelty, cardboard models of broken homes, even little wind-up movie shows you can watch until you've cried your eyeballs out. A tragic time is guaranteed for all!

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