Chris Ware's FLOYD FARLAND

Chris Ware is one of the most fascinating cartoonists working today, and his gorgeously designed, emotionally devastating books have won nearly universal praise. But back in the late '80s, when he was in his teens, he published a comic that was very different from the work that would make him famous.

Floyd Farland: Citizen of the Future was a sci-fi satire set in a totalitarian future. Ware despises the book today, so much so that there are rumors he's actually been buying the remaining copies from collectors just so he can destroy them.

I've been curious about Floyd Farland for years, and now a few pages have at last been posted on the Again With the Comics blog. Ware is by all accounts a moody and depressive sort, and I've no doubt that he's developing a bleeding ulcer at the thought that people are actually seeing this work. Judging by this small sample the book looks rather trite and very much of its time, but it had an interesting style and was certainly nothing to be embarrassed about.

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